Coraline algae

Sounds like your tank is in pretty good shape. If you have some started, it won't take long for the rest of the rock to be covered. But, I'm not sure you can put an exact time on it...will depends on the calcium demand on your tank, how often you dose or change water, etc.

 

No don't mess with it. It will do its own thing without that. Never heard of that actually..

 

yeah just leave things be. You will have more then you want before you know it.

 

To spread it faster, you can take some nicely covered areas and scrape off some of the coralline into a dish with some tank water. Turn off the return pump and release the 'fines' in the tank and the flow will blow it throughout the tank so it will settle on the rocks. When it's settled, turn the return pump back on. ;=)

 

Usually higher alkalinity will speed up the growth

 

Would purple up help him here?

 

A pencil urchin depending on what else in in the tank can also ramp up coralline growth.

 

purple up is calcium.

 

Dont they eat coralline?

 

yes it does.

 

in my opinion purple up didnt do much for me at all. I got the best results from scheduled water changes and good lighting.

 

Yep, they eat all sorts of stuff off the rocks, when they eat coraline the coralline "dust" then settles all over the tank and the growth really increases, much faster than 1 urchin could eat it. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/satisfied.gif Fun to watch but not safe for every tank, use with caution! 

 

7 dKH is too low. Unless your running biopellets, shoot for 9. If you want to spread your coralline algae around, simply scrape your glass. It will form on the glass, and when you scrape if off, it dissipates throughout the tank and lands in new areas to attach and grow.

--AJ

 

beware, it will also start to grow on your glass much quicker like this