sharing my 20 gallon nano, questions

This is my 20 gallon nano reef. it is just over 6 months old. Everything has been going well with the tank, with the exception of coralline algae. It hasnt taken off yet. i have introduced plenty of it to the system via rock and scrapings. I use 0 tds ro/di water, and do a 25% water change every other week using reef crystals salt. For lighting i have 4x 24 w t5's. the bulb order front to back is ati blue plus, ati blue plus, ati aquablue special, ati purple plus. 10 hr lighting cycle, with the last 2.5 hrs blues only. I have a remora aqua c skimmer with pre skimmer box. one koralia 1, and one koralia 2 for flow. specific gravity is kept at 1.026. the tank has a very low bio load. i have a blue damsel, 2 cleaner shrimp, and assorted snails/hermits. i feed sparingly every four days. ive got a wide assortment of corals, but just a few SPS. I really want to get coralline algae to take off. All of my research shows that i am doing everything correct. Should i be dosing anything for cal/alk? Or should my large water changes every other week be sufficient to maintain trace elements? Ive read many peoples posts on how quickly coralline grows in their tanks, even at 6 months old. I feel i am doing everything good but just dont have it. any help would be great.

 

I didnt have hardly any coralline algae till I began dosing. First you need to be able to test for calcium, alk, and mag. After that decide if you need to do more water changes, use kalk, or dose to keep parameters stable.

 

I have tested calcium/alk and it was within acceptable range. Everything i read (similar posts to this) says that keeping up with regular water changes will provide everything i need as far as elements go.

 

I'm with you. Your tank is very nice even without any coralline. I like the looks of it too and can't get it to take off at all.

 

It's a beautiful tank.

I am of the belief that larger sps, other stony corals and clams just remove so much of the Ca/mg/alk and lower the Strontium that coralline has to compete to stay in the ball game.

 

I don't have coralline advise but I do want to say how nice your tank looks at 6 months!

 

thank you everybody for your kind words.

 

Tank is looking awesome. I grabbed a small piece of live rock from my lfs to seed my tank with coralline, worth a shot.

 

Wait 'til that baby fills in it will be phenomenal. Great selection of coral and colors.