Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Any concern with it being fertilizer / animal
Feed grade and not food grade?

Not really. Trace elements are added at such low levels that an impurity is necessarily super low once in the tank.

That is not true of large volume additives, such as alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, etc.

 

[MNAquariums]

It smells so horrible, I only dosed it two or three times, each time I left the house for a few days.

In any case, while I recognize the potential benefit of displacing cyano with other bacteria, and I know many folks go the powdered calcium carbonate plus bacteria route, I’ve yet to be convinced it’s the best way to deal with problem cyano.

Dosing bacteria isn´t really a quick fix, so the results tends to come slowly.
Consistency over a longer period often a couple of months is usually needed to build up biofilm and stable competition against cyano, dinoflaggelates and algae.
There are several that doesn´t have a strong smell that works well as long as the tank is not Po4 starved, since beneficial bacteria struggle when phosphate is too low.

In the beginning it can help to split the weekly dose into daily doses to keep a steady flow of bacteria supporting the biofilm. Later on, once or twice a week is usually enough.
And of course, turning off any UV‑C while dosing is important so the bacteria actually get a chance to attach to surfaces.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dosing bacteria isn´t really a quick fix, so the results tends to come slowly.
Consistency over a longer period often a couple of months is usually needed to build up biofilm and stable competition against cyano, dinoflaggelates and algae.
There are several that doesn´t have a strong smell that works well as long as the tank is not Po4 starved, since beneficial bacteria struggle when phosphate is too low.

In the beginning it can help to split the weekly dose into daily doses to keep a steady flow of bacteria supporting the biofilm. Later on, once or twice a week is usually enough.
And of course, turning off any UV‑C while dosing is important so the bacteria actually get a chance to attach to surfaces.

Thanks. I don’t use uv except during a Dino issue.

 

[EnterName]

I don´t have links to any particular studies, but interesting that you mention AF Life Source.BRS have a very good video: Ep. 7 “Best Biome Cycle? Aquaforest Life Source vs. Real Reef vs. Gulf Rock vs. Marine Pure brick”.Here they sent biome samples to a lab, and the results were very interesting. It doesn’t show anything magical happening from dosing bacteria, but the impact of adding bacteria is clearly reflected in how the biome develops.
With dosing bacteria it’s not about increasing biodiversity in terms of number of species. It’s about adding the right functional groups that shift competition and biofilm structure.

Okay, so no "studies" just a test from BRS (I don't want to hijack Randy's thread so I try to keep it short instead of starting an argument why I think the experiment might be flawed )

Is there any evidence that adding a few of these "right functional groups" actually shifts the biofilm structure in a meaningful way in an established tank that already has biofilm?

 

[Lasse]

Is there any evidence that adding a few of these "right functional groups" actually shifts the biofilm structure in a meaningful way in an established tank that already has biofilm?

Count me in on that one. IMO, the bus is full, so to speak.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Dan_P]

I see two pictures on my iPhone right now in the quoted post.

Do you see them now?

Just looked. No pictures.

 

[Dan_P]

Looks like they got deleted (or access permissions changed) on the server-side but the reference is still in the post.

The direct links to the images don't load either:
https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/img_3455-jpeg.4151518/

Thanks for the detective work.

 

[Garf]

Just looked. No pictures.

Yes, they have disappeared again. Odd.

 

[Lasse]

Yes, they have disappeared again. Odd.

I think it is the security settings on R2R's server that prevent some people from seeing the images. If you use a VPN from outside the US, you're out of luck. Lately, there have even been issues with VPN servers within the US. Very annoying.

not so sincerely Lasse

 

[Dan_P]

Wow that is somewhat unsettling. Have you scooped out out yet?

I had a small fish from Long Island Sound in my aquarium years ago from which I presume this was pooped out. Haven’t slept well since.

 

[BeanAnimal]

 

[Dan_P]

Green Chromis

It’s now been 4 months since the three green chromis were added. In my last tank I had green chromis a couple of times. Once I added 11 at once from the lfs. Like most people experience , they fairly rapidly dwindled down to almost none.

Many have attributed this aggression between the chromis. Others have attributed it to uronema. The fish I got were carefully quarantined and treated by Dr Reef, and the hope was that perhaps a group would last if not for uronema.

I understand 4 months is not long term, but the three chromis are all doing very well and do not seem to be aggressive toward one another. In fact, they and the yellow tang and the foxface are often grouped together.

So the experiment is so far a happy success.

Just getting around to this thread…
I never had issues with Chromis. The batch of 7 is down to 5 after several years. Both deaths occurred years after buying them. One had a damaged jaw when I bought it and fed it by creating a cloud of food for it to swim through. The other one just slowed down after a couple years and died.

Add a third possibility for having issues with these fish: underfeeding. These things are very calm when well fed and there isn’t much chasing.

 

[Dan_P]

Magnifica Very Unhappy

yesterday it shrank up later in the day. It has not done that for a long time.

This morning it had released from the rock and was upside down on top of the Duncan below it. It was inflated like normal (see picks below) so I used my bare hand to gently try to move it back to the rock. The tentacles were sticky to both me and nearby rocks, but I got it back in place.

Now I have to guess what is wrong and try to fix it, but I’m at a significant loss to come up with something. :(

Old posr, just catching up…

The ref circled coral used be colored, blue or purple. It looks black. What happened?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Old posr, just catching up…

The ref circled coral used be colored, blue or purple. It looks black. What happened?

Just a lighting artifact. It’s a nice blue purple under my normal lighting. This pic is from 2 weeks ago. It seems to be doing fine.

 

[Dan_P]

Just a lighting artifact. It’s a nice blue purple under my normal lighting. This pic is from 2 weeks ago. It seems to be doing fine.

Thanks