Reef Pro Complete grows some amazing acros!
In this blog post, we will learn about the thought processes and work that goes into Reef Pro’s product lines. We will gather first hand accounts from Gilbert Fernandez, founder and operator of reef pro, about where and how he started, where the company is now, and what we can all look forward to in the future.
Gilbert Fernandez is a true embodiment of the Tanknician Spirit. A hobbyist who turned his obsession with reef keeping into a career by incessantly questioning, researching, and tinkering with standard reefing practices. His efforts have resulted in some pretty impressive products that we will go into briefly here and more in depth in later. You will not want to miss the in-depth analysis of his products to come, Gilbert is a reefing master and all levels of aquarist will find valuable information therein.
By what philosophies do you keep aquariums?
Chemistry is the most important factor when it comes to reef keeping, the water in your aquarium is like the blood in your body. You need to have all the required elements in their correct proportions. You can have the best lighting and flow, but if your chemistry is off the tank will not thrive. Low lighting, low flow but good chemistry the corals will still grow, albeit without the best coloration.
Gilbert, do you remember where you were when you first had the idea to go into the product development side of the industry?
It was eight years ago. I wanted to experiment with different conditions in my store. I like to approach things from a scientific perspective and sought to change one variable at a time and make observations. However, I was always frustrated by how the industries test kits weren’t very reliable when testing for trace elements beyond calcium alk and mag, like strontium iodide, boron, and potassium. Unless you have an ICP -OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical emissions spectroscopy- learn more at the link at the bottom of this interview) testing machine it’s almost impossible. Let’s say your testing iodine. It is hard to trust the results of a hobby grade test kit because of the way that iodine interacts in the matrix of seawater; that kit may not be giving you a correct result. Many factors effected the results for me, from procedure to contamination. Eliminating all those variables consistently is a real challenge, and it throws the validity of your results into question. These tests give you an idea, but for me I can’t be truly confident in a result for trace elements that doesn’t have rigorously scientific procedures. Even when I would test calcium and alkalinity against various test kits I would get huge variability. I was having success growing corals, but wasn’t getting the colors I wanted. I would read the experiences of various gurus online to see what was working for other people, but undoubtedly they were having the same issues with test kits as I was so there was a lot of uncertainty- remember this was 8 years ago and the reef keeping hobby wasn’t nearly as fleshed out as it is today. As I thought more about the accuracy and precision of testing and dosing and learned more about the interactions between elements in the matrix of seawater I began to doubt more and more. So I recognized this need for myself and also in the industry and started looking for ways to address it. Among other things, I decided to work on a balanced two part which would consistently maintain trace element levels in an aquarium without the need for constant testing or manual addition of individual trace elements.
Reef Pro Complete is quickly establishing itself as The best
product for calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, and trace element supplementation
in south florida!
How did you go about starting your chemical line and when did you know your business would be successful?
I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I started mixing my own chemicals and sending water to be tested with ICP analysis. What I found was that the elements that I could buy- and keep in mind these were pharmaceutical grade reagents- were too low of quality. You need licenses to order the purest chemicals. Its also very important when and how you mix these elements, add them at the wrong time and the mixture wont work and things will precipitate out. So, I connected with chemists that had these necessary licenses and training and began testing again. After 4 years of testing I developed a formula that works consistently on every reef tank and has zero production issues. When I was selling my products to customers at more store, and seeing consistent positive results, I knew it would be successful.
What seperates your two part from other two parts on the market?
“Trace elements”, Gilbert quickly answered “My formulation is consistent and mixes Homogeneously- meaning no precipitation and it is stable over time. I don’t like to talk about other companies because I don’t know everything that goes on behind the scenes. But if you see precipitation at the bottom of the bottle, that’s not good. When I had my store, I tested different brands of two part for two years and sent away for ICP analysis. I did this to see if there were products available that would do what I wanted them to do and also to make sure that when switching to reef pro from these brands that there wouldn’t be any issues”.
Tell me about your carbon dosing line, what problems did you hope to solve when you decided to make your own?
I always had problems with elevated lithium when I was using other products. I can’t speak for all other products, but of the ones I used some were colored or had visible particles and I didn’t like the results I had with them on my tanks or my customers tanks. My product is crystal clear and doesn’t raise elements that I can test for with ICP analysis.
That’s interesting, I wasn’t aware of that. Will keep that in mind the next time I run ICP tests. Can you tell us a little about your philosophy when developing products and what other products you currently offer?
Of course, I want to make money, and of course I want to have a life, but I do this for the passion. I’m focusing on making the products perfect before I release them. I could have a product line with a million items that I just ordered and resold, but I’d rather test these products so that I can feel confident putting my name on them knowing that they are good and do what they say. ultimately I use these products as well, and I only want to make a product if i think it improves on whats currently available from other sources. Right now I’m selling a clean dry coral food which comes in different sizes depending on which coral you are trying to feed, and phosphate removing chemical media.
Can you identify a few problems that you have with standard reef keeping practices today?
There are many companies moving towards separated dosing of elements. An issue that I had with this method was getting accurate enough dosages. These are trace elements and when I administered them with a doser the values fluctuated too much. When I ran tests the little bit of error in the peristaltic pumps could swing the trace elements high or low in a few months’ time. This wasn’t sustainable for me.
Another issue that I see: as a hobby we place a high emphasis on values but often overlook the sources of error in our test kits and sources of variability in the aquarium water. Standard reef keeping practices rightly suggest that you test calcium and alkalinity and dose accordingly. But many hobbyists wrongly assume that their test kits are always accurate and that something in your aquarium other than consumption hasn’t caused a change in your test readouts. For example many people overlook salinity not knowing that calcium and alkalinity are directly related. This can lead hobbyists to make mistakes with dosing. Another example, when I first started seriously keeping reef aquariums I was dosing alk and kept it between 7 and 8 for a few months. When I ran out of test kit reagent and the new reagent bottle said I was at 6, I dosed to raise the alkalinity and my corals reacted poorly. I now know that one or both of my test kits was inaccurate although very precise. Now I test new reagents against the old to calibrate. When the ICP calcium and alkalinity stock solutions come out I’ll be very excited to try those. One last thought- when I had my store, I tested how human error effects test kit accuracy. I had five people test calcium and we got five different calcium values for the same sample. They were close, but different, and if you have an SPS tank where consistency is critical that can be very detrimental.
I know that you aren’t someone to sit idle, what products are you currently working on and what problems do you hope to solve with them?
I’m very interested in Amino acids. In my experience they are very helpful but I’m working on testing to see which amino acids actually get results. I want to test as many corals as I can and see which amino acids have effects on which corals. No one has really done the research to say how and when some of these supplements work. The plural of anecdote is not evidence. What I’ve learned so far is interesting but preliminary. I hope soon to be able to share what I’ve learned and introduce a superior product.
Gilbert is a master reefer and willing to share what he has learned in a series of interviews and blog posts on this site. Look forward to hearing more of his experiences and products and learning about some of the reef conservation that he contributes too.
Be sure to talk to your stores about carrying the Reef Pro Line and check out Gilbert’s website at:
Inductively Coupled Plasma is a testing methodology which is performed in a lab and offers higher precision and accuracy than hobby grade titration based test kits. If you would like to learn more about ICP analysis follow this link:
Finally, be sure to subscribe to out social media pages. Like, Follow, Subscribe, Hit the bell, do what you need to so that you never miss any of our content!