I have this product call "purple up" I've been using. Apparently it's a coraline algae accelerator. I only started using it under a recommendation that it was a very good product. Ever since I have noticed brown algae on the rocks directly in the path of my mp40 and on the glass so much so that I clean it daily or every two days. I've had a few reef tanks but this is a new ( 6 months old ) set up for me. It's a 180g with sump. I went away to orlando for 2 weeks at the end of October and when I returned I noticed all the algae was gone. The tank didn't receive the "purple up"while I was gone. Upon my return I started using it again. I have noticed some coraline coming in nicely but I do not know if this product helped it. Once again I'm noticing the algae coming back. I stopped using the product a few days ago to try and do a autopsy and see what the problem is and to my astonishment the algae is going away. Has anyone else ever experience anything with this product? Thanks for any input.
Has anyone had a problem with "purple up"
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chelltom
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i used it on a tank I had a few years ago and i did have quite a bit of coralline in that tank. My new tank which has been up for about 6-7 months has no coralline algae for some reason ? So I have been considering buying some , I can remember any issue's with brown algae . maybe cut back on the amount you feed on the days you add it or just add it to get the coralline started then stop use. Does anyone know another way to promote coralline growth ??
Canadian-reef
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It's a very strange situation. I don't over feed anyways and I was only putting a little more than half of what was recommended. If it was a one time thing I could have blamed it on many things but I was able to replicate the situation.
Pfisherman
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It is snake oil from what I have heard. Simply a suspension of powdered aragonite, and it will throw off your calcium testing.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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I would just suggest that Purple Up is not a "very good product", unlike what you were told..
The fine aragonite in it cannot dissolve into seawater, but it can lead to false high reading for calcium and alkalinity as long as those fine sand grains remain suspended in the water.
In your case, the product likely added a trace element that the brown algae was lacking, so it grew more. That may or may not be a problem since other, more desirable organisms in the tank may be lacking it, but that is the likely explanation.
The fine aragonite in it cannot dissolve into seawater, but it can lead to false high reading for calcium and alkalinity as long as those fine sand grains remain suspended in the water.
In your case, the product likely added a trace element that the brown algae was lacking, so it grew more. That may or may not be a problem since other, more desirable organisms in the tank may be lacking it, but that is the likely explanation.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Coralline is helped (IMO) by having rocks with it as seeds, and then adequate to high calcium and alkalinity, high magnesium, low phosphate and organics, and lack of green algae or cyano coating the rocks.
chelltom
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Good info
ryarnall3772
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I honestly don't think it works either..my tank is only 5 months old..storted with 120lb of lr..could see a small amount of purple in the lr..a couple months ago i rescued a tank that had a ton of coralline.. added about 20 lb of the covered lr to my tank..it actually looks like up until recently that the coralline has been disappearing ..or is my tank just too new???..purple up is a waist?
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One theory of why it might "work" is that the fine sand lands on rocks and such, sticks there, and acts as a fresh surface for coralline to grow on.
FWIW, coralline usually grows on plastic surfaces before live rock and glass. It might just be that it likes hydrophobic surfaces, but it may also be that it doesn't as easily colonize if algae is there first.
FWIW, coralline usually grows on plastic surfaces before live rock and glass. It might just be that it likes hydrophobic surfaces, but it may also be that it doesn't as easily colonize if algae is there first.
