coraline algae

[boardsurfer]

Aim your powerheads down the back glass (from the side). That's how I had mine, and it really grew in those areas.

I used purple up and it really took off. Now I started cutting back and now have stopped and its still growing real well.

[dscount]

The LFS was out of Purple Up so I opt'd for another calcium builder called "aragamilk" the "Liquid Aragonite" in a bottle basically.

1) Anyone else used this product?
2) Will my LR start to turn WHITE instead of purple? (Liquid is white)
3) Should I dump this and purchase Purple up instead?

TIA

[boardsurfer]

1) No
2) Nope
3) A lot of people on this board will tell you to dump it and just let it grow on its own. The fact of the matter is- if your water parameters are in order, then it will grow like crazy and you will be happy. It just takes time, that's all.

BUT...I've used purple up and have had great results. But then again, a lot of people will say anything used to bump up calcium will work. Are you doing a lot of water changes? That will help...

[dscount]

Thanks Boardsurfer!

Yes I'm doing about 5-6 gal a week of PWC on the 55 gal tank +18 gal sump (70+ Gal) so roughly ~8% PWC. Once a month I go with a 10-12 gal PWC.

Trying to keep Calcium to 450 roughly. As my PH goes up I trim back the dosage.

PS: Love the baby PIC

[reefbound]

I read somewhere here that coraline algae likes less light. I have my tank in our basement which is finished and the only light it gets is from the pc. Maybe thats why I dont have all the algae problems from using tap water.
I have a good mix of greens,reds,blues,and many shades of purple.

[JG]

I bought a bottle of Reef Calcium from Seachem. I have to scrape the coralline from the sides and the front of the tank now. The scrapings seed the rest of the tank.

JG

[leesanhua]

so purple up is better than aragamilk?

[dscount]

That's what I've heard. If you have the choice get the Purple Up. My LFS swears by it but they said Aragamilk is a somewhat close second. Some folks here are not that exicted about any extras. I'm working the scraping trick and LR in the cansiter as well with scratching it once in a while as well to populate.

[dorian965]

argamilk worked pretty good for me but i had to dose quite often and it seemed to raise my magneseum a great deal. ive never used purple up thought.

[Brenden]

I am one who says save your money on these additives and just keep your water quality high and CA levels between 400-450. I have never dosed anything other than CA in my tank and you can see the coralline in my gallery if you like.

I read somewhere here that coraline algae likes less light.

I have intense light in my tank and coralline grows everywhere. Even the loc-line nozzles that are in 2-3" of water directly under a MH light. I also have coralline growing in my sump with less than 1 WPG of light. I have talked with Mike at liverocks.com and he stated that coralline it more plentiful on the side of the rock that does not get as much sunlight. I am going with "it is true" in nature with real sunlight but in our tanks where it is next to impossible to get the intensity of the sun it is not a factor to be concerned with.