Purple Up

[Jsn]

Has anyone used it? And does it work?

[JamesJR]

It is a suspension of powdered Aragonite sand mixed with some potassium iodide. Their claim is that it will break down as needed to raise calcium and bicarbonate levels to keep them more or less at natural seawater leves.

This is wishful thinking for the most part. This is because this is not a fast process at all and you really won't get it to dissolve to a great enough extent to keep your calcium and alkalinity levels at what you need. My advice would be to use another method of supplementation.



I would suggest a 2 part additive system like B-ionic or something like that.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The main ingredient in it is wasted as the fine aragonite does not dissolve in seawater unless the pH is very low. The same applies to any other product containing it (Kent Liquid Reactor, Aragamight, etc).

The other ingredients in it may be useful (or not), but you do not know how much of what you are getting.

I'd personally avoid it.

If you want good coralline, maintain alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium at appropriate levels, and phosphate and organics at low levels.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

James, you beat me to it. :D

[Nano Chris]

2 part B-ionic is what i use.

[Rendos]

I have experimented with Purple Up on a nano tank at my store to see first hand what the effects are. I do not use this as a sole supplement for calcium/alkalinity, but rather in addition to a part A/B supplement. I have to say that thick, rich, coraline algae has grown in that system faster than any other system I have had in the past. I am not a chemist, and my information is purely anecdotal, but I have witnessed far more coraline growth in a shorter time period than without the use of Purple Up.
The second fastest growth I have seen is in systems where I use nothing but Kalk as my sole supplement.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My expectation is that the most potentially useful thing for coralline in Purple Up is magnesium. Since two parts may or may not contain adequate magnesium, magnesium additions via Purple Up may useful in the context that you mentioned.

If that is true, it may be a lot cheaper and also more controlled to use different magnesium additives where you know how much magnesium is in them.