Coralline Growth

i dont think your lights are strong enough, coraline will take over the tank with strong lighting. even the type of lighting matters, do you have the same brand name on both tanks? magnesium and maganese feed coraline, try dosing seachem reef produts. another thing you can do is put crushed oyster shells in the tank, coraline will start on the oyster shells.

 

ive had the same issue.i dont know what it is.i get lilttle spots here and there but nothing big.

 

is this the same stuff?
CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand 40 lb (Saltwater Aquarium Supplies > Substrates > Dry Sand )

will this help with coralline growth?

 

its not the same stuff but its close to what i have in my tank. my sand literally came from the ocean floor. how is your other tank set up as far as lights, sand, filtration. is it the same as the other one?

 

Ok now I have a ? I have lots of green coraline algea it just never turns pink or purple and everything tests pretty close to purfect. Owe and I am running 400 watt halides with 14000k bulbs

 

Lights? That must be the differance?

 

I use a great product, Purple Up and also dose Seachem Calcium, strontium, iodine, trace elements ,and alk every week or so. look for those supplements at your LFS or read about purple up online. works great for me. corraline growing on every shell and rock and plastic thing. tank is 11 months old.

 

In the large display I have 6 -54w T5's which include the following combination:
Blue Plus
UVL Super Actinic
ATI Pro Color
ATI Aquablue
GE 6500K Daylight
UVL 75/25
Blue Plus
Aquablue

We also dose with Calcium, Alkalinity Buffer, Iodine, and Strontium(Yep, I test for all of these, LOL)...The Corraline has completly encrusted the back of the tank and all 160 lbs of LR...It would do the same to the sides and front if I didnt scrape a few times a week.

It appears that the 29 parameters are in check but to no avail....I know magnesium plays a big part in the growth as well ad iodine for the coloration..I have spoke to many folks and have done my research and I have found that a lot of light is not required, I know that Corraline grows in Deep Sea reefs where there is little, if any light...

We are also using Caribsea sand along with reef rubble, which includes crushed oyster shells....
I will keep plugging away...Thanks for everyones comments...
Any other thoughts? They are greatly appreciated...
8)

 

My salinity was 1.026 like you and I had little to no coralline growth. Try adding more freshwater to bring it back down to 25 or 24 and that should help. (RO/DI)

On a side note, since my tank is small like yours (29g) and I have sufficient live rocks, I have never done a water change yet. My nitrates remain at 0.3, coralline is almost completely covering the powerhead and spots are growing on the glass, it is sort of mysterious how this stuff grows, but usually messing with stuff and doing unnecessary water changes prevents it! If your nitrates are over 20-30+ then you should water change, but if you have 0 NO3 and do a water change you are depriving the algae (including coralline) of food. (in my opiinion, everyones tank's different)

 

Cool, David...Good stuff...8)