coralline algae

[manners]

i just put some un cured live rock in my tank before i cycled it its been about 20 days and i can see some spots of coralline (mostly purple) growing. i was wondering how to encourage the growth without the brown algae growing. also how long will it take the coralline to spread over all the rocks?

 

[gmann1139]

Coraline will slowly spread over your tank. Make sure your calcium is over 400your lighting is pretty good, and you make regular water changes, and you should see slow, steady progress.
One way to jumpstart it is to introduce coraline scrapings, either by scraping what's already in there, or introducing it from another tank. This creates more colonies, which can then spread faster.

 

[shawn843]

I just went to a fish store and the guy gave me some pieces of rock with corolline for free...im sure they would let you as long as you give them business

 

[drtito]

If you place a rock with lots of coralline algae in front of a power head it will spread faster.

 

[jackri]

Scrapings will help.. but don't rush anything. It will spread on its own gradually. Don't try and get in the habit of adding chemicals to fix everything