Live Rock And The Things That Are On It

[yellow tang]

I have a 40 gallon sw tank, it is run by using a 3 stage bio wheel filter. I want to get live rock to put in my tank, I love the way it looks, plus, the fish look more natural in this setting. I've been looking at pictures of live rock and reading about it, they always say it is covered with colorful coralline alage, sponges ect.... Do I need to have high powered lights like the ones for the reef tanks to keep the sponges and coralline alage ect.... living. Or can I just stick with what I'm using. (simple hood with regular lights) I am going to use fake corals to puy in between the pieces of live rock to make it look more realistic. The real corals and lights are too much for my wallet to handle. By the way, tank conditions are excellent. I am not going to fill the tank with live rock, just enough for the visual effect.

[yellow tang]

also will be adding a skimmer later

[fsn77]

Coralline algae can grow under low light conditions without a problem. Depending on the insenity of the lighting the rock with coralline was subjected to prior to getting to you, some or even most of it might die back as it adjusts to your lower lighting. It'll come back though, as long as you keep adequate calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity levels. Regular water changes are enough to keep up with magnesium levels for a lot of people, but you'll need to test and add calcium and alkalinity buffer as results show necessary. As for lighting, if you have a fixture that can take multiple bulbs, switch out one of the two (or 2 of the 4) of them with an actinic bulb(s) (coralline algae likes blue light). If that makes your tank look too purple / blue for your liking, there's 50/50 bulbs available that have a more white appearance (50% daylight / 50% actinic). The actinic part of the 50/50 bulbs wears out faster than the daylight part, so I'd suggest keeping on a regular replacement schedule (time varies based on the type of fixture you have -- T12, T8, power compact, etc.).
Sponges don't need any light at all as they filter feed.
Nothing personal, but I'd forego putting fake corals in your tank if you want coralline algae. It'll grow wherever it can and once it takes hold, it'll cover the fake corals. It sounds like you could spend the money better on other items (like the skimmer you want to add).

[Sonicblast12]

How long does it take for coraline to show up? My rock seems to be as bare as the day I put it in. (But, it's only been a month) I saw a product called purple-up, would that do anything, or is it a waste of money?

[fsn77]

Depending on lighting, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium levels, and how much of it you started with, it takes up to 2 months for it to get going (in 3 - 5 months it can cover just about everything). That is, of course, if there was any on the rock when you bought it. If you have none at all, you can get coralline scrapings from another tank (lfs or a friend) and use the scrapings to seed your rock. Once it gets going, we all end up scraping it off at least parts of the glass, so it shouldn't be a problem to get scrapings from a tank that's been running 6+ months (unless they have high intensity metal halides and it's too bright for the coralline to grow).

Keeping calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity levels in-line with individual products is going to provide greater long term success than using a product like Purple Up. Purple Up is essentially an all-in-one product, which probably has its place for some of us, but I wouldn't use it. Depending on what test results show for your tank, it could be adding something you don't need (like excess carbonate / alkalinity). I know people that have used it and seen many posts ranting about how well it worked, but there is the possibility of throwing your water chemistry out of whack with the continued use of an all-in-one product like this. After having problems maintaining proper calcium levels, a friend was advised (by someone other than me that has much more experience and knowledge) that his continued use of Purple Up was part of the problem (and he was better off dosing individual products as needed). He stopped using Purple Up, started dosing individual products as they were needed, and he no longer has water chemistry problems. IMO, money is better spent on the individual products themselves and allows you to add only what you need when you need it.

[Hummer_Mechanic]

i found a product called B-Ionic. it worked really well for me keeping my levels perfect and my coraline went crazy.maybe it could help you,

[Fishieness]

i found a product called B-Ionic. it worked really well for me keeping my levels perfect and my coraline went crazy.maybe it could help you,
ipersonaly wouldnt bother using any Ca/ALK suppliments unless your levels are low...
also, i would suggest, if you are goign for a realistic look, dont add fake corals...trust me.... it doesnt look realistic :dance2: