How long does it take for purple Coralline to grow?

[Benny503]

How long does it take for purple Coralline to grow? I dont think my LR ever turn into purple color. (sad).

[spectra]

Depends on the parameters. Do you run a calcium reactor? I have had it grow in a few months on a new tank and also have not had it grow much at all on others. I know they make suppliments to help it but not sure how it works.

[dsoz]

The more calcium (up to a point) the better for coraline. I add Kalk water, and I have coraline growing EVERYWHERE!

 

dsoz

[stylaster]

Usually after your tank cycle is done. The amount of calcium available is a big factor also, if you have fast growing corals in there, they will use it before the algae does. I have also noticed that the 'purple' grows best under subdued lighting (ie not metal halides) where as the pink seems to grow under any type of light. In my tank with my 250w halide the purple actually died back some, but the pink grows just fine

My tank with the 70w halide grows the purple and pink just fine.... just my observation

[andy]

Supposedly (according to Randy Holmes-Farley) coralline accelerating products (like Purple-UP) are snake oil -- they're just calcium carbonate dust suspended in water; they can't go into solution at tank pH, so just settle into the substrate.

 

dsoz has the best advice... balanced Ca/alk with good lighting is key. Coralline also uses magnesium; interestingly, one article I read stated that it uses Mg at a rate proportional to the amount of Mg in the water. The more Mg in the water, the greater the rate it consumes it. However, Mg doesn't seem to be a limiting factor in growth -- which seems really weird to me.

 

Some suggest scraping it a lot at first, which helps spread it around the tank. Seems to make sense as a rule of thumb but I don't know how true that is.

[Benny503]

At this point I just cross my fingers waiting for Coralline to grow. Adding addictive stuffs into my tank make me feel nervous, maybe I had bad experience from freshwater tank.