Whats your preferred product for increasing biodiversity?

[Patx]

Perhaps obtaining rubble from different oceans as that might be easier to source and transport then live rock and likely the greatest biodiversity which likely not matched by any bottled products based off grown in a lab.

Yep, everything from the sea is the best bet.
My problems, can't have them here.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I'm following this thread as I feel like this is a really good discussion

 

[jayteerq]

Us old school folks used to just swap a cup of sand with each other.

I wish I had friends like that

 

[Tazman]

: : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : :

Indo-Pacific Sea Farms produces captive-bred marine life for healthier reef aquariums: invertebrates, detritivores, live sand, snail grazers, amphipods, beneficial worms, macro algae, plankton, corals, coral food and beneficial bacteria.

ipsf.com

 

[jayteerq]

Wait so I live in Boston, MA. Could I just go to the beach, take some rocks home and then set it in my sump? Or would beach rocks from New England not be as beneficial as Rocks from Hawaii? Lol

 

[GARRIGA]

Wait so I live in Boston, MA. Could I just go to the beach, take some rocks home and then set it in my sump? Or would beach rocks from New England not be as beneficial as Rocks from Hawaii? Lol

@Paul B takes scuds off the local waters to feed the fish therefore thinking rocks from any ocean likely have beneficial diversity that might help although one won't know until they try it...

 

[vlangel]

Wait so I live in Boston, MA. Could I just go to the beach, take some rocks home and then set it in my sump? Or would beach rocks from New England not be as beneficial as Rocks from Hawaii? Lol

You could definitely do that. @Paul B used to collect water near his Long Island, NY home for water changes and I think he would scoop up some sand too. Paul can you add any insight?

 

[jayteerq]

You could definitely do that. @Paul B used to collect water near his Long Island, NY home for water changes and I think he would scoop up some sand too. Paul can you add any insight?

Oof. That sounds so affordable I’ll be the guinea pig and let you guys know how it turns out!

 

[vlangel]

Oof. That sounds so affordable I’ll be the guinea pig and let you guys know how it turns out!

I am jealous. I live near Pittsburgh, PA so no saltwater beaches very close. I did bring home a few small clusters of oysters from Chincoteque Island a few years ago however. Nothing bad happened and my tank has lots of biolife. It's a mature tank which helps too I am sure.

 

[Rollnwthdatide]

Adn whit sea bacteria in was for AF life source.
I just hope bacteria can be in "dormance" (not totaly dead)
Do you have a link to "adn" test from those you mentionne?
@Keithb22

They can be dormant. It's fine.

 

[Kingsley_Reef]

I may buy a container of life source do a aquabiomics test before and after i finish the container see what the results say

I have also been very interested in buying sand and rubble from Tampa bay saltwater but mixed feelings and cost have pushed it off for now

 

[Kingsley_Reef]

I am jealous. I live near Pittsburgh, PA so no saltwater beaches very close. I did bring home a few small clusters of oysters from Chincoteque Island a few years ago however. Nothing bad happened and my tank has lots of biolife. It's a mature tank which helps too I am sure.

Tampa bay treasurer chest may be your best opinion I’ve been wanting to do it but 100$ for a container of sand idk maybe maybe not

 

[rookie 220]

used algae barns pods,phyto and pns to start my last tank, have anyone else used these
When I go looking around the tank at night I’m seeing pods all over and tank looks good at the 2 years super slow mark

 

[Keithb22]

I feel like it was either an article here or on one of the BRS videos. But I don’t have it at my finger tips and I can only paraphrase and summarize what I remember…might be minimal . Essentially I think both trains of thoughts are correct, the first being that some of these company’s offer bottled bacteria that may not be entirely applicable to Marine needs. of those that are they must be maintained at temperatures that sustain them, the issue being that when they’re shipped they sit in a transportation truck. Obviously these aren’t temp controlled so the risk is the extreme of both, if it gets to hot or to cold the bacteria are negatively impacted. So at this point if you buy the bottled bacteria at the lfs and it’s properly stored, you still risk the impact of prior transportation. I believe Tim’s and Fritz provide data on the bacteria that’s in the bottle and briefly go over their culturing and storage/shelf life. But again, they’re in the game of selling products. Ultimately the biodiversity and resilience on LR is on another level.
Hopefully that summarizes it a bit and some one else can chirp in with more specifics or counter claims, again this was my take from prior research.

Agreed, this is a great conversation to have with fellow hobbyists and maybe we could put together non biased resources/data on this to help others in the future.

 

[Patx]

I may buy a container of life source do a aquabiomics test before and after i finish the container see what the results say

I have also been very interested in buying sand and rubble from Tampa bay saltwater but mixed feelings and cost have pushed it off for now

I got this if it help

Aquaforest Life Source Has Been Tested: Good Biodiversity But High Trace Concentrations - Larger Sample Size Needed | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Hobbyist Josh Vaisman recently sent in a sample of Aquaforest Life Source, the liquid mud product, to AquaBiomics and Triton to evaluate its microbiome and ionic composition. Below are some quotes…

reefbuilders.com

 

[Keithb22]

I think that’s great, thank you. definitely backs up the conversation positively and reinforces the use of live rock as well to insure a solid biodiverse population. I’ll try and find a few more articles after Friday, currently working g a few 12s at the hospital.

 

[Dan_P]

Looking to strengthen my biodiversity. Can you guys recommend me the best products for this? Looking to buy 2-3 bottles from 2-3 different brands to add to my tank.

How did you come to the conclusion that you needed to strengthen biodiversity? And how 2ill you know that you achieved that goal?

I know this is not answering your question. I just thought if there wasn’t a strong reason you could just save your money.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

The key word here is going to be plaques. I think we all need to rethink what we are trying to add to our tanks when we are looking to add diversity of bacteria. Most of what is sold is a single strain or even a group of bacteria... which *might* do something to help if you are really lucky. However, microbes live in plaques/communities that are stunningly complex. There is simply no way to recreate that in a bottle/product. It will be a myriad of bacteria, fungi, and protists living together. Really the only way of adding what you need to make this possible is adding stuff from the ocean or an established tank. I'm a big fan of "base rock rubble" and fresh from the ocean live sand. These not only come with the bacteria that we want but all the organisms that they need to be around to live and function. Just my 2 cents

 

[ScottF]

Anyone got any experience with AF life source

I use it every now and then. I also put a bag of Carib Sea Ocean direct in my sump when I first started my 250gal tank. I don't know if it does any good. Doesn't seem to hurt. Makes the water super cloudy for a few hours. There was a BRS video where they had water tested after using different products and AF Life Source had good results.

It does have some basalt that will stick to magnets. That's something to be aware of if you are worried about that sort of thing damaging pumps. At first I was paranoid and ran the magnet from a magfloat through it to get the basalt out, but that didn't last long. I ended up just putting it in as is later and didn't encounter any issues.

I used it the first few weeks when I started the tank and then later any time I got a new outbreak of something like dinos.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Looking to strengthen my biodiversity. Can you guys recommend me the best products for this? Looking to buy 2-3 bottles from 2-3 different brands to add to my tank.

Add coral.

There is no such thing as a magic potion in a bottle.