AquaVitro Fuel opinions

SauceyReef · Jul 28, 2023

Oh wow I feel stupid - those were the German names

So I am low some essential nutrients. I guess it is a good time to see if Fuel has them in the ingredients.

SauceyReef · Jul 28, 2023

Looking at the ingredients of fuel it would cover the list of nutrients I am low on shown above - except Potassium. I have heard low potassium can cause zoa problems. Maybe it is time to give the tank a banana slice

Kasrift · Jul 29, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I didn't mean chemically. I meant observationally. Specifically, whether dosing iodine was apparently useful or not.

It makes a visual difference mostly in my blue hornets. The ring disappears if the iodine is low and most will be "less fluffy". Using Fuel helps get that look back.

Kasrift · Sep 22, 2023

Kasrift said:
It makes a visual difference mostly in my blue hornets. The ring disappears if the iodine is low and most will be "less fluffy". Using Fuel helps get that look back.

@Randy Holmes-Farley

Following up on this, I was busy with work traveling and didn't send in that ICP until the start of Sept. My results are super consistent, here is the one from January (got results in Feb) and here are my current results.

As I might have mentioned, All for Reef is the only doser I have going. I manually add amino acids. My tank is going to be 2 years old in Oct. My tank is really stocked full of coral. When I started, I had bought a bottle of Aquavitro Fuel. Once that was finished, I moved to Red Sea AB+ and that was the results earlier this year. You'll see Iodine is low. I switched back to Fuel after that for Iodine and for lower phosphate readings. I can dose Fuel daily, which I did before switching to Red Sea and maintain nutrients whereas Red Sea I'd do every other day.

Anecdotally, yes, I see a difference in the corals. The zoas change to better coloration and I think it helps with the acros as well. I have 40+ acros.

SauceyReef · Sep 22, 2023

Kasrift said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley

Following up on this, I was busy with work traveling and didn't send in that ICP until the start of Sept. My results are super consistent, here is the one from January (got results in Feb) and here are my current results.

As I might have mentioned, All for Reef is the only doser I have going. I manually add amino acids. My tank is going to be 2 years old in Oct. My tank is really stocked full of coral. When I started, I had bought a bottle of Aquavitro Fuel. Once that was finished, I moved to Red Sea AB+ and that was the results earlier this year. You'll see Iodine is low. I switched back to Fuel after that for Iodine and for lower phosphate readings. I can dose Fuel daily, which I did before switching to Red Sea and maintain nutrients whereas Red Sea I'd do every other day.

Anecdotally, yes, I see a difference in the corals. The zoas change to better coloration and I think it helps with the acros as well. I have 40+ acros.

Just to clarify - so you have an auto doser for All for Reef, manually add amino acids, and manually add Fuel? No longer use Reef Energy AB+?

Kasrift · Sep 23, 2023

SauceyReef said:
Just to clarify - so you have an auto doser for All for Reef, manually add amino acids, and manually add Fuel? No longer use Reef Energy AB+?

Manually add fuel, that is the amino acids. No AB+. Sorry for the link, I don’t know what ATI is doing, but I searched R2R and old threads from anyone didn’t have the sharing link working.

Reef By Steele · Sep 23, 2023

I have to say that dosing fuel has always been good for my tanks, and I absolutely love the yellow dispersing through the water.

SauceyReef · Sep 23, 2023

Kasrift said:
Manually add fuel, that is the amino acids. No AB+. Sorry for the link, I don’t know what ATI is doing, but I searched R2R and old threads from anyone didn’t have the sharing link working.

Oh bummer! Thanks for the info though. Sounds like I may need to try fuel along with the All For Reef I am dosing! Sounds like switching out Reef Energy AB+ for Fuel is a good idea.

SauceyReef · Oct 1, 2023

After doing some more research and asking around - it does not seem like Fuel has any Potassium in it. Aquavitro has another brand called 'Vibrance' which is a "stabilized potassium iodide source" for aquariums. Seems like it may be a better option for me.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 1, 2023

SauceyReef said:
After doing some more research and asking around - it does not seem like Fuel has any Potassium in it. Aquavitro has another brand called 'Vibrance' which is a "stabilized potassium iodide source" for aquariums. Seems like it may be a better option for me.

Potassium iodide is not a useful source of potassium. You’d need to push iodide far above natural levels to add even 1 ppm of potassium.

SauceyReef · Oct 1, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Potassium iodide is not a useful source of potassium. You’d need to push iodide far above natural levels to add even 1 ppm of potassium.

In that case it seems entirely useless! I think I asked you this before, but would switching from adding Calcium Nitrate to Potassium Nitrate help raise my slightly lowered potassium levels?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 1, 2023

SauceyReef said:
In that case it seems entirely useless! I think I asked you this before, but would switching from adding Calcium Nitrate to Potassium Nitrate help raise my slightly lowered potassium levels?

Yes, it raises potassium about 2/3 as much as nitrate.

SauceyReef · Oct 1, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Yes, it raises potassium about 2/3 as much as nitrate.

Could adding Potassium Nitrate long-term cause to much potassium build-up in a tank seeing Nitrates are depleted much faster? I am thinking it would be smart for me to add some potassium nitrate with the calcium nitrate I add pretty much every day. My potassium was slightly low on my ICP test, and I think it may be affecting some of my zoanthids.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 1, 2023

SauceyReef said:
Could adding Potassium Nitrate long-term cause to much potassium build-up in a tank seeing Nitrates are depleted much faster? I am thinking it would be smart for me to add some potassium nitrate with the calcium nitrate I add pretty much every day. My potassium was slightly low on my ICP test, and I think it may be affecting some of my zoanthids.

Definitely it can rise too much. I do not recommend potassium nitrate unless you need potassium and carefully monitor it.

SauceyReef · Oct 1, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Definitely it can rise too much. I do not recommend potassium nitrate unless you need potassium and carefully monitor it.

Noted! Hmmm looks like I may need to just cave in and start testing potassium. Theoretically with ample water changes though it shouldn't be depleted, right?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 2, 2023

SauceyReef said:
Noted! Hmmm looks like I may need to just cave in and start testing potassium. Theoretically with ample water changes though it shouldn't be depleted, right?

Hard to say. There’s no theoretical reason potassium should deplete and mine never did.

For it to deplete, it has to imply that the potassium in foods is less than the potassium in tissues in tank made from the N and P in those foods.

I have a theory that rinsing frozen foods can lead to this issue by wasting away potassium after freezing breaks open cells that are where potassium is held.

SauceyReef · Oct 2, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Hard to say. There’s no theoretical reason potassium should deplete and mine never did.

For it to deplete, it has to imply that the potassium in foods is less than the potassium in tissues in tank made from the N and P in those foods.

I have a theory that rinsing frozen foods can lead to this issue by wasting away potassium after freezing breaks open cells that are where potassium is held.

I trust your input a lot on this matter. Maybe I am just over-reacting about the Potassium. I am just trying to solve the issue with my zoanthids. There was only really two problems I could fix from the ICP results I got; reducing my phosphate, and adding Potassium. The more I spoke with you, and countless others I have learned it is likely nothing to do with the Phosphate being high. My only viable final conclusion would be low potassium, or some other low unknown element that I can't really add or test for. I postulate it could be some ZOA disease in my system as well and that all this has been out of my control. I hope it is not that.

Here is my Potassium results below. Do you think that is even low enough to be an issue? My tank is stuffed with corals and a lot of zoanthids, so I assume the lower Potassium could be from the intake of potassium from the corals? I have spoken to a lot of Zoa fanatics and quite a few have told me to specifically watch out for lower Potassium and Iodine.

H

Potassium

375.4 mg/l

404.3 mg/l

-28.98 mg/l

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 2, 2023

I don’t know if adding potassium will help, but if salinity is below 35 ppt, sg = 1.0264, then raising it may solve the low potassium.

A simple diy potassium additive is cheap and easy;

https://www.nowfoods.com/products/supplements/potassium-chloride-powder?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrev73f_XgQMVMOvICh1HEAuBEAQYASABEgLcAvD_BwE

SauceyReef · Oct 2, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don’t know if adding potassium will help, but if salinity is below 35 ppt, sg = 1.0264, then raising it may solve the low potassium.

A simple diy potassium additive is cheap and easy;

https://www.nowfoods.com/products/supplements/potassium-chloride-powder?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrev73f_XgQMVMOvICh1HEAuBEAQYASABEgLcAvD_BwE

I typically keep my salinity at 1.025-1.026. Is 1.026-1.028 safe? I think I’ve heard of fellow reefers going higher than this.