Purple-up algae accelrator on Base Rock

[xxroyxx]

My tank is full of base Rock no live rock, I know it's going to take a while to build coraline on it but I want to know if Purple-up will help, and if so when should i start seeing results.
If I add about 20 pounds of LR to my existing 110 pounds of Base Rock would that speed up the process at all or should I not even bother.
Also I'm still runinng on the regular 48" single bulb light just got my 72 gal bow about 10 a week ago.

 

[tripleshot]

Originally Posted by xxROYxx
My tank is full of base Rock no live rock, I know it's going to take a while to build coraline on it but I want to know if Purple-up will help, and if so when should i start seeing results.
If I add about 20 pounds of LR to my existing 110 pounds of Base Rock would that speed up the process at all or should I not even bother.
Also I'm still runinng on the regular 48" single bulb light just got my 72 gal bow about 10 a week ago.
If you have only one 48" fluorscent light 40 watts on a 72gal tank it is not going to do much for you. Most people use base rock in the tank to put the nice peices of rock or coral on . And you dont see it anyway. Purple up works great imo i use it every week when i do water changes. Im also lighting with the coralife 48" light. 260 watts of PC lighting on a 75 gal =3.5 watts per gallon. and have noticed a big difference since i started useing purple up.
If you read the back of the bottle it states "you must have some living coralline algae on the rock or tank." I would start by up gradeing your lighting first. Than put some live rock in that has coralline algae on it.

 

[drea]

purple up started working for me also right away, and i have crap lighting

 

[thomas712]

tripleshot & drea, Don't suppose you'd care to post up your Calcium and Alkalinity scores. Magnesium as well if you can swing it. Also what brand salt are you using?
Thomas

 

[drea]

i can post my alcc.. i don't have a calcium tester.... i'm using io, but have have used red sea b4, and i'm goin to switch to oceanic....
i have a fowlr and inverts tank..... but i have a piece of white coral in there that is growing corraline on it, green, purple, pink , all diff colors... i should get some pics up this weekend

 

[thomas712]

OK instant ocean but you are growing coralline algea? What about if you didn't use the purple up?
Just curious

 

[thomas712]

Lets take alook at this product:
Purple Up Coralline Algae Accelerator [16 oz]
Encourages the growth of desirable pink and purple coralline algae and not nuisance algae.
Unique Dual Method Approach to Coralline Algae Acceleration
Ionic Calcium: Immediately raises dissolved calcium levels in the aquarium water.
10 Micron Aragonite: Targets the live rock surface where it dissolves in situ delivering calcium, strontium, magnesium and carbonate right where it's needed.
Iodine Replenishment: Purple Up also replenishes iodine, an essential element for coralline algae tissues that becomes quickly depleted in closed systems.
Easy To Use: One bottle replaces the typical multi-product recipe for successful coralline algae growth favored by advanced aquarists.
Contains Super Sea Calcium: Natural calcium derived from pristine, tropical oceans.
______________________________________________________________
Ah but is its effect cummulative?
Does it cause the buffer to suffer?
My point here is what does it do that your regular salt mix is not doing for you?
Thomas

 

[drea]

good question.... i have no idea though.... but i always had coraline, but now its spreading pretty quickly... i don't want it to spread too much though, so i'm only gonna add p-up again if i see it go away... i'll check my ph though

 

[carshark]

hey thomas, i have been using purple up off and on for a year. my buddy started my trend. I saw with my own eyes. but I too was afraid of the calcium build up, but it seems that my calcium never went looney. i still use it, once a week after water changes. Since I do not have a reef set up yet, in the process of hooking up my fuge, and getting my closed loop in full swing. My 115lbs of Live rock are in a 29 gal. i cant actually gauge how it will affect the reef scenario, considering most coral will use up more calcium than my current FOWLR. I will say i noticed a huge difference between coralline growth naturally vs purple up. The way it looks to me is when the milky water subsides from the dose of purple up, the rocks are actually soaking it up almost. in short never had a single problem with calcium or alkalinity going out of whack. so, the next comment is, which would support you logically, how can it really be working if these levels never shift. so its not like you are dosing an in-ordinate amount of calcium where you should see the results in your tests, so whats the purpose? well i can say this. i see a brighter, thicker, deeper purple color coralline than when not using it, and quicker at that. my levels never get scary as far as calcium and alkalinity and magnesium for that matter, so with better coralline, no negative effects, and quicker results, i dont see a downside, and have full support of the product.

 

[carshark]

Originally Posted by drea
good question.... i have no idea though.... but i always had coraline, but now its spreading pretty quickly... i don't want it to spread too much though, so i'm only gonna add p-up again if i see it go away... i'll check my ph though

once your coralline is growing, it should not go away. the bottle isnt coralline preserves, its simply a boost of neccessary elements for coralline growth. if you see your coralline going away, you need a bulb change, better lighting or your water quality is taking a dive for the worst, and you would see effects in your organisms first. however stopping using the product, if it has produced results, you might see a slowing down of growth but not recession.

 

[tripleshot]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
tripleshot & drea, Don't suppose you'd care to post up your Calcium and Alkalinity scores. Magnesium as well if you can swing it. Also what brand salt are you using?
Thomas
My calcium reading is 400 i dont have a alklinty or magnesium tester as of yet. Also my ph is at 8.2.
Ammonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=20
Ph=8.2
Im usein Saltwater master test kit

 

[thomas712]

tripleshot -
I was watching to see if you posted your pH. I am begining to wonder if either of you have had a problem with your pH or not. Many make mistakes when they try to raise pH by buffering and when they do they upset the balance between calcium and carbonate, which I believe IO has a problem with anyway, then there is the boron question about your buffer. Boron is part of the alkalinity equation and your corals really want the carbonate. Your Purple up or even aragamilk might be adding the carbonate that your system is craving like the coralline, corals, snails shells and the like.
Maybe I'm just making too much of this, but I have always had the problem of coralline growth with IO salt, the coralline, rocks, corals all sucked it right up when I did a water change. Coralline would start and then stall, turn white..etc..
I just don't want it to happen to anyone else, and I hate to see folks pay good money for more and more additives.
Thomas

 

[drea]

my lighting is garbage, but its growing... my water quality is top notch

 

[tripleshot]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
tripleshot -
I was watching to see if you posted your pH. I am begining to wonder if either of you have had a problem with your pH or not. Many make mistakes when they try to raise pH by buffering and when they do they upset the balance between calcium and carbonate, which I believe IO has a problem with anyway, then there is the boron question about your buffer. Boron is part of the alkalinity equation and your corals really want the carbonate. Your Purple up or even aragamilk might be adding the carbonate that your system is craving like the coralline, corals, snails shells and the like.
Maybe I'm just making too much of this, but I have always had the problem of coralline growth with IO salt, the coralline, rocks, corals all sucked it right up when I did a water change. Coralline would start and then stall, turn white..etc..
I just don't want it to happen to anyone else, and I hate to see folks pay good money for more and more additives.
Thomas
I see you were saying that IO salt has a problem with ballance between calcium and carbonate. should i use a different brand of salt? if so this is what i have for choices. Red sea salt,Tropic marin,Coralife,or Kent. Are any of theese any better? I am useing Instant ocean now.

 

[oceanists]

i use liquid calcium and essential elements with the 48 coralife 260 on a 55 gallon ........ oh boy ill tell you what , im getting some much green purple and dark red its not even funny ......... but i did have alot of white untill i got my light

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
tripleshot -
I was watching to see if you posted your pH. I am begining to wonder if either of you have had a problem with your pH or not. Many make mistakes when they try to raise pH by buffering and when they do they upset the balance between calcium and carbonate, which I believe IO has a problem with anyway, then there is the boron question about your buffer. Boron is part of the alkalinity equation and your corals really want the carbonate. Your Purple up or even aragamilk might be adding the carbonate that your system is craving like the coralline, corals, snails shells and the like.
Maybe I'm just making too much of this, but I have always had the problem of coralline growth with IO salt, the coralline, rocks, corals all sucked it right up when I did a water change. Coralline would start and then stall, turn white..etc..
I just don't want it to happen to anyone else, and I hate to see folks pay good money for more and more additives.
Thomas
Thomas,
As you know I'm in the process of switching from IO to Oceanic for just exactly the reasons that you've posted here. My question is, I normally do a 10% water change weekly, my first one with Oceanic having been done this weekend (Sunday). Would it be beneficial for me to make more frequent changes during the switch over, of should I just go as I have and let this happen slowly (like I did when switching from tap to RO water)? My coraline is definitely growing, but my calcium level with IO is a measly 320. I will be testing tomorrow to see if there's any change with the initial water/salt change. I'll post if there's any change.
PS: I've never put any additives in my tank...it makes me too nervous. I want my tank to be taken care of as naturally as I possibly can. I'm hanging my hat on this and hoping it works.
Lisa :happyfish

 

[thomas712]

I can't say these things are happening to everyone, I can't really say that it is the crappiest stuff in the world, but I have been seeing a pattern here and there. Many times I've asked which brand of salt someone uses because something is wrong with their system and the most frequent answer is IO salt.
Every system is different, on the flip side of my poor opinion, when my 55 was going I did use IO salt, and I had coralline on everything, but almost no corals to speak of, and I was using crushed coral, and had dead coral pieces in the tank. I was also dosing B-ionic every day and going through gallons of it. I only had 80 watts of NO lighting to start with.
So I had coralline, but was agian dosing constanly and to some extent we all need to do that.
But I have always noticed how rapidly IO comes down in levels after a water change. Same old story, low Mag, low Calcium, lots of dosing, poor results if a fully stocked reef.
It all depends on your system.
MonaLisa- I do 30 gallon water changes on my 90gallon+55gallon filtration tank.
I'd do a 25-30% change and watch over the next week to see if your corals respond.
Thomas

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
I can't say these things are happening to everyone, I can't really say that it is the crappiest stuff in the world, but I have been seeing a pattern here and there. Many times I've asked which brand of salt someone uses because something is wrong with their system and the most frequent answer is IO salt.
Every system is different, on the flip side of my poor opinion, when my 55 was going I did use IO salt, and I had coralline on everything, but almost no corals to speak of, and I was using crushed coral, and had dead coral pieces in the tank. I was also dosing B-ionic every day and going through gallons of it. I only had 80 watts of NO lighting to start with.
So I had coralline, but was agian dosing constanly and to some extent we all need to do that.
But I have always noticed how rapidly IO comes down in levels after a water change. Same old story, low Mag, low Calcium, lots of dosing, poor results if a fully stocked reef.
It all depends on your system.
MonaLisa- I do 30 gallon water changes on my 90gallon+55gallon filtration tank.
I'd do a 25-30% change and watch over the next week to see if your corals respond.
Thomas
So, 25-30 gal over this week...that means I should probably do another 10% tomorrow and another 10% this weekend...that's not too fast?
Lisa :happyfish

 

[thomas712]

Not with an established system. I'm not saying 10%+10%+10%, I'm saying do a one time 25-30% change the next time you do one, if thats possible, if not then do it the way you always do it, thats fine as well.
I use a 30 gallon tank to mix my water change water.
Thomas

 

[monalisa]

I just set up water with Oceanic to do another change later this week, and I tested, but just for calcium...15 drops, still didn't show a calcium level (15 drops with AP tests show 520ppm). I will do the change, and be very anxious to test my tank a day or two later. I know where the calcium is at now, and I know where I think it should be...I'll let you know. I'm really hoping that this will boost my calcium without adding the additives (that I've already bought but I'm too chicken to add). When I read on a lable that something that I'm ready to add to my tank is "corrosive", it makes me stop and think. I want to do this as naturally as I possibly can.
I'll let you know what I find. I'm really curious about what I'll find.
Lisa :happyfish