My 65G Shallow Reef Tank

reefmutt said:
Bulent are you expecting a nutrient reduction from this new addition? Or a shift in nutrient levels?
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Hi Matt,

Sorry for the late reply. I have been away for a short vacation.

I will pm you a link in which Hans-Werner Balling explains this product in fine detail. Based on my understanding, I expect nutrient reduction as well as a shift in nutrients in their availability. To quote Hans-Werner Balling: "by binding to the biopolymers, the nutrients are changed in the availability. The nutrients can be absorbed by organisms [such as corals, filter feeders and sponges] only after degradation of the biopolymers by marine bacteria that live in symbiosis with sponges, corals, mussels, tubular worms and most other filtering marine animals. This usually means that the filterers harbor these symbiontic bacteria and feed them food, but excess bacteria are digested by the filter. Thus, with REEF ACTIF, the zooxanthellae are starving and partially ejected, but the coral polyps and other filterers are nourished. By the way, hungry [zooxanthellae] also give more energy in the form of organic compounds to the corals. The corals can therefore afford to double a part of the Zooxanthellen in front of the door. And that can be controlled quite well. If you add less REEF ACTIF, the lightening effect diminishes, if you add more, the effect is strengthened."

This product therefore seems to work in a similar fashion to zeolites. For this reason, I will be using it very sparingly.
 
Thanks for the info Bulent, I should give it a try with my 35-40ppm n and .2 ppm P, it might help me reduce the numbers a bit.. and give the corals TONS to consume.
 
reefmutt said:
Thanks!
Curious to see your experience with the product. ;)
Click to expand...

I have ordered the product along with TM Lipovit (I do not want to neglect my fish).

As per Hans-Werner's recommendation, during the first four weeks, I will dose 1/4 of the recommended dose once a week. In the next four weeks, I will increase the dose to 1/2 of the recommended dose while maintaining the frequency of dosing. Then, I will increase it to the recommended dose, but will still dose once a week. If all goes well, then I may experiment with different frequencies of dosing (up to three times a week as per instructions). There will be a 10-day break in between dosing due to another vacation.

This is an expensive product. For this reason, I have ordered the smallest size. It will keep me going during the experiment period. I may be the second person after Leonardo who will write about this product.
 
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Very nice, Bulent. The colonies are really getting that mature, natural look to them.
They seem to be growing very fast.
 
reefmutt said:
Very nice, Bulent. The colonies are really getting that mature, natural look to them.
They seem to be growing very fast.
Click to expand...

Thank you Matt. Colours are not at their best possibly because PO4 is a little higher than its historical average. Today's NO3 and PO4 test results are 0.2-0.5 ppm and 0.046-0.092 mg/L. The ratio between NO3 and PO4 is now almost 10:1. Historically this ratio has always been about 200:1.

I cannot complain about the growth rates. Higher than average PO4 presence certainly helps. Acropora microclados in the first two photos (top left) measured 9" X 8" X 6" (H) on 5th May. It has not been fragged yet.
 
Beautiful!!! How long did it take for the corals to grow out to that size? They have such pleasant colors:)


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Love the look of all those larger colonies Bulent! The layout is fantastic and everything looks happy and healthy!!
 
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Wrangy said:
Love the look of all those larger colonies Bulent! The layout is fantastic and everything looks happy and healthy!!
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Thank you Dom. I will eventually get a bigger tank, so that I can spread the exiting rocks a little to enable the existing colonies to grow even bigger. However, this won't happen for another year or two.
 
DiscusHeckel said:
Thank you. I will give you just one example.



Acropora microclados (the frag at the bottom- 1.5") June 2015:



P1060947_zpss4dcxagd.jpg




Yesterday (top left- 9" X 8" X 6" (H))



P1100017_zps7rix0top.jpg
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Wow! That's incredible!! I hope when I get my little sps frags they'll grow out like that!!


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Maddlesrain said:
Wow! That's incredible!! I hope when I get my little sps frags they'll grow out like that!!


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Click to expand...

Thanks. I hope they will. Growing corals is a very fulfilling experience. I would ensure that you have very strong and random flow, steady nutrients (phosphates in particular), strong lights [minimum of 300 mmol/m2/sec PAR] with right spectrum [heavy on blue] and trace elements.

To elaborate on trace elements, there is discussion on this forum (and possibly elsewhere) about whether dosing additional trace elements beyond water changes is necessary or not. I wrote to Hans-Werner Balling and asked him to provide me with a scientific article on this topic. He was very obliging:

https://www.burgerszoo.com/media/560526/chapter-15.pdf

In his reply to me, he wrote: "... Since then [20 years ago] I have read and published more articles with more recent analysis of coral skeletons and coral tissues which seem to confirm my findings from more than 20 years back. Trace elements are more concentrated in coral tissue than they are in the skeletons but since the skeletons in stony corals and especially SPS are so much more in mass than the tissue they are an important sink for trace elements in reef aquaria. This is my view on trace elements and their utilisation in reef aquaria for more than 20 years now and although I have tested and reviewed it several times I did not have to retract it."

I believe he recently uploaded the same article to a thread on this forum recently as well.

For what it is worth, I use TM K+ elements [contained in TM NP-Bacto-Balance] and A- elements.

I hope this helps.
 
I forgot to mention water temperature. I keep mine slightly elevated, 27-28C ± 1C (error margin). Elevated temperature increases all animals' metabolisms including corals. However, it can also amplify problems if your tank takes a downturn for one reason or the other.

Cheers
 
DiscusHeckel said:
Thanks. I hope they will. Growing corals is a very fulfilling experience. I would ensure that you have very strong and random flow, steady nutrients (phosphates in particular), strong lights [minimum of 300 mmol/m2/sec PAR] with right spectrum [heavy on blue] and trace elements.



To elaborate on trace elements, there is discussion on this forum (and possibly elsewhere) about whether dosing additional trace elements beyond water changes is necessary or not. I wrote to Hans-Werner Balling and asked him to provide me with a scientific article on this topic. He was very obliging:



https://www.burgerszoo.com/media/560526/chapter-15.pdf



In his reply to me, he wrote: "... Since then [20 years ago] I have read and published more articles with more recent analysis of coral skeletons and coral tissues which seem to confirm my findings from more than 20 years back. Trace elements are more concentrated in coral tissue than they are in the skeletons but since the skeletons in stony corals and especially SPS are so much more in mass than the tissue they are an important sink for trace elements in reef aquaria. This is my view on trace elements and their utilisation in reef aquaria for more than 20 years now and although I have tested and reviewed it several times I did not have to retract it."



I believe he recently uploaded the same article to a thread on this forum recently as well.



For what it is worth, I use TM K+ elements [contained in TM NP-Bacto-Balance] and A- elements.



I hope this helps.
Click to expand...


DiscusHeckel said:
I forgot to mention water temperature. I keep mine slightly elevated, 27-28C ± 1C (error margin). Elevated temperature increases all animals' metabolisms including corals. However, it can also amplify problems if your tank takes a downturn for one reason or the other.

Cheers
Click to expand...



Thank you for all the information! I appreciate it! I've started in on the article; very informative read! I'll have to finish it up when I get off work this afternoon.

I also read up on the bacto balance a tiny bit as well. Do you use it with other Tropic Marin products, such as their salt? Some of the threads seem to agree it's a necessity, others not so much.




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Beautiful tank DH! What are your thoughts on the other side of the trace elements debate, about coral tissues and skeletons having higher amounts because they use it more as a substitution for the other more major elements that aren't as present at the time of growth?

I am in my car at the moment (Waiting on my son to get out of school, not driving 😜) so I can't pull up the thread I saw the debate on but I believe it involved Randy Holmes-Farley and other more science oriented reef people.

The reason I am looking at this is because I am currently using AF's Component 123+ system. I am soon to finish my first container of it and after some reading around I have a hard time justifying it's addition.. I am wondering if it is necessary for better growth or colors. I don't think the evidence provided in the pro argument is necessarily absolute proof that it's true.. more situational. Unfortunately the other side says the evidence isn't conclusive enough to say whether it actually helps or not.

Christian

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Maddlesrain said:
Thank you for all the information! I appreciate it! I've started in on the article; very informative read! I'll have to finish it up when I get off work this afternoon.

I also read up on the bacto balance a tiny bit as well. Do you use it with other Tropic Marin products, such as their salt? Some of the threads seem to agree it's a necessity, others not so much.

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Click to expand...

Yes, I started to use Tropic Marin Pro-reef salt at the same time as NP-Bacto-Balance. It seems to be a very good salt even though there can be inconsistencies in water parameters from batch to batch. I am also starting Tropic Marin Reef Actif this weekend.
 
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