corraline growth?

plantman1028

plantman1028

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Dec 3, 2003
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sewell,new jersey
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Does anyone know the best lighting for corraline to grow?My girlfriend has a 29g that i set up like four months ago and is loaded with nice purple,green and pink corraline.She has 2 20w actinics and 2 20w 20k no flourescent bulbs.My 55g has 390w of pc lighting with 3 actinic 65w and 3 10k 65w and i have some corralline but nothing like my girls tank.Her powerheads,skimmer tube,glass and rock are COVERED in it.Even her blue legs and snails shells are all purple.My water quality is excellent with 0 everything and my ph is 8.2 and ca is 440.Can anyone help?Thanks guys....THIS SITE ROCKS!!!!
 
Does your girldfriends tank have any animal that grazes the coralline? My tank with urchins has lots more coralline than the tank without them. Of course, some types don't do as well with high lights, either--I've seen a drop in the purple coralline since putting on MH, but the red plate and the green are growing rapidly.
 
Orion, don't some urchins eat coraline algae?? Maybe her calcium levels are very stable with all the equpment on a small tank?
 
Yes, the urchins do eat the coralline. This activity results in lots of tiny flakes that float off, settle, and start growing. IMO, it stimulates good growth, as long as calcium levels and such are appropriate.
 
High calcium, high alkalinity, high current, a good amount of blue light, and anything that breaks off flakes of coralline to float in the current. You can do it with your fingernail or a toothbrush if need be. The tank shouldn't be super heavily skimmed, so that there is some extra nutrition for the algae.
 
are there any other animals that will graze the algae? preferably animals that would fit in a 5.5g tank? :rolleyes:
 
From what I read is actinic spectrum, but not exessive, is best. Most coralline growth is stunted if too much lighting is present. What type of filtering are the tanks using? I've heard that mechanical filtering can filter the spores that spread coralline growth. You also have to start with good coralline encrusted live rocks, preferably from several sources. Read here for lots of info and links about coralline: http://www.garf.org/coralline.html
 
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