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is purple up worth dosing?

onefish2fish

By onefish2fish,
in Water Chemistry

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patrick1234

patrick1234

Posted
Posted

I use it in one of my tanks 40gal. I dose once a day one cap full and I have noticed this tank dose have alot more coraling growth. Now with that I do not plan on using it on any other tanks. It is by far way more to purchase purpleup then just to get the chimicals that well get you the same amount of growth.

Also I find it harder and harder to keep my ca ak and ph at the right levels. And I think this is do to the fact you can not controle how much of what you are adding and. I find even with doseing the same amout every day the levels swing far more then any of my other tanks. I hope this will help you make up your mind on whether or not you want to use it im suer tho other ppl may have better insight then me .

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onefish2fish

onefish2fish

Posted
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Posted

so dosing B-Ionic parts 1 and 2 would be a better solution?

 

right now i have kent liquid calcium, kent alk, and kent iodine (i have a test kit but i dont dose it) and microvert

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skimmerdude

skimmerdude

Posted
Posted
Yes. Purple up is JUNK.

 

I have used b-ionic for just about forever. Over 10 years. It is great, and I think that everyone with a reef tank should use either b-ionic or a calcium reactor.

 

I have played around with purple up and I have to argue that it is NOT junk. I get INTENSE coralline growth when I use it in addition to my b-ionic. I test my calcium/alk to make sure everything is within the proper levels, but using only b-ionic seems to slowly maintain my tank while purple up seems to accelerate things. My suspicion is that it is the iodine that I was otherwise not adding to my tank. My tank always tests low for iodine/iodide.

 

There is probably a better way to dose things than purple up, but overall it not that expensive, if you want to see if it works, try it.

 

Take a picture of your tank before and after so you can see if there is really any difference.

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The Propagator

The Propagator

Posted
Posted

It's garbage for coral growth because they can not utilize aragonite based products.

The PH in our tanks is to high to break down the aragonite into bio-available calcium.

So basically ANY additive being sold as a calcium supplement that is aragonite based will not work and should be labeled snake oil / junk / money pit / The Emperor's new cloths...

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bdare

bdare

Posted
Posted
It's garbage for coral growth because they can not utilize aragonite based products.

The PH in our tanks is to high to break down the aragonite into bio-available calcium.

So basically ANY additive being sold as a calcium supplement that is aragonite based will not work and should be labeled snake oil / junk / money pit / The Emperor's new cloths...

 

Thanks for saying this prop. I was about to just give up.

 

BTW... Do you know who that picture is? My hero? I put that on my sig just for you :P

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patrick1234

patrick1234

Posted
Posted
so dosing B-Ionic parts 1 and 2 would be a better solution?

 

right now i have kent liquid calcium, kent alk, and kent iodine (i have a test kit but i dont dose it) and microvert

Well I think Its better to go with what you all ready have. Id start doseing a few ml each day and test to see how your levels go. Frome that point on you will be able to fig out how much of what you need to add every day un like.

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nanoty

nanoty

Posted
Posted
Thanks for saying this prop. I was about to just give up.

 

BTW... Do you know who that picture is? My hero? I put that on my sig just for you :P

I give up.

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Sexy Shrimp

Sexy Shrimp

Posted
Posted

Its crazy that everyone says Purple Up is so bad. I have been trialling several chemicals/additives on my tank over the past few months (yay freebies) and PU is the one that you have to use least of. It may be £20 for a bottle but that bottle will last me for a year. If I were to buy the "ingredients" for Ca/Mg dosing it would cost me that a month at the rate my corals (not coraline) go through Mg/Ca.

 

People rant on about it not disolving but the particles are 10 micron in size and after 30 mins my tank water is crystal clear. I have even took the water to work and looked under a x1000 microscope to double check it had disolved (and it had).

 

Yes crushed argonite is useless but PU seems to be working fine for me. As for all the scare stories about it causing pH instability - nonsense. Practical experience shows me otherwise.

 

There are a lot of band waggoners on this site who quote others rather than referring to their own experience (go by their tank - proof of pudding is in the eating ;) ). In my experience PU is simple and cost effective for raising your Ca/Mg (remember is doesn't do anything for alk). There are some people with a lot of experience who have posted negatively about it too though advising using 2-part as you cant dose PU properly - I have found if I use 1 cap, twice a week it maintains my ca/mg balance. If it falls slightly out of whack then I dose with one or the other of 2-part (24 gal tank with LPS/SPS).

 

For example - if my Ca has fallen to 380 and my Mg to 1200, and I wanted to bring them up to 450 and 1350 respectively, I would need to add 34 tsp of part-1 and 58 tsp of part 2. I would need to add 1 tsp of PU and it would involve no mixing.

 

EDIT - I was a bandwaggon skeptic originally until I got my freebie bottle. Please note though - if you test the same day as you dose you may get erroneously high Ca. It is best to leave it at least an hour after dosing.

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patrick1234

patrick1234

Posted
Posted
Its crazy that everyone says Purple Up is so bad. I have been trialling several chemicals/additives on my tank over the past few months (yay freebies) and PU is the one that you have to use least of. It may be £20 for a bottle but that bottle will last me for a year. If I were to buy the "ingredients" for Ca/Mg dosing it would cost me that a month at the rate my corals (not coraline) go through Mg/Ca.

 

People rant on about it not disolving but the particles are 10 micron in size and after 30 mins my tank water is crystal clear. I have even took the water to work and looked under a x1000 microscope to double check it had disolved (and it had).

 

Yes crushed argonite is useless but PU seems to be working fine for me. As for all the scare stories about it causing pH instability - nonsense. Practical experience shows me otherwise.

 

There are a lot of band waggoners on this site who quote others rather than referring to their own experience (go by their tank - proof of pudding is in the eating ;) ). In my experience PU is simple and cost effective for raising your Ca/Mg (remember is doesn't do anything for alk). There are some people with a lot of experience who have posted negatively about it too though advising using 2-part as you cant dose PU properly - I have found if I use 1 cap, twice a week it maintains my ca/mg balance. If it falls slightly out of whack then I dose with one or the other of 2-part (24 gal tank with LPS/SPS).

 

For example - if my Ca has fallen to 380 and my Mg to 1200, and I wanted to bring them up to 450 and 1350 respectively, I would need to add 34 tsp of part-1 and 58 tsp of part 2. I would need to add 1 tsp of PU and it would involve no mixing.

 

EDIT - I was a bandwaggon skeptic originally until I got my freebie bottle. Please note though - if you test the same day as you dose you may get erroneously high Ca. It is best to leave it at least an hour after dosing.

How big are your tanks?

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BustytheSnowMaam

BustytheSnowMaam

Posted
Posted

I have to agree with Leanne- I use it (started with a freebie bottle) and have great results. I have a lot of halimeda in my 30 which calcerous, and it's growing like a weed. I don't dose it daily, perhaps once a week.

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Sexy Shrimp

Sexy Shrimp

Posted
Posted

Did I say I dose twice a week? Please can I reiterate that I was very skeptical at first. And I promise if I have any bad effects I will post them too (I'm a scientist - I live for finding the truth ;) )

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