Purple up....

I have spend countless evenings searching the benefits of "purple up" as a method to accelarate growth of coraline. Im looking for some growth rates and possible tips to maximize growth.

Initially I used base rock because it was free (and im cheap) and got my lfs to give me a table spoon of coraline that they scraped of a tank wall during a routine cleaning.

I have been running my tank without live rock, without live sand and managed to cover most of my rock with nice light purple coraline.

I did end up going to the lfs some time ago with a bucket of KFC chicken and said ill give you this bucket if you give me a bucket of dirty water from you LR tank. It just so happends I ended up with a few pods here and there and a tiny feather duster that died.

I lead myslef to belive that I had enough to seed my tank and off I went. now I have light growth of coraline and I want to boost it.

Is purple up the best way?

 

i used it, for about two weeks dosing only once a twice a week at half the rec. dose. But after some reading and saw lil inprovement, i decided to just let it take its course. and it did. Try to keep it as natural as you can. If you do decide, dose less then what they say, it seems most companys will tell you to add more suppliments or food then you should so that you can buy more from them.

 

take it slow let it grow. I think that is our reef moderators moto. Good call. In time it will grow coraline algae.

 

My cheapness and your advice has got the best of me... I will not purchase purple up for $21.99 and buy another tang for $29.99 to help combat other fast growing algeas.

 

I use purple up. It is good as a calcium supplement, but nothing else. There is nothing magical about it that will speed up coraline more than any other product.
The best way to get it growing/keep it growing fast is to just keep your params in order (specially ca, mg, dkh, and po4) and running the proper spectrum of lighting.

 

I used Kent's Purple Tech, it supplements Ca, Mg and buffers the dKH. I used it to bring my levels up to "normal" and just used it a week after water changes, half a cap on my 20G. I had lowered Mg levels which kept my coralline from growing but it has been fixed and is growing slow and steady now.

 

I wouldn't use Purple Up. Know many people who have only to find that it wrecks havoc with their pH. Take it slow. Normal water changes should provide you with what you need.

 

dont use P-UP

All U need is to test your water as long as your CAL is between
350-450 It will grow. mine grows about 1/4" month on new rock
the incrusting looking coraline grows slower but looks cool>>
just keep your cal at 450 and you will be good. purple up
killed my fish and coral. I thought I was gonna get alot of coraline
and ended up with a clogged toilet, Off to fish heaven

 

i use it every week, i can barely see my coraline algae grow, but it sure is a great way to maintain your calcium between 380-450.

 

I havent noticed tha personally, but I do see how that can happen. Thats why you need to test mg and dKH along with ca. Any one of those gets out of whack and the PH will definitely get affected.

If you killed all your fish and corals with purple up then you were definitely doing something wrong. All it is is calcium mixed with a little argonite. It claims to have iodine but its never change the level of it in my tank when dosing. Also, ca is by far not the only element that needs to be maintained correctly for proper coraline growth.