Get that purple color on Fiji Live Rock

[rykwong]

I currently have a 60gal FOWLR tank with about 90lbs of Fiji live rock. Although many parts of my rock is purple, I was just curious how do you get the rocks to become very colorful with purple color all over? Do you need special types of chemicals?

[jwm2k3]

You will need:

Good water quality.

LOTS of water flow.

Add calcium to the water.

Watch the purple spread.....

[Flame*Angel]

It's called coralline algae. Do a search, there are lots of posts about it. The colour that grows on your rocks will be affected by the things jwm2k3 mentioned and also by your lighting. The bright purple stuff actually grows better in lower lighting than we usually have for our reef tanks. There are other colours as well, I have some red, green and a bit of orange as well as some purple. It can take some time before it gets started and often in a new tank the coralline turns white and dies off during the cycle but it will come back again.

[slylie]

Ive noticed hyposalinty helps too.

[jwm2k3]

Originally posted by slylie
Ive noticed hyposalinty helps too.


Dont be givin away any secrets, sly...

[R33f3r]

Medium lights, purple coralline likes the blue sprectrum.
LOTS of waterflow indeed
alk 9-11 DkH
Calcium 400-450

[slylie]

Originally posted by jwm2k3
Dont be givin away any secrets, sly...

:(

[Surfthaearth]

Just out of curiousity...I've been adding bionic and my coralline is spreading , but should I cut my lights down...i have 260 watt both blue and white....and does hyposalinity mean lowering it or raising it

[Mad Scientist]

High Ca, high hardness are the key - I've grown coralline under just about every kinds of lights, condition etc. - if your Ca is 400+ and your hardness if 10-12 this stuff will grow - if either parameter is off it won't regardles of what else you do. For my FOLRs, I use Kent's "Liquid Reactor" to keep my values up and it works like a charm.

[koj11]

My calcium is significantly lower than 400, and I grow coralline like mad. I don't use or drip any additives. I have 150 watts of vho over a 29 (but it grew just as well when I used to have 65 watts of pc). I don't use ro water, but I do use a PUR tapwater filter (I have pretty good water anyways). My sg is 1.025, and the tank has been running for about 27 months now. I don't think I could stop it from growing if I wanted to!

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by koj11
My calcium is significantly lower than 400, and I grow coralline like mad. I don't use or drip any additives. I have 150 watts of vho over a 29 (but it grew just as well when I used to have 65 watts of pc). I don't use ro water, but I do use a PUR tapwater filter (I have pretty good water anyways). My sg is 1.025, and the tank has been running for about 27 months now. I don't think I could stop it from growing if I wanted to!

How low is it? What brand of test kits do you have? Any pics? 27months - that's still a new tank.

[koj11]

Originally posted by Mad Scientist
How low is it? What brand of test kits do you have? Any pics? 27months - that's still a new tank.


Just tested my calcium at 310 (Salifert test kit). Here's a couple of pictures (although my camera and photography skills leave some to be desired). It does give you an idea of all the coralline, though.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17599DSC00557.JPG
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17599DSC00558.JPG
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17599DSC00559.JPG


I also have a 7 gallon minibow that I recently started. It has 32 watts of pc, and the coralline is growing just as fast in it as well.