How can I remove coralline algae from rock?

[Ryan8696]

Hi everyone, 

 

Reading through all of the forums this appears to be a bit of an odd question - but how can I remove coralline algae from my rocks? 

It seems that everyone likes it - but I'm not a big fan to be honest and my tank is covered with it! Every single rock is now purple, even the snails have purple shells. Is there anything I can put into the tank to remove it? a certain type of snail, something that I can dose etc.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Addinali]

53 minutes ago, Ryan8696 said:

Hi everyone, 

 

Reading through all of the forums this appears to be a bit of an odd question - but how can I remove coralline algae from my rocks? 

It seems that everyone likes it - but I'm not a big fan to be honest and my tank is covered with it! Every single rock is now purple, even the snails have purple shells. Is there anything I can put into the tank to remove it? a certain type of snail, something that I can dose etc.

 

Thanks in advance!

Urchins love it. Other than that you will have to embrace it. That stuff is like concrete to get off rocks.

[Snow_Phoenix]

My tuxedo urchin sometimes eats the coralline on my rocks. 

[mitten_reef]

first, assuming you're aware that the reasons people want coralline algae don't have a lot to do with aesthetic.  coraline coverage helps reducing the surface areas which could potentially become covered by other, more nuisance-type, algae.  healthy coralline coverage will not allow algae on top, you can look at my tank.   It's also a good visual cue that your tank has established enough stability to grow them - which also means you have good stability to grow stony corals.  You'll see many "great parameters" tanks without any coralline algae went on to struggle with stony corals.  This is my personal understanding on why people are so excited to see healthy coralline growth - stability and easier maintenance.

 

Second, since this is your first post on here and without much context or photo to go by, I assume you're not talking about those purple dry rocks that one could buy to set up a tank.  snails do carry some coraline on their shell if they came from an established tank, and that's usually how most tanks develop coralline population (encrusted snails or frags).  The fact that you didn't mention any coralline on your glass or equipment is a kinda of red flag here.  in most of what I see, and personal experience, coralline grow as well on on plastic and glass surface as on the rocks.  To have them only on the rocks is not normal, unless you forgot to mentioned that you've been scraping them off your flat surfaces regularly.   

 

If you do, in fact want to discourage the growth, I think elevated levels of some trace elements is thought to boost their growth.  Try researching the components of Red Sea Coralline Gro, PurpleUp, and other coralline-boosting products, to gather your info on what trace elements you should monitored and lowered if possible.    

 

Biological control, as mentioned in previous comments, should work as a removal method, but I don't think you want to do anything chemically to remove them.  

[mcarroll]

On 6/8/2020 at 8:09 AM, Addinali said:

Urchins love it. Other than that you will have to embrace it. That stuff is like concrete to get off rocks.

It's quite literally like concrete....it's what holds wild reefs together and what keeps them from being blown away in a storm.  👍