Seeding Coralline Algae

[greasemonkey]

Does anyone have any good links on seeding coralline algae? I have a filter intake tube thats thick with it and want to see if I can scrape it off to seed a new tank, and other general info on coralline algae.

Thanks
greasemonkeysatx

[Moonrs]

I don't know alot about coraline algae other than I usually try to scrape the coraline off the glass and let it drift where it may. I've got coraline everywhere. As long as you keep the coraline alive by keeping whatever it's on submerged (just like other livestock), it should be fine and help start off your other tank. One thing to keep in mind is how slow it grows, plus the water perameters need to be good. Good luck and be patient!

[StephenA]

There are several products out there. I've had to "Seed" it. It just pops up like a week in all of my tanks. All you need is strong light, good water and Calcium! All of my live rock did have some on it. The most is I'd do is find a rock with some on it. It can take a couple of months. Don't waste money on snake oil.

[::pete::]

greasemonkeysatx
Coralline algae likes the lower light and all you need to do is scrape some off something and just let it go in the tank and its seeded. You could stick a new rock in with some on it and scrape it as well, spores will come off and enter the water column eventually settleing down and grow.

It also seems to like plastic more than glass so if you stick in some little pieces of pvc or acrylic they will be covered in no time and can then be scraped.

[greasemonkey]

So with pvc returns I should have good place for them to grow? And my friends said the pipe looked ugly in there.

[::pete::]

It will be covered in no time!!!

[StephenA]

Ditto, It has covered everything not alive in my tank, I have to scrape it off the front glass 3 times a week.

[Andrew]

It usually grows like mad for those who drip kalkwasser.

[scuba_steveo]

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[Magneto]

I remember reading about it on GARF (I believe) a couple years back.
The process was scrape some from somewhere, crush it up, drop it back in over your target areas. The people are correct it will eventually grow to cover all your tank, rock, glass, in tank hardware. Seeding would probably speed the process or help spread specific types.

[greasemonkey]

Magneto said: Seeding would probably speed the process or help spread specific types.

Thats 1 goal. The other is finding info on different types. I also would like any info on macro algae, if anyone has any.

[Jenn]

I agree, mine has to constantly be scraped off my glass. My powerheads are covered and now look like a rock hanging on the wall.
Oh, I don't drip kalk either, in fact, I probably have one of the simplest setups in the group - no externals like sump, fuge, reactors, drippers, etc...

[Magneto]

There are kinds like this http://www.saltreef.com/images/nabalpics/coraline1.jpg besides your standard plating kind. Use google for an image search on coraline and you can find all kinds of interesting pictures of em.

[john]

Never used it before, but I saw this at ipsf.com:

http://ipsf.com/#anchor50240

[greasemonkey]

Magneto, that is a neat pic, thanx. john, I have thought about buying that stuff after I get moved, will tell yall how it turns out.

[theedprado]

keep posphate down

[GaryP]

I've given some pieces of coralline from one of my tanks to some folks with new tanks. We just fed it into the return pump that chewed it up and sprayed it all over the tank.

Gary

[matt]

I've given some pieces of coralline from one of my tanks to some folks with new tanks. We just fed it into the return pump that chewed it up and sprayed it all over the tank.

Gary

I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have a lot of confidence in your pump. Calcium and calcerous algae deposits are murder on impeller shafts.

Dripping kalkwasser seems to have a stimulating effect on the growth of coralline algae; maybe the higher ph in these tanks has something to do with it.

When Pete says "lower" light levels, he's talking about really high intensity environments; i.e, lower light areas of a natural reef typically harbor much more purple coralline algae than higher light areas. In many reef tanks, ALL the light is lower intensity than what is typical on a reef crest. So, it's only tanks with very strong lighting (like 400W mh lights on a tanks 24" or less deep) that might have areas with light too strong for purlple coralline algae. In these higher light areas, coralline algae that's varying shades of green will probably dominate.