Using purple up or another coraline algae infuser

[Reef-_-Noob]

So my tank is at the 10 month mark and Started with Carib sea live rock. The coraline was striped off of most of the rock.

The coraline has started to grow back but more towards the rocks in the corners with less flow. It's grown back quite a bit there. My snail are all completely covered in coraline. My power heads are also well covered. My back wall just got little specks near the overflow. However the rocks in the middle are bare with only a little bit of coraline and they are green looking which annoys me.

I think my lighting may be hindering the growth in the middle.

Anyways I'm thinking of getting some purple up to get an explosion to help get rid of the green.

Anyone have experience with this product? I feel like I can get some good coraline growth but it just needs a boost !!

 

[trevorhiller]

Purple up is blend of elements you may or may not already be dosing

"delivering calcium, strontium, magnesium, and carbonate right where it's needed"

I tried the whole speed up the coralline growth thing, it didn't really work. I ran high magnesium, high light/low light, high calcium, low calcium, trace elements, high pH, low pH, Kalkwasser, etc. It doesn't really work. Stability time is your friend on this quest.

If it's already growing on the plastic it'll be coming soon, give it another month or two. I wouldn't mess with your parameters or you'll likely create instability that could set back the growth of it and (more importantly) your tank.

My advice is use the purple helix/pink helix stuff which will seed additional strains of coralline and keep your parameters stable through normal, non-purple up dosing mechanisms. Dumping a bottle and throwing some money away always makes us feel better.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Thank you for your words. Any ideas of the difference between purple and pink helix??? Is one less masculine???

 

[StatelineReefer]

Thank you for your words. Any ideas of the difference between purple and pink helix??? Is one less masculine???

Think of it like the difference between using black primer or grey primer as an undercoat for your car. Grey primer will accent light colors better and require less coverage passes over a black primer. Black primer is good for dark colors to look darker.

Same with purple and pink coralline. Pink accents softies and bright acroporas, Looks better under daylights in my opinion.

Purple looks better with sticks, tables, and plates, especially in heavy blue.

 

[Trixter227]

Thank you for your words. Any ideas of the difference between purple and pink helix??? Is one less masculine???

I appreciate statelines amazing description. However, purple is superior no further explanation needed. Lol!

 

[Koigula]

I will half recommend the live coralline seeding from Algae Barn. I only half recommend as my tank grew it like crazyafter adding, if conditions are perfect and not much present. It is entirely optional.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, the main ingredient in Purple Up will not dissolve in seawater at normal pH. It is adding fine calcium carbonate sand.


" At the same time Super Sea Calcium (a 10 micron aragonite powder derived from natural seawater) targets the live rock surface. This dissolves in situ; delivering calcium, strontium, magnesium, and carbonate right where it's needed. "

lol

When I open my windows, air rushes in until other people in my town cannot breath. They asked me to keep my windows closed so they can go outside.

See how easy it is to just say stuff?

 

[Kasrift]

Agree with everything said here. In short, Purple Up is not needed if you keep parameters where they should be.

The Purple Helix bottles by ARC are just coraline to seed the tank, it works pretty well though from personal experience. I had coraline most every where but added a bottle of pink and purple to diversify my tank and it absolutely started draining my elements, so I had to bump up my AFR dosing daily, so just keep an eye on that.

 

[Lavey29]

I agree with others statements. Coraline covers plastic stuff like powerheads long before the back glass and rocks. As long as you do your part it will fill in eventually although as you mentioned some areas may not see it due to lighting or coral growth.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

I bought the purple helix and it arrived last night. I poured it in last night and this morning there's a lot of new coraline here's a picture the new growth is on the top

 

[Dbichler]

It wasnt from the purple helix if you just poured it in last night.

 

[Dom]

I have Coraline algae growing all over the place. And I understand that it is a sign of a healthy, well established tank.

With that in mind, why would you want to promote its growth? Is it beneficial to the tank in some way?

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

It wasnt from the purple helix if you just poured it in last night.

Maybe you're right, I don't see how you can make such an affirmative statement. I cannot make the same statement to say it is because of that. I'm just sharing the results.

It was never there before and the day after I use it, it's there. The evidence favors towards the purple helix.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

I have Coraline algae growing all over the place. And I understand that it is a sign of a healthy, well established tank.

With that in mind, why would you want to promote its growth? Is it beneficial to the tank in some way?

In my OP I mentioned I have some green spots. So with that in mind, I want to remove the green spots faster than the natural rate of expansion.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

The coraline on the overflow was not this bright pink. The purple helix affected it in some way

 

[Dbichler]

Maybe you're right, I don't see how you can make such an affirmative statement. I cannot make the same statement to say it is because of that. I'm just sharing the results.

It was never there before and the day after I use it, it's there. The evidence favors towards the purple helix.

According to the bottle it even states can take up to 10 weeks for spots to show up. 10 hours not likely if they weren’t already there.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

I agree with the consensus above. I can’t really justify buying a product that claims to achieve something that naturally occurs with time.
I started dry rock less than 4 months ago and I am seeing coralline now. “Nothing good in reefing happens fast” yet the industry wants you to believe your seeing new coralline after dumping their expensive bottles and going to bed. Lol. Another victim of clever marketing.

 

[Dbichler]

I agree with the consensus above. I can’t really justify buying a product that claims to achieve something that naturally occurs with time.
I started dry rock less than 4 months ago and I am seeing coralline now. “Nothing good in reefing happens fast” yet the industry wants you to believe your seeing new coralline after dumping their expensive bottles and going to bed. Lol. Another victim of clever marketing.

I do believe these products do work just not in a night. They introduce coralline just like buying a snail with coralline on its shell. Just more expensive and don’t get the added cuc.

 

[Tamberav]

The coraline on the overflow was not this bright pink. The purple helix affected it in some way

The green comes before the purple/pink so seeing green is a good thing.

I agree that it's not going to change stuff overnight.

However, coralline will turn a pretty bright pink when it is damaged/dying. Mine would turn the prettiest pink when I let it sit in the air too long or exposed it to peroxide I wouldn't assume all color changes are a positive thing.

 

[Dbichler]

Mine is purple to pink and if pink it goes to orange.

as you can see nothing but coralline on top of coralline.