Question about Red Sea Coral Colors (ABCD) Dosing

Tklb · Jan 29, 2018

@Randy Holmes-Farley , I am currently dosing Red Sea's Coral Colors (ABCD). I am dosing 1 ml of each per day, based on my calcium consumption. I have 2 issues. First, my dosing pump's smallest does is 1 ml, and it isn't very accurate dosing 1 ml doses. Second, doing it this way takes 4 dosing pump heads, and I would love to be able to free up a couple of pump heads.

I know that you can't just mix the 4 parts together, because you will get precipitation. But, could I mix 600 ml of RODI water with 100 ml each of Parts A, B, C, & D, to make up 1 Liter of solution? Would that dilute the solution enough that it wouldn't precipitate out? If that would work, I could use 1 pump head to dose 10 ML/day, which would consist of 6 ml of RODI, and 1 ml of each solution, solving both of my issues.

Also would I need to worry about having to mix the solution every so often? As always, I appreciate your help.

Ocelaris · Jan 29, 2018

Good question, I'm in the same boat. If this was a reef chemistry question of the day, my vote would be that dilution won't fix the problem though.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 30, 2018

Red Sea doesn't reveal what exactly is in each product, so I cannot determine compatibility.

I expect (I hope) there's a strong reason (beyond a marketing distinction) to make them 4 additives instead of one, so I expect combining them isn't desirable.

Dilution may be OK, but has some risks. Particularly, some trace elements such as ferrous iron may air oxidize to ferric iron which is much less soluble. If you dilute them and see a precipitate after a while, then I'd avoid doing it. There does not appear to be any bacteria food (such as amino acids), so that aspect probably isn't a concern.

Tklb · Jan 30, 2018

Thanks Randy. I think I will do a test where I make a 20 ml test batch, and leave it sit for a few weeks, then check it for precipitate.

Tklb · Jan 31, 2018

Pretty short test. My 20 ml test batch had noticeable precipitate within 24 hours. Thanks for the help on this.

Finhead · Jan 31, 2018

Just wanted to add my findings to this, I was curious how they mixed with 2 part dosing like the Aquaforest type of balling and I had some laying around from when I dosed into my Nano tank.
I found no precipitation on any of my 3 mixes when added to Alk, Ca and Mag, this has been about a week.
Very loosely based on how AF mixes there components strong into there balling, this was using Randy's 2 part mix Recipe #1 with a diluted down 20:1 Mag.
Coral Colors A into the Alk , Coral Colors B into the Mag, Coral Colors C,D into Ca. These were all mixed at a 50:1 ratio, as this is what my tank would currently use the RSCC at based on Ca consumption.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 31, 2018

Tklb said:
Pretty short test. My 20 ml test batch had noticeable precipitate within 24 hours. Thanks for the help on this.

All four parts?

Tklb · Jan 31, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
All four parts?

Yes, I put 12 ml of RODI + 2 ml each of Coral Colors A, B, C & D.

Is it worth playing around with only mixing a couple parts, maybe A & B, leaving C (Iron) & D untouched?

That could still free up a pump head.

Finhead · Jan 31, 2018

Tklb said:
Yes, I put 12 ml of RODI + 2 ml each of Coral Colors A, B, C & D.

Is it worth playing around with only mixing a couple parts, maybe A & B, leaving C (Iron) & D untouched?

That could still free up a pump head.

If you look at what I tested the C andD mix fine together.

Tklb · Feb 20, 2018

@Randy Holmes-Farley , Sorry one more question, would it be OK to just dilute each of Coral Colors A, B, C, & D separately? For example with the Coral Colors A, I am thinking a mixture of 1 part Coral Colors A to 3 parts RODI Water. I can't imagine that this would be a problem, but wanted to check. This would help with accuracy of my dosing pump. THank you.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 21, 2018

Tklb said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley , Sorry one more question, would it be OK to just dilute each of Coral Colors A, B, C, & D separately? For example with the Coral Colors A, I am thinking a mixture of 1 part Coral Colors A to 3 parts RODI Water. I can't imagine that this would be a problem, but wanted to check. This would help with accuracy of my dosing pump. THank you.

I would expect that is OK.

Tklb · Feb 21, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I would expect that is OK.

Thank you.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 21, 2018

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

Iinux · Mar 26, 2018

Hey, did you try this? And if so did it work? I am in the following boat :
I have the pump heads, but the amount i have to dose is so small.

Tklb · Mar 27, 2018

Yes, I have diluted my Red Sea Coral Colors A,B,C & D. For each one I dilute with 3 parts RODI water to 1 part (ie Colors A) and dose 4 ml per day instead of 1 ml/day. Seems to be working fine. I don't mix any of them together, and it works very well so far. It allows for very small doses, and small adjustments to the dose. For example, my doser is adjustable by the ml, so I am limited to doses of 1 ml, 2 ml, 3 ml, etc. but with the dilution, I can dose 1 ml (4 ml of mixture), 1.25 ml (5 ml of mixture), 1.5 ml (6 ml of mixture), etc.

Bubba002 · Jun 9, 2018

By parts do you mean 4 cups RODI TO 1cup color and dose 4ml daily of each color? I’m a bit afraid of this product

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 9, 2018

Bubbas said:
By parts do you mean 4 cups RODI TO 1cup color and dose 4ml daily of each color? I’m a bit afraid of this product

That's what he means, yes.

Iinux · Jun 9, 2018

double post

Iinux · Jun 9, 2018

I'm doing this with 2 of my tanks for the past 3~ months, thanks a TON for the help Randy!
Corals are loving life, the ONLY coral to die was one a turbo knocked onto another coral while i was gone for the weekend.

Dragonkingreef420 · Mar 14, 2019

Finhead said:
Just wanted to add my findings to this, I was curious how they mixed with 2 part dosing like the Aquaforest type of balling and I had some laying around from when I dosed into my Nano tank.
I found no precipitation on any of my 3 mixes when added to Alk, Ca and Mag, this has been about a week.
Very loosely based on how AF mixes there components strong into there balling, this was using Randy's 2 part mix Recipe #1 with a diluted down 20:1 Mag.
Coral Colors A into the Alk , Coral Colors B into the Mag, Coral Colors C,D into Ca. These were all mixed at a 50:1 ratio, as this is what my tank would currently use the RSCC at based on Ca consumption.

Are you still mixing this way? What are your results? And what kind of tank to you have, mixed, spa, softie?