AquaForest life source magnetic particles

chris_pull · Feb 17, 2022

I recent bought a bag of AquaForest life source as way to try and boost microbial diversity in my reef tank, especially as I have Dinos. But I saw a post about it containing magnetic particles and so using a magnet myself I checked it out and a lot of magnetic particles seem to be present. Obviously this is at first alarming but how worried should I be? I know some people have used this stuff for a long time without ill effects.

Picture shows metal fragments on the side of the container

vetteguy53081 · Feb 17, 2022

chris_pull said:
I recent bought a bag of AquaForest life source as way to try and boost microbial diversity in my reef tank, especially as I have Dinos. But I saw a post about it containing magnetic particles and so using a magnet myself I checked it out and a lot of magnetic particles seem to be present. Obviously this is at first alarming but how worried should I be? I know some people have used this stuff for a long time without ill effects.

Picture shows metal fragments on the side of the container

It’s the same compound found in Hawaiian black sand and harmless
You could take the liberty and remove by magnet
I had black sand and my glass cleaner always grabbed particles

chris_pull · Feb 17, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
It’s the same compound found in Hawaiian black sand and harmless
You could take the liberty and remove by magnet
I had black sand and my glass cleaner always grabbed particles

Yes funnily enough I just found AF just did a livestream about it and addressed these issues. It’s oceanic basalt which has magnetic properties.

Superlightman · Mar 23, 2022

Yes, but is this metallic basalt harmfully or not? In the Ocean probably not but in our close small system if the accumulate?
Maybe Randy can help us?
@Randy Holmes-Farley ?

Chris Spaulding · Mar 23, 2022

I found the same thing when I used my magnetic stir plate mixing a batch, I decided not to put it in at this time. The big question I have is being we are using it as a flocculent for the most part will these particles find their way to the magnets in my pumps and wave makers?

Saltyanimals · Jul 19, 2022

Chris Spaulding said:
I found the same thing when I used my magnetic stir plate mixing a batch, I decided not to put it in at this time. The big question I have is being we are using it as a flocculent for the most part will these particles find their way to the magnets in my pumps and wave makers?

excellent point in finding it's way into the pumps and potentially damaging equipment. I'm wondering if it makes sense to run a neo-magnet over to physically remove those before using.. or is this taking some of the voodoo out of the product?

chris_pull · Jul 21, 2022

Saltyanimals said:
excellent point in finding it's way into the pumps and potentially damaging equipment. I'm wondering if it makes sense to run a neo-magnet over to physically remove those before using.. or is this taking some of the voodoo out of the product?

I was cleaning my MP10s recently and wondered was all this black "slime" was on the magnets and realised it was coated in the magnetic basalt fragments. In theory, the magnets in pumps should be harder than the basalt, but still, it's put me off using it. I think the only reason to really want to add this mud is for the potential microbial community it adds (see Ryan's BRS talk) so you could probably run it through a filter sock. I find that mixing it up with tank water and leaving it for a few seconds results in most of the basalt sinking to the bottom.

Saltyanimals · Jul 21, 2022

chris_pull said:
I was cleaning my MP10s recently and wondered was all this black "slime" was on the magnets and realised it was coated in the magnetic basalt fragments. In theory, the magnets in pumps should be harder than the basalt, but still, it's put me off using it. I think the only reason to really want to add this mud is for the potential microbial community it adds (see Ryan's BRS talk) so you could probably run it through a filter sock. I find that mixing it up with tank water and leaving it for a few seconds results in most of the basalt sinking to the bottom.

Thinking about the instructions; the benefit would be derived by the physical spreading/coating of the product into DT. This means ALL things DT including rock, coral etc. The alternative would be just to spread in the sump and avoid coating DT. Granted some will likely slipped through the return back to DT, but I wonder how this may impact the benefits of the product. From a biome and bacterial perspective, it should continue to spread as the population multiplies. This seems like a no-brainer which makes me wonder why AF would even say to do in DT given the potential negative over recommending sump use.

Betex · Jul 21, 2022

Saltyanimals said:
Thinking about the instructions; the benefit would be derived by the physical spreading/coating of the product into DT. This means ALL things DT including rock, coral etc. The alternative would be just to spread in the sump and avoid coating DT. Granted some will likely slipped through the return back to DT, but I wonder how this may impact the benefits of the product. From a biome and bacterial perspective, it should continue to spread as the population multiplies. This seems like a no-brainer which makes me wonder why AF would even say to do in DT given the potential negative over recommending sump use.

It would be just as bad doing it to the sump, when I was using it and did it through the sump all the magnetic pieces started to stick to the pumps as well, this happened on the DT just as well with the wave pumps. I stopped using it after seeing this during some clean up.

It's nice to hear they are working on a cleaner version though if its real.

Reefahholic · Nov 1, 2022

Saltyanimals said:
This seems like a no-brainer which makes me wonder why AF would even say to do in DT given the potential negative over recommending sump use.

Typically you’d want the mud in your Display by the main rock structures so that the beneficial microbiome in the mud can transfer into the rocks and the DT area in general.

If you’ve ever seen a reefer that started a frag tank with only frag racks and coral you will notice that even if it’s plumbed into the main “established system” the remote frag tank will not do as well initially, and will often have multiple issues even though it shares the same water with the main system. IMO this is because “most of the biodiversity” will stay closer to the rocks. I think this is also why you will see many species of snails, and other CUC members return to the rocks over and over again even if you manually place them behind the rocks or on the back glass (where a lot of film algae is growing). They know their primary food source and diversity of food is on or near the rocks.

Reefahholic · Nov 1, 2022

@Randy Holmes-Farley can you help us out here with your .02 cents.

Reefahholic · Nov 1, 2022

@MnFish1
@sixty_reefer

Kasrift · Aug 4, 2023

Reefahholic said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley can you help us out here with your .02 cents.

Reviving a necro'd thread because I have the same question. Bought the product even knowing there is magnetic pieces and just ran a magnet through it. I diluted it in water first and just used a pippette to apply the rest. The fine pieces really stick to a magnet and make it difficult to even remove. In the future, I'll put a strong magnet on the outside of a bottle and "soft" the pieces that way vs running a ceramic magnet through the water.

Reefahholic · Aug 4, 2023

Kasrift said:
Reviving a necro'd thread because I have the same question. Bought the product even knowing there is magnetic pieces and just ran a magnet through it. I diluted it in water first and just used a pippette to apply the rest. The fine pieces really stick to a magnet and make it difficult to even remove. In the future, I'll put a strong magnet on the outside of a bottle and "soft" the pieces that way vs running a ceramic magnet through the water.

They’re harmless. It’s basalt. But…they do mess with Pump’s.

Saltyanimals · Aug 5, 2023

I had the same experience and even took a photo of it. Something that may be “harmless” but may cause issues with my pumps need to stay away from my gear. I dump mine into my sump far away from my return pump with the intention of vacuuming away in my next sump deep clean. Which I haven’t done in over a year so I can say my sump looks horrible with this staff all over the sump rocks.

Kasrift · Aug 5, 2023

Reefahholic said:
They’re harmless. It’s basalt. But…they do mess with Pump’s.

Just bought a large powerful neodymium magnet to "sift" the particles by placing the mud in water in a shallow reservoir and the magnet below the reservoir and then I'll just pippette the mud sans basalt if I can.

I never finish anythi · Aug 5, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
It’s the same compound found in Hawaiian black sand and harmless
You could take the liberty and remove by magnet
I had black sand and my glass cleaner always grabbed particles

The reason I got rid of my black sand was the magnetic piece in it .