Coraline Theory.

[RyanG]

I have a theory that pink/puple is the hardest of the coraline colors. I have been scrapong yellow, magenta, lite green and white coraline off of my new tank today. It all comes off easy except the freaking pinkish purple stuff! That crab broke a razor! Anyone have any idea why that is the hardest color to remove?

 

[cthegame]

Yup the purple stuff is a pain.

 

[Doc]

purple is the hardest it seems, but it is all difficult to manage. if you run a mag-float every day, it doesn't show up on the glass at all

-Doc

 

[RyanG]

: ( its still dry. Long hanled razor scraper is the best I can do so I dont scratch the glass to piss.

 

[daugherty]

get the tank wet and try to remove it while it is wet like fill the tank half up with water. it may come off easier with water.

 

[fatman]

If the tank is dry just use some hydrchloric acid. Wear gloves. It is avaialble at hardware stores or ready mix concrete plants. Coraline algae is a calcium using algae, that is why it is hard. Calcium carbonate and aragonite both fizz and dissolve when contacted by an acid. If using the acid bothers you then use vinegar which softens it right up as vinegar is a dilute weaker acid. It is acetic acid.

 

[Gooseman]

Thats all good if your tank is empty but what if you have a fully stocked tank? Just use the ole scraper and good ole fashioned elbow grease??

 

[reeffreak]

Thats why I said not to bother scaping the purple coralline off.Once you add water,it will turn white and flake off,becoming part of the sand bed.

 

[new2marinetanks]

please forgive s newbie question, but what exactly is coralin algae and what is the difference with that stuff and the grenn hair kind?

 

[reeffreak]

Coralline algae is in most cases a desirable encrusting algae.You see it first on the live rock you purchase.Later on it will be on the glass,powerheads and the inlets/outlets of power filters.It comes in many shades from purple,pink,maroon,orange and more.The most common is the pink and purple encrusting kind.Hair algae on the other hand is a nuisance algae.I suppose it got its nickname because it looks like green hair.

 

[RyanG]

Coraline is a hard calcium based algae. If you have seen any established tanks it the pink or purple round spots you see on plastic items and usually the backwall of the tank. Its also the stuff that make live rock look like its different colors