Whats your preferred product for increasing biodiversity?

[BryanM]

If I thought I needed to do this, right now I think I'd be looking at AF Life Source.

 

[unchainedcoot]

If I thought I needed to do this, right now I think I'd be looking at AF Life Source.

Bought a bag of life source. Dosed for only a few weeks and then gave up. It just made too much of a mess for me

 

[AliCell]

reef vigor is quite nice

 

[gbroadbridge]

If I thought I needed to do this, right now I think I'd be looking at AF Life Source.

Umm, mangrove mud shipped from dirty tidal areas of Fiji to Poland and then packaged and resold world wide.

Not sure how much viable diversity would be left - I guess minerals and waste from the thousands of cruise ships would be in the box though.

Have I tried it in my tank? No - but I vacation there every summer and wouldn't swim in the mangrove areas

Just my opinion

 

[Michael Adam]

I went to two local fish stores and bought small piece of live rock from them and put them in my sump. Only cost about $15 for a piece.

 

[56longroof]

Nothing in a bottle will compare to live sand and live rock directly from the ocean. Tanks that are set up this way mature so much faster and in my opinion are alot healthier.

 

[ScottF]

Bought a bag of life source. Dosed for only a few weeks and then gave up. It just made too much of a mess for me

It is pretty messy stuff.. I filled a quart chinese food container halfway with ro/di water and mixed in 2 or 3 spoons of the mud for my 250gal tank water. Would always get it all over my hands while scooping it out.

Zero visibility in the tank for a few hours after pouring it into my sump.

 

[Northern Flicker]

some of the micro organisms will be lost but it won't affect the bacterial diversity, each coral is loaded with its own unique sets of bacteria which to me is the most important to get the tank to mature faster.

The term biodiversity confuses me cause I'm not sure if it means in terms of micro organisms or bacteria.

I think people use biodiversity a bit…loosely here. For example everyone says how great it is to use live rock direct from the ocean. But do we know what % of that actually makes it to the tank? Does it continue to hold its ground in a tank system or do certain bacteria tend to eventually become predominant in all our tanks due to the conditions?

Mature rock from another established reef, not shipped but quickly transferred and kept wet and warm, is a tried and true method of success since I started back in the late 90s.

 

[Dfost]

I don’t know if it added biodiversity at all, but I did definitely notice a difference in the tank and the weeks following after dosing life source the tank sort of stabilized itself following it and my acroporra are growing like crazy. Had some weird Dino I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of, and it has disappeared.

 

[ptrusk]

I think people use biodiversity a bit…loosely here. For example everyone says how great it is to use live rock direct from the ocean. But do we know what % of that actually makes it to the tank? Does it continue to hold its ground in a tank system or do certain bacteria tend to eventually become predominant in all our tanks due to the conditions?

Mature rock from another established reef, not shipped but quickly transferred and kept wet and warm, is a tried and true method of success since I started back in the late 90s.

Right on! It is all survival of the fittest. Make some friends with established tanks. If you are in the boonies like me, Indo pacific Sea Farms will sell you some bugs.

 

[Alex’s_Mini_Reef]

Im huge on AF Life Source, Been using it for a year and help me overcome Dino’s. A few weeks back a reefer sent out a Aquabiomics test on the humble fish forum and realized it contains quite a bit of beneficial biodiversity found in a mature tank. Started my latest tank with AF LifeSource mixed into my sand bed. Plus BiWeekly Dosing half the suggested amount.

The Only Cons is it does leave a dusty Tank for a day or two and the metals that everyone talks about but found using a strong magnet at bottom of the cup will quickly take care of it and prevent the introduction into your tank.


The other thing I’d suggest when available is clean sourced live rock or sand from Aquabiomics. I like the idea of knowing what’s in my rock and knowing there is no unwanted pest/disease . Below is the report of the Biodiversity found in there media.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

100% live rock from a place like tbs. Anything else is a waste of time.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

I think people use biodiversity a bit…loosely here. For example everyone says how great it is to use live rock direct from the ocean. But do we know what % of that actually makes it to the tank? Does it continue to hold its ground in a tank system or do certain bacteria tend to eventually become predominant in all our tanks due to the conditions?

Mature rock from another established reef, not shipped but quickly transferred and kept wet and warm, is a tried and true method of success since I started back in the late 90s.

100% live rock from the ocean is. usually shipped in full water over night. I've purchased it many times over the past few years and it's objectively the best choice

 

[Liquid361]

Add coral.

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

Maybe not, but that’s a great name for a new product!!!

 

[RockRash]

Live ocean sand or rock.

Yep just got my little order a few days ago

 

[Subsea]

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.

I don’t consider bottled bacteria or wet sand with only bacteria as live.

Biodiversity is micro inverts, micro fauna & micro fana and bacteria. I get that from diver collected live rock. If you need to dip that, then you are not really interested in biodiversity. Diver collected live sand has different biodiversity than live rock. End goal is have a microbial food web in the tank that feeds multiple filter feeders with heavy emphases on ornamental sponges.

Does your live rock look like this?

 

[Northern Flicker]

100% live rock from the ocean is. usually shipped in full water over night. I've purchased it many times over the past few years and it's objectively the best choice

No wonder you guys are paying so much for it! They used to ship it wrapped in wet paper towel or even if it’s in water.

Even if it’s in water with enough air and warmth so sustain it, I would be very curious to find out just how much of that ocean “biodiversity” survives shipping > 1 month > 1 year. I’m not talking about the strands of caulerpa or the sponges or worms.

 

[Northern Flicker]

I don’t consider bottled bacteria or wet sand with only bacteria as live.

Biodiversity is micro inverts, micro fauna & micro fana and bacteria. I get that from diver collected live rock. If you need to dip that, then you are not really interested in biodiversity. Diver collected live sand has different biodiversity than live rock. End goal is have a microbial food web in the tank that feeds multiple filter feeders with heavy emphases on ornamental sponges.

Does your live rock look like this?

No and thank god it doesn’t cool tank pics though, like a little tide pool.

 

[Patx]

I don’t consider bottled bacteria or wet sand with only bacteria as live.

Biodiversity is micro inverts, micro fauna & micro fana and bacteria. I get that from diver collected live rock. If you need to dip that, then you are not really interested in biodiversity. Diver collected live sand has different biodiversity than live rock. End goal is have a microbial food web in the tank that feeds multiple filter feeders with heavy emphases on ornamental sponges.

Does your live rock look like this?

I send them a email... asking if they ship to Canada $$$

 

[Alex’s_Mini_Reef]

I don’t consider bottled bacteria or wet sand with only bacteria as live.

Biodiversity is micro inverts, micro fauna & micro fana and bacteria. I get that from diver collected live rock. If you need to dip that, then you are not really interested in biodiversity. Diver collected live sand has different biodiversity than live rock. End goal is have a microbial food web in the tank that feeds multiple filter feeders with heavy emphases on ornamental sponges.

Does your live rock look like this?

The question is how much better is rock looking that vs rubble pieces or sand collected from the oceon ,I think many reefers are looking for a clean aesthetic looks vs what a natural reef would look like but also wanting a healthy population of diverse bacteria to help mature a tank.