No Coraline Algae Growth. What to do

[euphoria]

I've had my tank for almost 3 months now, and haven't had any coraline algae growth on my LR. I am actually seeing parts of my LR, that used to be reddish when I got them, go from reddish to white.
Why is this happening? What can I do to get some nice purple coraline growth on the LR?
I check out some tank pics here, and see lots of purple on the LR, but mine has none at all :nope:
By the way, my calcium level is good. It's actually around 500 now, and water params are excellent.
:help:
Thanks

 

[nas19320]

Alkalinity is just as important as calcium as coraline is mostly carbonate based. 500 is a little to high for calcium. Phosphates and nitrates will inhibit growth of coraline. With everthing correct and good flow and seed the tank with coraline you shoudl see growth rather quickly.

 

[euphoria]

yeah 500 is high, so I'm not adding calcium for a while to let it come down to about 460. KH was 7dkH last time I measured and pH is 8.2 after lights on for 10 hrs.
I just did some more reading and have decided that I"m going to get Aragamilk and B-Ionic and see if they will help.

 

[nas19320]

Skip the Aragamilk and just get B-Ionic, B-Ionic will do the same thing as the Aragamilk.

 

[sweetdawn]

try siphoning(god i cant spell) the debris off the rocks it might help i have lots of color on my rocks after only few months i add agramilk coral vital and spectra vital with blackpowder

 

[euphoria]

Thanks for the info. Should I test for Magnesium?

 

[nas19320]

You can but if your getting your calcium up to 500, there is really not much reason too. Magnesium mostly helps the water to be able to hold more calcium, which you don't have a problem with.

 

[euphoria]

Alright. Thanks a lot.

 

[eg_hatch]

If your calcium is high, your alk is low..You can try increasing more flow over you LR too.

 

[euphoria]

Originally posted by Kip4130
if you raise that dkh up to 10 or 11 over a week's time.. that Ca will fall to around 430
other than that... keep no3 and especially po4 near zero... make sure you have "healthy" lighting and lots of flow
in time you will be cursing the coraline because you have to scrape it so much
I want that time to come Cuz my rocks look pale now. I need color.

 

[badkharma]

Yes, now I curse my coralline, even though i love it on the rocks. It's a pain in the arse to scrape it off.

 

[euphoria]

Send them my way, I'm in SoCal, too