Modern Reef users experience thread

[Mmoore0324]

I've only been using the RKS system + Coral Food + Polypop for a few days, but I did notice one thing so far. Even though I am only dosing a small amount on my nano with just frags (1.8 ml/day), I have seen a definite improvement in water clarity. Anyone else notice this?

I haven’t noticed an improvement in water clarity. The biggest difference I’ve seen is in polyp extension. Hugely improved. Which tells me the corals metabolism is improving if the polyps are out capturing food. I could be wrong but I like it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've only been using the RKS system + Coral Food + Polypop for a few days, but I did notice one thing so far. Even though I am only dosing a small amount on my nano with just frags (1.8 ml/day), I have seen a definite improvement in water clarity. Anyone else notice this?

What were you doing before?

 

[Bryman]

What were you doing before?

I was using only All For Reef and Potassium Nitrate as my nitrates were too low. Still using the KNO3 to keep nitrates around 8 ppm but switched the AFR to Modern Reek RKS system.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was using only All For Reef and Potassium Nitrate as my nitrates were too low. Still using the KNO3 to keep nitrates around 8 ppm but switched the AFR to Modern Reek RKS system.

Be careful with KNO3. I do not recommend it since it boosts potassium significanty, unless you are carefully monitoring K.

 

[Bryman]

Be careful with KNO3. I do not recommend it since it boosts potassium significanty, unless you are carefully monitoring K.

Thanks for the info - is there another nitrate source you recommend over KNO3? My phosphates are usually in the ideal range without supplementation, but my nitrate tends to bottom out which caused a major Dino outbreak last month. I am running a dose of 1.7 ml/day at 60g KNO3 / 1 L in my nano which has about 18 gallons water volume total. The tank is on the newer side, running a bit less than 5 months.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the info - is there another nitrate source you recommend over KNO3? My phosphates are usually in the ideal range without supplementation, but my nitrate tends to bottom out which caused a major Dino outbreak last month. I am running a dose of 1.7 ml/day at 60g KNO3 / 1 L in my nano which has about 18 gallons water volume total. The tank is on the newer side, running a bit less than 5 months.

I recommend food or other high grades of sodium or calcium nitrate, or ammonium bicarbonate. I dose the latter.

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[carri10]

Noticed the "triangle" PH changed when I switched from 2 part with part c. Reached out to aquawiz bc its something I dont fully understand to begin with. Was told:
"It looks like after switching the dosing method, the lowest point hasn’t really changed, but the highest point is sometimes higher.
This kind of change is actually quite good — in general, the higher the peak, the better."

So..its documented in the aquawiz that there was a change...that change is supposedly better. Its all above my pay grade but checking to see if anyone else sees the same thing. If you know when you started dosing you could check and see if there was a change. Again...dont understand it..but its food for thought.

Hi. Just for clarity, the ‘triangle’ is a Greek sign for ‘Delta’. It means difference, in this case the difference between your lowest pH and highest.

 

[billyocean]

Hi. Just for clarity, the ‘triangle’ is a Greek sign for ‘Delta’. It means difference, in this case the difference between your lowest pH and highest.

So its my ph delta?

 

[carri10]

So its my ph delta?

Yes, but I think you know that

 

[Wonkabar]

I’m a few weeks in and the tank looks great. I would say the most notable difference is polyp extension. It’s much much better. Will take more time before I can comment relative to color and growth.

 

[billyocean]

Yes, but I think you know that

It seriously didnt even dawn on me until you told me...."that triangle thing" he says..lol

 

[Modern Reef Verified Sponsor]

I’m a few weeks in and the tank looks great. I would say the most notable difference is polyp extension. It’s much much better. Will take more time before I can comment relative to color and growth.

That lines up perfectly with what we typically see in the first weeks.

Polyp extension is often the earliest visible “tell” that the coral is more comfortable with the day-to-day availability/swing of certain compounds—especially the ones that are consumed or processed quickly.

Colour and growth usually take longer, simply because they’re downstream effects: tissue density and pigment expression don’t shift overnight, and skeletal deposition tends to reflect stability over a longer window.

So “extension first, then colour/growth later” is very much the expected sequence. Keep us posted as you go along.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That lines up perfectly with what we typically see in the first weeks.

Polyp extension is often the earliest visible “tell” that the coral is more comfortable with the day-to-day availability/swing of certain compounds—especially the ones that are consumed or processed quickly.

Colour and growth usually take longer, simply because they’re downstream effects: tissue density and pigment expression don’t shift overnight, and skeletal deposition tends to reflect stability over a longer window.

So “extension first, then colour/growth later” is very much the expected sequence. Keep us posted as you go along.

Since your method involves food particles, is not the poly extension potentially in response to that, and not more complex issues relating to "day-to-day availability/swing of certain compounds"?

 

[areefer01]

Polyp extension is often the earliest visible “tell” that the coral is more comfortable with the day-to-day availability/swing of certain compounds—especially the ones that are consumed or processed quickly.

This sounds very market speak if we are all being honest. I can add a drop of a supplement that is rich in aminos or fatty acid that will trigger a similar response. I can do this with finely chopped up quality food like LRS. Heck, I used to see this after a water change when I was using Tropic Marin Bio Actif salt due to its additional prebiotic / carbon food stuff they add to it. I am not sure I would use this as a yardstick to measure the product or user experience feedback.

Just a neutral opinion - take it for what it is worth.

 

[Modern Reef Verified Sponsor]

Since your method involves food particles, is not the poly extension potentially in response to that, and not more complex issues relating to "day-to-day availability/swing of certain compounds"?

Yes, food cues/particles can trigger an immediate feeding response, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But what people are reporting with RKS isn’t just a short “food moment”. It’s more consistent baseline extension, including outside of the immediate feeding window, and that’s rarely explained by particles alone. In our experience it’s a combined response to several factors working together: stability, day-to-day availability of rapidly used compounds, and reduced micro‑stress/irritation.

Acropora is a good example because it’s often one of the hardest genera to get reliable daytime polyp extension from in many systems. When Acropora polyps are consistently out during the photoperiod, they’re not “hidden” anymore — they’re in the light field, and that matters. A coral that stays retracted most of the day tends to stay in a more “closed” state overall (less feeding opportunity, less surface activity), and over time, that very often goes hand-in-hand with poorer colouration. Not because “polyps out = instant colour”, but because sustained extension is usually part of the broader picture of a coral that’s actually thriving.

That’s also why we recommend Polypop during the day: the goal is to encourage maximum extension when the lights are on, so the coral can take advantage of the light, while the hybrid RKS baseline supports the broader metabolic and nutritional needs.

Bottom line: good, consistent extension is a positive sign; persistent retraction is a negative sign. It doesn’t prove one single mechanism on its own, but as a trend it’s one of the clearest indicators of where the system is heading.

Please check our Instagram and TikTok to see what we mean by PE. Especially on acroporas.

 

[Modern Reef Verified Sponsor]

This sounds very market speak if we are all being honest. I can add a drop of a supplement that is rich in aminos or fatty acid that will trigger a similar response. I can do this with finely chopped up quality food like LRS. Heck, I used to see this after a water change when I was using Tropic Marin Bio Actif salt due to its additional prebiotic / carbon food stuff they add to it. I am not sure I would use this as a yardstick to measure the product or user experience feedback.

Just a neutral opinion - take it for what it is worth.

You’re not wrong. Polyp extension alone isn’t a great yardstick—amino blends, fatty acids, fine foods, even certain salts/water changes can trigger a similar feeding response.

What we look for isn’t the quick reaction right after dosing, but whether extension becomes a steady baseline over weeks, and whether it’s paired with the slower indicators: stable KH behaviour, improving tip colouration/definition in SPS, gradual colour and growth trends, and a gradual increase in the RKS consumption as the reef puts on biomass. A healthy reef consumes—when that increase is steady and matched with stability, it’s usually progress.

PE is just the early thing people notice first, not “proof” by itself that the method works.

 

[RoanokeReef]

@Modern Reef is there a certain size syringe that the Polypop and Reef Food are intended for ? I've removed the plugs for now since everything I have is too large.

 

[Modern Reef Verified Sponsor]

@Modern Reef is there a certain size syringe that the Polypop and Reef Food are intended for ? I've removed the plugs for now since everything I have is too large.

The inner cap has a small hole that’s designed to take a standard syringe tip.

There isn’t one “required” syringe size—use whatever matches the volume you’re dosing:

• 1 ml syringe for small/precise daily doses
• 2-5 ml (or larger) if your dose is higher

If your syringe tip is too large, try a standard luer‑slip style tip (they’re usually slimmer than some oral/feeding syringes).

And yes—good call removing the plugs temporarily if you needed to. We’re also looking at a Nano version with drop dosing to make very small doses easier to use.

 

[Superlightman]

I haven’t noticed an improvement in water clarity. The biggest difference I’ve seen is in polyp extension. Hugely improved. Which tells me the corals metabolism is improving if the polyps are out capturing food. I could be wrong but I like it.

that is normal if you not have dosing amino and coral food prior, to be fair you should have add this befor. I saw not improvement ,got actually less during my test but I was dosing KZ supplements with the fauna products befor the modern reef. The Modern reef products included coral food so that is normal. For my system it was probably to much as I got many algua from it , I problaby had some bad stuff in my tank that also loved the food, not only the corals.

 

[Modern Reef Verified Sponsor]

that is normal if you not have dosing amino and coral food prior, to be fair you should have add this befor. I saw not improvement ,got actually less during my test but I was dosing KZ supplements with the fauna products befor the modern reef. The Modern reef products included coral food so that is normal. For my system it was probably to much as I got many algua from it , I problaby had some bad stuff in my tank that also loved the food, not only the corals.

Hi! Could you share the LOT number and the version of the RKS you used—or, if you don’t have it, where you ordered it from (store/vendor + approximate order date)? That would let us check the lot-production database and support report data. Thanks!