Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!
AndrewJG
New Member
Great article; just ordered Calcium Powder!
Can anyone tell me how much is 10 drops of Microbacter 7 is in ml if they have already worked it out?
Suppose I can find a pipette in a test kit and measure if nobody knows lol.
Can anyone tell me how much is 10 drops of Microbacter 7 is in ml if they have already worked it out?
Suppose I can find a pipette in a test kit and measure if nobody knows lol.
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2018
- Messages
- 3,802
- Reaction score
- 3,734
its about 1ml for 10 drops. But i wouldn't worry too much if you added 1ml or 5ml of MB7. It does no harm
jkobel
Active Member
Just tried it without the Microbacter 7 and WOW - I am stunned by the clarity of the water.
I'll add the MB7 next time and basically will probably continue to dose this going forward as long as i don't see any adverse affects. mixing is so easy and as long as it stay stable on the shelf i don't see any reason not to.
Thanks for the tip on this!!
I'll add the MB7 next time and basically will probably continue to dose this going forward as long as i don't see any adverse affects. mixing is so easy and as long as it stay stable on the shelf i don't see any reason not to.
Thanks for the tip on this!!
nycxdinorex
Active Member
Hi. Does anyone know if this will have any affect on a system with an Algae scrubber?
AKL1950
2500 Club Member
So, I did this for the first time onSunday. Water clarity was awesome, but on Monday morning my PH started dropping. It was normally about 7.9 - 8.0, but Monday dropped to 7.83 and now it’s down to 7.78. Is there a correlation here. Alk is stable at 8.6. All other parameters are stable and have not changed.
Jetson
Jetson
MrCurlyman
Community Member
How often can it or should it be used?Hello all!
I have been reefing now for about 25 years, and over those many years I have picked up many tips, tricks, and best habits/practices. From a hobbyist and even a coral vendors perspective, I have gained quite a bit of valuable information. Many of you likely even have a coral that came from company, Pro Corals. The most popular of which being the PC Rainbow Acro.,
Over those years I attempted to pass on as much information and knowledge as possible. Now, I am compiling all the knowledge into one area and will be releasing articles and likely some YouTube guides on a weekly basis.
This is a great hobby and what makes it great is the wonderful community of reefers. Almost all are extremely helpful and it is our duty to aid one another and when we can, impart the little knowledge that we pickup along the way to aid others in their journey. We, and myself included, can easily forget what it was like entering the hobby. Its a minefield and much livestock and funds can be wasted. For someone like myself, books and online forums were my only sanctuary as I did not have any local hobbyist to gather knowledge from. There were many issues, losses and way too much money needlessly spent. Hopefully this series of guides will help those just entering the hobby and perhaps even help some reefing veterans to polish up their game.
The articles will be posted on my blog and right here on Reef2Reef. I am slowly building up my online presence through FB, Instagram and YouTube. If you'd like to follow along and receive the most up to date information please feel free to follow. I will try and keep the articles and video brief. We all have busy lives so I will attempt to post only the cliff notes.
www.ReefSite.com
Instagram: @Reefsite
Fb: @ReefSites
Twitter: @RimlessReef
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SonnyM63
Now, enough yammering. Onto the article!
Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!
One of the most frequent questions I receive is how do I have such amazing water clarity and an overall clean looking setup. Well, it quite simple and you can easily do the same while also helping rid yourself of cyano or and the very least not allowing it to gain a foothold in your system. While this is not a cure-all, it will help you achieve your goals and help maintain a healthy aquarium.
For a number of years I had purchased branded products of Coral Snow to help achieve water clarity. That is, until I asked around and found that you can simply make you own Coral Snow solution, saving you hundreds of dollars.
What is Coral Snow?
At its simplest, Coral Snow is a Flocculant.
Flocculant’s work by binding small particles together into a larger mass that can be easily removed via filter socks or a proteins skimmer. The Coral Snow can also help to removal yellowing compounds such as phenols while at the same time helping neutralizes some undesirable chemicals in the system.
Personally, I use this powder Calcium Powder and one jar should last you years. Creating the solution couldn't be any simpler.
The best time to add the solution to you aquarium is after conducting maintenance such as blowing off the rocks, cleaning the glass, siphoning the sand or conducting a water change. Ideally, you should be doing all of the aforementioned maintenance items during a water change, but that discussion is for another time.
- Select a clean container, one that is resealable and able to be shaken. I use an old creatine bottle.(Yes, I am on the GAIN TRAIN)
- For 500ML of solution, add 10 level tablespoons of powder to roughly 425-450ML of RO/DI water.
- Shake the bottle up, and let it sit for two hours. After which, it will be ready to use.
- Now, I don’t believe that you can overdose with this product, but a good recommended dose is 5ml per 50gl of aquarium volume.
- Be sure to shake up the bottle prior to each use as the powder can settle.
Now, on to my personal favorite use of the product: preventing and getting rid of Cyano!
Cyano Solution
Cyano, in all its forms, has been the bane of many a reefers existence. Nothing can upset or ruin the appearance of an aquarium display like that nasty, slimy cyano! The algae is present in all systems, and dates back to the dawn of planet but you can keep it from taking over your aquarium and causing you heartache.
Ideally, you want to be taking preventative measures to ensure that cyano does not gain any real estate in your reef. Prevention is always easier than treatment, but if you can always treat it too.
To amplify the Coral Snow, you will need a bacterial solution. Most will do, but I like Microbacter7 by Brightwell Aquatics. What we are doing here is mixing the bacteria with the Coral Snow, allowing it to bond and adhere to the surface of sand and rock. Basically, we’re trying to eliminate land for the cyano to stake its claim. While most of the Coral Snow will be removed via filtration, there will be a bit that coats you aquariums surfaces, in this case with bacteria that will out compete algae.
The Mix
Take your measured solution of Coral Snow and add it to a small container.
Note that Coral Snow will cloud your aquarium for at least two hours. Filter socks and Protein Skimmer(s) should be left on.
- A plastic or glass cup will suffice.
- Next, add 10 drops of Microbacter7 per 5ML of Coral Snow.
- Allow 5 minutes for the solution to sit and then dose into your aquarium.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you find this Coral Snow solution to be advantageous. I have used it for years with great results. My aquariums are devoid of cyano and nuisance algae. The fish look like their floating in mid air and the true colors of the corals are allowed to shine through.
I dose once a week but there is no issue dosing it daily if you are dealing with a particularly bad breakout of cyano. For best results, siphon out as much cyano as possible before dosing Coral Snow.
Good luck and if you need any additional help please feel free to reach out.
Sonny [email protected]
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2018
- Messages
- 3,802
- Reaction score
- 3,734
Short answer ... once a week with the water change. Others have tried it couple times a week without ill effects.
AKL1950
2500 Club Member
Appears this had nothing to do with my PH. I had Covid and went into quarantine for a week. House was all locked up. Pretty sure the increase in house CO2 caused the drop in PH. Opened the house up after quarantine and PH went right back up to 8.0.
Jetson
MrCurlyman
Community Member
Awesome thanks. I can't believe how well it works. good job
hazylogic
Community Member
Any reason not to mix the coral snow with the microbactor 7 and put it in a dosing container for auto dosing? I’ve been doing this dosing for the past two months and it’s amazing. Just would like to automate it.
Steve2020
Well-Known Member
The calcium carbonate will separate and settle to the bottom of the container. I'm pretty sure when you manually dose to are having to shake your container to mix up the solution prior to dosing aren't you? So IMO auto dosing will not work.
Can this be done while also dosing Randy's alk/calc
Some more advanced doser can also manage a magnetic stirrer - I use this together with GHL doser 2.1 when I dose frozen cyclops. This doser has also the ability to go backwards and in the morning around 7 it pumps up 400 ml in my container. When I wake up - I put in some frozen cyclops and artemia. It will be dosed 10 times during the day. In the evening I pump in and out around 500 ml aquarium water in order to clean the system. They food go to the bottom of the dosing bottle but 60 sec before and during the dosing it runs and mixing the mixture of water and food. You may do this with your snow and bacteria blend too
Sincerely Lasse
Similar threads
