Coral line algae yay!

saltwater4life

saltwater4life

Large Fish
#1
Sep 26, 2006
785
1
0
32
New Jersey
#1
I had an out brake of purple algae I've got spots on my PH,filter,glass and somehow on my bubble maker o.0 i heard scarping some off will help it spread is this true? also my uncle said that he thought they make this stuff to make green/hair algae die and coral lines grow but he didn't know the name of it anyone know?
:D I'm so happy I've been waiting 2 months for this stuff and now i got it *celebrate yay*celebrate

oh yea coral line algae doesn't grown where other algae is right? so should i scrap the algae off the back glass so it can take over?
 

kaihonu82

kaihonu82

Small Fish
#2
Mar 30, 2006
30
0
0
santa clara, ca
#2
just to <politely> correct you, its coraline algae you have..and good! Ive heard that coraline algae grows when your water quality is pretty good. i've also heard that it can grow in excess due to insufficient lighting...can anyone else confirm this?

i just spent the other day scraping it off the walls of my tank, i kind of let it build up for a while and it drove me crazy. but it looks great on my rock!

keep up the good work:)
 

saltwater4life

saltwater4life

Large Fish
#3
Sep 26, 2006
785
1
0
32
New Jersey
#3
yea i know it coraline i just used spell check and it changed it to coral line..
i know i grows when your tanks established so that made me happy :D also do other colors come or just purple? if just purple how do you get pink,red and orange
 

Dadstank

Dadstank

Large Fish
#4
Nov 4, 2006
162
2
0
Minnesota
#4
I found it kinda hard to grow other colors other than the purple sorta for the fact that purple grows pretty fast.
As for if you scrape it off.... yes it will help seed the tank with it. Next time your at the LFStore ask if they would scrape some of your desired colors off into a bag.... crumble it up a bit and spread around your tank.

As for growing in excess?
I have totally different lighting in my sump and it grows on my Pskimmer which is on the other side of the sump from the light....some light makes it through but not much.

One main thing needed for it to grow is low low low nitrates. I didn't have any growth at all when I was battling nitrates... I put in a refugium and when the nitrates dropped down to nothing it started growing shortly after.
Oh yeah... proper calcium levels.. not too much but not too little... about 400-450 is a decent value to be at.
 

FWSWBW

FWSWBW

Medium Fish
#6
Nov 19, 2006
55
1
0
tennessee
#6
It will come on it's own in different colors...your rock already has these in it, it will just take awhile for the blues, greens and bright reds to show up. The purple is the most common, it's the calcium in your water. A basic light on your tank can and does support coraline growth, high calcium levels is what makes it do well..the steadier your calcium the more this will spread. Not saying light dosen't play a role but, light alone is not enough.. It feeds off of calcium. Thats why it is so important to keep your calcium levels at their maximum... I wouldn't scrape too much off, just let it go and it will eventually spread, this hobby is all about patients and it could do more damage scraping it off than good..unless it is on your front glass. I have seen hermits and other crabs eat coraline and all your doing is making it easier for them. Just thought you might want to know this..also you mentioned a bubbler? What kind of bubbler? You can see by the pictures on my back wall..were not much light hits, there is just as much coraline growth as anywere else. But the much sought after blues, greens and even yellow do best under more intense light..so it's a combination of both.
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saltwater4life

saltwater4life

Large Fish
#7
Sep 26, 2006
785
1
0
32
New Jersey
#7
wow nice pictures so your saying more calcium i put in will make the coraline grow faster? and i was saying i had coraline on my bubble wond that my bubbles come out of :D that why i was like huh it grew on my bubble maker lol thx for the info that helped :D
 

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#10
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#10
what coraline are you talkin about in your tank??? cause whats on the powerhead isnt coraline and whats on the rocks was prolly already ther and if you dont use tap water you wont have that green hair algea so bad ;)
 

F

Flowerkid

Large Fish
#14
Mar 12, 2006
202
0
0
#14
congrats man i cant wait till mine starts coming. One question tho. Do you need calcium to have coraline or coral line as i saw? Also will it only come once your tank is cycled? I have some purple stuff on my live rock but it is covering like rock that is bubbles??? I will try to get some pics up if that would help.
 

saltwater4life

saltwater4life

Large Fish
#16
Sep 26, 2006
785
1
0
32
New Jersey
#16
the PH i was 99% sure was pink/red coraline the one below it is a spot on the back glass
yea i started using beter water to help
and i would like a crab to take care of that but i cant find any for sell around here
and i knew the brown algae isn't coraline it's just brown algae :D
the coraline i think just grows with the tank but i was superised to see it so soon :D
and a year...hmm thats a long time....
And thx for all the replys it kept me from getting bored :p
 

FWSWBW

FWSWBW

Medium Fish
#17
Nov 19, 2006
55
1
0
tennessee
#17
saltwater4life said:
the PH i was 99% sure was pink/red coraline the one below it is a spot on the back glass
yea i started using beter water to help
and i would like a crab to take care of that but i cant find any for sell around here
and i knew the brown algae isn't coraline it's just brown algae :D
the coraline i think just grows with the tank but i was superised to see it so soon :D
and a year...hmm thats a long time....
And thx for all the replys it kept me from getting bored :p
Click to expand...
Yes keeping your calcium up will help speed up the coraline growth, also low nitrates, low nitrites and no ammonia, no over feeding, over populating and good water quality will keep your algae blooms to a min. It's a balance, you will get it. Everyone has excessive algae in the begining, actually if you have no algae I would worry. The red slimy bubbly stuff is red algae..better water will clear this up..there can be alot of causes, even old light bulbs will do this. Coraline is very hard and has no slime, hair algae can prevent or delay the spread of coraline so I would get a clean up crew as soon as you can. Emeralds, red crabs, seahares will all take care of that for you. A seahare more than the others will absolutely devoid your tank of all algae, the only problem is once the algae is gone they can slowly starve to death if you only have one tank, but you can supplement with algae sticks or disks. I have 2 so I just switch him back and forth..he never runs out of food...he's about 4 inches long, they come in all shapes, and sizes..there are even dwarves that stay about 2 inches. I highly recommend one..easy keeper, very hardy and they will graze and sift your sandbed as well as feed on glass, rocks, powerheads. I got mine online for 15.00 the dwarves are about 6.00. His my avatar if you would like to know what they look like.
 

saltwater4life

saltwater4life

Large Fish
#20
Sep 26, 2006
785
1
0
32
New Jersey
#20
Yea i heard hair algae slows it down i took a new tooth brush the other day and started cleaning one of my LR then i thought of getting a invert to do it for me so seahares are good? wont destroy anything in my reef tank? also you said once it's all gone feed them algae disks so if i get one just get some disks just in case? well thx i think there cool so it's nice to see they'll help me out
 

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