Does "purple up" really work?

[loans_n_fishes]

I know we don't tend to like to speed things up in this hobby, but I would like to get some coraline algae going pretty quickly in the school tank. Is this a good way to do it, or is it just a waste of $$?

[neogenix]

From what I read (way back when I was first trying to get things up and going) the jury was still out on using something like this over something like just plain dosing. All I ended up doing was dosing 2 part while my tank was cycling, and within a month or two I had great Coraline growth everywhere.

[alexdmg]

I use it all the time and my tank likes the stuff. It helps with more than just coraline algae.

[txmaverickmh]

YES IT DOES!!! Jason at Aquarium Designs sold me on this stuff, I dosed it for the first 4 months with my tank and I had incredible coraline growth! I am a huge proponent of it!

Michael

[tebstan]

There are so many factors and every tank is different... there's no way a hobbyist can have a controlled experiment to guarantee "this works." However... it sure can't hurt. I used it for the first 6 months or so, and my tank looked nice and purple long before some tanks do. So I'm in the "it works" camp. Oh, but I used Kent's version, Purple Tech.

Ive known a few people to dose 2 part instead. Isn't that more expensive in the long haul? And can you overdo it on the 2nd part if the tanks uninhabited?

[loans_n_fishes]

I'm not going to need a bunch of calcium overall since I am just going to be putting in a few softies and fish/shrimp, but I really like the look of coraline. :)

[txmaverickmh]

I never used it for calcium, I just used it to get purple! lol

[stompylee]

Purple up does help promote the growth of coraline algae. It doesn't create it must be some there. So you will need some live rock or sand to get the cycle started. My rocks are a nice purple and I have a 'dead' rock I just added because I mounted a coral on top. It starting to get the coraline on it but I am not dosing daily right now. I will post a pic shortly. Big fan of this stuff because of all the extras but I moving to dosing everything else separately so I have changed my habits a bit. Highly recommend till you get your growth right. Then scale back to twice week or so.

http://184.72.239.143/mu/4b0198ea-a3bd-04ac.jpg

[txg8gxp]

seems like good stuff, but I wouldn't dose anything your not testing for. If I remember purple up is just a mix of ca/mag/etc. All are needed for good coralline growth, but still a good rule is don't add something if your not testing for it. IMO.

[Europhyllia]

From looking at the contents it's just calcium plus iodine. I agree with Stephen. No matter if you want calcium or not. If you are adding Purple Up you are adding calcium (and iodine) so I'd still test for it to see where it takes the calc levels, etc.

[Big_Pun]

all I do is get seeded purple rocks or anything with coraline and scrape it in tank and do water changes and in a 3-4 months rock is covered, seems to be same amount of time purple up takes.

[Europhyllia]

all I do is get seeded purple rocks or anything with coraline and scrape it in tank and do water changes and in a 3-4 months rock is covered, seems to be same amount of time purple up takes.
anything grows in your tank like weed anyway!

[ErikH]

Proper CA and Alk levels will keep your rocks purple, this can be achieved with regular water changes. As Chris stated, seed your tank with purple rocks. I know my CA is lower than desired when my coralline starts fading on the back glass. As Tebstan stated, I too would like to see a test, not to see it it works or not, but in comparison to just plain ol water changes with accurate CA Mg and Alk levels. Sound like just another supplement with a fancy name, and hefty price tag.

[mike.anthony1]

It worked for me!