Scleractinian corals and benthic are competing against each other for space and sunlight. Although there are a few studies done on benthic and coral interactions, the competition between different organisms of epibenthic and their effect on coral density are poorly studied. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of benthic assemblages on coral density at newly deployed substrate. Artificial live rocks (ALRs) were used as settlement plates and deployed at Bidong Island, Terengganu. The ALRs were retrieved with 2 months of interval after the deployment (at four, six, eight and ten months). The retrieved ALRs were analysed to determine the percentage of benthic assemblages and coral density. The result revealed that turf algae dominated the ALR in the first two months until six months of deployment. Afterwards, red algae dominated the surface of ALR. It was found that the red algae had the most significant influence on turf algae based on Pearson correlation test (R2=0.696,) and the r-value (r=-0.834) indicated there was a strong negative relationship between red and turf algae. The results also demonstrated that the number of corals spat density was declined with the increased percentage of benthic coverage. Therefore, coral density can be increased if epibenthic such as algae turf and red algae are removed from the substrate. Hence, this information can be implemented for coral restoration purposes in the future.