Red Sea ABCD Colors? Any experience?

[dbl]

As a point of clarification, I'm not advising anyone to use this program and I have no dog in the hunt. I'm merely trying to help provide information to the OP on the color program. I've enjoyed success with it but that is simply my experience in my system.

 

[FL_Reefer]

What does this mean exactly? Is that 1/10 of calcium uptake by volume? Or are there some other units I'm not aware of?

If your cal dose is 10ml per week than the dose of ABCD would be 1 ml per week

 

[McMullen]

Yup ^

 

[Joeganja]

I'm just gonna dose 1ml per week of each until I get the test kit

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

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??

 

[jent]

Their 1/10 is only if you are using foundation A as your ca source, since other calcium sources may have different concentrations....that said I use colors and would not advise dosing without testing. Specifically iodine, which can become easily toxic, and at least in my case I always need to dose less than the others (based off the red sea test kits for what that is worth).

 

[FL_Reefer]

Their 1/10 is only if you are using foundation A as your ca source, since other calcium sources may have different concentrations....that said I use colors and would not advise dosing without testing. Specifically iodine, which can become easily toxic, and at least in my case I always need to dose less than the others (based off the red sea test kits for what that is worth).

That's a good point, I assumed that he is using Red Sea cal, hopefully or things could go bad.

 

[FL_Reefer]

I'm just gonna dose 1ml per week of each until I get the test kit

You will feel like a real scientists with this kit! Lol you will see what I'm talking about when you get it

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

You will feel like a real scientists with this kit! Lol you will see what I'm talking about when you get it

I'm a chemical engineer, and even I think the kit is quite elaborate! Lol

I am not using the Red Sea calcium product. I'm actually using Randy's DIY recipe. I'll test tonight before I begin a dosing regimen. Fifteen years ago, I used to dose Lugol's every weekend with nothing but good effects. The softies colored up immensely and really seemed to love the additional iodine.

 

[FL_Reefer]

Lol. Well you should be good. We can still figure out the dose for you based on your cal uptake and what the equivalent would be using Red Sea

 

[den75]

I believe the correct ratio is this. For every 50ml of calcium you dose per day you dose 1ml of coral colors per day. So, if you are dosing 100ml of calcium per day you can dose 2ml of coral colors. You can also do a weekly dose of 14ml of ABC&D if you don't want to or can't dose daily.

 

[samba_dad]

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.

 

[samba_dad]

By the way Randy Holmes Farley deserves much of the credit for getting me straightened out on my problems. He is a remarkable human being giving tremendous amounts of time humbly to help all of us hobbyists.

 

[McMullen]

@Joeganja, any improvement with color?

 

[Joeganja]

@Joeganja, any improvement with color?

Well I use the test kit to test for iodine, potassium and iron and I've brought them all up fairly easy except for potassium it's very low. But I'm adding Aquavitro fuel, feeding the sps Rotifers, and adding whenever abcd is needed but I do see a difference in the vibrancy of the colors. More deep blues and purples and brighter green and oranges and reds. Just have to work on bringing up my potassium that's what helps with red pigmentation of corals. But as long as you test for it then I think you should be okay. Like for example before I dosed anything I tested all the parameters and my iodine was already at the place it needed to be so I barely dose that because it doesn't get eaten up fast. Iron was a little low but easily brought that up. Potassium was and still is below 300 ppm. Gotta bring that up to 400ppm.

 

[Joeganja]

@Joeganja, any improvement with color?

I'd like to also add I'm not dosing ABCD foundation, reef energy, or any other Red Sea products and not even using their salt. I use seachem reef salt for now as I've learned it works fine. I dose brs 2 part.

 

[samba_dad]

I have definitely noticed improved color with the Reef Colors product. I have had more non-aquarists stop by the tank and mention how amazing the colors looked also.

I was not trying to say that other products cannot be combined with the Red Sea Colors product, but that the design by Red Sea was based on the combination of all of those products. So, adding Colors based on the amount of Ca/Sr Reef Foundation A added is not a good idea if you don't use that product. Testing using Red Sea Kits would be he only way to use those products. Keep in mind, there is no test for Colors D supplement. When using the full Red Sea Reef Care Program, you add based upon the amount of Reef Foundation A - Ca/Sr. The RCP is based on the right amount of 32 different elements. Using their product in its entirety gets the right balance. I don't work for them, but I have had a much better reefing experience since switching to their products.

 

[Terry4505]

A guy from Red Sea came to one of our LFS's this week and gave a presentation. One of my big complaints with the Coral Colors program is that it can be difficult to calculate the dosage if you are not using their Foundation products (I use B-Ionic).

According to him, Red Sea is going to release a calculator on their site in the next few weeks, similar to their new program for picking an aquarium. I am very much looking forward to this.

 

[McMullen]

I know colors work because my wife commented on deeper and brighter colors!!!

 

[Rob Lion]

I've been using Red Sea Colours ABCD for 4 months, and yes they work... if you use them right!

Don't dose by 10% of calcium uptake! test your parameters instead and dose accordingly.

In my tank I started off with the 10% dosing route (that's 10% of Calcium dose of Red Sea foundation A, if you use a different manufacturers you will need to calculate the amount) and once I got my Iodine, Potassium and Iron test kits, I found that I was over dosing on Iodine and potassium and was way under dosing on Iron.

If you do regular water changes with a good salt, like Red Sea coral pro etc, you will probably find that you wont have to dose Iodine or Potassium, just Iron and the minor trace elements.