Purple Up question

[sh8wn9]

Ive read many great things about purple up. So I went to the LFS to buy some and he highly recommended something esle. He said purple up was great, but this stuff was way better. it is called....C-Balance...two part balanced ionic supplement for marine aquariums.
Has anyone had any experience in this product????
I add a teaspoon of each bottle everyday for 29g.

 

[Jason25]

You dont ever want to add purple up or anything like that. Let your tank naturaly do it's thing. There are many stories out there about people using purple with very bad results. A rule of thumb in reef keeping is if you can not test for it do not dose it. Your tank will develop coraline in time. Having it grow is a sign of a healthy tank. Before you know it you will have it everywhere and be looking back and wondering why you ever wanted it. Trust me on this and please do not add these types of things to your tank you will be doing more harm than good.

 

[MatthewJ]

not that familiar with purple up, but I think it would be similar to the calcium supplement part of the C-balance 2 part. The both contain other trace elements as well. In either case, you should only add it daily it if you need it. Do you measure for alkalinity and calcium?

 

[sh8wn9]

Ive measured for alk, and it was normal...but ive not yet measured for calcium.

 

[MatthewJ]

unless you're going to measure for it...don't add it You should probably be testing for calcium anyway. Get your self a good test kit and if you need to supplement, use the following information and calculator (don't just dump in x amount each day..the calculator will tell you exactly how much to add).

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
'Reef Chemistry Calculator FV'

 

[sh8wn9]

Ok thanks for the advice.

 

[BigAl07]

Purple Up = Snake OIL! Just take your money and toss it out the window that way it's not burning a hole in your pocket. As mentioned above don't add anything you're NOT testing for.

One word of caution....(Ok more than ONE but . . . )

Be careful what you're wishing for because you may get it. Coralline (even though "toted" as a GREAT thing for a new tank) will become something that you'll not really WANT once it takes hold. You'll have to buy heavy duty scrapers and try to get it OFF before it takes hold on your viewable glass. I wished for it and even bought coralline covered snails just to help "get it started" in my 12g tank. Whew what a mistake!! It will come in time. Just do as Jason suggested and let the tank "do it's thang".

With a Reef tank you want to heed this one rule deeply

Your RUSH it you CRASH IT

good luck and Happy Reefing

 

[stonedfish]

When I first set up my tank, I was addicted to purple up. I had 1 purple rock, and the rest was dead old rock. Everything turned purple within months. I swore it was that stuff. I diddnt use it when setting up my pico, and it has purple growing all on the glass and equipment in 2 months. All you need is a piece of live rock with corraline, and some flow.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Believe me, man, when I first set up my tank, I was on a search for the holy grail that was coralline algae. After I couldn't find any supplement or trick that would produce it, I got fed up. Then, about a year later when I got really involved with school and my water changes went from once or twice a month to once every three months (best case scenario), the coralline set up shop. Now that I'm taking better care of the tank, it's receding, but as other posts said, I'm glad. It's a nuisance that's far too overrated in my opinion.

 

[sh8wn9]

Ok very interesting responses...thanks for the advice. I have a lot of corraline already, I just heard so many great things about the product.
So basically, I should stop using the C-balance?

 

[MatthewJ]

if you aren't going to test for alk and calcium both, stop using it. You're likely to get your chemistry way out of whack.

 

[BigAl07]

Ok very interesting responses...thanks for the advice. I have a lot of corraline already, I just heard so many great things about the product.
So basically, I should stop using the C-balance?

Unless your system NEEDS it don't dose for it. Here is how I try to explain to people how to look at it.

Say you're driving down the road and you know you need (guage/test kit/indicator) gas (Alk) so you stop at the Gas Station and fill up with gas (Alk) but you just "think/feel" like you probably need oil (Calc) so everytime you get gas (Alk) you add oil (Calc). Eventually your crankcase will over-flow with oil and create an inbalance in your motor (Tank).

Honestly it's best to just TEST and adjust as needed (if needed). If you're dead-set on dosing I can sell you the 2-part I have that is just sitting on the shelf and it's probably a year old or more now. I should put it on eBay LOL!

 

[Luukosian]

I used to use C-balance every day, but when the last bottle ran out I didn't feel like spending any more money on it and stopped using it. No real difference in the tank. Unless you have a lot of stony corals you really won't need to dose this stuff if you keep your water changes up and use a quality salt with decent calcium/alk levels(still test to make sure and adjust).