Red Sea Reef foundation, energy & coral colour program

ShadowReef · Sep 7, 2019

Hey all,

Thought I would start a thread (though probably done before) on the Red Sea Reef foundation, energy & coral colour program.

Having used Kalkwasser and other elements as my dosing schedule (and killing a few pumps in the meantime) I thought I would go the whole hog with Red Sea and share the results as I go along. Today being day 1. I plan on reporting on:

1) Ease of use
2) Stability and accuracy of the dosing guidelines
3) Growth results
4) Colour results
5) Any adverse affects (water quality etc.)

I will try to post weekly, for anyone interested, answer questions and share results with pictures. Hopefully it will be interesting

navvet8992 · Sep 12, 2019

Following. I just ordered the Red Sea Foundation and will also be starting this.

Spare time · Sep 13, 2019

I use red seal calcium+, energy a&b, and colors. The trace elements from the colors pack are really not a biggie unless you don't do water changers. You would need to photograph consistently and view those to notice any change. The calcium is great though as it includes strontium (and barium). Reef energy is my favorite food. Corals do not need to capture it like other foods and can take in the dissolved organics through their tissues.

ShadowReef · Sep 13, 2019

Week 1.

So, nearly one week in and my observations so far are positive for the most part. As per my previous post I wanted to focus on

1) Ease of use
2) Stability and accuracy of the dosing guidelines
3) Growth results
4) Colour results
5) Any adverse affects (water quality etc.)

1 week in, it's a little too early to make any concrete findings so at this stage is more anecdotal. However, I feel it's important to document regularly and this will hopefully benefit the wider community.

Ease of use - So far, things have been pretty simple. Calculations are fairly straightforward and once you have the basics figured out, the additional elements like the colour program is very simple. I am lucky enough to work from home which gives me ample time to test, measure and dose, though I am not not using any automatic dosing equipment. For those short on time, I would suggest one for the foundation elements. This brings me on to my next point, if you are looking to run the colour program and the energy program, that's 6 additional bottles to dose, 2 which have to be refrigerated and 4 more. Unless you have multiple dosing units, this will be hard to do without manual intervention but I would argue this keeps me closer to the chemistry of my tank.

Stability and accuracy - I have found that the dosing guidelines have been a little modest and have had to adjust accordingly. I am expecting this to be the case for the first few weeks until I find that sweet spot. But, this is just further evidence that we shouldn't follow instructions blindly, but rather have a starting point, test, and adjust from there. The good thing about this program is that changing the measurement doesnt mean lots of complicated calculations for each area.

Growth results - too early to be conclusive but anecdotally I could argue I am seeing increased growth from my SPS. This could just be down to good husbandry but could also explain why the uptake in my foundation elements has increased and adjustments have had to be made. Only 1 week in though so not entirely convinced yet.

Colour results - I wasnt expecting to see any results after 1 week on this if I am honest however, with some colours I am already seeing a change. I have a small acropora frag that has really strengthened its blue colour, and the greens across all the corals have started to enhance. Not seeing any changes in reds or purples yet. The most impressive is an old green acro I have. This thing has been brown and miserable for over a year when my old tank crashed whilst I was on holiday. Parts died and the rest went brown and ultimately ended up being something that was a very dark green/brown. Over the last 6 days, its started returning to its former glory though. Seeing new growth and that ultra green starting to creep back in.

Adverse affects - I have noticed an increase in phosphates, not by much but its definitely there. I should point out I am not using NOPOX, as I run a large chaeto fuge and ROWAPhos in a reactor. I have seen a very small amount of hair algae on one of my rocks but not enough to be concerned. I have also noticed the glass needs cleaning a day earlier than normal too.

Let's see what week 2 brings

ScottR · Sep 13, 2019

I use energy A+B and my NO3 went way up. Was using 4-5 days a week. I can say that using this before feeding, really opened all the corals up and they easily took in food. Zoas look great. SPS looks vibrant and in general, tank is just happy. Algae growth on glass started to get bad. Almost hairy on the glass.

Just curious, do you use a doser for energy? It’s recommended to refrigerate. I also find it’s good to give one solid dose at a time. I don’t think it’s one of those things I want to keep going into my tank 24/7.

ShadowReef · Sep 13, 2019

ScottR said:
I use energy A+B and my NO3 went way up. Was using 4-5 days a week. I can say that using this before feeding, really opened all the corals up and they easily took in food. Zoas look great. SPS looks vibrant and in general, tank is just happy. Algae growth on glass started to get bad. Almost hairy on the glass.

Just curious, do you use a doser for energy? It’s recommended to refrigerate. I also find it’s good to give one solid dose at a time. I don’t think it’s one of those things I want to keep going into my tank 24/7.

I dont use a doser for any of it at the moment. But wouldnt for energy at any point as it has to be refrigerated as you say. Not seen an issue with NO3 yet but keeping a close eye. I'm sticking to my normal 10% WC a week with NSW. I may increase if needed. I like to run an ULNS tank but I'm not following the ULNS instructions as wanted to start low and work up depending on results

ScottR · Sep 13, 2019

ShadowReef said:
I dont use a doser for any of it at the moment. But wouldnt for energy at any point as it has to be refrigerated as you say. Not seen an issue with NO3 yet but keeping a close eye. I'm sticking to my normal 10% WC a week with NSW. I may increase if needed. I like to run an ULNS tank but I'm not following the ULNS instructions as wanted to start low and work up depending on results

The Red Sea program is nowhere near an ULNS. I’d liken it to a vegetarian eating buffalo wings. Hope this works out for you. I think it’s a great system.

ShadowReef · Sep 13, 2019

By ULNS I am referring to as close to possible 0 NO3 and PO4 and therefore using the red sea program to supplement the missing source of "food" for the corals. The program has specific dosing instructions for ULNS which is about 4 times the dosing for different elements but I didnt want to jump into that to start with and cause big spikes. My view is I would rather have a system that naturally runs as ULNS and I control the increase of nutrients rather than try and control the decrease of nutrients etc.

I hope it works out too, will keep you posted

ScottR · Sep 13, 2019

ShadowReef said:
By ULNS I am referring to as close to possible 0 NO3 and PO4 and therefore using the red sea program to supplement the missing source of "food" for the corals. The program has specific dosing instructions for ULNS which is about 4 times the dosing for different elements but I didnt want to jump into that to start with and cause big spikes. My view is I would rather have a system that naturally runs as ULNS and I control the increase of nutrients rather than try and control the decrease of nutrients etc.

I hope it works out too, will keep you posted

Following along because it’s interesting. I’ve run different tanks with different methods. Always interested in methods separate from what I’ve had. I’m also interested in zeovit but probably won’t get into it.

ShadowReef · Sep 13, 2019

Zeovit looks interesting. It's more equipment and expense from what I understand but not weighed it all up really

SPR1968 · Sep 13, 2019

I’ve followed the entire Red Sea Reef Program for around 4 years, and it does work well if you follow the guidelines, other than I don’t like some of the raised phosphate levels in their current recommendations/recipes. I prefer very low at around 0.03ppm

I have always manually dosed the coral colours weekly in line with calcium uptake, infact slightly less than recommended, to avoid overdose (which is bad). All other foundation elements and Nopox are doses automatically.

I went from using Reef Energy daily to once a week now if that, but it all depends on your nutrient levels. If your running very low levels, feed more frequently as the corals need food, but I’m at around 20ppm nitrate so their is plenty of ‘food’ in the system.

I think it’s very difficult to say wether some of the additives make a difference, especially if your doing regular water changes to replenish trace elements, short of comparing 2 tanks side by side on completely different route

It will be interesting to see how you get on and document the results and progress

It might help if you take some before and after coral pictures at the start and later on were you can judge results

Spare time · Sep 13, 2019

ScottR said:
I use energy A+B and my NO3 went way up. Was using 4-5 days a week. I can say that using this before feeding, really opened all the corals up and they easily took in food. Zoas look great. SPS looks vibrant and in general, tank is just happy. Algae growth on glass started to get bad. Almost hairy on the glass.

Just curious, do you use a doser for energy? It’s recommended to refrigerate. I also find it’s good to give one solid dose at a time. I don’t think it’s one of those things I want to keep going into my tank 24/7.

That is interesting. I have never had any nitrate or phosphate issues with reef energy and I overdose it all the time lol!

ShadowReef · Sep 20, 2019

Happy friday all! Next update below:

Couple of weeks in now and some noticable observations I am making.

1) Ease of use - Whilst still easy to use, I would say that this point is closely linked to the next, and therefore ease of use is a little more complicated at the beginning.
2) Stability and accuracy of the dosing guidelines - following the instructions exactly doesn't necessarily mean stability and accuracy. I have been rigorously testing every day and adjusting the foundation elements to ensure stability. What is interesting though is that the colours program is dosed directly according to the calcium uptake of the tank, but I haven't found that this has kept those levels at the correct levels. For example, iron levels were at 0 despite dosing every day as per the instructions. I did some research and I believe this is down to the large refugium full of chaeto I have. Apparently chaeto chimps through the stuff. So it's an old lesson but an important one...test...test..and test again!

The rest I will keep brief...

3) Growth results - seeing steady positive results, but still early days
4) Colour results - definitely seeing improvements here. Bought a small acro frag last weekend and it's really coloured up nicely (blue), still seeing increases in green too.
5) Any adverse affects (water quality etc.) - no increase in Nitrates but a slow increase in phosphates so I started using the NOPOX solution too (I wasnt going to do this originally) and this has gone back below 0.03. As a result i have now started to increase the reef energy doses as per the instructions for an ULNS reef system.

Apologies still no pics, I cant seem to upload from my phone!

Dal-Reef · Nov 7, 2019

ShadowReef said:
Happy friday all! Next update below:

Couple of weeks in now and some noticable observations I am making.

1) Ease of use - Whilst still easy to use, I would say that this point is closely linked to the next, and therefore ease of use is a little more complicated at the beginning.
2) Stability and accuracy of the dosing guidelines - following the instructions exactly doesn't necessarily mean stability and accuracy. I have been rigorously testing every day and adjusting the foundation elements to ensure stability. What is interesting though is that the colours program is dosed directly according to the calcium uptake of the tank, but I haven't found that this has kept those levels at the correct levels. For example, iron levels were at 0 despite dosing every day as per the instructions. I did some research and I believe this is down to the large refugium full of chaeto I have. Apparently chaeto chimps through the stuff. So it's an old lesson but an important one...test...test..and test again!

The rest I will keep brief...

3) Growth results - seeing steady positive results, but still early days
4) Colour results - definitely seeing improvements here. Bought a small acro frag last weekend and it's really coloured up nicely (blue), still seeing increases in green too.
5) Any adverse affects (water quality etc.) - no increase in Nitrates but a slow increase in phosphates so I started using the NOPOX solution too (I wasnt going to do this originally) and this has gone back below 0.03. As a result i have now started to increase the reef energy doses as per the instructions for an ULNS reef system.

Apologies still no pics, I cant seem to upload from my phone!

Got any updates and thoughts on if you still like?

ShadowReef · Nov 8, 2019

Apologies for not keeping up to date, life got on top of things. After a couple of months of dosing, testing, recording etc. here are my conclusions.

1) Ease of use - Overall the instructions and dosing guidelines are pretty easy to follow, however, the daily dosing becomes a bit tedious if you're not using a dosing pump (which I have subsequently purchased as a result). If you're serious about doing this program then I would recommend getting a dosing pump. Keep in mind though that it's 4 bottle for colours, one for calcium, one for alk, one for NOPOX and 2 more for reef energy A & B. So automatic dosing of all is not likely.

2) Stability and accuracy of the dosing guidelines - I would agree for the most part that if you stick to the guidelines then you'll have success. However, with the different demands of each tank you're only going to know for sure by testing. For example, my tank requires 5x the dosage as per the instructions due to the chaeto growth I have in my sump. Following the instructions showed a level of 0 in all my tests. I also use natural sea water for my water changes so I have had to adjust due to that too. Natural sea water seems to be decreasing my need for additives.

3) Growth results - I would say I have had continued and steady growth. Nothing mind blowing and I cannot say for sure that its doen to the program or the stability of the conditions in my tank. I would say though that I've noticed improvements in my sps more than my lps.

4) Colour results - as I have mentioned in my previous posts, blue is where I have noticed the biggest difference. I have maintained and seen some brightening in my greens too. Yellow has been lacking a bit though I would say.

5) Any adverse affects (water quality etc.) - I tried to do this without NOPOX to begin with and I can say with confidence, you need it. With my heavy feeding schedule and all the additional nutrients entering the system it raised the my phosphates and nitrates (not by much because I have a lot of nutrient export happening too) but enough that I realised I needed it.

So in conclusion, I would say it's a good system, but with all methods, testing is the key. All tanks are different and without vigilance I can see why some my get no results or poor water quality. A dosing pump makes things a lot easier so I would invest in 1 (or 2).