Purple up caribsea opinions

[JamesCTID]

Hi all,

Just wanted to know what peoples opinions are on the product Purple Up by Caribsea.

I already have spots of corraline algae on my rocks and my levels are fine, I also have decent flow.

Just wondering how effective this stuff is at boosting the corraline ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Instead of a thumbsup or thumbsdown, I'd like to expand on what it actually claims to do, since some of the purported claimed benefits may be different in different aquaria:

CaribSea Purple Up

Coraline algae growth accelerator from CaribSea. Purple-Up is a new pink and purple Coraline algae growth accelerator. Since Purple-Up is not a fertilizer, it does not promote the growth of nuisance algae. How does it work? Purple-Up uses a unique dual method approach to coralline algae...

www.aquariumspecialty.com

How does it work? Purple-Up uses a unique dual method approach to coralline algae acceleration. It contains ionic calcium which immediately raises dissolved calcium levels in your aquarium water. At the same time Super Sea Calcium (a 10 micron aragonite powder derived from natural seawater) targets the live rock surface. Super Sea Calcium dissolves in situ; delivering calcium, strontium, magnesium, and carbonate right where it's needed. Purple-Up also replenishes iodine; an essential element for coralline algae tissues that quickly becomes depleted in closed systems.

The claim about the particulate aragonite is problematic. Aragonite will not dissolve in a reef tank at normal pH and alk. So the whole middle section of the claim can, IMO, be ignored.

If your aquarium has adequate calcium already, I cannot see a benefit from the small boost you'd get from the ionic calcium in this product, but if that did work, folks wanting more coralline growth would just boost calcium more, and that does not seem effective.

I do not think that iodine dosing has been shown to impact coralline growth. But iodine dosing is a fine experiment for folks who may want to see if it is beneficial (it did not appear to be useful in my system). It does get depleted as algae consume it, as they suggest.

I will suggest an alternate hypothesis of how it may possibly work that I read someone suggest many years ago. All organisms like bare surfaces as opposed to those colonized by other organisms already. Adding the powder that settles out provides new bare surfaces, and coralline may more readily colonize those grains than the rock and glass surfaces already in the tank.