Difference between RS Foundation ABC and RS Skeletal Elements Foundation ABC+?

[LucentFish]

Hi All,

I have a RSR 300XL that has been running since mid June this year and i am looking to start using some additives to help grow zoas, softies and LPS (hammers, duncans and goni).

When looking at the base additives for adding CA MG and ALK, what is the difference between:

Red Sea Foundation ABC Pack and Red Sea Skeletal Elements Foundation ABC+​

RS ABC appears to be a liquid form of just CA ALK MG, RS Skeletal has those + some trace and is in powder form. Any pros and cons to liquid vs powder? I am leaning towards the ABC+ for the extra trace elements, although since the tank is newish i dont really want to get the extra test kits for trace elements. Will be picking up CA/MG tests prior to dosing manually for the time being.

TYIA

 

[blaxsun]

Liquid is just plug-and-play while you have to mixup the powder in-advance (liquid will cost you a bit more than the powder equivalent).

Skeletal Elements also contains Trace Colors AB (but not CD), so you'd still need Trace Colors CD for yellow/green (iron) and blue/purple (bioactive) if you plan to do Trace Colors ABCD.

Here's what I've found with my Red Sea Reefer 750XXL setup (mixed reef, mostly soft and LPS with some SPS):
• I'm dosing ~50ml of alkalinity daily to maintain 8.5 dKH
• I'm dosing ~8ml of magnesium daily to maintain 1450
• I'm dosing almost no calcium (~10-20ml every month)

I do almost no water changes (very infrequently), so I supplement with the Nyos equivalent of Red Sea Trace Colors (but much less than Nyos recommends). I have the Red Sea Trace Colors test kit and test maybe every month or so.

Here would my my advice:
• If you're keeping up with weekly/bi-weekly water changes (10%), you'll probably replenish most if not all of the trace elements you need in a mixed reef - so you don't really need Trace Colors ABCD or the testing kit (at least until you get heavy into SPS).
• Buy 1000ml of Red Sea Foundation A (alkalinity), 500ml of Red Sea Foundation C (magnesium) and 250ml of Red Sea Foundation B (calcium). Make sure you have either the Red Sea Marine Pro +Magnesium +Calcium test kits (or equivalent), test weekly to bi-weekly and either dose manually as needed or setup with something like the Red Sea ReefDose 4.
• Look at adding something like Red Sea ReefEnergy AB+ daily and supplement with Polyp Labs Reef Roids 1x-2x week (max).

 

[LucentFish]

Liquid is just plug-and-play while you have to mixup the powder in-advance (liquid will cost you a bit more than the powder equivalent).

Skeletal Elements also contains Trace Colors AB (but not CD), so you'd still need Trace Colors CD for yellow/green (iron) and blue/purple (bioactive) if you plan to do Trace Colors ABCD.

Here's what I've found with my Red Sea Reefer 750XXL setup (mixed reef, mostly soft and LPS with some SPS):
• I'm dosing ~50ml of alkalinity daily to maintain 8.5 dKH
• I'm dosing ~8ml of magnesium daily to maintain 1450
• I'm dosing almost no calcium (~10-20ml every month)

I do almost no water changes (very infrequently), so I supplement with the Nyos equivalent of Red Sea Trace Colors (but much less than Nyos recommends). I have the Red Sea Trace Colors test kit and test maybe every month or so.

Here would my my advice:
• If you're keeping up with weekly/bi-weekly water changes (10%), you'll probably replenish most if not all of the trace elements you need in a mixed reef - so you don't really need Trace Colors ABCD or the testing kit (at least until you get heavy into SPS).
• Buy 1000ml of Red Sea Foundation A (alkalinity), 500ml of Red Sea Foundation C (magnesium) and 250ml of Red Sea Foundation B (calcium). Make sure you have either the Red Sea Marine Pro +Magnesium +Calcium test kits (or equivalent), test weekly to bi-weekly and either dose manually as needed or setup with something like the Red Sea ReefDose 4.
• Look at adding something like Red Sea ReefEnergy AB+ daily and supplement with Polyp Labs Reef Roids 1x-2x week (max).

Thank you for the detailed reply.

W/C wise, i do smaller ones, ~5-10% (RS Blue bucket) every 2-3 weeks as the tank is lightly stocked with 2 OC clowns, 2 bangaii cardinals, aprox 10 snails/crabs. Coral wise is only GSP, a small toadstool, a mushroom and several frags/small colonies of zoa, 2 heads of duncan and a 2 head hammer coral. So i was hoping a tiny manual dose every week or so of an all in one solution would do it.

I for sure do see the advantage of being able to target dose individually as needed, but i also want to keep the cost down as i doubt the uptake of elements is high, and i am slowly adding corals as i have set myself a loose 100-200/month budget for the system. Eventually i am looking to get dosing pumps going, but not until there is a lot more coral in the tank that would require daily dosing.

Will be picking up some reef energy for sure next LFS trip.