Why my tank never have Coralline

gunnwong · #1 10/07/2007, 09:50 PM

I have 60g + 30g sump, my tank is about 3 years old now. I don't know why my tank never have Coralline on the back of the tank like most of the tank I see. I notic that my tank have a lot of small starfish all over the place. I heard from somewhere that starfish eat Coralline is that true? If I kill all starfish then my tank would grow Coralline? Maybe should I buy harlequin Shrimp? What do you guys think? I have a lot of coral in my tank so I don't think calcium is the problem here. I always keep up with the calcium, magnesium, stodium and Iodine.

Thank you

chaffey · #2 10/07/2007, 10:03 PM

I used to have problem with coraline too, but recently coralines are taking over.

calcium at 450-500 alk 10-12 lot of flow most of them are in the back wall, I noticed that once my tank temp. got to 84...some died off.

coast2coast7390 · #3 10/07/2007, 10:20 PM

astrena (sp?) starfish dont usually eat coraline algae...too tough...is there coraline on your rock...if so just wait it will eventually take to growing on the walls...if you dont have any coraline then fine a rock that has some either from a local reefer or a LFS...you cant have coraline unless there is some already in your tank...i wish that this was true for all algaes...lol

xoshagsox · #4 10/07/2007, 10:23 PM

harlequin Shrimp wont take care of your starfish. they dont eat the starfish, they eat the suction cups of larger starfish.

If you want coraline on the back of your tank, you should have a decent amount of seeded coraline in your tank and then have good flow.

coast2coast7390 · #5 10/07/2007, 11:01 PM

they will take care of them
my LFS put in a harlquin shrimp pair and they took care of that 300gal tank in about a week and a half

mcclandy · #6 10/07/2007, 11:11 PM

you ever try purple up? i never have.

coast2coast7390 · #7 10/07/2007, 11:27 PM

i heard that that product is...for a lack of a better word a piece of poo
i like liquid reactor better

gunnwong · #8 10/07/2007, 11:35 PM

I did try purple up, and it not working for me. I did not know what harlequin Shrimp only eat suction cup of the starfish, I thought they yeat the whole starfish??

PasadenaReefer · #9 10/07/2007, 11:35 PM

Well like people have stated previously, you need some sort of coraline present in the tank for it to start Growing i have lots of small little pieces of rock with DARK purple coraline you can have and maybe use a knife or scisors to kinda scrape some off to get it dispersed through the tank thats a good way to get it around too.

gunnwong · #10 10/07/2007, 11:38 PM

I have some on my rock already but the problem is it not grown on the back wall of the tank.

coast2coast7390 · #11 10/07/2007, 11:49 PM

it takes a while its not one of those over the night things...be patient

PasadenaReefer · #12 10/07/2007, 11:50 PM

he said three years man, LOL theres no such thing as patient after that!!! blah! im not positive what it is then? Maybe someone else will chime in and give you more ideas.

gunnwong · #13 10/07/2007, 11:54 PM

yes it been THREE years, that why I have to ask some of the people with more experience here. I heard that starfish eat coralline, is that true?? Or what else do they eat? I have so many in my tank.

coast2coast7390 · #14 10/08/2007, 12:01 AM

it takes a while for it to really take off...what about lighting, water params, alk that kind of stuff

gunnwong · #15 10/08/2007, 12:13 AM

As I said before it been about 3 years so if it going to take off sometime soon that would be great. I use T5 light so it should be ok. I have only 4 fish in the tank, 2 clown, wrasses, tang(really small one). I don't know about alk but I have some zoo, kenya tree, ric, and some other softy, oh I have one sps and it doing great(birdnest). So I think my water par. should be good. I only check calcium and I usually maintain cal at around 420 to 450.
thanks

gunnwong · #16 10/08/2007, 12:14 AM

I use B-ionic 2 solution. I think it help balance alk and cal, if I'm not mistake.

PasadenaReefer · #17 10/08/2007, 12:15 AM

Try dosing some liquid calcium, because Coraline grows quicker with more calcium in the water, or at least it worked for me. I dosed Kent liquid calcium for a month and my rocks got purple within a couple months 2-3

gunnwong · #18 10/08/2007, 12:37 AM

I use B-ionic and purple up(is it the same as liquid calcium?), so I think my calcium is not a problem here. I also notic that I have a lot of snail in my tank. Is snail eat coralline? I also notic that all 4 sid of my tank are most of the time clean, sometime they have some green algie grown but it usually clear within a day or two.

PasadenaReefer · #19 10/08/2007, 12:56 AM

No your snails arent eating it, Im not sure why its not multiplying and spreading throughout your tank. Maybe someone will have a solution i gave u all the pointers i "know", Good luck!

codybug · #20 10/08/2007, 01:22 AM

I also cannot get ANY coraline algae to grow either. My tank has been running for two years. I've tried everything (lighting, flow, purple up, etc.). I also have alot of small starfish - I'm thinking its them eating it too.

sandman450f · #21 10/08/2007, 01:25 AM

Without being so definitive, I would say that likely alkalinity is some if not all of the issue. Coralline in the right environement will spread like wildfire, absolutley no patience required, as its a darn pest. I do know that particular types of materials are more or less susceptible to conlonization possibly due to films, chemical leaching and even perhaps porousity. I dont think you need to maintain alk at to high of levels just for coralline but I know when I had a dip to somethin like 6 or so I had a fair amount of die off. If you could id suggest check yours and raise it to at least 8 and I'd be willing to bet youd be surprised to see how fast it takes off. Keep in mind that doisng something like b-ionic is to maintain levels and will be virtually impossible to raise the levels significantly like that. Use something like saliferts DKH to raise it

** Oh yeah, the lower the phosphates the better, and If I'm not mistaken strontium is also a factor. I wouldnt suggest dosing but regular water changes with decent salt will help maintain sufficient levels, as will also help with minimize dkh issues.

SuperNerd · #22 10/08/2007, 01:33 AM

Asterina are usually harmless. If they're sucking on a coral then take them out but usually when they stick themselves to the rock or anything hard they are usually ingesting the microalgae algae growing on the rock. If they're on the inside walls of your tank you can sometimes see them digesting algae. Their stomach pops out- it looks like a tannish colored circle underneath the star.

I may have missed it...but exactly what are the OP's parameters?

nava405 · #23 10/08/2007, 02:25 AM

do you have those light green or bronw algae constantly growning on the back of your tank ? if so, that could be the problem. My coraline algae used to grow like crazy when the tank first set up for the first 2 months, but after those green brown algae start growning over it , the coraline just stop growning. Also if those light brown/green algae are covering the back wall, the coraline would probably have hard time to grown over those cuz snails would just eat it off b4 you can see the the coraline algae.

right now i just clean off those green/brown algae every few days, i can see the coraline are starting to grow on the back of my tank .

bromion · #24 10/08/2007, 02:27 AM

Do you use kalkwasser? Give it a shot. I have always had fantastic coralline growth, and I (probably falsely) attribute it to my lighting (20kK MH) and use of kalk. I also use Tropic Marin salt. Maybe that helps.

I would forget about the starfish. Certainly don't buy harlequin shrimp to eat them. Those things are voracious and will die in short order after they kill all their prey.

rkcca · #25 10/08/2007, 09:10 AM

Check to see if your magnesium levels are close to NSW. Mg makes a huge difference in coralline growth.