coraline algae

fixesjets

New Member
Hi.I just added a little piece of live rock with coraline algae on it.how long does it take for it to bloom?
 

adroitmind

Member
Coraline grows slow. Go buy some "Purple Up" it works great to speed up the process.You are still going to have to wait months to see a difference.
 

spanko

Active Member
Here is a pic of my tank. Been up for 3 months now. I bought about 15 lbs. base Tufa rock and about 18 lbs. cured live. The live came with a good amount of coralline on it. It is just now starting to spread to the base rock as you can see on the rock bottom left side. Purple up has had both good and bad reviews. I did not use it personally. do a search on it in the site and see what you come up with and decide for yourself.
 

chinpokomon

Member
If you’re not testing for calcium now you may want to start. Coraline algae need this parameter to stay in the normal range (400-500 mg/l) in order to flourish. If your calcium level is low you may lose the algae you have over time. Don’t freak though both growth and decline take weeks to occur. I find regular water changes keep my calcium levels fine without supplements but all my tanks are mature. Another thing to keep an eye on is the phosphate level in your tank, high levels will impede growth. Skimming along with high Ph will help control phosphates but don't neglect testing your make up water you could be adding phosphates with every water change.
 
Originally Posted by AdroitMind
Coraline grows slow. Go buy some "Purple Up" it works great to speed up the process.You are still going to have to wait months to see a difference.

Watch it with "Purple Up" read the label and ingredients first before dumping it in.
 

cjason3041

Member
Originally Posted by AdroitMind
Coraline grows slow. Go buy some "Purple Up" it works great to speed up the process.You are still going to have to wait months to see a difference.
you are wasting your money IMO. scrub the coraline to release spores into the tank, it will bloom in no time.
 

monalisa

Active Member
Originally Posted by cjason3041
you are wasting your money IMO. scrub the coraline to release spores into the tank, it will bloom in no time.
I've never used purple up either...I just scrape and release, scrape and release...it still takes a little time, but I'm really super organic when it comes to my tanks (ok, maybe anal), and if there's a way to achieve what I want in them without adding chemicals, I'm all over that. Not that everyone should do that, just my opinion and my way of taking care of things.
Hope it works for you.
Lisa :happyfish
 

pangdonger

Member
Probably just luck for me. My lr supplier has a huge plastic outdoor pond with HQI lighting that he stores his cured rock in and it is covered with the purple fairly well. After three weeks in my tank it is growing on other parts of my tank.
 

cjason3041

Member
Originally Posted by MonaLisa
I've never used purple up either...I just scrape and release, scrape and release...it still takes a little time, but I'm really super organic when it comes to my tanks (ok, maybe anal), and if there's a way to achieve what I want in them without adding chemicals, I'm all over that. Not that everyone should do that, just my opinion and my way of taking care of things.
Hope it works for you.
Lisa :happyfish

i agree....organic is the way to go.
 

aquaguy24

Active Member
im a newbie but i hear that some coralline grows better with low light..or thats what i've read.and scraping and moving it around ur tank urself helps.u might be able to scrape using a credit card or razer blade i guess..
 

barchtruong

Member
my tank is a lil over 4 months old.
coraline algae grows on the back glass like crazy now, but half of my liverocks still don't have any coraline,
I'll just let it grow on its own.
 
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