Coraline algae question

[big cats]

Hey everyone, just had a question about coraline algae. Do you have to have lights on your tank for it to start growing on the LR? because I am starting to notice small specs of coraline (that may have been there before but I'm not sure) And was just wondering if it's possible to grow without lights?

[Modern-Revolution]

the spots were probably there and are just more noticeable now. coraline requires light and calcium. sunlight from a window will also be used.

[sporto0]

Coraline algae prefers the lower or a more blue light of the spectrum, but it still needs light to grow of course.

[big cats]

That's what I was figuring. I have also noticed that on my LR, there is this small orange growth on there. Is there anything you could think of that might grow like that with 0 lighting other than a incandescent lamp that I use to light the tank if I am working on it or looking for pods with? I'll try to get a pic of it, but it's hard to see on a camera.

[sporto0]

Perhaps if the tank gets some ambient light from the sun each day, you may get some growth.

[monkeyman14554]

the orange thing is probubly a spnge of some sort they need no light to grow.. also i have alot of deep purple coraline algae that growing in my sump and it is in complete darkness.. most light it would get is when i open up the sump door.. but it is really deep purple and very smooth... will never know if it was going in the dark cause i just added a light to a refugium that is right next to it..

[big cats]

If it is getting light (which it may but I don't think it does) I don't know if it would be enough to stimulate growth...

A sponge huh? would it be likely that it would survive a cycle?? because it is on one of the pieces of LR I used to seed the rest of my rock when I started the tank..are sponges good to have or are they bad?

[monkeyman14554]

i have like 40 diffrent kinda of sponges in a refugium type tank i think they are amazing and they will def survive a cycle but most likely it will die off after you get your tank super clean.. the only reason mine do not die off is cause i feed my tank very heavy and use the sponges a small skimmer and my coral and cleanup crew to keep the water clean i would never sugest to anyone just starting out to dump cups of phyto in there tank everyday unless they have a whole tank full of spnoges and feather dusters to eat all of it up.

[monkeyman14554]

if you want to increase the odds that it survives and continues to grow put it in an area with aot of flow and not alot of light but some light.. and take a turkey baster and blow water at the live rock to kick up all the detritus and pods and such up into the water at least once a day.. also let the fine algae build up on the glass before scraping it into the water colum ths sponges eat that stuff up..

[big cats]

Originally Posted by monkeyman14554

if you want to increase the odds that it survives and continues to grow put it in an area with aot of flow and not alot of light but some light.. and take a turkey baster and blow water at the live rock to kick up all the detritus and pods and such up into the water.

This is probably the reason it is surviving (if it indeed is a sponge) That is the rock I usually see the pods on and there has been seemingly fewer of them lately..hahaha and that's probably the reason I have noticed this new growth, he was eating them. My camera is charging now, I will get a picture up soon so we can correctly ID it.

[monkeyman14554]

i dont know that he directly eats the pods or the phyto i use to keep the pods happy but either way pods are going away cause they got no phyto to eat i dont ever cycle in the dark to artificial to me... im not saying turn on all your lights but keeping a light on or two for a few hours a day will help with die off.. and this is something i know alot about i cure my own live rock and seed old dried up live rock with new life all the time and i rotate rock from a refugium to the display tank all the time .... works well

[Faye]

Originally Posted by sporto0

Coraline algae prefers the lower or a more blue light of the spectrum, but it still needs light to grow of course.

The problem with this site is there are way to many blind leading the blind. Coraline will thrive in 10k atmosphere, just like coral growth, actinic light alone will not encourage growth.

[monkeyman14554]

Originally Posted by Faye

The problem with this site is there are way to many blind leading the blind. Coraline will thrive in 10k atmosphere, just like coral growth, actinic light alone will not encourage growth.

John Trinidad

Marine Depot Customer Service

Hey there!



Thanks for the question. It’s funny that you should ask that question. Many of my friends have so much coralline, that you can’t even see the pumps!



Coralline algae is surprisingly easy to grow, and if taken good care of, can grow relatively fast in FOWLR tanks (fish only with live rock). How? Well, let’s look at the things that really effect coralline algae growth.



In terms of water chemistry, coralline requires only a few things different than your fish do. Like corals, they require calcium, magnesium, and some source of carbonate (alkalinity). So keep your parameters stable and in line using good calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium buffers. Keep your chemical parameters as follows:



Calcium: 380-450 ppm

Alkalinity: 2.8-4.3 meq/L, or 8-12 DKH

pH: 8.1-8.3

Magnesium: 1200-1400 ppm.



Also, keep your nutrient levels relatively low. High levels of phosphate are detrimental to coralline algae growth in two ways. First, there is anecdotal evidence that low levels of phosphate are directly inhibitory to coralline algae growth. Second, phosphate contributes to the growth of competing algae, such as hair algae. That algae competes for space, light, and nutrients with the coralline, and even grows directly on top of it. Other algae, such as diatom algae and cyanobacteria, also compete for space and light, so keep your silicates, nitrates and other problem nutrients low.



Surprisingly, many species of coralline algae actually prefer low to moderate light. In many very dimly lit tanks, coralline algae completely overtakes rocks, pumps, and even the back glass. If you have moderate to low lighting, moderate to low light coralline algae species will dominate your tank. So moderate power compact lighting, or VHO lighting should work great for you in a FOWLR tank.


If it’s still hard for you to grow algae, there are a couple tips and tricks that you can consider. First, try purchasing new liverock from an already established tank. Many fish stores will have older rocks that are completely covered in coralline algae, that they will not mind selling at a premium. Just buy a few pounds, since the algae will spread. Seeding your tank with a variety of coralline algae species will allow you to introduce a species of coralline to your tank that may be better suited for your lighting and water chemistry. Second, if you do have some coralline algae, try taking a new, washed, firm toothbrush, and gently scrape the algae until a light dusting of it come off. Supposedly, this encourages the spread and colonization of coralline algae spore. If your tank is currently running ozone or UV sterilization, turn it off for a while, as you may be hindering this spread and colonization of coralline algae spore.



If all else fails, there is anecdotal evidence that some amino acid supplements can help to encourage coralline algae growth. The effects are purely anecdotal, but the idea is promising.



Try any or all of the things above, but don’t expect to see results right away. Coralline algae grows relatively slow compared to nuisance algae. Expect to see results in 2-3 months, rather than 2-3 weeks.



Happy Fishkeeping and Good Luck!



John Trinidad

Marine Depot Customer Service





did you really just mention blind leading the blind... so i guess John Trinidad
Marine Depot Customer Service is blind right ... by the way daylight spectrums will kill most of the thousands of species of coraline. but then again i could always be wrong.. im sure there are some colors and species of coraline that grow in bright light.. but any dark colored of blue spectrum coraline will grow under little light.. i have gone to peoples houses that have had there liverock out of the tank sitting in coolers for weeks and there was still coroline on the bottom of the rock... this is getting off point just hate when people get on here thinking they know everything...

[monkeyman14554]

Originally Posted by Faye

The problem with this site is there are way to many blind leading the blind. Coraline will thrive in 10k atmosphere, just like coral growth, actinic light alone will not encourage growth.

and this one is from g.a.r.f im sure you have heard on them


Hello fans of garf.

One question I get from our customers almost daily is how can I get my coraline algae to color like it does in Sally Joe's tanks. The answer comes in four stages, lighting, supplementation, grunge and the most important ingredient..........patience.

Coraline algae loves actinic blue actinic light and hates white light. To give your coraline a boost, increase your blue light and decrease your white light. Coraline grows best deep in the ocean where only blue spectrum light can penetrate. When starting a reef tank, allow the blue actinic bulbs to run 24 hours a day for two weeks.

Gradually introduce white light one hour a day while reducing the actinic blues one hour until they match.


now i am done sorry to run off with this just had so many people that want puple coraline growth they will ask me even go out and buy purple up everything and not realize there are very few species that will live side by side with sps coral unless you use a crap load of actinic lighting...

[big cats]

Okay, here he is. He is in the middle of the picture, right next to the small white spot on the rock.



And if you look closely, you can see a small little starfish that had I not taken this picture then I would have never know he was there. Really small, smaller than a dime for a size comparison.

[big cats]

You can see the starfish a bit better in this pic. He is diagonally up to the right of the little orange sponge guy. He is pink and green.

[Bens_Reef]

that is one strange colored starfish. cool though.

[big cats]

I'm kinda concerned that he may turn out to be more of a pest than anything. I have heard of some stars that eat corals...just my luck this will turn out to be one of those...Anyone know what it might be?

[Bens_Reef]

id post that pic in the ID: sticky you might get more responses

[567234ta]

I think water quality has more to do with growing coralline, if you got perfect water cal/alk/mag/ and no ammonia/nitrate/phosphate it wont have to compete with other algae.

[big cats]

I'm coming to the conclusion that its gonna be a combination of both water quality and adequate lighting. I'm not too worried about it growing quickly, slowly, shoot, if it takes 4 years to grow than that's what's gonna happen..I was just curious as to if it needed plenty of light to grow or not.

[Bens_Reef]

you will probably see considerable growth in about 3-4 months, you will have your new lights soon hopefully. in a similar sized tank as yours, i had it on my glass and covering my equipment in 2 months. not always using the same type of lights. i only had about 8 pounds of coralline covered rock when i started the tank the rest was just regular cured LR.

you can kind of see some here after about 2 months. this tank no longer exists


this is when the tank was about 3 weeks old 1 week after cycle. you can see a considerable difference.

this is just an example and you shouldnt expect your system to cultivate it in the same speed. i dont know enough to say how that works but am sharing my experience.

[Faye]

MonkEyman, im on my ipod and it's hard to quote with that long of a post.

Just because a light is in the 10k spectrum doesn't mean it has to be intense. Ive grown coraline in my fuge under 6500k screw in flourecents. Ive grown it under 12k four hundred watt halides. There are different types of coraline, the trick is time. For a tank to be covered in purple is just a waiting game as far as I'm concerned. A blue lamp won't increase growth of coraline faster than a white lamp IME. If you stick a stony coral underneath a 20k halide you will see growth slow down dramatically next to a 10k lamp. Same thing applies to this algae. The fastest iv'e ever seen coraline growth was under halides.