Purple up

So I just set my tank up 3 days ago and got live rock yesterday. I was wondering if it would betoo soon to use purple up.

 

Your salt mix would have had Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Strontium in it. In just a couple of days, there's no way that the coralline from your rocks has used up enough of those elements to need replenishing yet.

 

i would wait for your tank to at least cycle. there is no point in wasting it into the water if nothing is using it

 

Oh so this stuff is needed for live rock? I thought it was just to help coralline algae to grow. If you can't tell I'm new to all ofthis.

 

Your live rock doesn't need any of those elements. Only the coralline algae that is living on your live rock needs them. Live rock is basically just a structure to house nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria (and give fish a place to hide and give you a place to place corals).

 

Ok so how often would you advise using this stuff?

 

If you want good coralline growth keep your phosphates as close to 0 as you can get them, maintain a regular water change schedule and seed your live rock with a multiple colored coralline covered rock from your LFS. If the rock you have already has some coverage you don't need to worry about the seeding. Just be careful of what you wish for though. Do the above, have some patience
and in a few months you'll be cursing the purple you want so bad now. ;D

 

I can't answer that. You have to test Calcium, Magnesium, and Alkalinity for a while and see how quickly they are depleted from you system. That will tell you how often to dose. (Don't even try to keep all of the readings in your head. Keep a log book so you can watch the trends over time).

 

honest answer

if you dont have test kits yet for Magnesium, Calcium and Alkalinity (DKH)
then thats what I think you should spend your money on at this stage
there are far better/ more cost effective methods of adding the elements contained in purple up (Should testing reveal you need to)
and its far better to measure and then boost any of those elements individually , than it is to add a single shot type product IME

Steve

 

I'm in 100% agreement with Steve here. Can you exchange the Purple Up for some test kits?