Coraline Algae!!!!

[jerthunter]

Ok, so I was a little bored and I was looking at my tank and thought wow that is quite a bit of coraline! So here are two pictures of it. One was taken from outside after the lights were out so that is why the color is kind of wierd. Lets see some crazy coraline growth!!!!

 

[studly]

oK i have to ask how long has that been set up and what r u adding to your water?

 

[jerthunter]

Well actually that is what I find suprising, I add nothing. The setup is a little over a year old but what I have noticed is that when I started I used Kent sea salt and I had a good amount of coraline. When my big bucket ran out I ended up having to use instant ocean because I couldn't find Kent near me and the coraline went to almost nothing. Just about a month or two ago I started getting IO reef crystals and this 'outbreak' came about.

 

[saltyguy]

I try to scrap mine every couple weeks but it keeps coming back with a vengence

 

[jerthunter]

Originally Posted by SALTYGUY
I try to scrap mine every couple weeks but it keeps coming back with a vengence
Yeah thats what I did on my first 'outbreak' but now I only scrap the front and left side. Do you add Ca? What brand of salt do you use?

 

[saltyguy]

I don't dose calcium or anything. Just regular water changes. I just use plain old Instant Ocean and my calcium stays around 480.

 

[jerthunter]

Anyone else have some crazy coraline growth to show off? My tank is only a year old so there HAS to be plenty of tanks with much much more then I have!

 

[bigpete]

i dont have crazy growth but it came so fast in my nano. i LOVE this stuff. im trying to get the whole back wall pink.

 

[jerthunter]

I wouldn't say that I like it, but I don't mind it as long as its in the right places. One side of my tank is almost completely covered, I wish the back would get covered because I think it would look cooler then my blue background..
P.S. I've been reading up on Coraline since I am rather bored and I have to say it is interesting stuff! Just want to encourage people to read about it!

 

[jerthunter]

More interesting stuff about coraline. The last two weeks or so I've been working on my tank and I had my water level a couple inch lower and since I raised it back up I noticed some of my coraline near the top died. None of the coraline was about the water level so I suppose it was due to how deep the light penetrated. So here is my picture. You can see the level where the coraline stops growing and a line where the coraline goes from pink to white.. Just thought it was an interesting picture and wanted to share it.

 

[agent707]

Is this stuff really so desireable you want it to grow all over your glass? I rather think it looks sightly on the glass.
I'll be keeping my glass scrubbed clean thank you.

 

[jerthunter]

I don't particularily care for it on my glass but it grows like crazy so I only scrap it off the front and near side. I guess it is a personal preference but I find it to be a very interesting form of life and so I tolerate it as long as it doesn't block my view of my other interesting lifeforms.

 

[cartman101]

Thats what mine looks like! My tank has been setup for about 3 months untill i started getting the growth. Guess my tank is on steriods huh lol.

 

[dirty-d]

ive had my tank up for a couple years and i cant get the stuff to grow.........i am now dosing purple up everyday to try and encourage it........my calcium is 450 and dkh is good around 9 or 10...does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the stuff instead of getting rid of it????? :thinking:

 

[jerthunter]

Originally Posted by Dirty-D
ive had my tank up for a couple years and i cant get the stuff to grow.........i am now dosing purple up everyday to try and encourage it........my calcium is 450 and dkh is good around 9 or 10...does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the stuff instead of getting rid of it????? :thinking:
Well what kind of lighting do you have? Coraline doesn't like too much light. Mine is growing under PC light and as you can see when the water level was lower the light penetrated deeper and the coraline died.

 

[dirty-d]

i have 2 blue pc's and a 6700k and a 10,000k........just got them around christmas time....i used to have just a regular coral lite 40watt normal flouresant......

still waitng for coralline to start growing.......by the way i have always used instant ocean salt :notsure: would that really matter

 

[jerthunter]

I know when I used Instant Ocean I did not get much coraline growth but I figured that was because I had low calcium levels but you said yours was about 450 which sounds about right.
Have you ever had coraline in your tanK? Perhaps it just needs to be introduced. You can buy a small piece of coraline covered rock or try to find snails/hermits with coraline covered shells and it should start to spread.

 

[cartman101]

Originally Posted by Jerthunter
I know when I used Instant Ocean I did not get much coraline growth but I figured that was because I had low calcium levels but you said yours was about 450 which sounds about right.
Have you ever had coraline in your tanK? Perhaps it just needs to be introduced. You can buy a small piece of coraline covered rock or try to find snails/hermits with coraline covered shells and it should start to spread.
Instant Ocean?! I have been using that ever since and I'm loaded with coralline.