why wont coraline grow on baserock???

[rangerfan]

i have seeded about 30 lbs of rocks from hirocks. i seeded them with some awesome indonesian LR about a year ago when the tank wasa predator tank. since then my main predator mysteriously went belly up about a month ago so i ahve decided to make it a reef tank. my question is the coraline refuses to grow on the hi rocks. i replaced a power head on my sterilizer about 4 months ago and it is covered in the deep crimson coraline and it grows on my back glass but not on these rocks. anyone have any suggestions for why this is???

[jent46bow]

what are your levels? Your sterilizer isent helping, often i find that if I scrape a bunch of coraline off I find it all over from moving around in the water. Well your uv could be killing that algae (if you can't tell I am sorta against uv). You could try keeping slightly high mg and ca levels, I have found that can help coraline. Also maybe more actinic lighting and less 10k or what ever you are using. Coraline is not a huge fan of intense lighting. just what I would do to increase my coraline growth

[Anemonebuff]

Different coralline prefer different light levels. I have different color coralline growing in different areas. The bright pinks grow high up under the intense light, and the dark pink/purple grow lower.

[lillibirdy]

I also bought a couple of swim thru pieces of base rock from Petco. After almost a year, the coralline grows on the rock aaaaaaaall around those two pieces, but not ON them. I have been wondering the same thing. Can't be light or perameters if the rocks adjoing are getting corralline and are set up in the same situation.

[CH]

Well, I added some rock from hirocks back in May when I upgraded from a 29 to a 75. I transfered all my existing rock, and then added 60lbs of the Hirocks. It has taken awile, but it's hard to tell which pieces came from Hirocks, the corraline has covered them very well. I don't add any supplements other than kalkwasser, and weekly water changes. Every month or two I scrape it off the glass, which I think helps it spread to the rest of the tank.

[rangerfan]

i thought that maybe the uv was doing it also but i have coraline growing on the inside and outside of the return pipe,that is fresh sterilized water. i know most people hate them on reef tanks but the tank was a fowlr when i got it and it does amazing things for fowlr tanks although i have seen great reefs with uv's so i am not sold on that concept. could it be that coraline grows on plastic quicker that it does on the rocks.

[jeffbrig]

I can assure you, it's not the rock that's preventing coralline growth. I added about 120 lbs. of hirocks to my tank on 7/24 to add some bulk under nicer LR.

In 4 weeks, coralline was already forming in the areas exposed to bright light.
http://home.comcast.net/~jbrigman/pics/hirocks_5_20_2005.jpg

Today (just 9-10 weeks total in the tank), some of the exposed areas are virtually indistinguishable from the aquacultured LR. Shaded areas look about like the pic above. (I should really try to get some new pics)

The only lights currently running over the tank are a pair of overdriven T5 aquablue lamps. Occasionally I'll also turn on a 250w 10k Ushio for effect, but the tank doesn't have any corals yet, so lighting needs are pretty minimal. When I notice pH, Alk, or Ca are low, I'll drip kalk for a few days. Other than that, the tank has been pretty much left alone.

I agree that the UV sterilizer could be hurting you. One reason I think mine spreads so fast is that it's always growing on the sides (particularly in high flow areas), so when I scrape it, it lands and spreads. The bottom of my tank is also at least 50% covered in coralline.

[rangerfan]

i just remebered something, when the tank was fowlr and only had the hi rocks and no live rock or sterilizer i used some copper once to treat ich could that affect the growth of the coraline on these rocks the tank has been moved twice and is on its second substrate since then but could the copper be in the hi rocks still and affecting coraline growth

[klondar]

Yes, It is quite likly that the copper is still in the rock and it Will inhibit coraline growth. It can also leach back out and affect you inverts.

-Glen

[jeffbrig]

Copper can/will cause problems down the road. For just 30 lbs. of rock, I think I'd pull it and buy new to avoid future losses.

[rangerfan]

how long do you think it will leach out for, the tank is still fowlr but wont be for long, and that was probably 20 months ago at least when i put the copper in

[JaMan]

I agree, copper is the problem with your tank. But can anyone explain why Coralline grows better on our tank walls than the rocks?? Is it Murphys' Law or what??

[jeffbrig]

rangerfan, I don't think anyone knows the answer to that with any certainty.

JaMan, if you look at where the coralline grows most on my tank, it grows fastest opposite my stream pumps where the heavy flow hits the side. That can't just be a coincidence.

[mbunaman]

I agree with Jeff I noticed that to when you mentioned it. The rocks that get more flow have greater growth of coraline than the rocks with little flow. Good Point Jeff it all makes sense.