Red Sea Reef Energy ab+ Long Term Review

I've been using Red Sea Reef Energy Plus for 18 months now. Here are my experiences and thoughts.
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0:00 Intro
0:23 My usage
0:49 ab+ in action
2:10 Coral growth
3:10 Coral health
4:40 Coral colouration
5:41 Down sides
7:46 Practicalities
8:55 Final thoughts

[@kyle9401]

My zoas and palys had a vast improvement with this stuff. Its also a lower nutrient system. After dosing it, polyp extension, growth, and a bit of color, was enhanced

[@paulukreefer5012]

Great vid thanks Alex. Such a difficult subject matter to be objective with. You did a cracking job. 👍

[@Steve-514]

Shit.... finally a real honest long term review on something. Seems like most reviews out there are "forced"

[@davidridland]

No it was not he used it off and on so pointless unless done properly for x number of months

[@kingreeftank2428]

Thnx for the vid! And, I love your UV system!!!

[@opethmike]

Straight forward, honest reviews like this are why yours is one of my favorite reef channels.

[@andrew5762]

Great vid 👍we love your honesty 😀🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@keithryan9314]

Hi Alex Your tank looks savage so it does. All your hard work is definitely paying off for you. Always love dropping in on your channel. I don't have a reef tank yet 🤢 Hopefully next year 😁 l am gonna dose up on research for now.

[@tekkersreefer8055]

Top vid reefer as allways 🙌🏻

[@dirtydogsanddiesel]

Tank is looking great and thanks for.a decent time frame review 👏 I went through 2 bottles of ab+ when it first came out and didnt see much change personally. Now for over a year i havent fed anything, only thing my sps get is lobster eggs when i feed the fish and the fish poo and amionos and everything is still fine.

[@michaelbutler1192]

Looking great and great vid 👍

[@MW-ut3dk]

Think it all depends on what your tank chemistry is like-higher nutrient tanks don’t really need more coral food since corals are already getting more than enough food. All these additives end up feeding unwanted pests since the corals are already full and happy. Your tank will tell you what it needs or probably doesn’t need. Test the water more and treat appropriately. Love the unbiased and fair assessment.

[@avidblixen5174]

Beautiful tank !

[@eldiablo6413]

1st view. I love the videos been watching them since I started 18 months ago. Cheers from the USA.

[@ReefDork]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@the_animal_ark]

Tank looks good God bless

[@reefkichards2345]

Excellent review Dork! Good work. I reached a similar conclusion to you, I give a half dose around once every 10 days, which seems to work well for me.

[@chumbucket1026]

I have been using red sea energy for a year or so now and it's great stuff!

[@ReefDork]

Chumbucket is a great name! 😂

[@acloft887]

Looking good mate. I was looking at dosing AB+, I might go to adding it every now and again instead and use the spare head on the doser (haven't got it yet) on something else.

[@feelgooddany]

ThaNk you for the video 👍🏼🐠🏵

[@gamersunite7968]

I only have an RBTA and euphyllia in my tank right now. Just picked up a 250ml bottle and probably will only feed 1-2 times a week. I plan on picking up a zoa and GSP frag this weekend after adding a lemon coris wrasse and midas goby. 40gal breeder system.

[@tonyallan7956]

Interesting review, always worth logging onto your weekly goodness 😀, would be interested in your thoughts on the Dr Tim’s waste away gel.

[@ReefDork]

Never used it i'm afraid

[@ajsreef1034]

Need to give Coral Essentials "Juice" a go. Made a big difference in my reef.

[@klowranc]

Thanks for all of the great videos! Your tanks is amazing! I'm curious what are your tank parameters? BRS has done some solid research showing high Alk levels contribute heavily to improved coloration. I'm think about taking my SPS tank up to 12 and was wondering what your is at. Thanks!

[@ReefDork]

I'm not a fan of experimental theories like that personally - the basics are far more likely to be responsible for healthy, colourful corals. My kh is around 8ish

[@happychappy27]

There’s also proof that lower alk gives better colour and higher giver better growth.

[@sunnygoold9449]

Awesome - yeah I love Reef Energy as it's so easy and fun to feed. I feed it maybe 4 or 5 days a week. I rarely see vermitids (probably) as I put Bumble Bees in at the beginning. I only run my skimmer overnight anyhow. I think corals need to be fed and I try to feed something every day but I do mix it up. AB+ is the one I use when i can't be bothered target feeding - I did use to target feed it but I got the feeling that may be detrimental to the corals health - I don't have nutrient issues... well my nitrates are getting a little high (20) and so I cut down aminos by about 25% (need to test again) - but my phosphates are the problem (being too low at 0.02) so I am focusing on getting those up slowly. Anyhow this video is spot on IMO. All the comments are super helpful. The only thing is that I feel most pests can be proactively controlled. Like aptasia would probably get out of control on this stuff too - so every reefer should have a way of controlling it (like Peppermints)

[@davidridland]

Peppermint shrimps are a cheap and easy way of decimating aptasia

[@davidridland]

As long as you dont have a wrasse that likes to eat them😂

[@terrencerichardson839]

I mostly agree. I do think the recommended doses is just way to high. You'll waste money and feed nuisance algea for sure. I mix about 5ml of this with reef roids, in about 2 cups of tank water. I target feed 2x a week. On odd weeks, the second feeding is right after I clean out detritus (5 gal water change max), that way I get whatever nutrients from that as well,plus a cleaner tank.

[@garrycole9187]

Your reviews are top notch and do you know why, because you have just as many cons as pros. Most reef channels out there are 90% pros vs cons which is not real life. I also think a lot of reefers "feel" like it helped their tanks to justify the cost and time to do that.

[@valerio106]

I have used it for a few months almost daily. Got cynaobacteria after this and stopped dosing. With A and B I didnt have any issues.

[@josephcruz2950]

Damn daily where the coral growing fast???

[@valerio106]

@@josephcruz2950 yes. The growing was fast.

[@Botzz28]

Hownn nm so this stuff? I’m looking for a all in one vitamin and amino acid bottle to dose. Is this stuff better than the amino acid from brightwell?

[@kevivjack2408]

Is this replacement of coral food like phyto/zoo planktons? Or its jus like multivitamin suppliment?

[@chrislocke1042]

0:55 I keep return pump on and it doesn't go away for me... now I have a AIO maybe that's the issue.

[@pn7836]

Nice honest review!! Red Sea aren't going to be happy - going to be coming after you with some sponsorship money after seeing this video has 20k views!!

[@ReefDork]

All publicity is good publicity!

[@CasildaChenier]

Have you used reef moonshiners?

[@ccn5065]

My idea on feeding corals are feed Energy AB+ along with home culture phytoplankton. Thats a good way to not waste some much money.

[@golbs7542]

i feel the same, has not done much for me. no colour improvements or faster growth. im sure its doing something though. im switching to quantum bio enhance because i dont need to keep it in the fridge and i can use the whole bottle on a doser.

[@CarlEves]

I used this for a while. I had the opposite experience. It crashed my tank. It took a lot of work to rescue it. I followed the instructions but it didn’t work for me.

[@SarkastikKirb]

So, I have a question for you Reef Dork. I'll be moving to the UK from the US where our choices vary from Planet Aquarium, Waterbox, Redsea and so on. But my question to you is in the UK, what other choices do we have besides Waterbox and Redsea that are good in the UK? I've always gone the make it myself route with external overflows and siliconing my baffles. But I plan on just buying one already made this time around, so, what are you recommends? What do you see recommended? What do you see as avoids perhaps even?

[@ReefDork]

Have a look at the D-D Reef Pro tanks - nice alternative and a few cool features

[@Rodderick901]

Your video confirmed my suspicion that it will increase the growth of aptasia and since I have aptasia in my tank I have decided not to use this stuff.

[@LightSearch]

I wonder how much of the benefits of dosing aminos comes from the increase in bacteria instead of direct absorption by the corals. In my tank, aminos are cyano in a bottle.

[@wallingtonfilming]

Do you use bicarbonate of soda to raise your alkalinity level? 🕯🎥

[@ReefDork]

I use ATI Essentials Pro

[@randychuah]

Slight off topic, does your copperband nip your corals? I got one and it nips on my brains, acans and blastos

[@ReefDork]

I never caught him but I think he killed my green acan colony and nibbled a red one...

[@deanfielding4411]

Do you have a video on chilling tanks in the UK? I only need something subtle, and I’m thinking maybe just a small pump to pump water through my fridge! Didn’t want to spend the money, energy and space on a full blown chiller, and after all we’re in the UK so I only want to gently do it. I successfully managed to cool my nano tank last year with a fan, a tray of water and an absorbent cloth/paper towel. I dipped the cloth in the tray of water, stuck the wet cloth to the side of my tank and blew the fan at it. The evaporation effect cooled the tank and then all I had to do was top up the tray of water as capillary action drew up the water into the cloth as it evaporated. That way I didn’t need to add more RODI water and I kept the lid on my tank. It worked pretty well for the few weeks heat wave we had in the UK and was cheap and I had the bits laying around.

[@ReefDork]

No, I just shut the curtains, close the windows and use fans

[@kevin16scalecollector54]

Beautful tank

[@dirtdevilsreef5613]

Personal I found when I was dosing Redsea AB+ I was getting cyano even when I reduced dosing amount daily then to every other day, once I stopped cyano went away, know an few people who had the same issue.

[@apdroidgeek1737]

It just means youre over dosing it

[@chdjxisbdbdj8355]

Have you tried acropower? I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.

[@ReefDork]

Gave it a crack years ago but didn't really know what I was doing then!

[@danielmaddocks9315]

Great video as usual! How's the copperbaand getting on? This guy is going places 🇬🇧

[@ReefDork]

Doing well so far - 7 months now...

[@metsdynastyx]

I found every day dosing is way to much. Ended up with significant algae blooms. Always seems to happen when I try these coral foods/boosters. Worst is the bloody cyano and Dinos, ugh! But very nice informative video my friend.

[@Alejandrojuarez84]

Hello! When is it better to use ab+, with the lights off or on? Thank you!

[@ReefDork]

Probably at night, but I wouldn't worry about it too much either way.

[@antonyh37]

Can this make the difference if your chaeto refugium is over effective to the point where your euphyllia and gsp start acting up due to little to no phosphate?

[@ReefDork]

Maybe, yeah. It'll provide nutrition for corals that otherwise aren't getting enough

[@antonyh37]

@@ReefDork thankyou

[@KathouQC]

Do you need to keep in a refrigerator after use?

[@ReefDork]

Yes - you can keep 7 days worth out of the fridge though on a doser

[@barrygorman6197]

Your tank looks first class how often do you feed to your tank with reef energy +

[@ReefDork]

Every day when I use it regularly but I went months at a time without using it and now I only dose once or twice a month

[@lisariggio6916]

You mentioned Hydroids, do you know what will eat them? I have some as well

[@ReefDork]

Not that I'm aware of

[@Merknilash]

Aiptasia filefish will eat them - but don't seem to prefer them.

[@coreyoie5508]

You should look in to coral feast amino acids.. Hes here in the United States but he might ship to you.

[@iancarbin567]

I have been using AB+ for over a year now and dosing daily. Been thinking lately I’m not sure it actually does anything. Is there anything you dose daily or do you let mature do it’s thing?

[@ReefDork]

Only ati essentials pro and more recently red Sea trace colours...

[@iancarbin567]

@@ReefDork I was on ATI but now upgraded to the Deltec Twin Tech Carx so wondering what to use to supplement trace and also what coral feed as I work away so can’t manually dose each evening?

[@ReefDork]

@@iancarbin567 if you're not getting results, I'd say just don't feed anything. Loads of trace elements options out there but it's worth an icp test first (if you haven't already) to see what your levels are like.

[@richardportelli1983]

Have you tried an Algae turf scrubber to keep your nutrients in check instead of cheato? I find it much more effective and very easy to clean. And free natural food for algae eaters.

[@ReefDork]

No, you don't really see them over here in the UK. I'd be up for giving it a crack though.

[@richardportelli1983]

@@ReefDork yeah same in Australia also. They are not cheap either. I got a Chinese version from China and it works great. If you overfeed or a fish dies the algae goes into turbo mode. 100% better than chaeto from my experience.

[@acaister]

How did you reduce your vermitids in the end?

[@ReefDork]

I didn't really. Pulled a few off but I've just left them for the most part. Don't seem to be causing any problems...

[@acaister]

@@ReefDork ah ok, I've got a fair few but they also don't seem to be causing problems. Thanks for replying.

[@RBXXXX]

Great video but that's my biggest concern. The last time I used reef roid or food like this. I got Dino's, and I've never had it since I've stopped using these type of food.

[@petert2041]

I think if anything, dose only half the recommended dosage.

[@unterwassergarten2636]

Crazy

[@marber4939]

This is not negative comment whatsoever...but somehow in this particular video You sound like tesla representative hahaha..." sir...why there are vibrations in my car...well this is how it suppose to be" ;). I do use AB+ my self and dur to size of my tank this cost me my kidney:/ ...but its true...effect are considerably visable...recently i switch to ATI amino ...hope this will be economicly more effective;) keep up good work sir;)

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

My tank was doing so well but somdhow got ich and now im going fallow, nutrients are plummeting so i gotta constantly dose phosohates and nitrates, this sucks ass lol

[@ReefDork]

☹

[@tippin.turtle]

Switched to Acro Power...believe it's better than AB plus, at least for acropora that is.

[@ReefDork]

The guy who made it, Julian Sprung, says it's better for LPS 🤷‍♂️

[@tippin.turtle]

@@ReefDork Had acros that were brown and growth was stagnant. Color and growth began after first dose. Will be dosing for my fourth time tomorrow. Give it a try. Love your videos!

[@hughsy4172]

HELLO from russia my friend. good tank. great acro !!)

[@ReefDork]

👋

[@yeshuataylor3879]

I just dosed some

[@TheDancing0wind]

Aminos INCREASE skimming performacne - skimmer specifically targets complex organic molecules. you shut skimmer down because it removes aminos

[@ReefDork]

Apparently the old a and b formula used to make skimmers go crazy - they claim they've fixed that with ab+ 🙂

[@rudra7615]

Are we going to get a video where you finally found a solution to vermited snails?! 😲

[@ReefDork]

Pulled a couple of corals out and cut the bastards off!

[@WalterMelons]

@@ReefDork I’ve been stabbing them with a screwdriver and watching my six line wrasse named Frankenstein go to town.

[@reeferguy9275]

Try some bumblebee snails

[@rudra7615]

@@reeferguy9275 doesn't work. Mate, got bubble bee snails in my tank and I do see them out, but vermited snails still around

[@rudra7615]

@@ReefDork I grabbed the pestle from my mortar and went to town

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

Update I dosing reef energy 3 times a day and dose reef elements nitro plus to keep my nitrates up otherwise they drop to 1.0 ppm 😂😂

[@foxglovemead]

Good to know that the benefits are not that great - I was about to move from a 250ml freebie bottle to buying a litre of the stuff. The key point is that you don't know how most corals would have preformed with/without it (unless you can either cut them in half or can afford to double up with almost identical corals in several aquariums - hence nobody can make a valid assessment). The adding effect is pleasing but perhaps it is more smoke and mirrors (and profit orientated). Are other products like Reef Roids worth a shout? Whilst I agree, turning off a Skimmer many times isn't that desirable, I do this anyway to allow peace and quiet for others to watch their Soaps. Having watched the Soaps, I wonder is it worthwhile. So I may try a week without stopping and see if it is noticed... Of course, a Skimmer can be run anyway even if a Return Pump is switched off. With a DC Return Pump it is possible to program a reduced flow - but this might interfere with the balance between water entering the weir and being pumped back. Weir height drops and there is sound, weir height increases and there is a gurgle.

[@ReefDork]

These are just my experiences/opinions of course - other people swear by amino acids! Reef Roids is basically phosphate in a tub...

[@Merknilash]

@@ReefDork counterpoint - Tidal Gardens has showcased feeding responses of reef roids and seems to be very beneficial to target feed certain corals

[@bigadventure3797]

Low nutrient tanks probably would benefit from this product more than a high nutrient tank.

[@ReefDork]

Good shout

[@TheDancing0wind]

To be fair aminos would probably be more effective in ULN system.

[@ReefDork]

Probably right! Red Sea make no mention of that and quote ideal parameters of 2ppm nitrate, 0.1ppm phosphate plus 32mm of ab+ per day for a 400 litre SPS dominant tank...

[@jjj14]

Nevermind if AB+ did what it says it will do, it's simply too costly in long run with little or no gains at all.

[@titus4166]

From my understanding you’re only supposed to to dose weekly. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@ReefDork]

No, you can dose daily

[@CasildaChenier]

full chernobyl effect! lol

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

I stopped using this my phosphates went through the roof

[@Scarz733]

put a phosphate remover bag in back of filter to counter that

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

I have use 5 x300 gram eihiem ferric over 2 months a completely water change all my volume its embed in the sand I got it to 1.0 on a salifert I gone aquaforest pro bio s and np pro now to keep it low it's shocking stuff the fact it says minimal skimming says it all it stay in you tank back on reef pulse once s week and letting photo synthesis feed my corals till phosphates are below 0.5

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

Update phosphates under control got rid of the 9inch naso and stopped adding a 8x4 sheet of nori 😆😆 so bk on reef energy but won't be after it runs out too exspensive I use reef pulse only too keep my phosphates and nittrate at the sweet spot also use spiralina most sps only realy feed on nutrient I run my nitrates at 10 and now I run phosphates at 0.25 so most probs wasnt reef energy it was the nori 😆I use aquaforest np pro and probiotic s and its running sweet so I have filled tank with sps frags 15 different kinds and are growing acros aswel from fragsrus on eBay but I don't think ab+ does much that reef pulse or reef roids does apart from keep amino acids and carbohydrates up my new sps supplier says maintain phosphate and nitrates at a good level is all you need for sps

[@jamesabaileyjr]

Not really fair to blame Reef Energy for your aptisa and snail outbreak. You need to start a Quarantine process to control those things.

[@ReefDork]

ab+ wasn't the cause or even a primary reason for them spreading, I was just trying to slow the spread which I suspect ab+ contributed to

[@jamesabaileyjr]

@@ReefDork that's far

[@davidridland]

Whats the point of making this video then if you have used it infrequentely off and on you cannot make any statements that it has increased growth or not so is pointless waffle

[@arsenioseslpodcast3143]

DO NOT USE THIS DAILY!!!!!! NO3 PO4 spikes cause my fish to die, brown water, and horrible diatom bloom. DO NOT USE THIS EVERYDAY!