purple up maximize the coraline algea growth

[Roland Jacques]

im just getting back into reef keeping after a couple years off. im keeping a 300 reef no corals yet. it had a lot of green hair & buble algae scrub it all off did 90% water change on it. some type of very fine easy to remove brown hair algae keep growing fairly fast in the tank. it is almost like a cinobacteria but it not. i want to maximize the growth of the coraline algae to fight this. nitrates are coming down. as for the phosphates well here my question. what the best product to use, i heard of a new thing call phos-buster and purple-up both by caribsea. i dont have a clue how these products work or if they work. i no the ferric oxide and kalkwasser work. but if this other products work better i want a lot of that pink and purple coraline to cover the rock i think it looks awesome when it plates out like little shelves. thanks for your help

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do not recommend cocktails of additives, like purple up. They grab sales with an appealing name, but there is no proof that it does anything useful, and I think some of the ingredients (like the aragonite) are simply wasted. I'm not sure what the phos-buster is.

Keeping pH, alkalinity and possibly magnesium at suitable levels, and phosphate low, are the best ways to encourage coralline growth.