AF Life Source

[Shadows Reef]

question I have is how many people remove their filter socks when they add LifeSource.

 

[Chris Spaulding]

I have been using it for over a year now. I dose the slurry right into the display tank at night once every 2 to 3 weeks. I do not turn off any of the pumps, skimmer, or UV. I notice in the mornings that my Gonies and Hammer are really puffed up and looking full. I mix it with my magnetic stir and yes there are some fines that stick to it but I have yet to find any attached to my magnets in my pumps. After I dose the next day the skimmer is extra thin and dark and even has a much stronger smell than normal.I also use weekly a DIY calcium carbonate reef snow .

 

[Chris Spaulding]

question I have is how many people remove their filter socks when they add LifeSource.

For me it runs through a filter roller I also believe it works as a flocculant as well.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Sever with Aquaforrest said yes there is magnetic material in life source, however this magnetic material is natural and not toxic in any way for our inhabitants, and it will not damage any powerheads as the total hardness of this material is much less than what the material our powerheads are made out of.

so in reality it would be no different than slime caking on our powerheads

I don't expect it to be harmful to the inhabitants, but more harmful to the equipment over time is the concern. Notice how much cake is on the magnet and that's a single dose. Think about that weekly/monthly over time caked on to your equipment. I would be even less concerned it was simple rinse or soak in citric acid that would happen with regular cleaning equipment, but the magnetic particles were not easy to come off. Imagine that in the nooks and crannies of a return pump where you couldn't easily get to. How would one physically remove that??

Re: your sock comment. I actually wish I poured it over my sock so I could grab as much particles as I could and rinse out during the next sock cleaning. I would expect whatever is dissolvable to do so over time providing the benefits and what remains would never leave the tank unless physically removed.

Given this experiment, it would be acceptance to me to have slightly less benefits from using the product in the sump vs DT if that was a drawback for that usage.

 

[gbru316]

I dose weekly and I haven’t noticed any concerning wear on any pumps.

 

[Saltyanimals]

okie dokie. Maybe I am overthinking and will keep it going. I will however dose into the sump as some of the veterans do in the 1st couple pages of this thread just in case. I do an annual sump vacuum which will pick up any undissolved metals or residuals.

 

[GMF21]

Just got mine from BRS today. Been wanting to try it for a while now.

Spoke with the AF rep (Craig?) at Reefapalooza CA a few weeks back and he said he puts his in a tray in his sump. Not sure which method I am gong to go with.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Just got mine from BRS today. Been wanting to try it for a while now.

Spoke with the AF rep (Craig?) at Reefapalooza CA a few weeks back and he said he puts his in a tray in his sump. Not sure which method I am gong to go with.

I just mix mine into a glass of RODI water and pour it into my 20 gallon with the skimmer off...it's cloudy for a little while but then crystal clear within a couple hours or so...it doesn't really seem to settle on the sand much at all either.

 

[Saltyanimals]

I'm a few weeks in at this point dosing into the sump. Although I documented the metals that stuck to my magnet, I've allowed my laziness to get the best of me and just dose as-is without any further attempts to remove the metals.

Weeks in and of course too early to comment on benefits, but will say no negative outcome. Since I dose into the sump, my sump definitely does not look great. Everything is, as expected, covered in the stuff. This confirms to me that I prefer it to coat everything in my sump versus coating all things in DT.

Question is ...now what? Since it does not fully dissolve, I assume it'll stay there forever until it is physically removed. How much of it (if any) is broken down vs just settling into the sump. My annual sump cleanup will physically remove at which point, I hope my tank has already realized the benefits of the product.

The filth almost makes me want to move from an annual sump vacuum to half or even quarterly. My sump is by no way the clean photo-op sump, but it is definitely filthy. I imagine what it'll look like in a year. Literally imagine the contents of the AF LS spread all over my sump.

Do the rest of you guys remove it?

 

[cdnco2004]

I missed the in stock alert lol. I have been waiting since early this year then again when I saw on the BRS series but they were still out of stock everywhere. I will pick up the liter from BRS. I will use some to start my new 210 in addition to live sand dry/purple rock and then see how it helps my other tanks.

What is the current best advice for dosing? For the new 210g I will add with the live sand. But curious for advice for the existing tanks. I am leaning more to the dosing into return pump chamber after lights off.

 

[Saltyanimals]

The instructions says to broadcast inside the DT. Given the metals discussed in this thread including the photos that I took, I personally would not dose into the return pump chamber as that will most likely coat the pump. The alternative is the sump as others have done here, but then leads to my question above. What to do with all the particulates over time that just accumulates and goes no where.

 

[gbru316]

I do not notice any accumulation, anywhere, when I dose in my DT.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Here’s my sump. Hard to tell in photos but the rocks are covered in the layer of mud. This is more evident on the black filter pump, but you get the area of the coating. Again not saying this is bad, but maybe overthinking what this does overtime. Looks like mechanical removal over time would be the solution if it doesn’t ultimately breakdown.

 

[Reefahholic]

I was interested in AF Life Source since it first appeared on the market. Used it on/off for some time then kinda forgot about it. Then I bought another box and started adding it once a week (one spoon/cup which is included) and my corals looked very good. However, I wasn't sure it was to be attributed to AF Life Source.

I then stopped using it, again forgetting about it (nothing intentional, just forgot, it was in the back of my cupboard hidden somewhere). And the corals didn't look that good actually. I wouldn't say things went downhill but it just wasn't as good as it was.

I just started using it again to try to get back to the old glory days and to try to confirm that at least a part of the benefit is due to AF Life Source.

Any updates?

 

[GMF21]

I placed mine in a container in my sump over a month ago and have not seen any noticeable difference in my tank.

I understand directions state to broadcast to display tank. Given discussion here about dosing to sump along will my conversation with the AF rep at Reefapalooza, I decided to take this approach.

 

[Randy’s reef]

I placed mine in a container in my sump over a month ago and have not seen any noticeable difference in my tank.

I understand directions state to broadcast to display tank. Given discussion here about dosing to sump along will my conversation with the AF rep at Reefapalooza, I decided to take this approach.

For me I noticed my corals would look really plump and swell , looking amazing even after a week of stability and dosing it. Cloudiness was worrying me at the beginning a few months ago when I first started using it , because the tank gets super super cloudy , like you can’t see anything cloudy….. but that only lasts for 2 hours max then when it starts to go away the corals always look amazing. It’s like they absorbed whatever was in the life source

 

[Saltyanimals]

Like many things in this hobby the results are often unique to a tank and/or anecdotal. However like many of us, doing a bunch of different things at the same time so not sure where the magic is coming from. ...or could simply be stability and things just settling down.

I find myself liking the product personally as I'm seeing good overall health to the tank. I think it's probably good when I think about how much of the real ocean stuff is in it. Prob a good alternative to a piece of real reef rock to seed diversity.

I'm still not broadcasting into DT for the reasons I called out earlier and continue to broadcast into the sump. My logic is it's still coating sump rocks vs DT rocks thus the benefits should be there. It's just easier for me to vacuum the sump once a year and remove the product residuals. I have noticed that when I mix it that it never truly dissolves. There is enough "gunk" left in my mixing container which I end up not dumping in. To me this is the magnetic gunk that I showed in my earlier picture thus I discard. Maybe this is a mistake and I'm leaving behind the unicorn magic. Just makes me feel better know that it would likely never mix if I added to the sump and just sit there clogging things up. I'm probably a month away from my sump cleanup and plan to do some vacumming thus physically removing the residual. However I'll continue using the product for now. Or at least not changing what appears to be working. i.e. new trace product, new carbon dosing, nutrients getting back in line. See what I mean? All sorts of changes so who knows if it's this AF product.

 

[TheBiochemist]

I have been using AF Life source weekly (broadcasting) for more than 6 months. I dont observe any accumulation or damage to the equipment. The tank is doing great; however, the question is how the same tank will be running without it...Thus, the only conclusion I have is that it doesnt cause any damage and it could have beneficial effects, but who knows.

 

[JohnMzreef]

Save yourself some $ and read the thread on Calcium Carbonate dosing by Sunnyx. Buy some trace mineral (suggest Seachem).

 

[Reefahholic]

Observations 9 hrs after initial dose of AF Life Source. Mud was purchased at BRS.

*No change in PE on Acro’s.
*Water still not back to full clarity.
*Mud Silt all over the tank (expected)
*Both of my Goni’s actually look worse than before I started.
*Dino’s flared pretty significantly.

Not impressed yet. Hopefully better observations coming later.

Update: 24 hrs after dosing

Still not seeing any benefits at all. FWIW, all my trace elements are close to target range or above and my nutrients are on point. So my chemistry was not lacking much before I started, and I dose bacteria monthly. Maybe that is why I didn’t see any increased PE or positive effects.?

I also looked at it under the scope. There is not much bacterial life like you would see in Dr Tim’s products, but there is a little. Although dormant bacteria will wake up as nutrients become available again. Also, some of the natural minerals in the mud may take a little time to be available for the coral’s. Just guessing here. So I expect better things in the future.

Here is what the texture looks like at 10x objective: