Amino acids

[Kindred]

anyone using brightwell, what are you dosing and how often per 10 gallon of tank size?...

right now im dosing 2 ML per day for my 75 , just wondering how this compares to others and results...directions are a bit unclear ,and say "adjust as needed" kind of thing...

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Brightwell aminos are pretty good and you don’t need much. Ime larger doses of aminos don’t make a difference. If it’s in the water it will get used by whatever needs it or can use it. Adding more doesn’t mean more gets used, that’s what I would think at least.

 

[TheKyle]

What a great thread! I’m considering aminos. Seachem fuel is intriguing as it has trace elements but I’m kinda turned off by the vitamin c. Directions on my salifert iodine stead state presence of ascorbic acid can provide invalid test results. I dose potassium iodide on the daily and would like to be able to test for it.

 

[kyley]

Just curious, has anyone dosed specifically Vitamins or Multi-Vitamins with any good results?

I haven't been doing it long (seeing some SPS color up a bit better so far), but I'm using all these Aquaforest products:
Amino Mix
Energy
Vitality ("vitamins")
Build

I've seen a lot of amazing tanks using these four. And it's soooo simple. Just 5 drops of each every other day for my 120 gallon tank. No need to use a diluted Acropower on a doser when it only takes a few drops of these...

I’m considering aminos. Seachem fuel is intriguing as it has trace elements but I’m kinda turned off by the vitamin c.

IMO, you don't want an all-in-one with trace elements as well. What if you find some trace elements are getting too high? Then you have to stop dosing aminos because you have to stop the trace dosing? I'm adding Fauna Marin trace elements to my Ca/Alk/Reef Mineral Salt (from Aquaforest as well).

I'm frugal so I did the math, and Aquaforest aminos are cheapest (and simplest). I also did the math on Ca/Alk dosing and found that Aquaforest is barely more expensive than Bulk Reef Supply, but it also adds small amounts of trace elements (in the reef mineral salt) to "maintain ionic balance." Only issue for me was that Aquaforest components are half as strong as BRS' (so I would have to refill twice as often) and that's because their Alk can't be mixed any stronger. So what did I do? I'm doubling the Ca and Reef Mineral Salt concentration (confirmed with Aquaforest that this is okay) and then using the stronger BRS alkalinity.

Oh, as for trace, I watched a BRS video about adding Fauna Marin's three trace elements to BRS' Ca/Alk dosing. So that's what I'm now doing with my Aquaforest dosing:
Aquaforest Ca + Mg (2x strength)
Aquaforest Reef Mineral Salt (2x strength)
BRS Alkalinity (normal strength)
Fauna Marin trace elements 1, 2, and 3 added to the 3 above, as described in the latter part of this video.

Cheers,
--Kyle

 

[TheKyle]

IMO, you don't want an all-in-one with trace elements as well. What if you find some trace elements are getting too high? Then you have to stop dosing aminos because you have to stop the trace dosing? I'm adding Fauna Marin trace elements to my Ca/Alk/Reef Mineral Salt (from Aquaforest as well).

Curious. How do you go about testing for trace elements? I’m thinking icp might be the only way to go but it’s so expensive for me. The biggest reason Ive been reluctant to dose much trace elements.

 

[kyley]

Curious. How do you go about testing for trace elements? I’m thinking icp might be the only way to go but it’s so expensive for me. The biggest reason Ive been reluctant to dose much trace elements.

I haven't yet. But I will test occasionally for Strontium and Potassium (both Salifert) and Iodine (probably using a Hanna Nitrite + Red Sea Iodine test); not any of the others.

I could see doing ICP occasionally as well (or instead of), but that's costly...
--Kyle