Best products to promote coraline?

[OhsCC]

I went throught a ton of information from websites and searchs from other previous post, however I am still confused on what is the best way to promote coraline growth. I am buying LR from gulf view this week but want to get on the right track so my LR doens't die out. The tank is a 55 gal tank and is only going to be a fish only tank. I have a huma huma trigger and a miniatus grouper in there now and am done adding fish. I have another tank with LR but I have never been impelled to promote coraline growth. I have learned you need a calcium level between 400-450 and an alk. level of 3.5 and 5.5 meg/L or 10-14 dkh ( in fish only tank).
My first question is, will this hurt the fish in there currently?
Also, What are the best products to use in order to buffer and raise both calcium and alk. levels? (don't want to do a reactor)

I have read the recipe on the www.garf.org page and am considering doing that setup but i don't know if that is the best for the dollar.
And many people run kalk or b-ionic.
So basically what is the best for a 55 gal to promote coraline?
(product names and company made buy will help alot)
Thanks for your time and help!!!
tank has been up for over a year

 

[Anonymous]

Patience. It's free.

 

[Marcosreef]

Also, What are the best products to use in order to buffer and raise both calcium and alk. levels? (don't want to do a reactor)

B-Ionic, C-Balance and Kalk are excellent products that you can use to raise calcium and alk. And patience. :wink:

You'll be pulling your hair out, once coralline kicks into high hear.

Regards, Marco

 

[Ike]

ohsCC,
I started with 90% base rock and 10% live rock for seeding. I used the Marc Weiss products with little success. I then bought 20 lbs. of garf grunge and 3 months later. ( See for yourself ) Click on link below.

 

[Anonymous]

but imo it was the 3 months rather than the grunge...

 

[Anonymous]

as long as your Ca and alk. levels are kept up, the others are absolutely right-all you then need is patience, and you may be cursing the stuff for freezing powerheads, coating electrical, cords, etc.

 

[Anonymous]

hi.
A fellow called "Smart Aleck" is selling some miracle additives in the Sump. Sent him tons of money, and he can turn your tank into a solid coralline. :wink:

 

[fishfarmer]

If this is going to just be a FO tank, I would stick with regular water changes and possibly a little buffer (SeaChem Reef Builder). I have adequate coraline growth in my 120 gal FOWLR just by doing regular water changes. I have just recently been adding buffer to keep the pH up. The last time I checked the calcium level (which I rarely do) it was around NSW levels.

If you don't have any major calcium consumers like hard corals, I wouldn't bother dosing calcium hydroxide. If you really want the coraline to take off then start dosing kalk and keep the razor blade handy :wink: .

 

[Ike]

but imo it was the 3 months rather than the grunge...

This was actually months 5, 6 & 7. The first 4 months was spent will no results using Marc Weiss. My coraline growth was definitely from the results of the grunge. I witnessed growth within 7 days on lower levels of my rock and soon progress upward. Alot of people here do not have alot of good things to say about Garf, I have had good luck the grunge and janitors. Keep calcium and alk levels right and you should see results soon.

 

[Anonymous]

Assuming you have corraline present in the tank. Maintaining calcium and alkalinty are the keys to corraline growth.

Garf grunge, because it is ground-up live rock(that contains corraline), and sand, would certainly seed you tank, if corraline was not already present. It may even help exepidite corraline. But I have no first hand knowledge of this being the the sole reason for a corraline explosion

If your tank does not have corraline, and if you dumped garf grunge, or any other corraline containing substance, all over the tank, that would help spread the corraline throughout the tank.

Calcium and alkalinty are the key. You could add boulders of corraline into your tank and it would disappear within a few months, if calcium and alkalinty are not maintained.


IMHO

Louey

 

[HuBu]

i have heard a lot about garg myself and people have told me things from experience. like what everyone has said before. just have to keep your water buffered by raising the alk. then you just need to dose with calc. its true that patience is the best. i have heard people using B-ionic and haing sucess. i personally use seachem and have seen lil progress. what you can try doing is scrapping the coralline with a razor near a powerhead so you can spread the spore. but to tell you to the truth. you want fast coralline growth now. later on, youll wish it wasnt growing fast.

 

[monkeyboy]

How about some apple juice...er...i mean Coral Vital?

Ditto on everybody. You really can't make coralline algae grow, you can only set the stage for it. Keep your alk and Ca at the proper levels, maybe a little strontium although that's up to debate, and introduce a few different kinds of live rock from different stores/collection spots. Not all coralline algae enjoys the same light levels so the more species of algae you have, the better your chances are for hitting it on the head with the perfect species. Good luck!

Kevin

 

[OhsCC]

Ok, thanks so very much for all the replies. It has really contributed to my decision on how to raise my calcium and alk. levels to promote coraline algae. I think I have decide to go with the kalk, turbo calcium, and the Pro Buffer coraline accelerator(instead of Superbuffer DKH). I will dose the kalk with a drip doser. Once again thanks so much for your time and experience.
Also thanks for the good information about gulf-view rock.
Any problems with this.
(the reason i decided on kalk is b/c many have said that it reduces phosphates and the lower the phosphates the better)
Thanks,
Corey

 

[Qwerty1]

Test your water for po4, in a fish-only tank its very possible the level of it is too high for a good coraline growth.
Po4 slows down the growth of it.