Best Way to Seed Coraline Algae

What is the best way to seed dry base rock w/coralline algae assuming all parameters are good to grow it? One of the reasons I went with dry base rock was to avoid potential unwanted critters, but it seems to seed the rock with coralline I would need to put a small piece of LR with it in my tank, potentially introducing something I don't want. Also, if I get a piece of LR from the LFS, do I still need to cure that small piece of rock?

 

Putting a rock in your tank will work of course as well as many snails have it on their shells.
You could just ask the store to scrape some off for you.

 

You definitely need to have some coralline in the tank for it to spread..If you never introduce any you won't ever get any .No ,you will not have to cure a piece of LR that came out of an established tank from your LFS..Make sure it has some good coralline on it and then get a razor blade and scrape it all into your tank and let the shavings just go where they may.You don't even need to put the rock in.Keep calcium up and it will grow.

 

I started my current tank with all dry rock hoping to avoid coralline. lol. When I ordered my CuC, a few snails had it on their shells. Hermits started picking at it, and voila! My tank is polluted with it. As mentioned, scrapings will work- in fact will spread it faster.

 

Yeah, It's annoying. The only good thing is if your rocks are covered it's harder for various algaes,dinos to find a spot to take root.

 

So from some of ur guys responses, you think it's better to not have any coralline to begin with? I always like the purple look of it, but is there a downside to having it?

 

Personally i wanted it and tried like crazy to get it..Nice purple covered rock always looks better than drab browns and tans IMO..
I'm glad i finally got it to grow ..Its not a problem on the glass for me either.

 

I like it on my rocks to keep algae from forming but the trade off is constantly cleaning it off glass. Given a choice I'll take the coraline and just deal with it.

 

Nothing really "bad" about it, just personal preference. It does look nice and provides a little variety for some fish and critters, but it's a pain to keep off the front glass. You almost always end up with it, anyway.

 

Basically coralline is very similar to sps.It uses calcium,Magnesium, and Alk. from the water meaning the more you have the more it will consume.