I Want More Coraline!!!

[aberg12012]

Looking for any tips, hints, or suggestions. I currenly have almost no coraline, except for a bit on my powerheads and other plastic surfaces. My Fiji LR looks terrible IMO, because there is very little purple coraline. So here are my "perameteres."

Lighting: Right now 96w PC 10,000k, 96w actinic (that sucks)
36" NO Fixture, one 20,000k, one actinic (that looks FAR
better than the PC actinic.)

I have ordered another 10,000k bulb to replace the 96
watt actinic, along with a reflector to set up my 2x65
watt PC actinics, which are far more actinic than my 96
watt bulb. I'm hoping the upgrade in lighting will help.

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all 0, PH is a bit high at 8.6+ which I'm trying to correct. Salinity is 1.025, temp is usually around 78-80.

I use Instant Ocean salt, and do water changes at least monthly, along with addition of Kent's Liquid Calcium. I have no calcium test kit, so I'm not sure on these levels, which would probably be helpful to know. I used to dose Kent's Liquid Reactor, thinking it would help the coraline, but it only seemed to spike my PH.

I used to use tap water, but got a RO filter a while back, and have done about 3 25% changes with it. Although this has stopped any problems with cyano, it seems like it's also stopped any coraline growth? Would it help to use a product like Kent's OSMO Prep? I was told that any artificial salt mix gives the water all the trace elements needed.

I realize there is no magic answer... but if anyone has had luck with certain products, lighting, or change in perameters I would like to hear about it.

Thanks

[eums]

what are your Ca,Alk,and Mg levels ? i am using IO salts and i have coraline up the yeah. i have to scrape the glass every week or 2 or else i have massive patches everywhere on the glass.

the only think i add is Kalkwasser(raise CA) and baking soda (raise ALK). my mg stays 1300-1400ish with bi weekly water changes. i set up a 10 gal tank plumbed inline and have no cleen the glass for about 2 months and maybe 25% of the glass is covered in coraline. the stuff needs to stop growing in my tank.

[looser]

Also check your phosphates. They should be almost undetectable. I had the same "problem" until I used a phosphate sponge and added a refugium. Then the stuff started growing literally over night. Now I curse it every time I need to scrape my acrylic tank. Have some patience and be careful what you wish for:)

[Sharpy]

Try scrubbing any that you do have with a toothbrush. That's suppose to spread the spores.

[Jim in santa barbara]

See if you can score a nice piece of already coralined rock and smash it into a million pieces, then "seed" your tank with the rubble. Works great. Leave your filter off while it settles.

[AnnArborBuck]

You can put a heavily encrusted piece in front of a powerhead to help spread spores. I have also noticed the coraline likes flow so you can look into blasting areas till the coraline grows, then blast somewhere else.

[Bamm Bamm]

drip Kalk at nighttime for topoff. You'll see lots of coraline after bit..

[Frick-n-Frags]

I do exactly the same stuff eums does (IO, kalk, baking soda) and I have the same problems with coralline on the glass :D

[Anemone]

What size tank, BTW?

I had almost no coralline growth for the first couple of years. I was using Seachem's calcium, reefbuilder, and a couple of other supplements. I used C-Balance (a two part additive) for most of a year - still no coralline. Then I switched to B-Ionic (another two part additive). All of a sudden (within a month) I had coralline growing throughout the tank. Dunno, worked for me.

In general, I'd suggets three test kits: calcium, alkalinity, and phosphate. Raising the calcium and alkalinity and lowering the phosphate generally help increase coralline growth.

Dripping kalk (at night to help with the pH spike) helps precipitate out phosphate and increase calcium and alkalinity - so it goes a long way toward the above goals (but without the test kits, you won't be able to figure out how far from ideal you are).

BTW, I heartily recommend Salifert test kits for the above.

FWIW,
Kevin

[aberg12012]

Ok thanks everyone. One more question though...

My ph is 8.0 in the morning, and 8.6 in the afternoon. I'm worried that if I drip kalk, it'll cause my PH in the afternoon to become even higher. Is this true? Or will it simply even the PH swing out? According to the cheep test I have, my Alk is "normal" which probably means nothing.

Thanks Again
Alan

[Frick-n-Frags]

Drip kalk at night when the system is producing CO2 and the pH is down. During the day, there is more oxygen in the water which raises the pH. If you use baking soda as buffer for alk, dose that in the afternoons because it wants to pull the pH down to 8.0
and you can get a routine going where your additions counteract the natural daily pH cycles.

Also, if you have high enough alk and too low of Ca, spike your calcium with calcium chloride one time to raise calcium to >380, then go back to dosing kalk for maintenance. If it backslides and you have been adding as much kalk as possible without raising the pH any higher, then dose again to bring it up.

You will have to horse around with all this a bit to get it dialled in just right for your setup. Having a decent alk, Ca and pH test will also help you immensely(like Salifert etc) good luck, have fun

[Capt.Dave]

The most explosive growth of coralline I have had was when I ran a calcium reactor. It became a real problem, coving all sides of my acrylic tank, just walls of coralline.

[ravenmore]

add a little magnesium now and again - I add 30 ml every other day in my 60 gal. Also, get your alk up in the 12 to 14 dkh range. Bluer light seems to help. I run 20000k bulbs...

-Mike

[kwtowmaster]

try oceans blend additive works great for me