coralline growth?

My tank currently has started to show seemingly green spots of coralline on the glass all over....I can't seem to get the pink/purple increased. Is the green just the beginning? I've tried scraping and seeding with coralline from some rocks and snails but no luck. Could my high nitrates be inhibiting coralline growth? Some of my rock does have some light purple coralline but I'd really like to see some deep purple start up. Ideas? I do use GFO and carbon......

 

I was in the same boat as you were several months back over the summer. All of a sudden, it took off, covering everything it could touch. Keep you parameters stable, stay on top of your water changes and it should come. Phosphate can inhibit growth, or so I'm told.

What are your calc., alk. and mag. levels, btw?

Good luck.

 

I have some green, red and purple coralline, I've actually heard it can be blue as well. Green seemed to be the first I grew as well' hopefully the purple will come for you. I would definitely look into your phosphate issue thgh as it can lead to bad algae problems ( trust me it was not fun, finally under control though )

 

Sometimes it takes time for it to establish. How long has the tank been running?

 

15 years. I don't have tests for mag. I haven't tested calcium for a while. My KH test kit showed between 11 and 12 when I tested about 2 weeks ago.

 

I believe that elevated magnesium levels help encourage coraline algae growth.I a use TM Bio Magnesium to reach the Mg level that I want. In addition to magnesium, it is also important to make sure that the calcium and alkalinity are all in check within the system. Don't forget to test for everything that you dose in your tank.

 

ok, thanks!

 

Careful with additives. You don't need them. What sort of lighting are you running?

 

im in the same boat, my reef is 1 month old and is starting to grow a LOT of green coralline and a little bit of purple... wondering if the purple will overtake the green....i hope so. anyone know if green is a precursor to purple coralline?

 

In my experience, no. It is not. Typically, those who run a ton of lighting always have problems with the pinks, purples and especially blues. Greens are no problem. The darker pink, purple and blue coralline's are low light algae, so folks that run overkill halides and VHO's often have issues getting it to grow.