Another Coralline Question..

[Cuttlefish]

Some people dont care for it, I'm one of the folks that loves it. Aside from it looking nice and the challenge, it seems that the value of any given rock doubles once completely encrusted, around here at least.

I know the tank needs no nitrates and phosphates. But i heard that you can accelerate the process by scraping/brushing the surface of already encrusted areas to release coralline spores into a current provided by a powerhead. Is this true?

Also every other day i've been blowing off some of shelf rock with lots of knooks n crannies, to free it of detritus. IS this a good idea or is there something to be said for leaving the rock alone and letting things other than poop settle for a while, undisturbed.

[biowheel]

Originally Posted by Cuttlefish

Some people dont care for it, I'm one of the folks that loves it. Aside from it looking nice and the challenge, it seems that the value of any given rock doubles once completely encrusted, around here at least.

I know the tank needs no nitrates and phosphates. But i heard that you can accelerate the process by scraping/brushing the surface of already encrusted areas to release coralline spores into a current provided by a powerhead. Is this true?

Also every other day i've been blowing off some of shelf rock with lots of knooks n crannies, to free it of detritus. IS this a good idea or is there something to be said for leaving the rock alone and letting things other than poop settle for a while, undisturbed.

You definitely want to siphon out and blast and loose debris sitting on the rock . This should be done IMO every week
As far as the spreading . I put a power head in the back of my tank pointing down and the coralline is growing much quicker in the area with the flow but it is also said that "seeding" the tank with scrapings does help .
Good luck Post a pic of the tank if you can

[jschulzpt]

I agree with Biowheel. Every now and then I get a big growth on my glass which is great because as I scrape it off I use a powerhead to spread the spores which really help to encrust the rest of the rock in my tank.

Good luck with your purple stuff

[mcbunnymama]

does the size of the shavings matter? I got some from lfs but they were a bit big, should I break them up into smaller pieces?

[biowheel]

Originally Posted by mcbunnymama

does the size of the shavings matter? I got some from lfs but they were a bit big, should I break them up into smaller pieces?

I think more is better but it may get sucked into the current if too small . Try to lodge it on a rock or well lit area