coraline algae help

[sluggerdood]

i have a ton of live rock from a 90 gallon tear down in my 40 gallon. i want to boost the amount of coraline algae. i have heard that using products like purple up , or purple tech work good. i have also i have heard these products dont work and its better to just to use a de-chlorinator with trace elements.i have read some posts that say you can seed the live rock by scraping off some coraline algae in front of a power head. have any of you had any experiences with these additives or methods? any input would be appreciated.

 

[fastrd400]

I've used the Purple up, didn't notice anything extra ordinary happening in my tank. The coraline will grow from calcium and lighting. Just have good lights, and keep your calcium up and it will grow naturally. I have heard of using scrapings as well, I have not tried it, but have to assume it would work if you can get it into the rock work and not in the sand bed.

 

[little_fish]

Scrub the coraline that you do have with a toothbrush to spread the spores. Also coraline seems to grow much faster in tanks that have more "blue" lighting.

 

[Lizardgi]

I too have heard that more "blue" lighting will boost coraline.

 

[Northstar24]

Scrub the coraline that you do have with a toothbrush to spread the spores. Also coraline seems to grow much faster in tanks that have more "blue" lighting.

+1 Hannah - I did this in my tank and the corriline took off, now its a pain because it only seems to grow on the glass....

 

[315hottuna61]

i can't get it to grow on my glass - lots on the live rock, tried all of the " tricks ", parameters are good.Keep up the water quality ( i guess blue lights do help, i have good ones)

 

[sen5241b]

People often talk about how important calcium is to grow coralline but they underestimate the importance of alk. Lots of coralline will suck carbonates out of the water more than anything. Keep alk on the high side.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Best thing to do is to just maintain good tank water. Keep up on the water changes and it will start to grow.

 

[Lizardgi]

I've also noticed that high flow areas always have more coraline growing. Try pointing a powerhead at a rock for a few weeks and you will see increased growth on the rock.