Red Sea AB+ Color

[FishyFishFish]

This could be a confusing question, considering their product names, but I've just dosed Red Sea AB+ Reef Energy. I knew that it had a color but I was surprised at just how flourescent green it was.

Does anyone know what this green color is? It doesn't look natural.

I'm hoping it's not some form of dye that they put in it.

 

[SPS2020]

I use it also and wondered the same. However, it is really cool to see my two RedSea ReefWave 45s kick this stuff around the tank. If you ever wondered what your water flow looked like, this is the stuff to answer that question!

 

[Pntbll687]

It is probably a dye of some kind.

The problem is that everything is going to be labelled "proprietary blend" and not all ingredients are listed, or they are listed but doesn't say how much of each is in there. It's like the supplement world for humans now.

 

[Cjeippert]

I also wonder if It is florescent dye that dyes polyps to make them look more healthy and fluorescent. That yellow green color stains the skins of my cyphaestras

 

[Pistondog]

I think its cosmetic only.

 

[JMetaxas]

It adds to the cool factor. For me, using this product showed no benefit and forced me to clean the glass more than usual.

 

[Cjeippert]

I noticed my euphylia seemed healtheir and more colorful at first but now not sure if it is doing anything. Since my tank is doing very well, I probably will not stop using this product. I do have gha but snails mow the grass nightly to look like a nice golf course putting green

 

[FishyFishFish]

I’m already concerned about it after one use. I want it to make my corals healthier, not to stain them so they look brighter.

The ‘ingredients’ list is very vague. I will contact Red Sea and see what they say.

 

[Soryu]

I’m already concerned about it after one use. I want it to make my corals healthier, not to stain them so they look brighter.

The ‘ingredients’ list is very vague. I will contact Red Sea and see what they say.

My assumption is that it's the amino acids, this is the same color some of my amino supplements.

 

[RMS18]

Although most additives like such are hit and miss with results, it's been around a long time. Even if it was a dye I don't recall any tanks crashing, fish dying or corals dying from it. RED SEA is to main stream to mess around with risky ingredients.

 

[furyofthegnomes]

Brightwell Vitamarin-M is green in the water too if it makes you feel any better

 

[FishyFishFish]

So I have a response from Red Sea, which is:

RedSea does not use any dyes in the ReefEnergy AB+. While I cannot give the complete make up of the product, there are many different natural flocks that we use in the production of Reef Energy AB+, we often see different colors batch to batch, we often see seasonal color changes as well. We have very comprehensive sales of Reef Energy AB+ Worldwide, everything used in AB+ is biodegradable and can be consumed by your Corals.

I replied saying that doesn’t fill me with confidence and they then pointed me to the MSDS, which says almost nothing (many items are just ‘no data’).

https://www.redseafish.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Coral-nutrition-Reef-Energy-AB-plus-MSDS.pdf

I think I might just throw it in the trash

 

[kagisexton]

This is my guess, fluorescein.

 

[FishyFishFish]

That looks exactly like it.

But flourescein is a dye and they have said that they don’t use dyes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I do not know what it is, but riboflavin (Vitamin B2) is a fluorescent green.

 

[FishyFishFish]

Thanks for all of the help but with Red Sea refusing to tell me what's in it, it is going in the trash.

I'm extremely disappointed with their lack of willingness to help out. I didn't want to know the recipe, just what the green stuff was, but they weren't prepared to tell me and would rather lose a customer instead.

 

[Pistondog]

As @Randy Holmes-Farley pointed out, b2 is flourescent green. close to the color I see in ab+

Glowing Drinks Under Blacklight: Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)

In college I did an experiment in my analytical chemistry lab class that measured fluorescence from riboflavin in beer. I was able to apply the fluorescent properties of riboflavin to other drinks…

lightandcolorlab.wordpress.com

 

[Bounce House Corals]

Thanks for all of the help but with Red Sea refusing to tell me what's in it, it is going in the trash.

I'm extremely disappointed with their lack of willingness to help out. I didn't want to know the recipe, just what the green stuff was, but they weren't prepared to tell me and would rather lose a customer instead.

While your intentions are purely personal, from a company perspective they need safeguard their product formula even small details to avoid knock offs. I will speak to the product as I have been using for a month and I am extremely happy with it! I have this CK maly torch that was doing poorly losing tissue around the head when I first started using it and today there is translucent layer of flesh over the damaged area. I have regrown many torches but I haven’t seen results like this before. Can I attribute its repair solely to AB+.. no but I know it’s helping.

 

[FishyFishFish]

I wasn't after the magic formula; telling me why it was unnaturally green would not have resulted in mass copying.

However, accepting that they want to protect their secrets (which is their right), when I told them that if they couldn't tell me what was in it then I wanted to send it back for a refund they refused, and then they wouldn't reply to any further emails.

All I asked was, either tell me what's in it, or let me send it back, but they weren't prepared to do either.

I've stopped using it in my main display now as it's causing flourescent staining on the back walls of my tank; I have also heard from someone else who had the same thing happen. I am still putting a tiny bit (about 1/5 of the recommended dose) into a frag tank, but I'm shortly to switch everything over to a different product.

If it works for anyone/everyone else then great. I can only say that I didn't like it and Red Sea didn't care.

 

[FishyFishFish]

I have just read another post that lists some of the ingredients and it includes Acriflavine. Could this be the color?