what is purple up???

[rbtwo4]

I was given some advice on to buying and using "Purple up". I didnt cus of RC I remember seeing somewhere that its not good to be using chemicals in your tank. I know its for coralline but does it work? My tank is in its beginning stages and after almost 3 weeks I'm already seeing coralline on a few pieces of my LR. So I'm pretty happy & excited by that cus so far so good. But does that purple up thing work?

[Andrew]

Purple up is pretty much a calcium supplement to increase the growth of coraline in your tank ( if any is present. ) I find purple up a waste as it is pretty expensive and dosing kalk ( lime water ) has the same effect at a cheaper cost. Pickle lime is very cheap and a large container can be bought from wal-mart for around $3 and it will last me most of the year.

[chris31]

purple up inhances the gowth of it it doesnt turn your rock fully purple but it helps the spread of the coralline best way to grow coalline alege is good light and keep you calcium up thats the best way to do it.By using purple up you will start to notice spots of coralline popping up allover your rick

[loosecannon]

Rbtwo4: Ever heard of the saying. If it an`t broke don`t fixit. Your coralline is gooing on it`s oune. Every reefer I ask, said it dosn`t work. I would just let your tank get a little older.

[Sk8r]

Best recipe for coralline growth: get alk and cal and mg tests, with supplements, put one corallined rock into your tank, and keep your alk at 8.3-9.3, your cal at 420, and your mg at 1300-1500. You'll see it, soon, and it won't add anything your tank can't naturally use.

[Nanz]

Originally posted by Sk8r
Best recipe for coralline growth: get alk and cal and mg tests, with supplements, put one corallined rock into your tank, and keep your alk at 8.3-9.3, your cal at 420, and your mg at 1300-1500. You'll see it, soon, and it won't add anything your tank can't naturally use.

Week #3 of my cycle.. NH3:0, NO2 > 5.0, NO3 40

I think all my rock is dead.. Its white now and there is NOTHING alive in the tank.. At least nothing I can see.

[drummereef]

Originally posted by rbtwo4
I was given some advice on to buying and using "Purple up". I didnt cus of RC I remember seeing somewhere that its not good to be using chemicals in your tank. I know its for coralline but does it work? My tank is in its beginning stages and after almost 3 weeks I'm already seeing coralline on a few pieces of my LR. So I'm pretty happy & excited by that cus so far so good. But does that purple up thing work?

Purple up is basically sand in a bottle. Useless junk, imo. There are much better and safer ways of maintaining your alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium. Your tank is new so no need to start supplimenting anything until the cycle is done. Please read this...

What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

[Bmgrocks]

Its a waste, absolutely useless.

For god coraline, u NOT ONLY NEED CALCIUM, but the proper levels of alkalanity

Purple up just has calcium. Coraline is a 2 part Outcome, with out equal levels of Alkalinity, you won't see any results

[UnderCoverDork]

Dont waste your time and money with Purple-up. Like sk8tr said..all you need to do is have the correct perameters and one piece of LR to seed the others.

[kuoka]

You'll get differing opinions on Purple Up. But as others have said, it's a calcium supplement. It has traces of strontium and magnesium but basically is calcium. If your CA and ALK levels are good then you don't need it.

It's funny when I asked my LFS about it, the owner said don't use it and that it's a waste of money and one of his employees pushes it because it's worked for other customers. LOL (I bought some and am using it LOL)

[Savas]

Does pickle lime contain calcium and an alkaline substance - how should I dose to move 10 gallons of water .2 ph (or any other formula I can convert).

[drummereef]

Originally posted by Savas
Does pickle lime contain calcium and an alkaline substance - how should I dose to move 10 gallons of water .2 ph (or any other formula I can convert).

Kalk, is a balanced suppliment like 2-Part that will maintain both Calcium and Alkalinity. Before you start dosing Kalk or any other additive you need to read this thoroughly.

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

[kevin2000]

All new aquarist think that "additives" are the solution to coralline growth .. thats mostly nonsense .. regular water changes will provide all of the std calcium, alkalinity and mag you need for normal coralline algae growth. Patience is the only missing ingredient in most coralline algae posts.

People who have mature reef tanks where the hard corals suck the calcium, alkalinity, and mag out of the water column for growth need to place additives in their tanks .. std newbie tanks don't have any of those demands and have calc, alk, and mag to spare.

Dosing additives without having an understanding of what they do is probably one of the biggest mistakes new aquarist make .. that includes alk, calk & mag ... dosing to accelerate coralline algae makes no sense to me at all.

[rbtwo4]

Ok so if it aint broke don't fix it that's a good one. I just noticed some coraline on my powerhead so its obvious that coraline is growing in my tank. I just didn't expect it in 3 weeks. Like the other day I noticed a pod swimming around and I know it was a pod because someone sent me the link to melevs which is REALLY helpful. And I again noticed a lollipop looking piece of algae which looks exactly like race something caulpera (mind is drawing a blank on the name) again I saw a pic of it on melevs. Well once agin THANK YOU friends at RC without u guys my tank would still be freshwater!