purple up, now red algae? (pics)

[REEFROOKEE]

stared dosing purple up a few months ago, an noticed this dark red stuff growing and spreading pretty fast, not sure what it is? any ideas?

[bidny]

Purple Up is essentially a useless product in my opinion. It is mostly calcium carbonate, which doesn't dissolve at our high pH.

Instead, look into a 2 part solution plus magnesium, if your tank requires supplementation.

[Reverend Reefer]

is it hard and crusty? if so, its coralline algae, good sign for new tank.

is it soft, velvety and can be easily blown off? if so, its cyano bacteria. not so good but just seems to be part of the cycling process from everyone's experiences. you gotta clean it all up so it doesn't take over your tank. it grows pretty fast.

[B-Willz]

It's an algea, not related to the purple up. Agree that purple up is useless, if your calc levels in the tank are good you will have coraline. Should be plenty of calc introduced into your tank with water changes, assuming you do not SPS or LPS yet.

[Reverend Reefer]

by the way, if its cyano, which it likely is, especially if yer tank is relatively young, don't lose yer head like i did. you just gotta clean it all up with a turkey baster or siphon-clean it all up. mine lasted a couple months and it was the bane of my existence! water changes with ro/di top off and it'll go away trust me. maybe add a refugium if it still doesn't go away. at first you think its pretty, at least that's what i thought. anyways, don't go out and buy some chemicals and dump that into your tank, most of the red slime algae removers are just anti biotics that will kill good bacteria in your tank. and purple up is one of those useless things.

[philosophile]

It doesn't look like cyano... 4th picture looks like the purple stuff has some plant like structure to it. Maybe rhodophytra?

[tcwayne]

Purple up= junk. who the heck wants to look at a cloudy tank? Mr reefrookie, look at your alk, without leveling that your doing no good by trying to raise calcium and it looks as though there's nothing in the tank demanding.

[REEFROOKEE]

thanks guys! i got a good deal on the purple up figured id give it a shot! the algae is hard and crusty! and my new emerald has taking a liking to it and eating it! this i should worry about it if the crab is eating it?

[REEFROOKEE]

Originally Posted by philosophile

It doesn't look like cyano... 4th picture looks like the purple stuff has some plant like structure to it. Maybe rhodophytra?

yea id say it has a " plant structure to it as well"

[philosophile]

cyano form a kind of mat. It shouldn't really have structure to it at all. It should feel slimy not hard or stiff. I think you have some kind of plant growing in there, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Here's a good pic of cyano... about half way down the page.
http://www.waldonell.com/me/145g_other

If you do take it out, make sure you check your nitrate and phosphate levels for a couple of days afterwards. Sometimes plants are taking up all that stuff, and when you remove them, you get a spike.

[REEFROOKEE]

Originally Posted by philosophile

cyano form a kind of mat. It shouldn't really have structure to it at all. It should feel slimy not hard or stiff. I think you have some kind of plant growing in there, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Here's a good pic of cyano... about half way down the page.
http://www.waldonell.com/me/145g_other

If you do take it out, make sure you check your nitrate and phosphate levels for a couple of days afterwards. Sometimes plants are taking up all that stuff, and when you remove them, you get a spike.

ok! so we can classify it as random plant? lol

[shifty51008]

if it's cyano then it is bacteria not a plant

[REEFROOKEE]

its defiantly looks like a plant and my new emerald crab wont stop eating it! lol
sorry about the not so good pics,. wish i new how to get better ones.

[Raggamuffin]

I'll put 20 bucks on purple grape calerpa because A: it looks just like it and B: my emerald crabs love it too!

[cloak]

Rhodophyta fauchea sp? Check this out.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-0...ides/index.php

[Sharpie_]

cloak that link is funny but I believe you are 100% correct. It's clearly not a bacterial bloom because of it's defined structure and it's not caulerpa because of it's lack of "vine", I have had this in a few forms all from one mother colony. You will notice that it can grow in a bubbly mounding shape, sps like fingers, or leaf like sheets. All in all I would consider this macro a treasure and would consider fragging it to be shared.

[khaosinc]

hard to make out in the pic.... Does it look like this??

[jestr]

look like coraline

[ShawnKPD]

It looks like Gelidium algae to me. Look at this web page. As you see emerald crabs do eat this stuff.

http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?op...d=54&Itemid=81

[REEFROOKEE]

Originally Posted by khaosinc

hard to make out in the pic.... Does it look like this??

yes! that is it for sure!

[drummereef]

The algae was always on your rock, parameters were just right for it to start growing. The Purple Up was just coincidence imo. As others have posted Purple Up is nothing but an expensive calcium supplement. Check out Bulk Reef Supply and get started on a balanced Ca / Alk / Mag supplement and your inhabitants will thank you for it.

[glextank]

We grow that red algae in our refugium. Its totally fine.

[Palting]

Originally Posted by khaosinc

hard to make out in the pic.... Does it look like this??

What is that? I want some of that for my refugium!

[REEFROOKEE]

well thanks alot guys! id wouldn't be this far with out any of you!

Palting, ill ship you some for your fuge i have lots :P

bidny, im using reef salt that contains alc calcium and mag. and do weekly water changes and only have one small colony of zoa's. is it worth it to jump in to dosing with so little in the tank?

[jasonrp104]

It depends: I started dosing early just to get a feel for my tanks needs before it really depended on it. You don't have to dose at the moment, but it's also a good time to learn since nothing in there will be really affected by it.