RedSea Coral Colors Abcd

BryanS4 · Mar 12, 2016

Ok gang, I'm not a math major and having trouble figuring out how much to dose.

I have 125g system, 30g sump and consider total water 140.

I'm just bought the Red Sea Coral Colors Abcd tonight and want to make sure I get the correct dosing amount.

It's says Add 1ml of Color supplement for every 20ppm of Calcium added per 100 liters (25 gal) of aquarium water.

I'm using 40 ml of calcium per day right now (Brs 2 part). What would that mean for daily dosing?

Thank you in advance.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 12, 2016

BryanS4 said:
Ok gang, I'm not a math major and having trouble figuring out how much to dose.

I have 125g system, 30g sump and consider total water 140.

I'm just bought the Red Sea Coral Colors Abcd tonight and want to make sure I get the correct dosing amount.

It's says Add 1ml of Color supplement for every 20ppm of Calcium added per 100 liters (25 gal) of aquarium water.

I'm using 40 ml of calcium per day right now (Brs 2 part). What would that mean for daily dosing?

Thank you in advance.

Not very clear directions, are they. They need to work on that, IMO.

40 mL of the two part would add 2.8 ppm in 140 gallons.

So you take that 1 mL and multiply by 2.8/20 (since you are not dosing as much as 20 ppm) and then multiply by 140/25 (since you are dosing into a lot more than 25 gallons).

So I get 0.78 mL per dose.

BryanS4 · Mar 12, 2016

Jeez.. I'm glad I asked and someone smart responded. Appreciate it Randy.

You're 100 per correct, not very clear to the average hobbyist.

FL_Reefer · Mar 12, 2016

You know I was thinking about this when we talked earlier, I was texting and driving, lol. I knew something was not right and it was the dose. It need to go off your cal uptake, not dose of 2 part. Just like Randy said

FL_Reefer · Mar 12, 2016

I also use their cal supplement so its alittle easier to figure out.

BryanS4 · Mar 12, 2016

Yeah man, after watching Brs video I knew something was a little off. As you said though, since you use the CA supplement its much more straight forward.

FL_Reefer · Mar 12, 2016

After looking back I did see that you said ml, thought you said ppm. My bad brotha

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 13, 2016

BryanS4 said:
Appreciate it Randy.
.

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

Kungpaoshizi · Mar 14, 2016

If you're not using their calcium, I would not follow the instructions given they are referring to their calcium.(which I know they mix strontium into, and perhaps other things)

The only sure-fire way will be to do tests, dose, test again.

Their instructions are just fine, but all calcium's are not the same..

(they could be and red sea is lying, but you know what they say about assuming things! hehe)

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 14, 2016

Kungpaoshizi said:
If you're not using their calcium, I would not follow the instructions given they are referring to their calcium.(which I know they mix strontium into, and perhaps other things)

The only sure-fire way will be to do tests, dose, test again.

Their instructions are just fine, but all calcium's are not the same.. (they could be and red sea is lying, but you know what they say about assuming things! hehe)

While I disagree, I am wondering exactly what you are suggesting he test for and what target levels he should aim for when adding a product that is claimed to add "the 31 minor and trace elements present in the skeleton and soft tissue of all corals."

FL_Reefer · Mar 14, 2016

I believe he is referring to the test kit for the colors program. It's a true pain to use and I see what your talking about with all those elements

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 14, 2016

Yes, perhaps testing those 3 (potassium, iron, iodide) might be useful for dosing (I personally would not want iron so incredibly high that it could be detected with their kit, but that's another story), but Red Sea apparently claims it is tied to calcium consumption .

Red Seas suggestion obviously has flaws (soft corals do not consume appreciable calcium for example, so a soft coral tank might have almost no apparent demand for calcium but could have substantial demand for many of these 31 elements, but admittedly that issue may also be true for any dosing of trace element cocktails when not measuring all (or even a tenth) of the elements added.

Here's what they claim:
"Red Seas’ Coral Color supplements have been formulated such that the ratio of the elements in each supplement is the same as that found in the skeleton and soft tissue of corals.

Our research has identified a constant ratio between each of the Coral Colors and the overall consumption of calcium, which is proportional to coral growth and metabolic activity. This provides an easy and safe method of dosing all Coral Colors Supplements based on a measured calcium uptake."

FL_Reefer · Mar 14, 2016

That is very true, I'm curious why they base the dosing off of cal uptake cause like you said other corals other than SPS use these elements. I can see there is ratios in dosing, maybe that is their theory that this is based on and not necessarily geared for soft coral type tanks. luckily for Brian I know his tank is sps dominant.

biom · Mar 14, 2016

I dont think elements like Potassium has something to do with coral skeletogenesis, and from my experience I need twice more Potassium daily than it is calculated according RS instructions, a friend of mine who is not dosing carbon (larger tank) find he don't need to dose potassium at all.
But I find idea to dose according calcium consumption not that bad, at least better than dosing based only to water volume (5 drops per 100l Water

), because in that way dosing is somehow linked to biological process, not simply to water volume. And of course the best way is to dose according consumption, and luckily we have tools like triton ICP that could help us, and I'm sure they will go better in near future.