Questions regarding coralline algae

Hey guys, I have a few questions regarding coralline algae.

For starters I know that it adds color to your tank.... And that's about all I know.

At the local shop I visit the owner told me coralline is beneficial to coral health, but I don't really understand why or if that is even true.

Also I noticed that most tank owners keep a build up of coralline algae on the back walls of their aquariums. Is this essential to reef health? Or is it aesthetics alone?

I'm personally not fond of the looks of coralline on the back wall of tanks (this is probably an unpopular opinion).

My question is can I get away with scraping all the coralline of my back wall with out upsetting my water chemistry?

Any insight would be much appreciated!

I think I know alittle bit about coralline algae :-)



It's a good indication that your Calcium and Alkalinity levels are good.

I plan to scrape the glass on my current tank. There are many opinions on this topic.

nikecivic wrote:I think I know alittle bit about coralline algae :-)



It's a good indication that your Calcium and Alkalinity levels are good.

I plan to scrape the glass on my current tank. There are many opinions on this topic.

Holy crap! The algae looks amazing on the rock.

Is it necessary to supplement coralline growth with additives like purple up? (I think that's what it's called)

How labor intensive would that be to scrape all of that off?

In no way am I any sort of expert. I have done some research on the same topic and what I have found out about coraline algae is..

It competes with other less desireable aglae for space/light/nutrients.

It assists in denitrification

It is considered a healthy part of a marine aquarium, where as other algaes are the opposite.

As previously mentioned it grows in nutrient rich water particularly calcium rich environments.

A biproduct of coralline algae is a type of Magnisium that benifits coral growth

It is a food source for herbivorious inverts, ie pods, zooplankton, snails, shrimp, crabs, some fish.

Again I am no expert but i had similar questions and these are the answers I found. I mean why would anyone want algae growing in their tank... YUCK!

Flynn64 wrote:

nikecivic wrote:I think I know alittle bit about coralline algae :-)



It's a good indication that your Calcium and Alkalinity levels are good.

I plan to scrape the glass on my current tank. There are many opinions on this topic.

Holy crap! The algae looks amazing on the rock.

Is it necessary to supplement coralline growth with additives like purple up? (I think that's what it's called)

How labor intensive would that be to scrape all of that off?

No need to waste your money on purple up! If you keep your Calcium and Alkalinity levels up then you will grow coralline algae. I was dosing 2 part to keep my levels up. By the way, what you see is years of coralline build up. I did not scrape the back of the glass but it was easy to grow in my old tank.

Lido wrote:In no way am I any sort of expert.  I have done some research on the same topic and what I have found out about coraline algae is..

It competes with other less desireable aglae for space/light/nutrients.

It assists in denitrification

It is considered a healthy part of a marine aquarium, where as other algaes are the opposite.

As previously mentioned it grows in nutrient rich water particularly calcium rich environments.

A biproduct of coralline algae is a type of Magnisium that benifits coral growth

It is a food source for herbivorious inverts, ie pods, zooplankton, snails, shrimp, crabs, some fish.

Again I am no expert but i had similar questions and these are the answers I found.  I mean why would anyone want algae growing in their tank... YUCK!

I dont know that I agree with most of those statements.

Coralline is simply an indicator telling you that you have the water chemistry to grow corals. I personally scrape it off because it competes with my corals for alk and calc. And like you I don't like the look of it.

One other down side of coralline is once it starts encrusting your rock, it tends to block off the porous holes where good bacteria grow.

sisterlimonpot wrote:

Lido wrote:In no way am I any sort of expert.  I have done some research on the same topic and what I have found out about coraline algae is..

It competes with other less desireable aglae for space/light/nutrients.

It assists in denitrification

It is considered a healthy part of a marine aquarium, where as other algaes are the opposite.

As previously mentioned it grows in nutrient rich water particularly calcium rich environments.

A biproduct of coralline algae is a type of Magnisium that benifits coral growth

It is a food source for herbivorious inverts, ie pods, zooplankton, snails, shrimp, crabs, some fish.

Again I am no expert but i had similar questions and these are the answers I found.  I mean why would anyone want algae growing in their tank... YUCK!

I dont know that I agree with most of those statements.

Coralline is simply an indicator telling you that you have the water chemistry to grow corals. I personally scrape it off because it competes with my corals for alk and calc. And like you I don't like the look of it.

Again, this is not my information and I am no expert.  Here are the references I used.  You can read and try and decide what is best yourself. AND I totally agree it competes for calc/alk due to is exterior shell.

http://www.saltyunderground.com/article_info.php?articles_id=32

http://biology.fullerton.edu/biol317/Murray/Fall97/coralline_algae.html

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/colineselfaqs.htm

https://theconversation.com/research-good-news-for-coralline-algae-but-not-necessarily-for-reefs-11255

http://www.qualitymarine.com/News/Species-Spotlight/Coralline-Algae-(07/23/13)

So, maybe some of this informaiton is antiquated.. I try to seek more recent information when I am trying to reseach information about my aquarium but sometimes it can be difficult. I tried to look at it scientifically with unbiased views, but that is always almost impossible . The second to last article is less about aquariums, but an interesting read about coralline and the global environment.

So glad I joined this forum haha. Thanks guys!