Review: Pink Fusion & Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a Bottle

[trevorhiller]

I started my tank out on November 4th with dry rock. On November 13th I added a bottle of purple helix and a bottle of pink fusion from ARC Reef. My tank cycle was still underway and didn't complete until around the 19th of November. Today, December 10th there are small pink and purple spots developing on my rock. Less than a month! I used MarcoRocks dry reefsaver rocks and haven't done any other methods to encourage coralline growth in the tank. In full disclosure though, I did add a snail last week that has one little speck of coralline on his shell about a week ago, but I don't think that he could have spread these spots that quickly. The rest of my CUC doesn't appear to have any coralline covering their shells.

When I was researching these products, there seemed to be some confusion on whether they could be added during the cycle and how soon is too soon to dose. My vote is buy it and dump it in from the get go if this is a product that you're interested in! It seemed to work fine in my case.

I do think it's a bit overpriced at about $44 for both bottles. You could probably get away with one bottle, but I really wanted to try to get a good mix of pink and purple shades of coralline algae, so I justified the expense since I saved money by not buying live rock. I kept the pink brush that came with the bottles and it works great to clean my Eshopps Nano Skimmer. I also kept the cool pink and purple bottles to repurpose into some fun dosing containers to make me feel better about spending forty bucks on algae.

Here are some pictures, the spots are only about 1 mm and today is literally the first day I could see them, but there are about 20 different areas I can see them. I'll try to update this thread with pictures once it is a little more prominent to complete the review, but if I forget and you are reading this after searching for these products, check out my build thread for tank photos!

 

[polyppal]

The Helix works well when you introduce it to a stable reef tank, at the 2-3mo mark. I purchased the pink for my frag tank thinking it was a waste of money, but a few weeks later started noticing neon pink spots on various frags

 

[trevorhiller]

The Helix works well when you introduce it to a stable reef tank, at the 2-3mo mark. I purchased the pink for my frag tank thinking it was a waste of money, but a few weeks later started noticing neon pink spots on various frags

Do you think there is a benefit to waiting to dose it versus right from the beginning? It seems to be taking hold in my tank ok. I imagine it might be even quicker in an already established reef tank though.

 

[polyppal]

If the tank isn’t in coral-ready conditions, the effects will probably be minimal since CCA thrives in the same conditions as most corals (stability/calcium/alk rich environments). I’ve tried the helix on brand new tanks and seen nothing, while adding it to a maturing tank showed results.

Problem is it expires after a month or so, so no use in holding onto it long term, might as well dump it in at that point

 

[waverider]

I think its a waste of money when you consider its price, plus the fact that its gonna take 6 months of proper conditions (CA, ALK, MAG) and lastly that there are so many other more important things you need to spend money on during the first 6 months of your tank. Run the tank properly and you'll have rich Coraline Algae sooner or later.

 

[trevorhiller]

I think its a waste of money when you consider its price, plus the fact that its gonna take 6 months of proper conditions (CA, ALK, MAG) and lastly that there are so many other more important things you need to spend money on during the first 6 months of your tank. Run the tank properly and you'll have rich Coraline Algae sooner or later.

I definitely agree with you on this. If you’re contemplating buying this versus anything else, buy “anything else” first. That wasn’t my case though and I know it isn’t for many other people. If you have money budgeted for your tank and have all the other gizmos and gadget you need/want, then I don’t think it’s a waste of money. There’s been some good success out there.

I definitely agree though that it is overpriced and I can’t figure out why there are two different bottles when they say each bottle contains multiple strains— why not put them all in one? More profits….

However, everything in this hobby is ridiculously priced and by comparison $40 for a main component of the tanks ecosystem isn’t a lot. Heck, people spend $75 getting pods shipped to their house. $15 snails, $10 per pound live rock, etc. it’s all overpriced and expensive unfortunately.

 

[Pistondog]

The sooner the coralline is on the rocks, the harder it is for other less desirable algae to thrive.

 

[trevorhiller]

The sooner the coralline is on the rocks, the harder it is for other less desirable algae to thrive.

It amazes me that it’s so hard to find coralline covered live rock for sale. I know there are several places online that sell it (the makers of pink fusion/purple helix for example) but when I was looking everywhere was sold out. All I could find was fake, painted dry rock.

People report that coralline gets to be a nuisance and it takes over their rocks and glass, I’d expect more of it would be available for sale for the reason you mentioned. I would have loved to start with some nice encrusted rock, but couldn’t find any.

great business idea if someone has the space and capital to buy dry rock and pre cycle /pre grow coralline on it for people since the current vendors can’t seem to keep up with demand. If I had a large enough mature tank, I’d probably throw a few pieces in and just rotate them every couple months for some extra reefing $$$. I’m sure lots of newbies would be lined up.

 

[Pistondog]

It amazes me that it’s so hard to find coralline covered live rock for sale. I know there are several places online that sell it (the makers of pink fusion/purple helix for example) but when I was looking everywhere was sold out. All I could find was fake, painted dry rock.

People report that coralline gets to be a nuisance and it takes over their rocks and glass, I’d expect more of it would be available for sale for the reason you mentioned. I would have loved to start with some nice encrusted rock, but couldn’t find any.

great business idea if someone has the space and capital to buy dry rock and pre cycle /pre grow coralline on it for people since the current vendors can’t seem to keep up with demand. If I had a large enough mature tank, I’d probably throw a few pieces in and just rotate them every couple months for some extra reefing $$$. I’m sure lots of newbies would be lined up.

If you have the funds, some of the real stuff is very beneficial as it kickstarts the biome in a new tank
I like gulfliverock.com for cost efficiency. I got 17 lbs shipped 3 day 3 years ago. Some die off, but lots intact.

 

[Screwby]

I did the similar with My Aquatop 24. I set the tank up with some clean, dry, new Figi rocks and let it run for about a month. I heard about the ARC Purple Helix and Pink Fusion and decided to try them. I made sure my parameters were within the recommended ranges and stable. I added the entire contents of both bottles about 1 month into my tank figuring I would have some "die off". It's been 2 months since start-up, and 1 month since I added the spores. I had an initial cycle and now in a very mild diatom stage. Pretty much looks like a dusting of brown sugar on my rocks (nothing thick or hairy). I have enough flow to keep the sand clean. I haven't seen any pink/purple spots yet, but have noticed 4-5 bright green (almost neon) spots on my rocks that aren't growing in size. I'm trying to be patient and fingers crossed that I'll see something soon.

 

[trevorhiller]

I did the similar with My Aquatop 24. I set the tank up with some clean, dry, new Figi rocks and let it run for about a month. I heard about the ARC Purple Helix and Pink Fusion and decided to try them. I made sure my parameters were within the recommended ranges and stable. I added the entire contents of both bottles about 1 month into my tank figuring I would have some "die off". It's been 2 months since start-up, and 1 month since I added the spores. I had an initial cycle and now in a very mild diatom stage. Pretty much looks like a dusting of brown sugar on my rocks (nothing thick or hairy). I have enough flow to keep the sand clean. I haven't seen any pink/purple spots yet, but have noticed 4-5 bright green (almost neon) spots on my rocks that aren't growing in size. I'm trying to be patient and fingers crossed that I'll see something soon.

I’ve given up on trying to speed up coralline growth. I had some spots going, then it slowed down. Then I upgraded tanks and it slowed down even more. Now it’s starting to pop up again. Ironically, ONLY on the rocks. Not in the sump, not on the glass, not on plastic equipment.

it’s definitely in there, so I figured eventually it’ll probably explode. It’s just a waiting game. I do believe the ARC Reef stuff seeds the tank though. But you may be in for a couple months wait.

 

[Screwby]

I’ve given up on trying to speed up coralline growth. I had some spots going, then it slowed down. Then I upgraded tanks and it slowed down even more. Now it’s starting to pop up again. Ironically, ONLY on the rocks. Not in the sump, not on the glass, not on plastic equipment.

it’s definitely in there, so I figured eventually it’ll probably explode. It’s just a waiting game. I do believe the ARC Reef stuff seeds the tank though. But you may be in for a couple months wait.

I just bought an AI Prime 16HD reef light for my tank. I figure I'll ty and get everything the set as best I can before adding cleanup crew and livestock, The stock light that came with the tank has actinic and white, but not adjustable... just on and off. my diatoms ae minimal, but I expect that to change a bit once I add things. I thought same as you on the cost. $45 wasn't a huge investment if it failed.

 

[Screwby]

Ok, so my tank has been up and running for 3 months now. I tried seeding it with the ARC Coralline algae spores shortly after filling. 3 months later I've added 6 snails, 6 hermit crabs, 2 pink skunk clownfish, 1 six line wrasse, and 1 purple firefish. All alive and well. The other day I I was looking around with a flashlight for 2 of the crabs and found 8 pink/purple spots. Hopefully coralline algae!

 

[trevorhiller]

Sure looks like it to me!

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Looks like coralline to us as well

 

[Screwby]

Thanks! My apologies for the blurry pics, lol. I now count 11 spots throughout my tank, but 2 are iffy. I should know more in another week or two. The one thing that puzzles me is my alkalinity was low (6-7 dKH) for almost a month, and calcium also (340ppm). I bumped my dKH to 9.5 and it seems to be holding. Still working on the calcium, but it's about 380ppm now. Just funny how those spots all just showed up.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

IMO get a hermit or two from LFS w/ some on its shell.

 

[Screwby]

IMO get a hermit or two from LFS w/ some on its shell.

My tank is Auatop 24g. I know it's small for a first time reef tank, but so far, so good. I'm pretty much maxed out with the 4 fish, so I'm looking to add a fire shrimp or cleaner shrimp once I get the calcium up and stabilized. I've been adding 2-3 snails and hermit crabs every couple weeks and pretty sure the snails had some on them. I'm currently at 9 small snails, and 8 blue legged hermits. That should finish out the tank until I try an anemone or soft corals.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

My tank is Auatop 24g. I know it's small for a first time reef tank, but so far, so good. I'm pretty much maxed out with the 4 fish, so I'm looking to add a fire shrimp or cleaner shrimp once I get the calcium up and stabilized. I've been adding 2-3 snails and hermit crabs every couple weeks and pretty sure the snails had some on them. I'm currently at 9 small snails, and 8 blue legged hermits. That should finish out the tank until I try an anemone or soft corals.

I dont think your tank is too small for a first time reef tank! I think you are doing really well too! Just a thought - cheaper option.

 

[Smoke-Town]

I like this stuff. I used it. It is expensive... but it's very beneficial if you don't have another good source. As piston said, Get it in there fast so it gets to the rock before bad stuff... I don't see it as a nuisance. It's not a lot of work to clean off your glass once every couple weeks or off your pumps once a year... if that's too much work then this is the wrong hobby.

And yes thats definitely coraline. It'll start popping up everywhere soon and before you know it that whole tank will be purple.