Red Sea ABCD Colors? Any experience?

[A.J.]

So, if my calcium dosage is 180 mL per day, I should be dosing 18 mL per day of this stuff? Sounds way too high??

180 ml of Calcium a day??? Wow, how big is your tank?

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

180 ml of Calcium a day??? Wow, how big is your tank?

125 gallons. I think the dosage is so since I was having explosive coralline algae growth.

 

[1stNoel]

I would highly recommend reading all of the directions for the Reef Care Program. The primary mistake I have had in the past is not treating every component of foundation, energy, salt, algae management and colors combined as part of the plan. In other words, they are designed to work together. There are several different versions of the program based on targeted goals of the Red Sea Reef Coral Program. The parameters for maximum growth of SPS frags is as follows:

Alk: 12.6 dKH
Ca: 465 ppm
Mg: 1390 ppm
NO3: 1-2 ppm
PO4: 0.1 ppm
I2: 0.06 ppm
K: 400 ppm
Fe: 0.15 ppm
10% weekly water changes

This does not include the Reef Energy which dosage is based upon total water volume.

My two biggest complaints with the Program are: 1) Alk & Cal are not balanced - do not add them in equal parts, 2) a small number of their test kits are extremely difficult to read on their color scale - particularly PO4 and Mg. I personally use Hannah got Alk and PO4 and Salifert for Mg.

My problems with the Reef Care Program were simply being noobish at the time and not doing a good job with Alk stability (fixed now) and operating under the WRONG premise that I always just wanted NO3 and PO4 as low as possible always. As you crank Alk up you must raise the NO3 and PO4 to the levels Red Sea states or your corals will die - just like some of mine did - especially the expensive ones. I have fixed these problems and trying to finalize the water quality parameters to where they need to be. I will post my progress on my build thread

There are two ways to supplement the colors product. One is based on 1/10 of the Reef Foundation A (Ca/Sr) daily addition. Do not mix these chemicals into your Foundation A solution due to precipitation. Most people report it is better to add these by dosing instead manually. I add manually daily but will be trying to add DP before too long. However that means 4 more DP and is expensive. Red Sea is more expensive but so is Zeovit. The other method of determining dosage is through measuring I2, K and Fe. Note there is not a test for Reef Color D supplementation. Note I2 can be lethal quickly so regular testing is important. Also, when getting your levels correct Red Sea recommends no more than the following max changes per day...

Ca: 20 ppm
Alk: 1.4 dKH
Mg: 10 ppm
I2: 0.03 ppm
K: 10 ppm
Fe: 0.05 ppm

I have watched the videos 3x and read the manuals at least 2x now and I have been using the products for multiple months. I would highly recommend thorough reading and watching before starting. Lots of good information that makes sense and is based upon synergy of all of these different aspects of these programs.

Thanks for the info. I am implementing the Red Sea program into my tank, but was nervous about raising my KH that high. Many reefers say not to chase a number, and my tank has been doing well in the 9.0 to 9.5 range. Has anyone else had problems raising their KH? Or successfully achieved accelerated growth after raising it?

And to answer the obvious question of "why mess with your parameters?" Because I want to maximize my results, if possible...and I'd like to start growing and selling frags.

Red Sea has 2 programs: Accelerated Coral Growth & Enhanced Coloration. It would be nice to know the ballpark growth difference between the two, as I would prefer enhanced coloration if I could still get decent growth. And especially if accelerated growth means poor coloration. Anyone have any input on this?

I have two tanks: a 300g display tank and a 55g frag tank. Parameters on both (DT listed first; FT listed second)...Mg: 1360 - 1400, Ca: 420 - 425, KH: 9.2 - 9.0, NO3: 24 - 64+, PO4: 0.16 - 0.36. Although Nitrates and Phosphates are high, the corals have never looked better. I am switching to Bio-Pellets this week, as I haven't been able to keep them in check using GFO & Carbon...and I like to feed my tank.

Any input or advice is much appreciated.

 

[samba_dad]

Thanks for the info. I am implementing the Red Sea program into my tank, but was nervous about raising my KH that high. Many reefers say not to chase a number, and my tank has been doing well in the 9.0 to 9.5 range. Has anyone else had problems raising their KH? Or successfully achieved accelerated growth after raising it?

And to answer the obvious question of "why mess with your parameters?" Because I want to maximize my results, if possible...and I'd like to start growing and selling frags.

Red Sea has 2 programs: Accelerated Coral Growth & Enhanced Coloration. It would be nice to know the ballpark growth difference between the two, as I would prefer enhanced coloration if I could still get decent growth. And especially if accelerated growth means poor coloration. Anyone have any input on this?

I have two tanks: a 300g display tank and a 55g frag tank. Parameters on both (DT listed first; FT listed second)...Mg: 1360 - 1400, Ca: 420 - 425, KH: 9.2 - 9.0, NO3: 24 - 64+, PO4: 0.16 - 0.36. Although Nitrates and Phosphates are high, the corals have never looked better. I am switching to Bio-Pellets this week, as I haven't been able to keep them in check using GFO & Carbon...and I like to feed my tank.

Any input or advice is much appreciated.

Well I tried Red Sea RCP and have had some SPS growth but only with montipora - no solid success with acropora. I have had really good luck with encrusting SPS, monti digitata, birdsnest, psammacorra - but can't get acroporas long-term happy in my tank. Also, it is hard for me to say that I had "fast" growth when I don't have a good baseline for comparison. So, that is my disclaimer up front.

After reading lots and lots about zeovit, Red Sea, triton, and AF. Nobody but Red Sea seems to advocate for the really high alkalinity. Randy Holmes Farley has written about higher levels of alkalinity not improving growth rates - here. I never got it as high as Red Sea suggested. I would guess there is no successful long-term reefer on R2R who has kept Alk as high as Red Sea suggests for SPS growth. My parameters from this morning are...

Alk - 11.6 dKH
Cal - 520 ppm
Mag - 1670 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm
Phosphate - 0.57 ppm

So, according to Red Sea I am too low on Alk, a little too high on Cal, way too high on Mag. I use the Red Sea Coral Pro which has a level of 12.5 Alk, 465 Cal, 1400 Mag. I will tell you one thing I learned the hard way was that if you jack up your alkalinity, you definitely need NO3 and PO4 present. Otherwise, your SPS die of starvation. I used to have extremely low NO3 and PO4 levels, but have actually dosed both of those to get better growth (and much less death) at the higher levels of Alk, Cal & Mag. The other thing I really dislike about Red Sea is that it is not a balanced dosing system. In other words, you don't add equal amounts of Alk & Cal and you have to track those independently. I do use the Reef Energy every day also and the Colors program. However, I can't ever seem to get the Iron levels where they need to be.

I have 2 EcoTech XR15W Pro LED lights above my 65G. Also, I have a 2xRW-4, 2xRW-8 hooked up to my Apex that alternate between a random mode and a tidal crest mode via Apex programming. I ensure I never turn over more than 50X the tank volume in the water at any instant during the day. I also have a PAR meter to ensure I am getting what I think is the correct amount of lighting to the corals. I am thinking about adding a T5 Retrofit kit to augment my LEDs. However, I think my flow and light are within desired ranges.

After the post from Perry this morning, I have shut off my Cal, Alk, NO3 & PO4 dosing. I am going to let the levels drop for all my parameters to what Perry suggested and then switch over to AF. I will keep a record of my progress. Good Luck!

 

[oh207]

I just starting using ABCD about 4 months now and have notice huge improvements in colors, especially with green. And my chaeto which was a slow grower is now exploding with growth.
I don't have their test kits, so I am dosing according to Calcium uptake.
I've seen folks mention 10% of calcium or 1/10. I'm not using RedSea Reef Foundation A/B for Cal/Alk, I'm actually using BRS 2-part. So for me the correct formula to follow is 1ml for every 10ppm uptake of Calcium.

I'm currently dosing 122ml/day of BRS Cal which is slightly over a 10ppm change in calcium/day. Because I don't have a testkit and I'm dosing ABCD manually, I currently only dose 2ml of each product twice a week. So I'm dosing a total of 4ml/week of each product, when according to Calcium uptake, I should be doing 7ml/week of each.

I do plan to get the test kits...eventually. Once I get a better idea of the results then I will readjust dosing amounts. But with the results I'm seeing so far, I'm already very pleased.

 

[hingisp]

I just starting using ABCD about 4 months now and have notice huge improvements in colors, especially with green. And my chaeto which was a slow grower is now exploding with growth.
I don't have their test kits, so I am dosing according to Calcium uptake.
I've seen folks mention 10% of calcium or 1/10. I'm not using RedSea Reef Foundation A/B for Cal/Alk, I'm actually using BRS 2-part. So for me the correct formula to follow is 1ml for every 10ppm uptake of Calcium.

I'm currently dosing 122ml/day of BRS Cal which is slightly over a 10ppm change in calcium/day. Because I don't have a testkit and I'm dosing ABCD manually, I currently only dose 2ml of each product twice a week. So I'm dosing a total of 4ml/week of each product, when according to Calcium uptake, I should be doing 7ml/week of each.

I do plan to get the test kits...eventually. Once I get a better idea of the results then I will readjust dosing amounts. But with the results I'm seeing so far, I'm already very pleased.

How big is your tank?

 

[oh207]

How big is your tank?

It's a 120g. Lots of huge SPS colonies.

 

[Swingline77]

That's the formula I couldn't remember. I would start with something less than that and see how things progress. You can always increase the dosage if you're not seeing any results. I personally use a dosing pump so the four colors are spread out throughout the day.

Can all four be mixed together and dosed with one pump?

 

[JackerVenom]

Has anyone tried this with a small nano tank? I bought this product not realizing it was used in-line with calcium which I personally don’t dose because of water changes. I want my colours to pop a little more but don’t need to add calcium because my levels are good. I have a 10 gallon with softies and lps and will have a couple easy to care for sps. Any tips on dosing this in such a small tank?

 

[Fastball16]

Can all four be mixed together and dosed with one pump?

Do we have an answer?

 

[George81]

Do we have an answer?

No the cannot. I emailed Red Sea about that. They advised against it. I was planning on teeing 2 of them together. ill see if I can dig out the email and post it

 

[Fastball16]

Thank you!!!!