Purple Cabbage Coral (AC)
Ruffled violet folds that read like living velvet under blue light.
Purple cabbage leather grows in broad, ruffled folds that catch light like fabric — a rare structural silhouette in a hobby full of branches and polyps. Deep purple coloration holds under moderate lighting, and the colony grows quickly into a substantial display piece. Aquacultured, tank-adapted, and pest-free, with a clean healed base ready to mount.
What it needs to thrive
- Lighting
- Moderate — 75–150 PAR.
- Flow
- Moderate. Enough movement to shed waxy film and keep folds clean.
- Feeding
- Primarily photosynthetic. Benefits from occasional fine particulate feeding.
- Temperament
- Semi-aggressive — chemical allelopathy toward nearby stony corals. Run carbon.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Ideal Tank Size
- 20 gallons and up.
- Water Parameters
- SG 1.025 · Temp 78°F · Alk 8.0–9.0 dKH · Ca 420–440 ppm · Mg 1350–1400 ppm · NO₃ 2–10 ppm · PO₄ 0.03–0.10 ppm
Mid to lower rockwork with clear space overhead for the folds to expand. Keep a few inches from stony neighbors.
Semi-aggressive chemical warfare. Leathers release terpenoids into the water column that can suppress SPS and LPS growth. Run carbon and maintain regular water changes when keeping leathers alongside stony corals, and expect periodic waxy shedding as it grows.
Quarantine, dip, and acclimation
Quarantine
Hold all new fish in a bare-bottom 10–20 gallon QT for a minimum of 4 weeks. Observe for flashing, clamped fins, white spots, or breathing changes. Treat preventatively with copper (1.75–2.5 ppm chelated) or tank-transfer method for ich, plus a praziquantel course for flukes. Invertebrates and corals skip QT but go through dip and observation instead.
Recommended coral dip
For every new coral: a 5–10 minute bath in your reef-safe dip of choice (Bayer Complete, CoralRx, or Reef Primer) following label dosage, followed by two clean saltwater rinses. Inspect plugs and bases for flatworms, pyramid snails, and eggs — remove or refrag onto clean plugs before placing in display.
Acclimation
Float sealed bags in your QT or display for 15 minutes to match temperature. Then drip acclimate at 2–4 drops per second for 45–60 minutes until volume has tripled. Net livestock into the tank — never pour shipping water in. Dim the lights for the first 24 hours to reduce stress.