Could-be Coral?

[unisonsports]

I've had this liverock for about 3 weeks now, it was uncured when i bought it, it cured in my tank... Anyway, the liverock seems to have redish purpleish coral growing on it, well it looks like coral, i doubt its algae becasue it has some structure to it, and looks like coral... IS this normal, or is this a problem? it looks kinda cool though, if its not bad for my tank i hope it grows larger.

 

[bunjiweb]

coraline algae perhaps?

It is an encrusting algae and is great to help tank filtration. If your live-rock quickly covers in it then your tank should hopefully mature quicker as the algae helps keep the water chemistry more stable.

Ben

 

[unisonsports]

well its about that color, however it grows up like a plant does, not just accross the surface of the rock

 

[steelhealr]

agree with bunjiweb...clearer picture possible? SH

 

[Chac]

coraline algae perhaps?

It is an encrusting algae and is great to help tank filtration. If your live-rock quickly covers in it then your tank should hopefully mature quicker as the algae helps keep the water chemistry more stable.

Ben

Ben there was a debate on another BB regarding the + & - of having any Corraline Algae in a reef tank due to the fact that it does can completely smother Live rock & can reduce its filtration capacity

 

[mantis147]

When i first got my live rock i had a purple like colour on it, It turned out to be green star polyps the base of them is purple, it took a few days for the polyps to show.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Coralline algae can take on different shapes as well. I have some beautiful purple and orange coralline algae that has kind of a ridged texture to it.

 

[bunjiweb]

Ben there was a debate on another BB regarding the + & - of having any Corraline Algae in a reef tank due to the fact that it does can completely smother Live rock & can reduce its filtration capacity

Personally I think that if you are using the berlin method, a fare ammount of coraline is well worth it to filter out any unwanted trace elements.
You have to bare in mind that places that dont get alot of light wont have massive coraline growth and so there is still plenty of porous areas.

Ben