How do i grow coraline algae

[jason the filter freak]

I keep getting told not to use purple up, well since I've started my tank there has be no, i mean 0% growth of coraline aglae in my tank. Though I now have a nice coating of neon green stuff from my water being 86 degrees for 2 weeks :( . Installed my controller, haven't seen over 80 since . Anyway as most know I have had pleanty of good lr in my tank since the beginning, just no new growth of the purple stuff... why ?

[Guest 1st tank]

I started with 50 lbs of bleached white base rock. I bought 8 lbs of GARF Grunge and dumped it in the tank about 6 weeks ago. I have lots of purple starting to grow now.

 

It made a heck of a mess for about a week...alot of silt, but that cleared up and the tank is great now.

 

Not sure why they say not to use Purple Up? I was told conflicking advice on buying the Grunge too.

 

I would think that anything that adds more of the good bacteria will be helpful.

[jason the filter freak]

I started with 50 lbs of bleached white base rock. I bought 8 lbs of GARF Grunge and dumped it in the tank about 6 weeks ago. I have lots of purple starting to grow now.

 

That unfortunately isnt an option for me being that my tank is already established with inhabitants

[Guest 1st tank]

I had stuff in there. It didn't bother them. Have you ever looked at the GARF site? www.garf.org The have some good info.

[jason the filter freak]

Not a bad site at all, still I want the purple stuff

[emissary]

Push up your alk... dose kalk for 100% of your makeup water. The coralline will come. I also have some stuff in a black bottle... hmmm magic dust something or ah... I don't remember what it's called. supposed to accelerate the corraline growth, dunno if it does but you're welcome to try it.

 

Oh and make sure your nitrates are low. That means stick with RO/DI water and do frequent partial water changes. But you do all this anyway, yes? :wink:

 

Also see here:

http://www.marinedepot.com/kb/article.aspx?id=10274

[davelin315]

Hey Jason, coralline algae needs a good balance of calcium and alk, just like corals, but what it doesn't need is a ton of light. I didn't pay attention to what kind of lighting you currently have, but if you run a dusk/dawn light that will help coralline algae grow. It utilizes much less light and if you have too much, it simply won't grow. If you are having trouble growing it, ask someone to save whatever coralline algae they scrape off of their glass for you. You can sprinkle this in your tank and help seed the rock a bit more again.

[flowerseller]

If you are having trouble growing it, ask someone to save whatever coralline algae they scrape off of their glass for you. You can sprinkle this in your tank and help seed the rock a bit more again.

As crazy as this might sound to some, Dave's suggestion is not a bad one.

Well, not completly crazy that Dave has a good suggestion, but that seeding can benifit new growth.

 

Also, what is your ALK and CA and now two of us don't know your lighting.

[Guest tgallo]

if you want i have a magical bottle of coraline growth dna strands, this stuff works, ingrediants, patience .

[madmax7774]

This is the first I have ever heard mention of a negative opinion about purple-up. I had the same problem as you Jason, and I bought a bottle of purple-up and used it up over the course of several months. It really kicked the coraline algea growth off in my tank, and I love the stuff. Once I ran out, I was too cheap to go buy more, and the coraline algea in my tank is still going strong. I personally would highly recommend it along with supplementing calcium and alkalinity (B-ionic is my personal favorite.) I also use baking soda to help with a persistant low alkalinity problem in my tank.

John

[flowerseller]

PU is a spiker for ALK and can often cause more trouble for the heavy handed.

 

Most imortantly it does not list contents. For all you know it's "milk of magnessium".

[bigJPDC]

A couple of times a week I use Kent dkh buffer and liquid calc, following the directions on the bottle, and swear I see new purple spots after each time.

 

fwiw, I have seen numerous negative posts on RC about pu.

 

jp

[VicSkimmr]

Chances are that Purple Up is nothing more than pickling lime at 10x the price.

 

 

How long has the tank been set up? It will take it a while to really start growing.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I see Emissary linked you to the MD article, which mentions magnesium. MG needs to be kept within optimum range (along with alk and calc) for coraline to really grow quickly. Coraline is primarily made up of MG - see Randy H-F's article here: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2003/chem.htm

 

Another good read, courtesy of Randy: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

[rrubberbandman]

Purple up is good for mornings after heavy drinking from the previous night.

Jason FF.....

i dont know if you ever seen JHEMMer's tank before he broke it down...but he had awesome growth and followed the guys method, that wrote that book on coral propagation,about using a kalk slurry milkshake.....

BUT YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PH MONITOR TO EVEN TRY THIS!!

Bryan

Edited January 4, 2007 by rrubberbandman

[jason the filter freak]

 

BUT YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PH MONITOR TO EVEN TRY THIS!!

Bryan

 

Can't afford one, thanks for the heads up though

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I've never understood why people like coraline algae.

 

Just a big hassle if you ask me. You can have mine.

 

I know some people feel it inhibits the growth of bad algae...

I for one am not convinced given what I've seen.

 

tmi

[TROLL]

Purple Up is just iodine and calicum

 

Here's my way of boosting coralline algae- Add calicum and iodine on weekly basis, buy live rock rubbles that are heavily coated with coralline then smash them up into grits (use canvas bag) and empty into your system. Turn off the flow for 48 hours to allow for "fragments" to stick to rocks. Make sure you have every bit of fine particle in the system- don't let them dry out.

 

In a month or so, you'll see them colonize everywhere! I have trouble scrapping them off sometime, lol

 

Also, they grow the best under indirect lights so you'll see them popping up in shadow area.