Purple Algae?

[MarbleShark]

I was wondering how one would go about getting purple algae for their tank? I have a little bit of it on a few pieces of my live rock, but it is not spreading. There is always the PurpleUp option.

Any ideas?

 

[Witfull]

turn your skimmer off and lightly scrape the coraline you have with a razor or other hard object. this will cause spores to float around and make it spread.

 

[MarbleShark]

turn your skimmer off and lightly scrape the coraline you have with a razor or other hard object. this will cause spores to float around and make it spread.

Ok so this is probably a stupid question but if I turn off the skimmer how does the water get pulled from my tank to my sump?

 

[Witfull]

your protien skimmer feeds the sump?

 

[tatuvaaj]

Some people report accelerated growth of coralline algae after they got a urching that eats it (I have similar exprience)! I guess they release spores while scraping the algae surface: exactly what Witfull suggested

They will work only in larger tanks though, in smaller tanks they will eat the coralline algae faster than it spreads.

Then there are the normal tips:
- Maintain good alkalinity, calcium and pH
- Lower your nutrient levels to as close to the zero as you can measure, especially phosphate which hampers calcification
- Maintain natural levels of magnesium

 

[MarbleShark]

your protien skimmer feeds the sump?

Yes I have the tank go to overflow to skimmer which goes directly to sump where the bio balls are (soon to be refugium) and then back to tank.

 

[Witfull]

strange design

 

[Cougra]

Purple up wont really hekp you. Your best bet is to keep scraping the algae like suggested, keep your water parameters up and a have little patience. Eventually you'll have more of the stuff then you know what to do with and will be cursing the fact that you have to scrape it off the glass every day knowing that you're just intensifying the problem with each scrape!

 

[wickjr]

Ditto to what Cougra said. I once asked the same question you are asking, but now it has become just another on a list of daily chores. Coralline definitely looks nice and is great for helping to camoflauge any visible equipment. I love having it in the tank. Like anything else in this hobby, all good things come with added work. I tried purple up for a short time, but I'm not sure it really had much effect. I became weary of adding unneccessary chemicals to the tank, so I stopped. The coralline really went crazy once I had nitrates and phosphates at zero for a while. Low phosphates, good calcium and magnesium levels seem to be the right combo. And actinic light.

 

[KMP]

if you decide to use purple up be sure to stay within the recommended doses. also be cognizant of other additives you are using at the same time. i learned that the hard way.

 

[Frankie]

Wow, i never seem to stop learning. Good call on the scraping Witty ill give that a try to get it growing on my bb. How long for the skimmer to be off? im not to happy about that part~

 

[BHinAK]

Here's my 2cents.

If you what coraline algae to grow AND spread throughout your tank you can buy something called Grunge from garf.org Its actuall substrate from their farming tanks. They are heavy into propagation of corals. It contains various strains of actual coraline algae spores.

I couldn't get coraline to grow for nothing for 1 1/2yrs then after using grunge in 2 months I have Red and Green and Purple growing on all my LR.

Read about it on their website, try a few lbs.

I've tried purple up its just Ca, I've tried the scraping thing and I have 2 pencile urchins none seemed to work.

http://www.garf.org/

 

[tatuvaaj]

One more thing I learned while trying to find out (unsuccessfully...) why strontium seems to increase coralline algae growth: in nature sedimentation controls coralline algae growth in many places. Where there is more sedimentation, other algae dominate.

I have no idea if this is something that is valid for our aquariums but maybe blowing your live rock with a powerhead and mechanical filtering will increase the growth. However I still think that proper water parameters are most important thing.

 

[BHinAK]

just last night I started reading about Strontium.
Been reading up on Magnesium lately.

 

[wickjr]

Water flow plays a huge part in the kind of algae that grows. If there is not enough water flow or a lot of dead spots in the tank, nuissance algaes like hair and slime will go crazy. The waste in a tank builds up on the bottom and the rocks in still areas of the tank and the nitrates and phosphates feed the algaes. With good water flow around and through the rocks and substrate, the waste doesn't settle, at least not as much, and the nuissance algaes don't take as strong a hold. Also keep the rocks blown off of anything that does settle on it. With proper water chemistry and lighting, this alows the coralline to take off. I never had to scrape mine to spread the coralline because the LR I have had a decent amount to start, and once my tank parameters became constantly good the stuff spread everywhere in a short time. Now I have to scrape the glass all the time and it seems to spread overnight. A lot of the guys and girls on here have more experience and knowledge than me, these are just my observations in my 7 plus months with my reef. I've learned more on this site from others' experiences than I ever could have by reading alone.

 

[Frankie]

You can also double up on iodine doseing also. So im learning now...

 

[fishcrazy]

You can also double up on iodine doseing also. So im learning now...

I've never heard of this before but it may be true....I don't know. Regardless, care should be exercised. This can be disastrous if you're not careful. Always have a test kit before dosing Iodine. Remember, Iodine is a natural antibiotic. If you put too much into your tank, you can wipe out your bacteria population.

 

[reefjitsu]

My formula for good coraline is as follows: After adding live rock and cycling, I begin dosing calcium (I use limewater). I do not add any corals or any other calcifying organisms until the coraline has taken off. Once dime-sized spots of coraline are seen growing on the glass and equipment, you can the begin to add corals, clams and other calcium consumers. This has worked well for me, but it takes a bit of time. It has the added benefit of allowing your tank to mature well before adding any corals, assuring a stable environment for them.

Iodine is only needed in very small amounts. It is also lethal in very small amounts. Since there are no reliable test kits for it, dosing it can be like playing Russian roulette with your tank.

 

[nu2reef-n]

Watch out with the iodine. It will cause your inverts to molt, thereby decreasing their life span.

 

[wickjr]

Watch out with the iodine. It will cause your inverts to molt, thereby decreasing their life span.

Is this true??? I thought molting is a natural part of the lives of inverts like shrimp. How does this shorten their life span?