Explained: How I Get So Much Coralline Algae

[@rustyshackleford234]

I had A LOT of coralline algae in my old tank. Almost all of my rocks were purple! Unfortunately my dad forced me to sell the tank after a huge freeze here in Texas killed everything… I really want to try again.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Brutal, I hope you get back into the hobby. Hate when disasters like that knock people out of reefkeeping.

[@ten4tango]

I think its your stable parameters and trace elements via the auto water changes and Kalk. From what I;ve experience over the years is the pink variety likes moderate white light and the purple variety prefers low bluer light. My Acro tank is a shallow 65 with high light and it doesn't grow almost any Coraline. It gets 2 ml/min of Kalk and 60mls a day of two part. I kinda want to set up an auto water system next.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Very possible. I think I’ve got a fast-growing strain too. Highly suggest an auto WC system. Such a good investment long term. Hurts the wallet in the short term though 😂

[@StNovaSt]

For most early tanks, the secret lies in Kalkwasser. The brightness of the light and the spectrum has a lot to do with it as well depending on the strain but I’ve almost always seen a correlation between Kalkwasser and abundant coralline growth. Has something to do with the molecular composition and balance I believe.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Another follower of mine seemed to believe there was a strong link, as well. I love running kalk. I recommend it to everyone. So many benefits.

[@StNovaSt]

@@kalamazoo_reefer I think everything should be added to kalk after. I feel like it should be the basis on which we add two part or a calcium reactor, after it has reached max capacity

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

@@StNovaSt That’s exactly my thought process. It should probably just be the standard advice in the hobby. Kalkwasser served as the “foundation” or “base” dosing, and once you need more alk and cal, you start two-parting in small amounts on top of your kalk dose.

[@mikesaquachannel2317]

I agree too. My first tank had good coraline growth. It actually deteriorated when I added led lights. Before there was just T5 and T8s, blue and white. I don't think it's led in particular, but more the spectrum plus water quality. I was also running kalk. Big believer in kalk here too

[@DeIicateFynn]

I've never had much coralline growth, but I've always had beautiful reef tanks. I've mad the decision to paint my new aqua scape purple. I think that would be really cool

[@rolisreefranch]

I've always run kalk, but the only time I ever had talk like your is when I was running it in my ATO which I don't anymore. Now I only dose at night via a dosing pump.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Mine is dosed via pump too. Might be the strain of coralline, and I just got lucky!

[@maceysdaddy5150]

Nice video! I found the PAR in the tank has an impact as well. At higher par it doesn’t grow as fast. I have 400-600 PAR over my acros and the coralline grows thicker in lower par. IME!

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

My PAR tops out at 300 at the very top, so this would track!

[@duberollinup3452]

Whats your PH you must be holding 8.3 solid day and night to get that growth.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

I ramp my kalk dosing so that like 80% of it doses during the night, when pH goes down. I cycle between 8.2 and 8.4. So yeah, averaging about 8.3 lol, astute observation, friend.

[@duberollinup3452]

@@kalamazoo_reefer Thanks buddy hope your having a good day!

[@georgelaiacona111]

In my first tank, destroyed unfortunately by a 2 week power outage from an ice storm, I had great coralline growth. And I did nothing. Kept my specific gravity tight, and did a weekly water change of about 3 to 5 gallons in a 55g, but that was about it. I had Fiji live rock, or at least that's how it was advertised. I wasn't raising corals, but had a few clowns and damsels. No idea why my coralline took off either. Maybe it was a friendly environment. Maybe the local water was on the hard side. But it looked great.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

I feel largely the same. Can’t attribute it to one direct factor or anything. I do, however, perform weekly water changes. +1 for water changes!

[@Coral-reef.]

Hey my friend i know i ask you alot of question but you are a very reliable source and i thank you for all the info. My question is. I tank is just over 3 weeks old, it looks crystal clear through the front, but when i look through the side of it theirs like a light brown film. Is this normal in a new tank or what should i try ?

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

That’s really interesting. So is the brown “film” attached to the glass on the sides, or is the brown appearance in the water, when you look into the water column from the side of the tank?

[@Coral-reef.]

@@kalamazoo_reefer when i look through the side it looks like its the water thats cloudy the glass doesn't have build up on it. I run an fx4 fluval with a bio-sponge and carbon pad ontop and the rest is full of seachem matrix rocks. It is a 60 gallon tank.

[@TheBigMan22111]

Have the same thing. Purple algae everywhere. Trying to keep it under control

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Me too. Just spent a full hour knocking it back from the seams. I’ll have to do it all over again in a couple weeks.

[@ScenOne]

they grow with similar conditions for an SPS so it looks like you have small SPS frags in there but mostly larger softies which arent eating up the nutrients maybe? especially if youre dosing for SPS thats gonna benefit the coralline alot. im not sure though, anyhow its very impressive. maybe youve got your hands on some kind of super strain lol

[@SmokinReefer...]

There are hundreds of species of coralline algae. Some grow much faster than others. You're definitely doing everything right for it to thrive but so are many others which don't get this kind of growth, me included. I think it just comes down to species more so than parameters or dosing regimen. My 2¢

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

I think I recall reading that, and it popped into my head as I filmed, but didn’t want to throw out misinformation. Very interesting. Well, as beautiful as it is on the rocks, I would take a version that grows at about 50% this speed, as scraping it all back is a weekly workout 😂

[@SmokinReefer...]

It would be nice if coralline would just grow on aragonite surfaces rather than everywhere light penetrates. One good thing about fast growing coralline, it covers everything quickly so nuisance algae has much less of a chance to take hold. Other than the maintenance of having to constantly scrape, which re-seeds the tank every time, is the constant soak of the big 3 and trace elements.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

@@SmokinReefer... You’re darn right about that hidden benefit of quick coverage. It covers vermatid snails in my tank and can keep new groups of them in check, so long as they’re exposed in direct light. Pretty beneficial.

[@jacksonsparrow8865]

Will asterina starfish eat that algae?

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

I don’t actually know! Possibly. I thought they fed on dead/decaying things in the tank, but they could very well go for some coralline.

[@mckenzie390]

Perhaps you can share your lighting intensity and schedule

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Are you running Radions? I’ve got Radion G6 Pros over this, on the standard EcoTech RMS multi-light mount.

[@Dreams-00-R1]

That elegance is huuuugeeeee😂

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Haha, I don’t know what I’m gonna do when it reaches full size, man. It won’t stop growing 😂

[@andrewlindell8626]

I run kalk and have coraline growth too. It might be due to the ph being high

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Maybe so. My pH is pretty high for sure.

[@josephkona9413]

What is the name of the you use?

[@deiniou]

My tank is weird, I guess there has to be multiple strands of coralline algae, because in my tank, it does not grow on flat upward facing places, it only grows in shaded areas or on stlanted surfaces. I only have a red sea 90, and it is not at full blast, so.. Me no understan

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Really interesting. I will say, it does appear that the coralline that grows in shaded areas is somewhat different than the rest in my tank. So I think there’s something to what you’re saying.

[@garyjenson1326]

High pH and mag imo. My 180 looks like yours. Fyi your mag may be higher than you think. I've used several test kits and they are never the same. I've seen them test high and low by 300 points consistently against a reference solution. Now I use reference solutions for every kit I can, then after a few tests I mark down the difference and adjust. It's the only way to know, we all test slightly different so I think we all need to do this periodically. Btw after awhile you'll maybe see a rise in iodine. I think it depends on whether you feed a lot of nori. I think it's the oxidized iodine which can't reduce in elevated pH then off gas...I rarely water change. Oxidized iodine isn't as serious as your icp would have you believe.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Let’s say theoretically, my mag is 1700. What’s the impact of that? Any idea? This is interesting information. Thanks for your insights.

[@garyjenson1326]

@@kalamazoo_reefer not sure mine was around 1000 for a month or two. It caused my touches to get kind of kinky and stringy. That's what made me use different test kits. Because there was such a difference between the two I used the reference solution that was included with the seachem kit. After that I either added or subtracted 300. I can't stress enough don't just add or subtract 300 to your numbers. I worry that someone reading this will do that instead of testing themselves. Also I noticed that Than's nems (Tidal Gardens) were doing the same thing in a video. I mentioned this to him and he assumed it was crustations that were annoying them but as a coincidence they did notice mag was low and after correcting the nems straightened out.

[@lozza8882]

I don’t do any of the things you mentioned,my tank looks fantastic and absolutely covered in coralline algae No dosing 🤷

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Nice! Yeah I have no idea what causes it for some. Someone mentioned that there are dozens of species of coralline. Maybe we got lucky with our strains.

[@zachary_smith1]

What do you mean auto water tester. That’s a thing?

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

An automatic water tester, for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium? Yes sir. There’s ones for nitrate and phosphate now too. They’re stupid expensive. But as deep into this hobby as I am, it’s worth it for me on my main system. I manually test my smaller tanks though.

[@blumac9801]

@@kalamazoo_reeferWhat's the name of the system. Is it the Triton?

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

@@blumac9801 The Neptune Trident. But if you’re in the market for one, I’d wait for the Hydros Maven. For sure. Should be out by the holidays this year.

[@scottallan6770]

By your next video that Elegance might be covered in coralline, lmao!!! 🤣🤣🤣 👊

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Haha, I know man, it grows like weeds for me. Honestly, if a coral gets weak at all, it starts taking hold, I’ve had to scrape it off the skeletons of struggling sps frags before 😂

[@brett2595]

you could create live rock and sell it with this tank.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Ha not a terrible idea!

[@MikeLovesLifeAquatics]

black out that background and that coraline algae will pop!! nice video and beautiful tank!! new sub!!

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Thanks for the sub! And yeah, I should, but I still hold onto hopeless dreams of finding a place for a peninsula tank in my house. Let me dream, man. Let me dream.

[@MikeLovesLifeAquatics]

@@kalamazoo_reefer Dream on brotha!!

[@ProvidenceTidalReef]

Amazing ❤ now how do i get you to send me a bottle of it in the mail ?

[@DailyDose2Inspire]

I dose bulk reef Kalk in my 32.5 fluval and my coralline is exactly like yours. OUT OF CONZTROL. You can clean the seam area by hand with a flipper scraper. Go slow.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Way too paranoid about the seams. In 5-10 years when I can afford to do a whole new system, whatever tank I choose will have those armored seams, for sure. I think our kalkwasser is probably a primary driver in coralline growth.

[@ivanaguilar-fiscal686]

I can 99.9% guarantee it’s the Kalkwasser.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Man, I love kalkwasser.

[@philcard9022]

Whats your PH?

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

I stagger my kalkwasser dosing, so that roughly 80% of it is dosed in the 12 hours that lights are off, which helps stabilize pH quite a bit. My trough is typically about 8.2, with a peak of about 8.4, so averaging around 8.3. That’s relatively new, though. I’ve only had kalkwasser running optimally for a couple of months.

[@MrCites1]

Maybe you need to ask the trans reefers?

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Trans reefers?

[@benvangorp7295]

Just get urchins they’ll knock that Corraline back

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

Got a big Halloween urchin and a pincushion hiding in there somewhere. They’ll leave paths on the rockwork, but within a couple days it’s already growing back over lol. I don’t hate it, but it annoys me at the seams.

[@AW33COM]

You have no Phosphates and no SPS coral, so all that Calcium goes to Algae.

[@kalamazoo_reefer]

I have phosphate and SPS now, and it still grows fast, but not quite as fast.

[@queenblehofghosting8963]

Wow daily water change

[@ctheonbethui]

Would love some culture from you. I can pay for shipping :)