How can I get coraline in my tank?

ok i've had my tank for 6 years. Its an 86 gallon tank. but i can't seem to get any coraline. i've tried putting purple and this stuff called fuel guaranteed to give coraline. (yeah right) anyway i put in black lights hoping that would help and i also added a rock i bought especially for the coraline on it hoping to seed the tank. and my chemicals are all were they should be. Please someone help. Thank You!

it depends on your lighting, black lights?

coralline algae grows fast even under power compacts so it depends on your lighting. Also your carbonate and calcium levels are probably off if your tank is that old an not growing coralline algae.

Also do you have live rock? live rock is usually covered in coralline algae and it will spread the bacteria to the algae.

Coraline algae actually prefers lower light levels, and lower alkalinity, but do not go below an alkalinity of 8DKH. Make sure your calcium is at least 400 ppm and your magnesium is at 1350 at least. Maintain these levels and with a new piece of live rock you will see some coraline in a few weeks. The rock you added needs to be LIVE rock, not a dead rock. It does not have to have any visible coraline on it, unseen coraline will be present in a spore form and will grow if conditions are good.

15 Years reef keeping.

That's a long time to have a tank and not develop coraline.

We use Purple Up and it works great. I developed an almost complete covering for my nano-cube in less than three months.

Is the rock you bought "live" yet?? If so it may take awhile but it should spread.

Also, I have not heard anything about black light being beneficial. You will need good lighting and optimal water conditions for coraline.

We do a lot of research on www.reeflounge.com.
It's a great source for questions on just about anything!!!

Prior experience. 10+ years with 90gal reef tank and 1yr with Nano.