Red sea program reef foundation A&B&C or ABC+?

Rini

Well-Known Member
Hello,

At the moment i'm using the red sea reef mature program.
This is slowly coming to an end, i'm on day 20 now.

My goal is to use Red Sea reef care program for my tank.
Now i'm a bit confused about the products.
There is Red Sea reef foundation A & B & C. They each cost around E12 (12 euro).
There is aswell ABC+ That is 21 euro for all 3. This is a lot cheaper as the other 3 combined. It feels there is an catch somewhere.
Any one experience or advise what best is to do?

Dank u!
(thank you)
 

Desmond

Well-Known Member
I dont think you will need these for a while :) Water changes should be enough for you. When you get more corals you could use these. See how your water looks for readings of CA MG KH before you add any of these.
 

Rini

Well-Known Member
For sure I do not need it for a while. I like to be prepared. Thats why i'm already asking.
Basically my nano was driven completely on water changes. Only the last month had to work a bit on the KH. Further with the red sea pro salt everything was ok. CA around 400 - 430. MG 1200 - 1300.
Tomorrow i know how the results are in this Max. Probably a bit lower, since I used real north sea seawater. Our north sea seawater has a bit lower CA & MG. CA around 380 - 400. MG around 1100 - 1200.
 

Rini

Well-Known Member
Have made up my mind and choose to go for seperate bottles. Meaning no abc+ I have read the manual. For the complete RCP I will use seperate bottles. Can narrow it more down if just 1 element need to raise a bit, or lower. For the coming period it is not needed, colllecting it meanwhile. When i'm ready for it, i have it. thanks all for the comments.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
In my opinion the best thing to do is "none of the above".

These are fairly standard additives for calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. Depending upon your tank, you may not even need them. Get the test kits, make sure your SG is correct, and test your water several times over a long period of time while recording results.

You may find that your readings are maintained quite fine by water changes. You might also find that you only need one or two of the additives. Use only what you need. Whatever you do, do not chase numbers. Use the additives only when the reading is way low, not just a little off.

While we're at it, usually purchasing name brand additives like this gets expensive fast. You might want to start with the name brand ones, but long term look into making your own stock solutions and get the bulk materials from Bulk Reef Supply or similar place.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I don't disagree with what others are saying, but I do use the Red Sea products for dosing.

Specifically, I dose 30 ml of reef foundation B about twice a week and about 40 grams of ABC+ about once a week.

Basically, what I found is it difficult to maintain the correct balance using abc+ alone because my aquarium mostly uses up alk and not calcium. So, I don't think it's really possible to get by with just using abc+ and keep your parameters in balance. At least, not with my livestock.

So, when my tank needs calcium, which is not very often, I dose abc+. My philosophy is that product uses calcium as a main measurement criteria for how much to dose and it lets me dose a little bit of everything else on the times I'm dosing calcium.

When my tank doesn't need calcium, but does need alkalinity, which is most of the time, I dose reef foundation B alone because if I dosed abc+ it would drive my calcium too high.

In both cases, I measured my tank for months to see how much calcium and alkalinity my tank needed before decided to dose at all and then how much. You get a pretty good feel for how much your tank uses after a while. It took me a while of ebb and flow to come up with my current system.
 
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Rini

Well-Known Member
For me the goal is to have an stable environment for my little creatures. And have an good understanding what my tank require to get that environment stable.
I'm still learning each day a lot about this awesome new hobby. My idea is to keep using the RCP program till i'm more confident and mature in this hobby. And know more about the supplements i'm dosing, and what the effects are in my tank.

Perhaps when i'm further on the road I may try some other methods. Just to see what fits me yes or no. We have our own DSR that is popular in the Netherlands. From our (German) neighbours we have Triton.
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Now i'm a bit confused about the products.
There is Red Sea reef foundation A & B & C. They each cost around E12 (12 euro).
There is aswell ABC+ That is 21 euro for all 3. This is a lot cheaper as the other 3 combined. It feels there is an catch somewhere.

What gets confusing is that Red Sea has several products that they label as A, B, C, etc.

The RS Reef Foundation ABC+, the Reef Foundation A, B, C that are separate and the Reef Colors A, B, C, and D.

When you mention RS A, B, C products it get confusing which ones you are talking about. :confused:

I find it is easier to dose Ca, Alk, and Mg separately, based on the needs of the tank. I buy these in bulk, no name brands, for savings.

As for dosing elements (major and minor elements) I am trying out the red sea colors ABC&D. And test for them w/the RS test kits for elements. Since I am only dosing very small amounts of these ~1ml each per day. I've stuck with the RS brand. It comes to about $20 US dollars for a three month supply. In addition, since these elements don't have Ca, Alk or Mg in them, I don't have to worry about double dosing unnecessarily. And therefore, can maintain my Ca, Alk, and Mg levels according to the needs of the tank.
 
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