Reef plus opinions

[Hades]

Good, decent, or horrible? My fish store tells me it is terrible and only pollutes my aquarium. Any other feelings?

[spamreefnew]

its ok but any good 2-part is much better

[bertoni]

I wouldn't dose it, if you mean the SeaChem product. It seems to be the usual mix of trace elements, vitamins, and amino acids. Dosing trace elements can be iffy, since we have no method of detecting overdosing. It's not clear that the vitamins are useful to the organisms in our tanks. The amino acids can be useful in some cases, but I suspect that's fairly rare.

[Garage1217]

Absolutely great stuff IMO. Been using it for 6 months now off a recommendation from a very good LFS employee that keeps stellar tanks. I gave it a try thinking "yeah whatever" just another bottle of crap to sit in the fridge but wow, it works great! I dose 5ml a day / about 100G total water volume. Zoa & LPS react noticeably to it in short order, well they do in my setup. It is now apart of my daily routine and is the only thing I dose besides ca, alk & mg. Buy a small bottle and give it a shot. I think you will be quite happy with the results.

[Garage1217]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13561773#post13561773 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spamreefnew
its ok but any good 2-part is much better

Reef plus is not a calcium or alk supplement so why would a 2 part work better *LOL* That is like someone asking about 110 octane fuel and you recommend power steering fluid hahaha.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Reef Plus contains many things I do not prefer to add, and some that may, IMO, be useful. I do strongly applaud them for listing on their web site an actual analysis of the components in it. That is a change for them, and a good one. :)

I'm generally not a fan of mixed cocktails of inorganic elements that may or may not be depleted in any given tank. They may be overabundant in some tanks.

The amino acids may be useful, but unfortunately do not include all that I would like to see (like aspartate). I really do not know of any evidence that dissolved vitamins are useful.

[Hades]

I don't know why you would put it in the refrigerator, there are no instructions to do such thing on the bottle. I am going to give it a go but I still purchased a bottle of lugols iodine just in case since the argument that mixing all the chemicals and amino acids may actually be detrimental to the aquarium tank. I will add an update about my tank after about a month of dosage has gone by though so all of you can decide for yourselvse, but be aware, I have never dosed trace elements regularly before so anything may be better than nothing, get me?

[Hades]

Never mind it is refrigerated...

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

[B] I am going to give it a go but I still purchased a bottle of lugols iodine just in case since the argument that mixing all the chemicals and amino acids may actually be detrimental to the aquarium tank.[?B]

Well, I do not believe that iodine is useful, but the amino acids might be. :D

FWIW, many of us dosed iodine for years, and then stopped and saw no apparent change. I've not dosed it for many years now and do not see any reason to do so.

I discuss it here:

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

and

Iodine in Marine Aquaria: Part I
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm

Iodine in Reef Tanks 2: Effects on Macroalgae Growth
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htm

from the first one:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php#17

Supplementing Iodine
Many aquarists dose iodine, and claim that certain organisms need it to thrive. Often mentioned are shrimp, Xenia species of soft corals, mushroom corals, and more. However, no evidence for an iodine requirement by these organisms appears anywhere in the scientific literature. They also thrive quite well in many coral reef aquaria where iodine is not dosed. Of Reef Central’s Tanks of the Month for the past couple of years, the majority do not supplement with any form of iodine (or at least do not mention doing so), although some certainly do dose it.

I do not presently dose iodine to my aquarium, and I do not recommend that others do so, either. Iodine dosing is much more complicated than dosing other ions due to its substantial number of different naturally existing forms, the number of different forms that aquarists actually dose, the fact that all of these forms can interconvert in reef aquaria, and the fact that the available test kits detect only a subset of the total forms present. This complexity, coupled with the fact that no commonly kept reef aquarium species are known to require significant iodine, suggests that dosing is unnecessary and problematic. On the other hand, it is nevertheless possible that some organisms that we keep do actually benefit from iodine, and that in some aquaria there is not enough in the foods that we add so that supplements may possibly be beneficial in those aquaria.

I dosed iodine for several years when I first set up my aquarium. I dosed substantial amounts of iodide to try to maintain 0.02 to 0.04 ppm of iodide (which is a natural level). Iodide is rapidly depleted as algae and perhaps other organisms take it up and convert it into organic forms. After a few years of dosing iodide, I became frustrated with the complexities of testing for it, so at that point I stopped dosing any supplemental iodine. That was about seven years ago. I detected no changes in any organisms, and never dosed any again. If you are dosing iodine now, I suggest stopping for a month or two, and seeing if you can objectively detect any difference in any organism.

For these reasons, I especially advise aquarists NOT to try to maintain a specific iodine concentration using supplementation and test kits. For those who do supplement iodine, I suggest iodide as a more suitable form than certain other additives, such as Lugol’s iodine, which is unnatural and potentially more toxic. Iodide is also more readily used than iodate by some organisms, and iodide is detected by both currently available iodine test kits (Seachem and Salifert).

[manuelink]

if you have problems with the color of corals
the reef plus will help you
but if not, you dont need to add that!!
so, if you want to add vitamins and trace elements i will recomend the s-plus from korallin, is a intelligent bottle cuz add the necesary for your tank for example if you have iodine the s-plus will not add iodine to your tank!

[Garage1217]

Intelligent huh :) So the bottle decides what elements to add? *LOL* :)

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Must be expensive. :D

[manuelink]

yeah is to expensive but not at all i mean the cost is like the double of the reef plus!

let me show you the info:
"Korallin S-Plus™ contains more than 20 essential micro-nutrients like iodine, iron, manganese, strontium, molybdenum, fluorides, rubidium, lithium, etc. in the right proportion and in absorbable form. Enhanced formula also integrates multivitamin-complex and pH-buffer to ensure splendid health, vigor & coloration.

Unlike other uncontrolled 'full spectrum' supplements, elements in Korallin S-Plus™ are complexing agents so they are only freed depending on the complex formation constant and are laced again if no utilization occurs. In other words, Korallin S-Plus™ can sense if certain trace elements are used up and will replenish these missing elements only. All others will be laced back into its matrix and vanished after one week - enabling a very intelligent & automatic metabolizing mechanism.

Korallin S-Plus can sense the low Iodine concentration and will then react automatically by freeing its Iodine to replenish the missing quantity. Other elements like Strontium will NOT be freed if the existing level is considered optimum."

[Garage1217]

*LOL* sorry but that is great reading :) Made my day actually. Wonder when they will release the calcium / alk auto release to keep my tank at exactly 500 / 10dkh hahah.

[Jeff]

I am not so sure that my high respect of Korallin is where it once was. That is some serious boasting by them. I guess i should buy a bottle and pour the entire contents into the water and let it release whatever is needed when necessary :p.

[manuelink]

hahaha garage that would be great!

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Korallin S-Plus can sense the low Iodine concentration and will then react automatically by freeing its Iodine to replenish the missing quantity. Other elements like Strontium will NOT be freed if the existing level is considered optimum."

Well, all I can say is "show me the money"..

Sorry, that's an American expression that means, in this case anyway, I won't believe it unless I see it. I cannot imagine such a thing taking place in seawater for iodine.

Unlike other uncontrolled 'full spectrum' supplements, elements in Korallin S-Plus™ are complexing agents so they are only freed depending on the complex formation constant and are laced again if no utilization occurs. In other words, Korallin S-Plus™ can sense if certain trace elements are used up and will replenish these missing elements only. All others will be laced back into its matrix and vanished after one week - enabling a very intelligent & automatic metabolizing mechanism.

Well, again I do not believe that works the way they say.