KZ Coral Booster - What is it?

[Dennis Cartier]

I have used KZ Coral Booster off and on over the years. I have always found it to be helpful to give corals a little boost and get them growing or at the very least, improve their health. I always find that crystals precipitate into the solution in the bottle. After awhile, you can notice the sound of the crystals sliding about on the bottom of the bottle. This happens whether the bottle is opened or not. I have a partially used bottle with lots of precipitate in it, and an unopened bottle with less precipitate, but still some. They expire in August 2022, so neither has reached their expiry. I am not sure if the precipitation of the crystals lessens the effectiveness of the product. My gut says that expiry date may be selected in relation to how long the elements will stay in solution before dropping out and precipitating into crystalline form. In addition, I am unsure of how much of the different elements the crystals represent.

KZ describes Coral Booster as:

• Special elements stimuli for all corals
• Balances elemental deficiencies
• Synergistic complementary of Flatworm-stop
• Provides trace elements in most uptake-able form resulting in unparalleled effects.

I decided to see if the crystals could be put back into solution, in hopes that it might give a clue as to what they are composed of. Time to setup the stove top lab!

This is what freshly filtered crystals look like.

My first attempt was to see if they would dissolve in RO water.

The answer to that is, no, not really. I also tried heating the water in my lab's thermal transfer device (the microwave ). Nope no noticeable change.

Next up was to try 0.1N sulfuric acid. For this test, I activated my fume protection system ( the stove's hood vent ... on HIGH!). This actually appeared to be more successful. The crystals did reduce in size noticeably and became 'thinner' in appearance. I don't have a measurement on the amount unfortunately, because I did not think to weigh the sample before starting. Doh. Next time.

Lastly I tried Isopropyl alcohol. I did not take a photo of the result. It appeared to dissolve a bit more, but I am uncertain if it was just my imagination. Weighing the sample between steps would have been handy, lol.

So, what I gleaned from this is that the crystals that precipitate out will either not dissolve in water or to a very limited amount. They appear to be much easier to dissolve in acid, and less so in alcohol.

Because the product claims to be trace elements, it stands to reason that they should be detectable on ICP. At least any inorganic parts would be, if they are the 'normal' elements we expect to see in our ICP results. So spiking a fresh ASW sample with Coral Booster and then submitting it for ICP may show elevated elements for the parts that came from Coral Booster.

 

[fishface NJ]

I have a bottle that I bought from brs Dec 2020 and it expires Jan 2024. I keep it in the fridge and it has no crystals precipitate

 

[adsf430]

Are you supposed to keep it in the fridge?

 

[rtparty]

My opinion is that as soon as someone has the time and resources to look at KZ more closely, we'll realize even more how much they have been fleecing the hobby.

I already know of a few products that people have looked into and find they are mostly iodine/iodide. Which makes sense when the results between KZ and iodine dosing are pretty similar.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have no idea what most KZ products are as they are very secretive.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I have a bottle that I bought from brs Dec 2020 and it expires Jan 2024. I keep it in the fridge and it has no crystals precipitate

Interesting! I had heard the opposite, that letting the Coral Booster get too cold caused the crystals to form. If you are keeping yours in the fridge, than that would contradict the too cold theory.

I am not sure how fast you go through a bottle, but can you keep an eye out for crystal formation and post back here if they do form?

 

[fishface NJ]

Interesting! I had heard the opposite, that letting the Coral Booster get too cold caused the crystals to form. If you are keeping yours in the fridge, than that would contradict the too cold theory.

I am not sure how fast you go through a bottle, but can you keep an eye out for crystal formation and post back here if they do form?

I can post back if it develops. My Coral Booster bottle has been open now for a year. I have used 50% of it.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Coral Booster continues to confound me. In the sense that whenever I dose it, I get a positive reaction from my corals. which leads me to believe that what I am providing, sans Coral Booster, is lacking in some way. I find this frustrating to say the least.

I will continue to dose it for the foreseeable.

 

[SPS2020]

I have no idea what most KZ products are as they are very secretive.

I've never noticed any difference, good or bad, using KZ products (Pohls, Pohls Xtra, Coral Booster, Flatworm Stop). Very expensive snake oil with extraordinary claims, in my opinion and your mileage may vary.

Caveat: Flatworm Stop may very well work as advertised.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I've never noticed any difference, good or bad, using KZ products (Pohls, Pohls Xtra, Coral Booster, Flatworm Stop). Very expensive snake oil with extraordinary claims, in my opinion and your mileage may vary.

Caveat: Flatworm Stop may very well work as advertised.

Your experience, not noticing any effect, is where I would like to get to.

From the description of Coral Booster:

• Works to balance elemental deficiencies
• Enhances blue and pink coloration
• Complements Flatworm Stop
• Provide trace elements for noticeable effects

This makes me think that it is targeting a niche imbalance that many tanks exhibit. My gut says that if you knew where the imbalance lies, supplementing it directly would be a simple, direct and efficient cost effective approach.

 

[SPS2020]

Your experience, not noticing any effect, is where I would like to get to.

From the description of Coral Booster:

• Works to balance elemental deficiencies
• Enhances blue and pink coloration
• Complements Flatworm Stop
• Provide trace elements for noticeable effects

This makes me think that it is targeting a niche imbalance that many tanks exhibit. My gut says that if you knew where the imbalance lies, supplementing it directly would be a simple, direct and efficient cost effective approach.

I think that is where an ICP test is beneficial; identifying any imbalance. Again, not knocking their products...just noticed no difference over the years.

 

[Wunderpus]

So, I wanted to "bump" this... I've noticed that my KZ Coral Booster only (at least in my experience) precipitates if I use a syringe to draw it, which had been in other additives as well. Mainly, Acropower. It seems to crystalize almost immediately... Just a thought, that it may not be store/temp. related, rather, from an outside element/s.

 

[Becks17]

I got an ICP test back after a month of dosing Coral Booster and my iodine levels were 6x higher. My bromine levels were also noticeably higher (though only about 14% higher). The only other significant change I’ve done in the past month was feed more with aquavitro fuel (which also contains trace elements) and amino acids due to my low nutrient levels.

Based on my experience, I would imagine that coral booster is mostly a halogen additive similar to Red Sea Trace A. The description specifically states the enhancement of pink and blue which is a known effect of higher levels of iodine and bromine respectively. Corals (mainly sps) are looking great and color improvement has been noticeable over the past month. I think it has to do more with the additional nutrients, but coral booster is probably pushing it even further.

I was already using flatworm stop before adding coral booster to my regimen.