question about purple-up

[trble81]

All,

 

I used Purple-up when we first set up our tank (when the rock was the only thing in it, no livestock). We've got like a half a bottle left and I was wondering if it's ok to dose with livestock in there. I only ask because of the temporary effect it has on the water clarity.

 

Thanks.

 

[shawns]

the cloudiness doesnt really hurt anything but i dilute anything that i put into my system. dont ever put anything in there full strength. just take some tank water from the system, add your dose to that water, then slowly add it back to the tank--particularly if you dont have a sump or something similar that will dilute it before it comes into contact w/ livestock. reason being, you want ALL changes to your system to occur very slowly! you dont want to shock/stress anybody.

 

you should also be testing your cal and alk while dosing anything that might change either. for that matter you should test for anything that you dose.

 

have a heavily purpled tank!

[Guest Undercoverdork]

I wouldn't even bother putting it in the tank. I would look into a 2-part suppliment.

[jamesbuf]

I started with purple up and it worked great. As you read more and advance further in the hobby, and maybe make the move to housing more advanced corals and such, you'll probably want to move onto more advanced ways to dose calcium into your tank. If it worked in the past and you were successful, then I'd keep with what you did in the past. Just remember that more is not always better.

 

Out of curiosity, what are your water parameters like?

[trble81]

Paramaters are fine. Every thing that needs to be zero is at zero. The nitrates are < 20, but it's only a FOWLR and I do a 20% water change (along with meticulous cleaning of the canister filter) every week.

 

Reason why I asked the question is I used purple-up when the tank first started (no livestock, just LR) and I've got the majority of the bottle left just sitting around. I don't dose and I noticed a couple of white or flakey spots on my nice and purple rock (but there are new spots of growth as well) so I figured using a little every once in a while couldn't hurt.

[Rascal]

you should also be testing your cal and alk while dosing anything that might change either. for that matter you should test for anything that you dose.

 

Agreed. You will most likely find that coraline growth vs. die-off is tied to a specific level of Alk (all other things being equal of course). Maintain or slightly exceed this number, and your coraline will thrive. Allow it to dip, and you will start to see more and more of those little specs get white and then start to fall off. That has been my experience, at least.

[lletellier]

so if I have white on my rock that is because of what??? I only ask because I have 2 big patches and everything else is purple... If I can make it all purple that would be nice