Liverock is purple and pink

[Patticakes]

I'm new to the hobby. My live rock has different shades of purple and pink all over it. Is this algae? I don't see anything growing out of it, that's just the color it is. Also, will this spread to other rocks?

[Lakeside518]

Yes its algae;) Good algae. Coraline algae to be exact. Given time it will spread to other rocks.

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Patti
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As Martha Stewart would say, "That's a good thing". It is coralline algae and indicates LR that is in good shape. It will spread slowly to other rocks. See the The New Tank Thread (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239848) for what will happen next.

[Patticakes]

Will the Coraline algae always look like it does, or will it start to look different with time?

[sruiz]

I think thats great your rock is already changing colors, my rock is just starting to change. I saw some rock at the LFS and it looked really cool after some time. In my opinion it will just looks better. I prefer the different colors instead of brown and black.

[mg426]

If you maintain your alk and ca at the proper levels it should do fine. Coraline algae is very nice to have.

[austin552]

Your rock is no good. Send it all to me. He he he... Just kid'n. Sounds great! Show/tell us what you got. ;)

[WaterKeeper]

Patti,

The color of coralline is dependent on the lighting used. If you have broad spectrum lighting it can be all sorts of shades with orange, yellow and shades of green mixing in with the pinks and purples. It differs from tank to tank so it is hard to guess how yours will look. The main benefit of coralline is that it is using up nutrients in the tank that would encourage nuisance algae growth. Without it you tend to be plagued with continuous, unsightly algae blooms.

[Sk8r]

Don't let your tank temperature get into the mid eighties or it will bleach that pretty color dead white and do terrible things. Get two thermometers, and crosscheck them. I had a near miss with that problem, with coralline, and fortunately I caught it before it had gone on much more than a couple of hours, but if you've got a pretty start like that, you want to take particular good care of it.

[Patticakes]

I got the live rock at the local pet store in the town where I work. It was already purple and pink when I got it. I want to keep it that way. I read about some stuff called "purple up". I wonder if I should use that. I do have two thermometers that I check every day. I am hoping it will spread to the other rocks. I have two other live rocks that I took from my daughter in law's tank. (She didn't take care of it) but I have seen a couple of tiny feather dusters growing on one of them. I hope the pretty colors spread to those rocks.

[sttroyiii]

Ive been using Purple Up for about a month now. I think its making an improvement. I doubt you would need it until you approach 1-2lbs. of LR per gallon. Anything less than that and the rock probably wont be using enough calcium, etc. to make it worth it.

If you want to speed up the coralline spreading, get a turkey baster and blow your rocks clean every other day or so.

[old salty]

I have over 100 lbs of base rock in my tank, and after 5 months it is getting quite difficult to differentiate between the base and the "live" rock due to coralline spreading. Give it time, and it will spread. Don't panic if some of it bleaches out. I have rather strong lighting, and some of the rock has turned white where it used to be purple.

[beaniebeagle]

wish i had purple and pink,

i only have dark red :confused: