Red Sea coral colors or triton method?

[JordanM]

Has anyone used both systems and which did you like better and why? I’m trying to figure out which system to start using to bring out the brightest colors in my sps. Currently dosing kalk.

 

[GoVols]

Has anyone used both systems and which did you like better and why? I’m trying to figure out which system to start using to bring out the brightest colors in my sps. Currently dosing kalk.

Well, good luck finding (all in one / three part dosing) Triton to be able to keep you in-stock.

Many of their customer's have made the swap over to ATI Essentials. (all in one / three part dosing)

The Red Sea Color's are only one part to Red Sea's program, but it does an great job too, and has been on the market for many years.

If your staying with Kalk then dose the Red Sea Color's program, and dose to your calcium's intake per Red Sea's instructions.

I've been dosing the "KZ Seawater Complex" with my calcium reactor and so far I love that product.
https://premiumaquatics.com/products/korallenzucht-sea-water-complex-500ml.html

When your talking about dosing trace elements "on the side" please dose on the low side.

 

[JordanM]

Thanks for letting me know about the ati essentials. This looks like a really good system with great results. I will have to look into this more.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have both and between the red Sea tank and triton tank, I prefer the Triton. I keep hearing of Triton hard to get and every time I do a re-order, I have no issues . Hmmm ???

 

[JordanM]

I think the bonus of the triton is that it is more concentrated so you do use less solution.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I use much less on triton and great consideration as the tank is a 360g.

 

[cooltowncorals]

Aqua forest also has a balling system similar to Red Sea I use this. Of note with Red Sea colors you need to use their calcium mix as that’s were they include their strontium not sure off the top of my head if they have additional elements in their alk or magnisium. I know with AF you can buy premixed 123+ or mix it yourself. I prefer this as apposed to dosing Red Sea all the time.

 

[JordanM]

I think i will go with the ATI Essentials and get the reef breeders coral box doser and have it does the three components and then have a spare head i can potentially dose carbon with.

 

[cooltowncorals]

Triton is balling method with cheato for nutrient control. Red Sea is Manuel balling method with carbon dosing. AF and brightwell (KZ if you dose their trace) are balling with carbon and bacteria dosing with zeolite. The systems with carbon dosing really let you dump a lot of coral food, amino acids and vitamins which create colorful sps and excelerated growth.

 

[JordanM]

I do not use chaeto. My tank does not have a sump. I have an ULM system with canister filter and my nutrients are very low right now. I will be adding about 6 fish over the next few weeks/month so hopefully that will bring them up a little.

 

[cooltowncorals]

It should as you feed you will probably get phosphates first as it’s in food so I would plan on seeing that first and having a plan for it.

 

[JordanM]

It should as you feed you will probably get phosphates first as it’s in food so I would plan on seeing that first and having a plan for it.

What do you suggest? Gfo?

 

[cooltowncorals]

Yeah definitely a good option I personally carbon dose but with low nitrates <5ppm GFO would work well. If your nitrates were 5-25 ppm I would suggest carbon dosing as you would be able to find a nice low dose to keep both low. It’s a lot cheaper than GFO for instance if you were using biofuel, nopox vodka vinegar ect at a .5 ml to 5ml a day your talking 15$ for 500ml top dollar for any of those and they could last for 6 months or longer GFO is real spendy. GFO also is best in a reactor which needs an additional running pump and set up costs for the reactor. Lantium chloride is another option comes in a few products like phosphate minus and phosphate rx. If you are not using a skimmer though GFO is your best option as both carbon dosing and lanthium chloride recommend a skimmer.

 

[GoVols]

FWIW:

ATI is going to release / a more concentrated / "Essentials Pro" version

http://atiaquaristik.com/en/?one_page_portfolio=essentials-pro

 

[GoVols]

Triton is balling method with cheato for nutrient control. Red Sea is Manuel balling method with carbon dosing. AF and brightwell (KZ if you dose their trace) are balling with carbon and bacteria dosing with zeolite. The systems with carbon dosing really let you dump a lot of coral food, amino acids and vitamins which create colorful sps and excelerated growth.

You, Know
That's an easy misconception

TM and AF are true balling products.

Their 3rd part are "nacl free salt's" that do contain trace elements, but those are for keeping all your reefs Ions more stable.
https://aquaforest.eu/en/how-reef-mineral-salt-works/
And same for TM balling

That's why TM sells "K and A elements and AF sells A, B, C and D colors.

Just wanted to pass that along. A lot of reefer's get confused about what the 3rd part of true balling, really dose.

 

[JordanM]

FWIW:

ATI is going to release / a more concentrated / "Essentials Pro" version

http://atiaquaristik.com/en/?one_page_portfolio=essentials-pro

Interesting. Do you know when they are going to start selling it? Even though it is more concentrated it does not look like you get as many trace elements as the 3 dose model. This would also mean that your dosing pump needs to be a lot more accurate as even a little deviation would be huge at these higher concentrations.

 

[GoVols]

Interesting. Do you know when they are going to start selling it? Even though it is more concentrated it does not look like you get as many trace elements as the 3 dose model. This would also mean that your dosing pump needs to be a lot more accurate as even a little deviation would be huge at these higher concentrations.

Just passing it along.

 

[Ashish Patel]

All systems sell you on why their products are better but at the end of the day its all doing the same thing. Figure out how to maintain your ALK/CA/MG/NO/PO and then when your tank matures and you add sps figure out how to dose trace elements based on your needs. Currently I use red sea color (iron and potasium if needed), Brightwell Strontium and lugols (every 4-6 weeks), and acropower twice per week. It took me awhile to dial in the trace element but with the help of icp tests Its much easier to see if your tank is lacking somewhere. I also have a fuge and cyrptic zone in my sump and dose flourish nitrates to maintain around 3-5PPM nitrates, dosing every 1 month keeps it steady.

To answer your question go with the redsea, its pretty cheap considering you'll be surprise how little you actually need to dose. I wouldnt waste my time with triton who tries to sell you on no water changes but instead your spending a ton on their product when you could go without waterchange aslong as you know your tank is low in metals. Go slow, get the tank bacteria and microfauna going and do a icp test every 3 months. If your going with SPS DO NOT start with 100% dryrock, no matter what you do this is the #1 cause of sps keepers having issues -lack of biodiversity..

 

[GoVols]

All systems sell you on why their products are better but at the end of the day its all doing the same thing. Figure out how to maintain your ALK/CA/MG/NO/PO and then when your tank matures and you add sps figure out how to dose trace elements based on your needs. Currently I use red sea color (iron and potasium if needed), Brightwell Strontium and lugols (every 4-6 weeks), and acropower twice per week. It took me awhile to dial in the trace element but with the help of icp tests Its much easier to see if your tank is lacking somewhere. I also have a fuge and cyrptic zone in my sump and dose flourish nitrates to maintain around 3-5PPM nitrates, dosing every 1 month keeps it steady.

To answer your question go with the redsea, its pretty cheap considering you'll be surprise how little you actually need to dose. I wouldnt waste my time with triton who tries to sell you on no water changes but instead your spending a ton on their product when you could go without waterchange aslong as you know your tank is low in metals. Go slow, get the tank bacteria and microfauna going and do a icp test every 3 months. If your going with SPS DO NOT start with 100% dryrock, no matter what you do this is the #1 cause of sps keepers having issues -lack of biodiversity..

Well,
The most cost efficient method that I ever used with the best results was the Red Sea ABC+ powder with Color's C and D.

You can not automate the ABC+ powder. So last October, moved on to an 2 Stage GEO cal reactor and never looking back.

Many ways to skin a cat and no "one" best way.

 

[JordanM]

I am looking at calcium reactors as well. It seems that it would be the cheapest option in the long run, however i am looking for an option to run both my frag tank and dt off of one apex and to do this with a calcium reactor would require 4 ph probes and two different calcium reactors. I may use the calcium reactor on the dt and then just dose the smaller may be the best approach.