Aquabella treatment

[Mgoc]

Hi everyone, I came across this treatment called Aquabella on the internet and to be honest it sounds too good to be true. They claim that you dont even need to do water changes for 1 year when using this product. I decided to try it anyway since I have 2 tanks, one of them is 50 gallon that I use as a QT and a FOWLR 180 g.

The reason I started this thread is not to try and convince anyone to use this product but to share with everyone the results it may or may not deliver in my experience using it so that people can decide themselves if it is worth trying it. I will keep you posted with water parameters.

I already started the treatment 4 days ago and I just now finished testing the water and here are the results:

Before treatment:

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 40
Calcium: 440
Alk: 11
Phospates: 0.25
Mg: 1100
S.G. :1.024


After treatment (4 days):

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20
Calcium 430
Alk: 11
Phosphates: 0.25
Mg:1100
S.g. : 1.024

I will keep testing and updating this thread as often as possible and hopefully it will help somebody

 

[Mike J.]

Your mag is very low. Lower than most salt mixes mix up. It makes me wonder. Also, I'd be concerned with the ammonia reading unless it is a very new tank.

 

[cdness]

Sounds like a snake oil treatment... Keep us posted but sounds too good to be true usually is...

How long has the tank been up? The ammonia worries me as you should see no ammonia if the bacteria cultures are keeping up with the bio-load...

 

[Eienna]

What exactly is it supposed to do?

 

[Mgoc]

Mag reading might be wrong since I just got the test kit and I am still Learning how to use it. The tank is 2 months old and is only a qt.

 

[Mgoc]

Cdness. I agree that the ammonia should be zero and that's one of the reasons why I bought this product. And yes it sounds too good to be true but I don't have much to lose by using it in the qt and besides it's only a bunch of bacteria which after all is the base of every aquarium bio filter.

 

[Mgoc]

What exactly is it supposed to do?

Its supposed to optimize the decomposition of water contaminants

 

[Mgoc]

Your mag is very low. Lower than most salt mixes mix up. It makes me wonder. Also, I'd be concerned with the ammonia reading unless it is a very new tank.

I re tested for mg and yes I was doing it wrong, the new test says my mg is at 1320

 

[jsin]

I used the same product about a year ago. It had a money back guaranty, so I thought why not. I used it on a 30 gallon mixed reef. My end results : I lost the receipt so no money back for me, I still ended up doing water changes throught the year, i also noticed a small drop in nitrates at first. I do hope you have a better experience but as we all know if it sounds to good it usually is.

 

[Mgoc]

I do hope you have a better experience but as we all know if it sounds to good it usually is.

I agree with you, it sounds too good to be true and it probably is but it's not horribly expensive and i think its worth the shot but i wouldnt risk my main tank being a FOWLR, theres no way I would do it if i had thousands of dollars woth of corals in there and i think thats one of the reasons people are so afraid to try this kind of stuff and one of my reasons to start this thread so that everyone can see my results and decide for themselves and that's why i'm using it iin the QT and only if it works there will I invest in two treatments for my 180. Thanks for the good wishes.

 

[Eienna]

If you want bacterial additives, go with Dr. Tim's. His stuff works.

 

[mcarroll]

Product claims are what they are - especially in a market saturated with vendors all selling the same set of additives who are trying to differentiate themselves in any way they can. I'm sure there's some circumstance where the claim is true...so they are within the limits. For whatever that's worth. If we weeded out all the products that have sketchy/false/misleading info on the label, the shelves would be bare.... Hence we have caveat emptor. It's kinda redundant to complain about this IMO.

Back to the topic: I could be wrong, but I think this is simply another bacterial treatment a la Biozyme, Prodibio BioDigest and the rest.

-Matt

 

[beaslbob]

I consider any of the cycle products (whether chemical or bacterial) at best unnecessary and at worse can degrade tank conditions.

Even in a pristine tank with no bacteria, plant life like macro algaes will consume ammonia breaking up the dangerous cycle spikes. Just like fully cured (and algae covered) live rock is supposed to do.

So I just start a tank with macro algaes right from the start and add fish slowly at first. At the most all I measure is an initial nitrate spike.


Oh yea and by the way, I don't change water ever. Have ran tanks for up to 9 years with no water changes.


my .02

 

[mcarroll]

Excellent point! None of these kinds of products should be considered necessary. I look at the good ones at a makeshift substitute for patience.

Patience is really all that's required - the bacteria will find their way into the tank on your hands, in dust, etc.

Also, didn't mean to say there's no difference between the products...freeze dried vs nitrogen-sealed in glass vs liquid in a plastic bottle must surely yield some difference in shelf life. Other forms may be easier to handle or easier to dose properly, etc.

FWIW, I generally seed a new tank using just live rock. I have used products like these to get a handle on a tank with out of control algae growth, when coupled with a fix of the root of the problem.

-Matt

 

[Mgoc]

I agree with all of you when you say treatments like this are not necessary but some newbies (like myself) are bounded to make mistakes along the way. I decided to use it because I am new to the hobby, my QT was not set up properly due to lack of knowledge and time since it used to be a freshwater tank which became saltwater gradually with live stock in it at all times (Columbian sharks) and it was because of my fish needs that I went from FW to brackish to SW. I had no idea I would have to do this when I bought the fish and therefore, my research on SW wasn't as extensive as I would've liked it to be but I did my best. My parameters are not too bad considering I went SW about 3 months ago and the QT had to be moved once. This thread that I started is only for informational purposes since I am sure there is a lot of people out there who are just getting started in this wonderful hobby, many of them with no clue of what they are doing so I am trying to put a tiny bit of information about this product hoping it will help somebody. I am already planning to add a refugium to my 180 to help the nitrogen cycle and I will need tips and advice on how to do it and I hope I will find it in this forums (maybe you guys can help me?).

Had I known about how good a refugium is for your tank I would have set one up from the get go and this thread would even exist. So from my very limited point of view my best advice is not to buy this product or any other like it but to start working on a good refugium (if your time and pocket allow you to do so). What do you guys think?

 

[Eienna]

I feel it may be helpful in some situations. I, for instance, started with mostly dry rock to try to avoid most unpleasant hitchhikers (goofed on that later...but that's irrelevant.) Therefore, I had a major deficit of the ocean's nitrifying, denitrifying, and waste-decomposing bacteria. I got the nitrifying bacteria with Dr. Tim's One and Only (terrific stuff...) but I had quite a bit of trouble with nitrates and waste that wasn't breaking down properly. I couldn't afford a skimmer or a refugium, especially since I am intending to upgrade my tank size ASAP, and I can't grow macro in my DT to save my life because the snails keep eating it. I tried Dr. Tim's Waste-Away and my nitrates are down to 0 - and appear to be staying that way. I do still have a little problem with phosphate, which I'm working on, but the products have been EXTREMELY helpful.

 

[Mgoc]

I am glad that stuff worked for you. If I had known about it I probably would have tried it before the aquabella system.

There are too many different products out there and not enough testimonials (or at least not enough that I could find...) and that's why I wanted to share my experience with this one.

 

[Mgoc]

Hello everyone. I just got home and decide to test the water in my 55 g that I started treating with Aquabella about 6 days ago. Here are the results:

Ammonia: Still not quite zero but under 0.25
Nitrites: zero
Nitrates: below 5 ppm
PH: 8.0

So far so good...

 

[Eienna]

If you're looking for testimonials, try this one: Dr. Tim's One and Only for Freshwater actually saved my tank at one point.

I had a fully-stocked (bordering on overstocked) 50g freshwater tank. I used a dewormer and accidentally completely destroyed my cycle. Ammonia soared up to 7 very fast - before I caught what was happening. My fish were in horrible distress. I did an emergency complete water change, and the next morning we sprinted over to the nearest store that had it. We dumped it in and I prayed. Less than 48 hours later, ammonia and nitrite were 0 and stayed that way. Total losses? One rummynose tetra.

 

[mcarroll]

Hello everyone. I just got home and decide to test the water in my 55 g that I started treating with Aquabella about 6 days ago. Here are the results:

Ammonia: Still not quite zero but under 0.25
Nitrites: zero
Nitrates: below 5 ppm
PH: 8.0

So far so good...

If your ammonia kit has any age to it, I think your .25 may be a false reading. I think I've seen one do that before.

Since it sounds like your tank "ramped up to seawater" there shouldn't have been a reason for a cycle, and there should also be no reason for ammonia to show up. If the rocks were rearranged or sand seriously disturbed recently then you may have a different story. On that note, any chance there's a lot of detritus in the sand bed? Common in older tanks, especially with bigger fish.

If I were you I wouldn't worry about the product selection as if it were a mistake - it should help in the short run. In the long run you hopefully won't need it though.

-Matt