Red Sea Reef Energy AB+ in a 85 gallon with 90 to 100 ml. Day

[mrhongkongwong]

Hey everyone!

I have an 85 gallon tank w/ a sump that is going all natural. It's been established for about 2 years.

Macro algae: chateo

Live stock
3 lyretail anthias
1 coral beauty
1 powder brown tang
1 midas blenny
1 pink spotted goby

Corals
Various zoas
Few lps
Couple of sps
Couple of clams


I've been reintroducing red sea reef energy ab+ recently because trying to use the bright wells neo nitro and phos gave me a bunch of issues even though trying to calibrate with salifert.

Anyways I started dosing red sea again to get things normalized and
Started every other day with 8ml and eventually ended up at 50 ml a day. Now at 50 ml a day and trying close to 100 ml a day but nitrates still register at close to 0. Can you overdose on reef energy plus ab+? Are you wasting it at anything over the recommended unls system dose of 8 ml per 25 gallon?

 

[blaxsun]

I don't know if you can overdose (maybe in extreme scenarios), but you're probably using way too much. I never used more than 12.5ml/daily on my 200-gallon system.

 

[OrchidMiss]

Be careful of your phosphates with the AB+, as well.
I don't ever see my nitrates spike due to the AB+, but I do notice my PO4 go through the roof.
If you just want to raise your nitrates, I'd say to give NeoNitro a try. Follow directions and start very sparingly. I've had very good success with it.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

I don't know if you can overdose (maybe in extreme scenarios), but you're probably using way too much. I never used more than 12.5ml/daily on my 200-gallon system.

Agreed based on the website I should only be dosing close to 30ml a day.

Be careful of your phosphates with the AB+, as well.
I don't ever see my nitrates spike due to the AB+, but I do notice my PO4 go through the roof.
If you just want to raise your nitrates, I'd say to give NeoNitro a try. Follow directions and start very sparingly. I've had very good success with it.

I have been trying to use neo nitro and phos but had horrible results for myself. Ended up have cyano bacteria and chateo was not growing at all with black kind of bacteria on.

 

[Pod_01]

Be careful of your phosphates with the AB+, as well.
I don't ever see my nitrates spike due to the AB+, but I do notice my PO4 go through the roof.
If you just want to raise your nitrates, I'd say to give NeoNitro a try. Follow directions and start very sparingly. I've had very good success with it.

Out of curiosity what else are you using when dosing AB+. Based on the description it is Amino with organics. I suspect similar (not same) to TM Amino-Organics or FM AMIN and there should be no PO4. But again it has confusing description so Red Sea might be adding other things/fillers.

Per Red Sea:

Carbohydrates:

No P,

Fatty acids:

No P.

amino acids:

No P.

As a general rule one doesn’t want to overdose Amino, it help’s Coral but also other undesirables.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

What would be undesirables? Hair algae and etc?

When I was trying to balance out nitrates and phosphates via brightwell products that fueled the cyanobacteria and hair algae. I've also tried just add neo nitro only and leaving phosphates alone, less than ideal in regards to chateo growth. Only thing that has switched around my tank was originally adding the red sea ab+ which was almost instant results.

You can see the algae before and after photos which was from June 4th till a couple of days ago.

June 4th


June 26th

 

[Kmst80]

Be careful of your phosphates with the AB+, as well.
I don't ever see my nitrates spike due to the AB+, but I do notice my PO4 go through the roof.
If you just want to raise your nitrates, I'd say to give NeoNitro a try. Follow directions and start very sparingly. I've had very good success with it.

Same here. I started dosing 25 ml on a 200 gal system and my phosphates went bonkers. Reduced to 12.5 now too.
Way to expensive that stuff to just waste it.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

Same here. I started dosing 25 ml on a 200 gal system and my phosphates went bonkers. Reduced to 12.5 now too.
Way to expensive that stuff to just waste it.

Does it waste if you don't have any mechanical filtration?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I don't know if you can overdose (maybe in extreme scenarios), but you're probably using way too much. I never used more than 12.5ml/daily on my 200-gallon system.

Agreed, thats a LOT of AB+ the OP is using.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Be careful of your phosphates with the AB+, as well.
I don't ever see my nitrates spike due to the AB+, but I do notice my PO4 go through the roof.
If you just want to raise your nitrates, I'd say to give NeoNitro a try. Follow directions and start very sparingly. I've had very good success with it.

This. I'd try neo nitro or feed MUCH heavier. That AB+ aint cheap at the daily volumes your using.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

This. I'd try neo nitro or feed MUCH heavier. That AB+ aint cheap at the daily volumes your using.

As stated, I've tried neo nitro for a while actually and for some reason couldn't get the balance right. I also already feed flake food 3x a day and frozen a couple times a week.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

As stated, I've tried neo nitro for a while actually and for some reason couldn't get the balance right. I also already feed flake food 3x a day and frozen a couple times a week.

I saw you are 'testing' with salifert, have you tried another brand of tester. I would suggest a Hanna Nitrate & Phosphate to make sure your not getting bad results.

I'm with everyone else, long time usage at full dosing always shoots up my phosphates and eventually nitrates. I've never overdosed as I'm scared of dealing with high n&p (especially p). I actually do an 1/2-3/4 dose or about 12ml over two dosings a day.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

I saw you are 'testing' with salifert, have you tried another brand of tester. I would suggest a Hanna Nitrate & Phosphate to make sure your not getting bad results.

I'm with everyone else, long time usage at full dosing always shoots up my phosphates and eventually nitrates. I've never overdosed as I'm scared of dealing with high n&p (especially p). I actually do an 1/2-3/4 dose or about 12ml over two dosings a day.

We have 2 tanks and the other one is a 45 gallon that is about a year old and dosing 4 ml a day, the tank is responding normally to the red sea ab+. Not sure what is going on with the 85 gallon.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

So an update here are some pics from June 26th and today. You can see that the turf algae is definitely going away. Also I tested my phosphates and the salifert kit is showing .03. I've calculated the cost of supplementing 80ml a day and that equates to $60 a month. That does seem steep but not sure what others cost or similar. The growth on the zoas from the 26th till today seem exceptional though and the polyps are getting bigger along with a lot of other stuff in the tank.


June 26th



Today




Also here is a pic of my sump setup that is all natural.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

So I just tried to use neo nitro for two consecutive days for about 1 ppm worth and the black slime started forming on my chateo.

Any idea what this is? It happens almost everytime I use that product and it kills the chateo.

 

[MartinM]

FWIW I use a lot of AB+ also, I have problems with high PO4 and low NO3, but growth is astounding for macro, zoanthids, clams, and anemones.

 

[mrhongkongwong]

FWIW I use a lot of AB+ also, I have problems with high PO4 and low NO3, but growth is astounding for macro, zoanthids, clams, and anemones.

How much do you dose and what size is your tank? Is it daily as well?

 

[MartinM]

How much do you dose and what size is your tank? Is it daily as well?

Daily, ~1ml/10L. But I don't have any fish so besides that and coral food it's the only nutrients coming in, and it's a very high bioload with a lot of clams and zoanthids and goniopora and macro.