Hi everyone, I have a whole crap load of corraline algea that has accumulated over the years. at first I was happy because of the beautiful bright purple color... but now it has completely encrusted my live rock and is starting to go for the back of the tank. Right now it looks ugly because there are these purple blotches... so my question is what do you guys do with them? do you scrape them off? or just keep them there? honestly, I think it is a pain in the butt scraping them off.... so are there any ways of controlling growth?
coralline algae good? i think??
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i am a noob so dont take my word as total truth
from everything i have read coralline algae is beneficial and as far as it getting on the glass almost every tank i have seen pictures of posted on the various forums has had coralline algae all over the back glass
from everything i have read coralline algae is beneficial and as far as it getting on the glass almost every tank i have seen pictures of posted on the various forums has had coralline algae all over the back glass
I only clean the front of my tank and let the coraline grow on the other three sides. The only exception is when I remove the powerheads to clean the of the coraline, I will scrape the mounting area....but that is it. I really like the way it looks, the patterns and colors of the algae itself. For the most part, my blue tuxedo urchin keeps it in check.
I also like it becuase I always believed (as a noobie) that it was a sign of health and maturity of the tank.
I also like it becuase I always believed (as a noobie) that it was a sign of health and maturity of the tank.
It's good stuff (or should I say, it's not bad). It actually is a sign of a healthy tank. By the way, everytime you scrap, you are spreading it all over the place. For a little variety, find a fellow reefer who has a different color and take some scrapings from their tank and introduce it into yours....yellows, purples, blues...a rainbow of color on your back glass and LR.
I love the coraline all over my tank. I just leave it and let it go all over the rocks as well. At the LFS a 1 pound rock goes for $3 the same rock covered in coraline is $10
Do what you want and think looks nice. It is in no way beneficial, as it doesn't do anything. It does use up Ca and ALK, and depending how fast it is growing, will actually use up some of your supply. It is just a sign of balanced ALK and Ca levels. If you don't like it, scrape it, if you do, don't. It honestly doesn't matter one bit.
