Coloring-Up Your Corals

with DrTim’s Aquatics First Defense and Eco-Balance

Discussion and Directions

Many corals slowly lose their brilliant colors because they are not getting the nutrients they need. This is because corals are filter feeders and normally ingest a lot bacteria, where they get most of their nutrition, from the water. However, most aquarium water contains little bacteria because protein skimmers and UVs remove the bacteria.

The solution to this problem is to get the nutrients back in the corals but how can that be done most effectively? At DrTim’s Aquatics, we recommend using our First Defense and Eco-Balance to achieve this goal. First Defense contains a wide range of vitamins that the bacteria in Eco-Balance will assimilate. Then by adding this vitalized Eco-Balance to your aquarium water the corals will ingest the Eco-Balance Bacteria getting the vitamins and nutrients they need to once again have great colors.

The basic plan is to prepare a dilution solution of Eco-Balance bacteria and add First Defense to the solution and give the bacteria time to incorporate the First Defense. Then slowly dose this solution into your tank.

How to prepare the solutions:

• First Defense – 0.1% solution. Add 1 ml of First Defense per 1,000 ml of seawater (or 1 tsp in 1 gallon of seawater).
• EcoBalance – 1.0% solution. 10 ml of Eco-Balance per 1,000 ml of seawater (or 3 tbl in 1 gallon of seawater)
• Add the seawater to the container and then add the First Defense and Eco-Balance to the same container. Lightly aerate. It is ok to make enough for 2-3 nights.

Note that the solution will get a sweet-tangy smell after 24 hours and may be a little cloudy – this is normal

How to dose

Dose at night starting about an hour before the lights go out. Dose at a rate is 1-3 drops per second (3 to 9 ml per minute). Dose 3 nights, off 1 night, dose 2 more nights then nothing on the 7th night (see chart below). Repeat weekly. The amount to dose depends on the size of your tank and the number and types of corals. Start slow at a rate of 1-2 oz solution per 100 gallons and adjust slowly to a maximum of 16 oz per 100 gallons. It may a few weeks to start seeing results

NOTE: Never add a normal dose of First Defense to your tank on the same day you add Eco-Balance or Waste-Away to the tank

Checklist for Coloring-Up Your Corals

Download the Recipe Card (PDF)