Anyone ever heard of Probiotic Reef Salt by Aquaforest

[Robthorn]

Hey Randy,
I have not tested Bromide. Yes I need to and I do not dose a lot. I do look at acans and pretty much dose according to how they look. Shrunken and I dose a little. They become fat and puffy. Is that a good reaction for the coral? Good question. It is very pleasing to my eye.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hey Randy,
I have not tested Bromide. Yes I need to and I do not dose a lot. I do look at acans and pretty much dose according to how they look. Shrunken and I dose a little. They become fat and puffy. Is that a good reaction for the coral? Good question. It is very pleasing to my eye.

I've never actually heard of anyone noticing a biological effect of bromide dosing in a reef tank.

Are you adding potassium bromide? Maybe it is the potassium you are seeing an effect of.

 

[Robthorn]

I do not know the exact make up. I dose potassium Chloride according to testing. I do not notice these same apparent reactions when dosing that product. That is Brightwell patassion powder which I still use.
I have started dosing other elements 7 to 8 months ago (rough guess) from Reefgrow. Only a few months on the bromide Pro product and I don't really have a set schedule for it.
I have noticed something else that may or may not be related. Ricordea just seem to sit there looking decent enough but basically just sat there. Double and triple mouth ricordea never split. Since I have been using reefgrow they are slowly multiplying. Doubles turn into 2 singles. I never noticed it actually happening until sometime after the bromide additions. Who knows what the actual cause is. Nothing happens besides death quickly so it could be anything. Fluffy acans happens within a few hours. Its not a starving for light huge acan. Just noticably puffy.
The reefgrow is in a tiny dry pack if you want to try it I can send you one. No I am not going to be a drug dealer and try to sell you more later. Lol lmk I think I bought 2 and use so little the one I have mixed up will last me at least a year.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The reefgrow is in a tiny dry pack if you want to try it I can send you one. No I am not going to be a drug dealer and try to sell you more later. Lol lmk I think I bought 2 and use so little the one I have mixed up will last me at least a year.

Thanks for the offer, but even without dosing my potassium does not get depleted and bromide is nearly twice the natural level.

 

[Robthorn]

My tank sure would be cheaper if it didn't consume so much. lol
I didn't test potassium and only dosed a small amount over a couple months and I tested down around 350. I only tested because I noticed some blues had lightened up. I have read in a few places that can happen. I haven't seen any change after bringing it back up but who knows? Nothing happens fast.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My tank sure would be cheaper if it didn't consume so much. lol
I didn't test potassium and only dosed a small amount over a couple months and I tested down around 350. I only tested because I noticed some blues had lightened up. I have read in a few places that can happen. I haven't seen any change after bringing it back up but who knows? Nothing happens fast.

How did you test it? Some tests seem to give low potassium results.

 

[Robthorn]

Salifert. I am not really thinking if I test 400 it is actually 400. I look for 400 today. 400 in two weeks and 400 two more weeks. It never tests that perfect but I just try to maintain a tested level.

 

[biom]

To be honest I'm not convinced that potassium has something to do with blue colors of corals. I have several quite bright blue ones (Acropora) and experienced very low potassium few times, but did't seen any strong signals from them (concerning color) that something with potassium is wrong. But surprisingly I did get first warning signals from another coral -plate montipora. I have green one and purple one. I'm (ok, was) not big fan of it - it is growing fast and encrusting other corals in my small tank. But one day I'have noticed that purple one has two white spots (about 5mm) on its surface, and more drastically the green one stopped growing and turn grey in matter of a day or two. I was stunned and start finding reasons, my first though was it is monti eating flatworm, since the other corals were looking fine. But then i've remember (from my Zeo past ) that there were something about montiporas turning gray. And find it in their Zeovit Guide : "Potassium deficiency can be diagnosed in different animals as follows: Montipora, especially plating types, display slower growth and appear washed out to grey. Latent potassium deficiency may also lead to tissue loss, spreading from one or more spots..." I was shocked they were describing exactly my montis. Then I slap to my forehead - I almost stopped my potassium dosing more than two months ago to check consumption (and forget it completely). When I tested it was just below 320 ppm (from 390). 24 hours after first correctional dose my green monti become little more green again and in two-three days both of them were ok, and started growing fast as usual. Since then I have more respect to montis and now they have their place in my thank as beautiful potassium indicator . Since that case I went thru Zeovit Guide with another look. ( I still don't like their approach and etc., but there is lot of practical experience).

 

[Myka]

I don't see something very special or revolutionary new in Aquaforest products. And don't see something in their "method" that differs significantly from Red Sea's one or Tropic Marine, Fauna Marin or even Zeovit. Actually they have quite similar products - they offer probiotic salt just like Tropic Marine, zeolites like Zeovit and Fauna Marin, even they have product called Coral E that contain Copper Sulfate, very similar to KZ ZeoSpur etc. I don't see something wrong with this - if they can offer better price it is ok, but don't expect something new or better than the old players offer. Making artificial sea salt is not rocket science, the recipes are everywhere in the internet - the trick is to find big enough facilities capable to guarantee proper mixing and constant parameters from batch to batch.

I don't think there's anything special about Aquaforest. I'm not familiar with Red Sea One. Aquaforest does seem much simpler than Tropic Marin, Fauna Marin, and Zeovit since dosing for all is based on "1 drop per 100 L". It's just a different way to do the same thing. Heck, people have KISS tanks that are a different way to do the same thing. My tank right now is ULNS and pastel colors, and I don't add anything except kalkwasser and a small amount of carbon. I don't think it's about something "special", but another option to choose from.

 

[scrapz]

Ive seen great tanks run on just about any salt, its all about parameters IMO. Only reason Id like to try AF reef salt is due to their low parameters.

TBH the salt seems quite cheap @45 for 170g. That less then what I paid for a bucket of RSCP. I'll be trying it out next

 

[Osama]

Following as am interested in switching to a salt that can keep my water clean and corals happy. I have the greatest admiration for Randy Holmes and need to continue reading here and on reef central. Been in the hobby with decent success for 20 years but am not into the science .. Like to keep it simple. My first tank a 180 then added a 320 then added two 90s then got rid of it all and now have a two years extremely mature 700g system with 500g starphire glass tank. Left for 3 months and maintenance by professionals was less than perfect and have been struggling with GHA. MB7 seems to be helping with RS no NOxPox

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Following as am interested in switching to a salt that can keep my water clean and corals happy. I have the greatest admiration for Randy Holmes and need to continue reading here and on reef central. Been in the hobby with decent success for 20 years but am not into the science .. Like to keep it simple. My first tank a 180 then added a 320 then added two 90s then got rid of it all and now have a two years extremely mature 700g system with 500g starphire glass tank. Left for 3 months and maintenance by professionals was less than perfect and have been struggling with GHA. MB7 seems to be helping with RS no NOxPox

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

Thanks.

I'm not convinced that success with a reef tank has much to do with salt mix choice. I use ordinary IO, but many mixes work very well. You just need to know the pros and cons of whatever you choose to use.

I prefer those without added organics (like vitamins). If those were beneficial, I'd rater control what I was adding and when as opposed to having them only in water changes, and I think it makes the water storage less flexible.

 

[Osama]

Thanks.
I prefer those without added organics (like vitamins). If those were beneficial, I'd rater control what I was adding and when as opposed to having them only in water changes, and I think it makes the water storage less flexible.

Appreciate the response and makes good practice to have the flexibility as to what and when to add as noted and flexibility which I need in water storage as I have always 60+ gallons mixed water ready for use.

 

[Techbiker]

IMO, you need to identify yourself when you have a vested interest in a product that you are pushing, otherwise it is a violation of the terms of service.

Do you work for them in some way or sell the product?

No I do not but I was very much sold on the salt since I saw the tanks that where claim to be use that brand, but after several months, I understand your point more than ever, every tank is different and adding organics of any kind will make a significant difference as long as you know what are you putting on it, I got out off this discussions when someone made comments about the fake pictures, I saw it myself, but I have not be able to achieve nothing much different than what i do with any other salt that I ever uses. I do work for a company that Distributes equipment for Aquariums, that is why I have acces to most everything new, and that product at that monent look like it was the best thing after bread and butter.
Thanks for the help to understand

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No I do not but I was very much sold on the salt since I saw the tanks that where claim to be use that brand, but after several months, I understand your point more than ever, every tank is different and adding organics of any kind will make a significant difference as long as you know what are you putting on it, I got out off this discussions when someone made comments about the fake pictures, I saw it myself, but I have not be able to achieve nothing much different than what i do with any other salt that I ever uses. I do work for a company that Distributes equipment for Aquariums, that is why I have acces to most everything new, and that product at that monent look like it was the best thing after bread and butter.
Thanks for the help to understand

OK. it just seemed odd that you referred to the bacteria in the product as "our bacteria" and go on to describe how they are prepared.

 

[sNaFu]

I personally do not like salts that contain unknown amounts of unknown organics (like this one does). Reef Crystals is another.

Unlike most other salts, you'd probably want to use it right away if you value the vitamins and amino acids they add, and you'd want to keep it aerated if you store it to prevent it from becoming anaerobic.

WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMEND AS A GOOD SALT, HAVE READY THAT REEF CRYSTAL HAS SOME ISSUES

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used normal Instant Ocean for 20 years without having an issue that I attributed to the mix.

 

[sNaFu]

I used normal Instant Ocean for 20 years without having an issue that I attributed to the mix.

THANKS FOR THE INFO

 

[Staggs]

I've been following the aquaforest threads for the past week or two. From a novice hobbyist like myself I can see the interest in switching to the aquaforest because it seems that if you look at their guide and follow it (and of course spend money on all of their products) it is written to make one think that following their directions would make dosing easy and not as confusing for people like me....sorta a one stop shop for salt/chemical dosing etc.

On the flip side I know that no two reef tanks are the same and you better test all of your parameters because eventually something is going to not be consumed as fast (or not consumed at all) and you will end up over dosing and crashing your system by just following their guide and not doing any testing. (I'm not saying their guide doesn't talk about testing or anything like that).

I'm currently running Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt, Bio-Pellet Reactor, and I run the BRS carbon, so far it has worked out but I know eventually I'll have to take the dive into dosing so I'm always looking into the easiest way to do it so I can be prepared.

 

[kashman100]

So in Amazon the 22 KG (48 pounds)bucket of Aquaforest Probiotic reef salt says it makes roughly 30 gallons of saltwater at 1.024....The Reef salt version says it will make 175 gallons. I have to assume that is a misprint. That would get very expensive. Lol