Sea-Lab 28

[CA Reefer]

As I was going to be away a lot over the holiday season, I was worried about my neighbor trying to maintain tank chemistry for 2+ weeks. My LFS recommended I get a 1kg block of Sea-Lab 28 in my sump to maintain Calc, Alk and trace elements etc. They apparently use it to maintain the tanks in their store and swear it's a great product.

I was pretty skeptical as this stuff is purported to be self dosing but gave it a try as it seemed safer than my neighbor who does top offs also maintaining tank chemistry when Im away. Prior to this I was using Kent turbo calcium, superbuffer dkh, Kent Magnesium/Strontium and trace elements.

I dropped in the sump the week before christmas and began testing 2x daily out of complete paranoia. Levels all seemed good and where they should be - Again I find it hard to understand how this stuff can self dose any of the elements the manufacturer claims it maintains...

On returning home I noticed explosive growth in my corals and good coralline growth too (something that I've struggled with since going to 20k bulbs only w/no actininc supplemetation).

I started looking around the internet and saw some posts where Woodstock, Boomer and others were discussing this product. This was around 2004 and the posts kinda fizzled out. I also discovered some discussion with Bob Fenner where he stated it was a pretty good product for small tanks and it has been around for many years.

So my question is this....does anyone use this product? Has anyone used it and seen similar results as I have? Is it just one of those things that used to work fine, but has been superseded by modern two part supplements, or is it just snake oil?

I have to say I'm impressed with the way my tank is looking and this stuff sure would make maintaining chemistry a hella lot easier, If I could trust it and get over the paranoia of testing 2x a day!

 

[BigAl07]

I've never used it (or heard of it) but that's not unusual in itself. I can tell you this.... for some reason... when I go on vacation my tank seems to BLOSSOM like crazy as well. I always swear I'm gonna quit "doing things to it" but I just can't always help myself.

I'm gonna watch this thread to see others input

 

[BLAKEJOHN]

I am subscribed. I wanna know too.

 

[Planet_Reef]

I can tell you this.... for some reason... when I go on vacation my tank seems to BLOSSOM like crazy as well. I always swear I'm gonna quit "doing things to it" but I just can't always help myself.

The two most dangerous corals that one can put in a reef tank are the Arm Coral and the Hand Coral.

With that said, the advertising is very misleading. This product cannot only dissolve the nutrients that are lacking at that moment in time. How quickly it dissolves will be a function of flow and pH.

 

[CA Reefer]

Planet Reef I share your sentiment exactly. There must be a specific element (My hunch is maybe Calcium) in which is the control for the elements in the block to enter into solution.

As for flow I'm sure this does have an effect as the instructions state to place it in a low flow area, but I'm not sure why Ph would determine the rate in which the block dissolves.

I'm really having a hard time in trusting this product for the reasons you are stating, but my test kits are telling me it's doing as advertised.

 

[Boomer]

Because lower pH will cause faster dissolution, as will water flow, water temp and salinity. It is basically a snake oil block. It may work at times under the right conditions but at other times it well be a mess in your tank. NO block can tell what the levels are in your tank and control them. That is like saying I go to Mars every weekend in my 53 chevy Try running that stuff in a reef tank for say 6 months, with no other sup's or testing done. Them do a test at the end of six months and see what you get and how the animals are faring during those 6 months.This crap has been in this hobby for almost 20 years. 2 wks is not a test.