Red sea program

[my2girls]

There is no need to start the colors triangle if you are happy with your corals. You can always try it later. Like I said initially, the colors part is best when the tank is super stable and you know your corals backwards and front. This way when you add the colors elements, you can observe the changes better. It can be a real tweaker's paradise (pun intended)

 

[Useful_Idiot]

No problem, I like to help.

At higher recommended quantities of Reef Energy the green tint can hang on for 8-10 hours (my experience). Turning the skimmer (or return) off for 20 minutes makes literally no difference.

I also have an extra return pump.

Interesting is that for all coral supplements/aminos or just reef energy? I was dosing seachem fuel twice a week and feeding mysis on those days the oil from them was enough to knock down the skimmer head for quite awhile.

 

[my2girls]

The green tint is from RE alone.

 

[Tweaked]

And another question ;-)

I am going to mod my bio pellet reactor output toward the input on my skimmer tonight. Before I even waste my time, should I just get rid of it as the nopox is the best thing I have seen yet. I hear stories of the reactor messing things up. I also run 2 bags of chemi pure elite in the bubble trap chambers where the water flows through. All this with a fuge seems overkill- thoughts?

 

[Useful_Idiot]

I would remove the pellets gradually not all at once small amounts once a week. And Rob I meant turning the skimmer off being a waste of time, should I bother with it when using other supplements? Or just run it?

 

[my2girls]

And another question ;-)

I am going to mod my bio pellet reactor output toward the input on my skimmer tonight. Before I even waste my time, should I just get rid of it as the nopox is the best thing I have seen yet. I hear stories of the reactor messing things up. I also run 2 bags of chemi pure elite in the bubble trap chambers where the water flows through. All this with a fuge seems overkill- thoughts?

Wow. You certainly have a lot going on. I would remove the reactor and Chemi-pure. That's what the Nopox is for. Running all 3 gives you too many variables and they compete with each other. I'm not a fan of any type of reactor. I hate changing the media and cleaning them but that's just me. But sometimes if it ain't broke...however eventually you could have a problem.

Like you said the Red Sea Program can be very simple. It's starts with a great choice of salts for one's specific goals. A carbon source to fuel bacteria, a complete food for all types of corals, and a one part powder to maintain Ca/dKH. Why make it more difficult?

 

[my2girls]

I would remove the pellets gradually not all at once small amounts once a week. And Rob I meant turning the skimmer off being a waste of time, should I bother with it when using other supplements? Or just run it?

I never turn pumps off except for water changes. A lot of guy/gals do though. To each their own.

 

[JustinBT]

Your tank looks to be doing great Tweaked, I really like how you set up your equipment. Clean and effective, careful planning is one key element I keep picking up on in the best built systems.
I turn off my powerhead and hob skimmer when I feed my coral. Cyclops, coral smoothie, phyto and oysterfeast, I don't use a dosing system so my situation is a little different. I fully expect my maxijet to fall to pieces one day anyway but now you've got me thinking about the life of the pump on my reef octo. I feel I'm skimming out food and disturbing some of the sliming action that certain corals seem to feed by if I keep things running.
So I guess its time for me to do some planning, I'm thinking a sump may be my next step toward success

 

[Tweaked]

Your tank looks to be doing great Tweaked, I really like how you set up your equipment. Clean and effective, careful planning is one key element I keep picking up on in the best built systems.
I turn off my powerhead and hob skimmer when I feed my coral. Cyclops, coral smoothie, phyto and oysterfeast, I don't use a dosing system so my situation is a little different. I fully expect my maxijet to fall to pieces one day anyway but now you've got me thinking about the life of the pump on my reef octo. I feel I'm skimming out food and disturbing some of the sliming action that certain corals seem to feed by if I keep things running.
So I guess its time for me to do some planning, I'm thinking a sump may be my next step toward success

Thanks! And again, I am a noob. However, I am super mechanical, anal retentive, handy, and do everything myself. I absolutely love this hobby so far, and it actually helps with my marriage lol- 16 years and running stronger everyday! She even spends hours each weekend with the tank, as well as loves frag shopping! Joe at PC is going to work with her on the 30 gallon frag tank they have. That's all she wants, is her own frag tank lol.

 

[JustinBT]

That's great! This is such a family friendly hobby, its so nice to see friends and family become interested and enjoy it enough to want their own little piece of the reef. Seeing each persons idea of how they want their tank to look is fun and its interesting to observe which methods are used to get there

 

[Tweaked]

K, week three.

Notes:
Tested again before 10 gallon water change. Salanity 1.025. Temp 76 at test. Reduced Nopox and dosed 3ml daily for 75 gallon total volume. Reduced ABC+ to 1/3 scoop daily for 75 gallon total volume. Dosed Nopox at lunch break, and dosed RE and ABC+ 15 minutes before lights out each day. Removed bio pellet reactor. Feed pellets to fish once a day, and frozen once a week.

8/12
Kh - 3.4/9.5
Ca - 450
Mg - 1300

NO3 - 0.0
PO4 - .02

Concerns:
Ca and Mg remained exact in one week, and the alk is slowly rising. Also I want my Ca a bit lower as well. In addition, my NO3 is still to low. I am thinking to stop everything for a week, and then test again. Thoughts??

My2girls, I hope you can enlighten me again here. I was going to post this at the red sea area, but after searching through your posts, you really know your stuff. Thanks

 

[my2girls]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I would not worry too much about magnesium. Since the ABC+ contains Mg, the likelihood of it being low or unbalanced is rare. I test for Mg once or twice per year. If you dosed Randy's 2 part or kalkwasser as your only means for supplementing Ca/alk, then you would need to test more often.

As far as your concerns, usually alk does not creep up and Ca remains the same. Bicarbonate is used up quicker in the short term by corals relative to calcium. It is my opinion that the ABC+ is not exactly balanced favoring calcium. Alan at Red Sea assured me that it is balanced, however I've noticed that alk always needs an extra dose at the end of the week. So my guess is that your concern is just from an error in testing. Either way, it's not a big deal. The directions on the label say to dose for a week and correct any imbalances with their one parts. I just use baking soda for the alk part but there is a Red Sea buffer in powder or liquid form. Same for Ca and Mg.

Do you have unwanted algae in your tank? If so, I would keep the Nopox dosing the same. If not, I would only dose 1ml of Nopox daily and test again in a weeks time. I would also dose 10ml of Reef Energy daily. If nutrients are that low, the corals need the RE.

You (almost) never want to stop the Nopox completely as you can crash your bacterial population. Weening off is the best way.

 

[Tweaked]

Thanks.

As far as algae goes, I had a small patch the size of a credit card, but has since burned out and deminished- hurray nopox! I have dropped the dosage to 1ml daily.

I will just reduce the ABC+ even more and retest at weeks end. As you know, I am running the colors over growth so my ca is still a bit high, however colors are great already.

On the RE, I have been at 10ml per part- 20ml total at each daily dose. However, at my estimated water volume I should be at 12ml per part so I have since switched over to that.

For those interested, I have been dosing for a heavily stocked sps dominant tank, and the cost is minimal. I am now dosing less of the ABC+ then before, and 1ml a day of Nopox. Add in the 12ml per day of reef energy a & b, and my monthly cost of chemicals/food is minimal. No more guessing, over feeding, etc. My polyp extension, growth and colors speak for themselves. One mans opinion however...

 

[Tweaked]

my2girls- question

Are you mixing the salt as instructed by RS? They say to dump back and fourth between 2 buckets a few times to disperse the ingedients evenly. I would assume I should do this with my ABC+ as well. In fact I bought another tub thinking I would need it, and still have 1/2 of my first one. Should I mix the two together completely, or am I obsessing. Been known to do that from time to time lol!

 

[my2girls]

I always roll a new bucket of salt. I do shake the ABC+ container from time to time also.

 

[seagull18]

Just a follow up on Tweaked & my2girls comments on this thread. I also started to use the Red Sea program a few weeks back. At first I used the Reef Foundation A&B to get my water parameters closer to where they should be. Now I'm using a small amount of ABC+ daily to keep them there and if they do fall to far out of line I will use the A&B to get them back to where they sholud be. I also use reef energy. Since that time, polp extension, growth and colors have shown great improvement. I tend to be a little lazy and short on time so I rarely spot feed my corals. However the reef energy seems to do the job. No more feeding a little of this and a little of that, not to say that feeding something different once in awhile isn't good. I have developed a little algae so I have started the NoPox regiment. It's been ony 3-4 days so it's a little early to evaluate. So far I'm very happy with the Red Sea program. It's a lot easier than multiple additives, multilple foods and using reactors and such. However, only time will tell.

 

[Tweaked]

Just a follow up on Tweaked & my2girls comments on this thread. I also started to use the Red Sea program a few weeks back. At first I used the Reef Foundation A&B to get my water parameters closer to where they should be. Now I'm using a small amount of ABC+ daily to keep them there and if they do fall to far out of line I will use the A&B to get them back to where they sholud be. I also use reef energy. Since that time, polp extension, growth and colors have shown great improvement. I tend to be a little lazy and short on time so I rarely spot feed my corals. However the reef energy seems to do the job. No more feeding a little of this and a little of that, not to say that feeding something different once in awhile isn't good. I have developed a little algae so I have started the NoPox regiment. It's been ony 3-4 days so it's a little early to evaluate. So far I'm very happy with the Red Sea program. It's a lot easier than multiple additives, multilple foods and using reactors and such. However, only time will tell.

That is great, and I totally agree- so much easier than what I was doing, I really think cheaper too. And as discussed, my coral couldn't be hapier, and my algae is fully under control so far. Still too early as I am only a bit over three weeks on the program, but there are others that have results from over a year and swear by it. And time is all we have lol

 

[Dapg8gt]

Subbed. Think this program can be incorporated into an older reef or would there be issues. Your experiences doing great and I'm goin to start researching this stuff

 

[Reefir]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I would not worry too much about magnesium. Since the ABC+ contains Mg, the likelihood of it being low or unbalanced is rare. I test for Mg once or twice per year. If you dosed Randy's 2 part or kalkwasser as your only means for supplementing Ca/alk, then you would need to test more often.

As far as your concerns, usually alk does not creep up and Ca remains the same. Bicarbonate is used up quicker in the short term by corals relative to calcium. It is my opinion that the ABC+ is not exactly balanced favoring calcium. Alan at Red Sea assured me that it is balanced, however I've noticed that alk always needs an extra dose at the end of the week. So my guess is that your concern is just from an error in testing. Either way, it's not a big deal. The directions on the label say to dose for a week and correct any imbalances with their one parts. I just use baking soda for the alk part but there is a Red Sea buffer in powder or liquid form. Same for Ca and Mg.

Do you have unwanted algae in your tank? If so, I would keep the Nopox dosing the same. If not, I would only dose 1ml of Nopox daily and test again in a weeks time. I would also dose 10ml of Reef Energy daily. If nutrients are that low, the corals need the RE.

You (almost) never want to stop the Nopox completely as you can crash your bacterial population. Weening off is the best way.

just like he says
dont make it confusing , I use abc powder and randys alk , and nopox a and b . I have had great sucess .

I bought the whole reef colors test kits and all dosing to expect better results . after testing several times I found I didnt need to dose any trace elements , kind of dissapointing , you can use my test kits if u want to play around .

 

[Tweaked]

Thanks. As discussed earlier, the final piece of the triangle for most of us starting the program is the colors. I was holding off for a few weeks on that and good to hear it might be over the top.