coralline growth?

There are a lot of factors, low light is one of many. It can grow under any light, however, in intense light, it seems more likely to be overgrown by green algae whenever nutrients rise a bit. Also, some of the deeper purples are deep water species though, so, do better under dim light for sure. Some of the pinks can come from more shallow water and seem to do okay under brighter light, but again need certain conditions, in many ways, similar to that needed of SPS corals. There are other factors though that are all quite important. Time is a big one too, as it will often do best in a stable, low-nutrient environment. More so however, likely surfaces need to be transformed by biological processes to support colonization. Some of these processes are a black box that we don't really understand. I can say though, I've had dozens of tanks though, and all, once stable have all eventually had nuisance levels of coralline regardless. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes 6+ months in many tanks though, I agree all tanks are different and some support colonization sooner, and others latter, but if you follow the recommendations in this thread, you'll eventually feel coralline is a PITA like the rest of us

 

AGAIN: What COLOR lights? All whites? All 50-50's? What?

You folks are saying "lights" like there's only one spectrum of it available. It's not just the wattage, it's the spectrum. A little more info rather than getting all bent out of shape would help.

For the record, I've got pinks, purples and blues...and I run two 40 watt bulbs. One 50-50, one 03 actinic over my 55. The lights run 8 hours per day. No additives, no sump, no nothing. Just RODI water, Kent Marine Salt, a couple of power heads, a small hang on skimmer and an old Whisper 3 back hanging filter.

 

I don't see anywhere here where people have gotten bent out of shape. I've heard people give observations of their own experiences and helpful advice as well as knowledge. I noted before what lights I had and their run cycle. I am very happy to hear that you've had great luck with coralline in your set up. As people have said, each tank can be unique and what works in one system may not work in another. It's good to find out what variables may be important in trying to encourage more coralline - the point of the original question. I've gotten some good advice from several posts.

 

This seems to be one of those " more than one way to skin a cat" threads.

My tank runs a 150w MH, not a ton of light. There have been periods when it lush with coralline and periods when coralline struggled.

Personally I believe the moon has to be in the 7th house and Jupiter aligned with Mars.

Many variables involved IMO all you can do is provide decent parameters with the big 3, water changes for trace elements and monitor for coralline eating critters.

 

"Personally I believe the moon has to be in the 7th house and Jupiter aligned with Mars."

Coralline, I will have to wait a bit it seems I wonder who on here knows this line?

 

Very few I am sure.

Or where the phrase originated from.


Hint:

 

First, there are literally thousands of species of coralline. So, you can't ever say this is the "magical" formula, because, even if they look nearly identical, your actually talking about thousands of different organisms, that come from numerous and sometimes drastically different environments. I'm not sure where people are getting bent out of shape, it seems we can give some general guidelines that help though and that's what we've tried to do here. I guess I'm sorry we don't know all the answers? LOL.

As far as spectrum, most evidence shows corals algae etc... can adjust to spectrum. There is lots of talk recently about spectrum with regards to corals especially. And sure, corals algae ect... may have a "preference" for certain colors, but that doesn't mean the organisms can't use other spectrum. "Most" marine organisms will be adapted to blue light, as that is the dominant spectrum in the ocean. I've actually found coralline grows great under dimmer yellow light, maybe a little better even, but grows fine under blue too and even bright blue if everything else is optimal. Out of all of the factors mentioned, spectrum, IMO, is not a critical one. super-low nutrients (especially phosphate), ca, and alk, time are the critical ones.

Also, although much less understood, physical and chemical surface adhesion properties seem to be really critical. It's well known that some surfaces such as plastics, seem to grow coralline readily, others, such as dry rock don't and require significant time (often 6+ months of optimal conditions) for coralline to really take off. It is almost certainly that the surfaces require significant modulation by biofilms before coralline will begin to adhere to it. These processes are becoming better understood in recent years, but are still very difficult to study so, you won't find definitive answers....

 

Geeze, it was at the end of the movie 40 Year Old Virgin, probably more know than you think LOL.

 

LOL -forgot about that movie

 

This is probably dry humor on m2434 part, I can only hope.

Think 1979 and a play.