Purple algae

[Nate G]

I am fairly new to the saltwater scene and I am on a business trip so I haven't been able take care of the tank like I do. My wife is doing her best, but she has a lot going on. Sob story over!

It appears I am having an out break of purple algae. Now I know it is normally a good sign, but this seems a bit excessive. Let me know based on the photo and how I can try to stop this if needed. Thanks!

 

[TreyC2010]

That purple algae is coralline. It's not hurting anything. Only if you don't want it or if you don't want it to suck up some calcium. It will cover a lot of different things and it's something that some reefers never can get to grow. Looks pretty good to me.

 

[TreyC2010]

It gets scraped off if you want to remove it.

 

[Reab]

Caroline algae is usually what most reefers strive for as it helps prevent the growth of nuisance algae

 

[Nate G]

Awesome! Thanks huys

 

[RMS18]

I've tried growing it never works... your lucky. I'll trade you my green bubble algae

 

[Harold Green]

Most of us strive to get the coralline algae to grow and cover our rocks however if you want to get rid of it a couple of lone spined urchins will scrape it off and consume it. It took me forever to figure out why I couldn't get coralline to grow in my dt but after removing the urchins to another tank the algae started growing everywhere. Meanwhile they're busy removing the coralline from the tank I placed them in.