Modern Reef users experience thread
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I am, why what’s up
billyocean
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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.
"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.
Algae/cyano spikes are almost always a “setup and execution” issue rather than a simple “product caused it” situation, especially with our proportional system. If you run RKS but also run aggressive removal or over-filtration, you’re effectively fighting the method.
Key points if you want RKS to behave as intended:
If you want results like the long-term tanks of many of our users, don’t freestyle it—run the method as designed.
Key points if you want RKS to behave as intended:
- Avoid ozone, activated carbon (GAC), and absorbers (UV is OK). These can strip exactly what the system is designed to supply, which can destabilize the balance and lead to nuisance responses.
- Don’t overfilter the water. At minimum, use 200-micron (or larger) mechanical filtration; going too fine and “polishing” the water works against the system’s objective.
- Complete Reef Food and Polypop are part of the overall method. Running “half the products” or mixing philosophies can absolutely change the outcome, because these are meant to complement the system (vitality, polyp extension, coloration, bacteria fuel, solid and liquid nutrition, growth, and immune support).
If you want results like the long-term tanks of many of our users, don’t freestyle it—run the method as designed.
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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If you switched from a pure bicarbonate method (such as Tropic Marin Balling) to a method using any carbonate or hydroxide in the alk mixture, the pH will rise.
That does not mean anything is "better" except the pH, if you want it higher.
billyocean
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I switched from soda ash. My ph is pretty much the same...what im referring to is this. I switched to MR 12-27-25....so to the right of the red line is after the switch.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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I switched from soda ash. My ph is pretty much the same...what im referring to is this. I switched to MR 12-27-25....so to the right of the red line is after the switch.
I'm not sure I understand what you are saying (pH is unchanged) in contrast to what aquawiz is saying (pH peak is higher, I think).
In any case, its not worth a big effort to figure it out.
I switched from soda ash. My ph is pretty much the same...what im referring to is this. I switched to MR 12-27-25....so to the right of the red line is after the switch.
Try to improve water-surface agitation and gas exchange if they are not present. This will greatly help the MR RKS, but I don't see a problem too.
billyocean
10K Club member
The results arent negative....they are positive according to aquawiz rep. Flow and surface agitation are more than adequate. Ph is fine.
Its all in reference to a certain aspect that aquawiz measures...which increased....which is good apparantly. Its beyond my level of understanding is all. As far as numbers and ph and all that relative to chemistry I understand pretty well.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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The results arent negative....they are positive according to aquawiz rep. Flow and surface agitation are more than adequate. Ph is fine.
Its all in reference to a certain aspect that aquawiz measures...which increased....which is good apparantly. Its beyond my level of understanding is all. As far as numbers and ph and all that relative to chemistry I understand pretty well.
The aquawiz can only measure pH and alk. Nothing else. While I am not saying anything about the MR method, or the aquawiz method for that matter, if the pH and alk are unchanged, any comment from aquawiz about something they measure being an improvement is not credible/significant/important.
There may just be translation issues going on, and I think we should probably all just move on from it. :)
Superlightman
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Strange and polyps where also much better under bolus for me . How are your nutrients levels, maybe it depends the level?
RoanokeReef
Valuable Member
So, it's been a few weeks, for those using it anything to report? For me I've noticed more polyp extension, but I also wasn't feeding anything besides the fish previously.
billyocean
10K Club member
About 3.5 weeks in. The transition was seamless. Things were in a place before that couldn't be improved too much (pe, color etc). The main thing i was hoping for is perhaps some improved growth which im seeing on a few acros in relation to where they were a few weeks ago...some newer growth tips are shooting out. Improvement vs previous dosing will depend on where someone was in their dosing scheme before. A couple more months will tell the tale better for me.
Too early to tell so far for me. No observable improvement versus bolus other than it is a very easy system to implement. Only issue is that suggested dosing amounts were way off. So far dosing almost 50% less than suggested to keep Alk at 8.0.
I used Modern Reefs conversion that was confirmed by Akil.
Bryman
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I just brought the RKS system online today on my Nuvo 20. My corals are all frags and the tank is is 5.5 months old, so looking forward to the experiment! Thread to show my setup of RKS: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/getting-back-in-im-nuvo-fusion-20g-aio-build.1119350/post-14137877
jstncoffman
Nothing happens overnight in this hobby
this seems to be a lot of equipment to take offline? I have seen many others use this system with a roller mat (read sea version) in unison with his products, I'm definitely following this thread to see where this lands
Bryman
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Akil from Modern Reef recommends avoiding any filter mat or roller fleece finer than 200 microns when running the RKS system. I don't run one, but it looks like Red Sea Rollermats are 200 micron.
Bryman
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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?
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