Red Sea Colors dosing?

[Reefman24]

I'm wondering if the label is incorrect and wanted to get someone elses opinion. The coral colors C products say 1ml raises 25 gallons by 0.01ppm. The chart on the bottle says if the concentration is 0 ppm in the aquarium, add 0.13 ml of product to reach the desired range of 0.13 ppm. Then if the aquarium level is 0.05ppm add 0.8 ml of the product. Then if the aquarium level is 0.1 ppm, add 3 ml to reach 0.13 ppm.

The "if the aquarium level is 0.1ppm, add 3ml to reach 0.13ppm" seems correct but the others seem to have listed the amount you are trying to raise the ppm by. If your measurement in the tank is 0.1 ppm, you would want to add 3ml to raise the number by 0.03ppm. Why does it say if your reading is 0 ppm in the tank you should add 0.13 ppm? It should be 13 ppm. Same with the part that says if the tank is at 0.05ppm, you would want to add 0.8ml per 25 gallons (your increasing the ppm by 0.08 ppm but you wouldn’t add 0.8ml), you would really need to add 8ml according to the directions. What's your take on this?

 

[Bunnee911]

Yes I am confused as well.

 

[Reefman24]

According to their dosage instructions, you add 1 ml per 20ppm of calcium added. Their calcium supplement says 1ml raises 25 gallons by 2 ppm. I use Brightwell code A and would have to add 31ml of calcium to raise my calcium by 20ppm compared to 10ml on the Red Sea calcium. Red sea says to add 1 ml of a, b, c, d, for every 10ml of their calcium product (20ppm) yet if using other calcium supplements, add 1ml of a,b,c,d for every 20ppm added per 25 gallons of aquarium water. Am I just adding 1 ml every time I raise the calcium by 20 ppm or do I add 1ml per 25 gallons? ( Aquarium has 150 gallons net volume)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Before getting into the dosing issues with that product, let's discuss iron dosing and concentrations. Surface seawater iron levels are variable, but can be as low as 0.000006 ppm. IMO, it doesn't so much matter how much iron you dose as long as you dose some reasonable amount, but that 0.15 ppm target of theirs is, IMO, unnecessarily high. I have been recommending a much lower dose (more than ten fold lower) for many years, and most folks have found it adequate to, for example, green up macroalgae that is depleted in iron. So there is nothing magic (or, IMO, desirable) about their 0.15 ppm target (or 0.13 ppm if your bottle says that).

As you using an iron test kit?
In general, I do not believe that you want iron high enough to detect with any kit, and I don't believe most are very useful at their very low end.

OK, now the instructions...

"Why does it say if your reading is 0 ppm in the tank you should add 0.13 ppm? It should be 13 ppm."

Their sentence seems correct as written to me. It simply means to raise iron from 0 to 0.13 ppm you need to add all of 0.13 ppm (and it is up to you to figure out the liquid volume to attain that). Not sure what you mean by it should be 13 ppm.

"Same with the part that says if the tank is at 0.05ppm, you would want to add 0.8ml per 25 gallons (your increasing the ppm by 0.08 ppm but you wouldn’t add 0.8ml), you would really need to add 8ml according to the directions. What's your take on this?"

You are correct that, if they have exactly what you wrote, there is a typo. Typo or not, it would be 8 mL not 0.8 mL to boost iron from 0.05 to 0.113 ppm in 25 gallons using Red Sea Coral Colors C.


I discuss iron in these articles:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iron In A Reef Tank ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iron: A Look At Organisms Other Than Macroalgae ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/chem.htm

 

[biom]

RS always had problems communicating the way they products should be used/dosed, that's always amaze me. Here is picture of my old bottle Color C, but it is for European market I suppose or there is new batch with new labels. the volumes are in liters and ml.


i took this picture few months ago because I find some differences in what is written on bottles label and what is stated on their web page in terms of Fe content - on the bottle was written - 1ml - 0.01ppm, but on their web site they state - 0.02 ppm per ml. Finally they said that bottle label is correct - 0.01ppm/ml and they changed web site info, but on the web site picture of Color C is still old one on which label could be seen 0.02ppm :0)

And I'm totally agree with Randy about dosing iron, according bottle label I should dose 45 ml of solution in my tank! That's crazy, currently I'm dosing 2 ml daily and find even that dose is a little bit high for my full of SPS tank. I don't see any sense to test for iron in my tank, the iron depletes in matter of hours because of biological activities.