purple up

[Reefgyrl]

I tried a bottle of it in my 55. Didn't do anything but up the calcium. As far as I am concerned it's just a ca supplement.

[NewbReefer]

i have some and have used very llittle of it. it says right on the bottle it contains iodine which you get most if not all that you need from in the saltwater during water changes. it also contains calcium, and argonite which contains calcium, magnesium and strontium which all are levels you should be testing and supplementing for anyways for a reef system.

[McCrary]

It's a rip, its a low quality calcium additive that doesn't do much.

[dustin_P74]

listen learned

[newbeemike]

I used it when I first set up my tank about 3 years ago. Did regular doses till the bottle was done and got great results. My rock is completely purple now. Took about 6 months to see results and constant growth. Growth was a little anoying at one point. kept having to get it off the front glass. anything that gets your calcium up will grow purple coraline algea. I have not used it in the past 2 years or so and I still have coraline algea growth. When I changed to a larger tank and used the same rock, a lot of the continuous growth on my glass stopped so I am happy with that.

Originally Posted by dustin_P74

do you guys know how long purple up usually takes to start showing signs of coraline growth

[Rcpilot]

Originally Posted by dustin_P74

as long as it is not on the front glass i will be fine with it

LOL!!

Good luck with that... Once it takes off, you can't hardly stop it.

I never used any products to make my coraline grow. I bought nice rock from a local reefer that was covered in coraline already. I busted a few pieces of it here and there to aquascape and inside 4 months, I got more than I know what to do with. My front glass is 10% pink coraline in the corners and edges. I don't care enough to get in there and scrape it off. 90% of the center is clean--good enough. The sides and back of my tank are almost completely covered in thick pinkish purple coraline. If it's exposed to any light at all--it's covered.

Be careful what you wish for.

[dustin_P74]

i want it on the back glass. and everywhere else, i like the look of it. ill just have to sweat a little to scrap the front glass, no biggie for me, itll be a nice workout

[fatman]

Purple up is made from dissolving aragonite with acid. Just as happens in deep sand beds. Used as directed it should only be suppling exactly what corraline uses to mke the coralline plates as after all it is aragonite/calcite. Iodine has a life of about one day in a reef tank, and the sall amount is Purple up is more advertisement hype than a supplement. Most people get all there trace elements from water changes and do not test for magnesium or strontium and a great many do not even test for calcium. If any body wants to look at the chemical breakdown of aragonite sand they would find calcium on the list. It is hard to find aragonite with out finding calcium as calcium carbonate as aragonite is an intermediate step of calcium carbonate. This means in the normal cycle of aragonite it turns into calcium carbonate. Aragonoite has the same chemical formula as aragonite it is just in a different geometric arrangement which is less stable. As calcium carbonate is more stable and compounds seek the most stable arrangement, given time, aragonite becomes calcium carbonate. Oh yeah, Purple Up. Big money for very, very little. A Calc reactor is a "Purple Up" machine minus a nickles worth of iodine.

[yote]

IMO,Purple up is just a money racket.
I tryed it in my 30 when I first got into the hobby.It didnt do anything but cloud the water.
If you want to see coralline growth,keep calcium between 480 and 500 with a DKH of 12 to 15.Keep magnesium at 1400.Provide good light and good water quality,and you'll be scraping coralline untill your sick of it.

[reeffreak]

I used it many years ago.I didn't notice a difference in coralline growth.

Maybe it works,maybe it doesn't.I don't believe it hurts to try,except maybe your wallet.Liveaquaria and there Diver's Den section use Purple Up in there freshwater evaporation resevoirs so it can't be that bad?