Complete Reef Care Explained

Complete Reef Care is a simple but comprehensive 4-part supplement program that ensures optimal coral growth and coloration, that revolves around a single weekly measurement of Calcium, which determines the dosages of all 4 parts.

A successful coral reef aquarium is dependent upon maintaining the appropriate water parameters that provide the stable environment required by the corals. This is achieved by starting with balanced seawater such as using Red Sea or Coral Pro Salt and using complete and balanced supplements, that are formulated to work together for long term use, without changing the ionic balance of the water.

Red Sea’s 4-Part Complete Reef Care is the result of years of research into the physiological demands of SPS, LPS & Soft Corals in the reef aquarium and practical experience with the original 7-Part Reef Care Program on tens of thousands of diverse reef tanks worldwide.

This research has shown that there are 36 Major, Minor and Trace elements that are regularly depleted from the aquarium water and have an active role in coral growth and coloration, as well as other biological activities of the reef environment. In reef systems without refugiums, coral growth is the most dominant biological process that affects the water chemistry, and that the 36 elements, including the Alkalinity components, are used up in a relatively fixed ratio. Since Calcium is the key indicator to coral growth, all the elements can be supplemented according to a measured uptake of calcium.

The Complete Reef Care divides the 36 Major, Minor and Trace elements into four parts to ensure their stability and bioavailability.

• Part #1 contains: Calcium, Magnesium, Strontium & Barium.
• Part #2 contains: KH/Alkalinity components.
• Part #3 contains: Potassium, Boron and the halogens Iodine, Bromine and Fluorine.
• Part #4 contains: Iron, Manganese, Cobalt, Copper, Aluminum, Zinc, Chrome, Nickel plus 18 other bioactive trace elements

Coral Growth & Coloration

Although all the elements found in natural seawater have an important role in providing the optimal water parameters, a few of them have a more significant role in the overall stability. These elements are the foundation of the reef environment, and they include the three major elements: Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and Bi-Carbonates (HCO₃). These 3 elements have a major effect on the water chemistry (pH stability, Alkalinity, sea water ionic strength) and on many of the coral’s biological processes (skeleton formation, ions exchange, photosynthesis).

The minor and trace elements that are present in the skeleton and soft tissue of all corals are known as important biocatalysts in the thousands of metabolic processes in marine organisms as well as having a direct connection to specific coral pigments. All these elements must be readily available in all reef aquariums, however, many of them become toxic in concentrations above the levels found in natural sea water and therefore their correct dosage is crucial to the long-term success of any reef aquarium.

Coral Growth (Skeletogenesis) is the process by which the corals precipitate the foundation elements together with Strontium and Barium from the surrounding water to form the building blocks of coral skeletons. Corals build approximately 97% of their skeleton by combining Ca and CO₃ ions from the water to form Aragonite (CaCO₃). The rest of the skeleton is made up from the other minor and trace elements.

In unbalanced conditions such as low levels of Magnesium and Strontium the skeleton will develop with a higher proportion of Calcite making it more brittle and more susceptible to damage. The foundation elements complement each other in the formation of coral skeleton and if not available in the correct ratios one of them will quickly become the limiting factor of healthy coral growth.

Corals display their vivid colors due to the production of pigments (chromoproteins) that protect the delicate inner layers of the coral soft tissue from intense UV radiation, like the tanning of human skin when exposed to direct sunlight. The pigments can only be produced by the soft tissue of the coral if the specific elements required for the bio-chemical process are available in the correct concentration. Our research has identified 4 distinct groups of trace elements that have a direct connection to each of the natural pink, red, green/yellow & blue/purple coral pigments. However, all the elements are necessary for all mixed reefs and SPS aquariums without connection to the colors of the specific corals.

Elevated Levels of Foundation Elements

Elevated levels of the foundation elements create a higher saturation state inside the corals that induces faster aragonite formation making this process much more efficient (less energy required from the coral per gram of skeleton). Therefore, balanced elevated levels of the foundation elements will result in accelerated coral growth rates.

In reef aquariums, corals often have higher than natural populations of Zooxanthellae algae that give a deep brown tint obscuring the natural vivid pigments of the corals. Lowering the Zooxanthellae populations by fine control of algae nutrients (such as with Red Sea’s NO₃:PO₄-X) will remove the brownish tint and induce the production of pigments (chromoproteins), enhancing the coloration of the corals. When aiming to enhance coral coloration by reducing the levels of algae nutrients, it is advisable to maintain lower balanced levels of the foundation elements to prevent causing stress to the corals.

The desired levels of the foundation elements are therefore dependent on your objectives for your aquarium, and you should choose the salt mix and salinity that gives them. The Complete Reef Care supplements will then enable you to maintain these levels by replenishing the elements as they are used up.

Dosing by Calcium Explained

Since all of the 36 Major, Minor and Trace elements including the Alkalinity are used up in a relatively fixed ratio it may seem logical that the Complete Reef Care supplements can be dosed based on a measurement of the Alkalinity instead of calcium, however, this does not work.

Almost all the calcium and most of the other 36 elements are taken up exclusively by the biogeochemical processes of the corals and therefore there is a direct relationship between coral growth and the calcium uptake.

The carbonate and bicarbonate alkalinity components that are used by the corals to form its skeleton is an important part of the Total Alkalinity of the aquarium water, however, the measured Total Alkalinity also includes the Alkalinity of many other components such as borate, phosphate, fluoride, silicate, sulfate, nitrate, and organic compounds. These other components of total Alkalinity are easily affected by many non-coral related processes such as water changes, foods, supplements, build-up of organics and by-products of bacterial activity. Furthermore, there are other biogeochemical processes such as photosynthesis and nitrification that also consume carbonate alkalinity components.

Dosing all 4-parts based on the uptake of alkalinity, will also dose the Calcium and other elements that were not depleted by calcification. This will lead to higher concentrations of Ca and other trace elements that will cause precipitation and a drop in alkalinity that will break the delicate chemical balance of the water. On the other hand, corals have the ability to regulate the carbonate alkalinity inside their calcification centers and are able to adapt to slight changes in the Alkalinity of the aquarium water.