Purple Up?

[Reef Wall]

Purple up is a supplement to increase Coraline algae growth. It does this by raising calcium levels. My question is, has any one tried to use this to keep calcium levels up, not just for Coraline algae? Will it work for all your coral?

 

[partypalooza5]

I've read mixed reviews, decided to get Kent Liquid Calcium instead. The bottle is almost empty and I need to get a test kit to see if it did anything.

 

[DaveK]

Save your money on Purple Up. It's a very questionable product.

If you need to adjust calcium, get a product made to do just that. We are not talking any big money here, so you might as well do it right.

 

[rgfast]

I think Purple up is snake oil and agree with Dave

 

[Frankie]

Purple up is not a snake oil, all it is is a calcium calcite that has been liquified just like other calcium additive products. The problem with purple up is the source of it's calcium calcite. It contains high volumes of P04 and this is causing other algae issues. Cyano and turf algae seems to feed off of the byproducts in purple up causing huge algae blooms and out breaks in the reef aquarium. IMO, the company that sells purple up is getting there main ingredient from a contaminated source.

 

[josh010]

Purple up is not a snake oil, all it is is a calcium calcite that has been liquified just like other calcium additive products. The problem with purple up is the source of it's calcium calcite. It contains high volumes of P04 and this is causing other algae issues. Cyano and turf algae seems to feed off of the byproducts in purple up causing huge algae blooms and out breaks in the reef aquarium. IMO, the company that sells purple up is getting there main ingredient from a contaminated source.

I agree 100%!!!!

Ive used purple up before and for me its always raised and maintained my calcium levels..... but at the price of frequent algae blooms. Still use it on occasions because I bought a gallon size and still have some left.

 

[Frankie]

I can say this though, back when it first came out I tried it. After I saw the cyano it caused in my tank my face sure purpled up!:evileye:

 

[lcstorc]

There are a dozen or more threads on the forum talking about the same thing. Many many people have had the same results as Frankie.
Personally, my results were the same. For some reason it seems that most LFS push the product on new aquarists. Maybe they have a higher profit margin than other products. Just guessing on that one.

 

[Ravenfan84]

I did to use purple up and had a few algae problems but my tank also started to coraline up so dont know really if it helped or if my tank was maturing but i was always told to only use it for one whole bottle then stop as per my LFS.