Minimum Requirement for AF System?

Peng · Jul 22, 2017

I have an established tank currently using some AF and KZ additives but nothing related to nutrient reduction. I constantly have about 1.5 ppm NO3 and 0.05 PO4. My tank only has 1 skimmer and minimal filtration. Most of the work is done by skimmer and live rocks. T5 light. Mostly acros. I'm very satisfied with the colors of my corals but want to go one step further to have the pastel look.

Products I'm currently adding to the tank to enhance coloration and growth:
AF Build
AF Vitality
AF Pro Bio S
AF Power Food
AF Pure Food
KZ Coral Vitaliza
KZ Pohl's Xtra
KZ Flatworm Stop
KZ B-Balance
KZ Amino Acid
KZ ZeoSpur2
KZ ZeoSpur Macroelements

I'm contemplating between either choosing the Zeovit system or AF system. I don't really like adding reactions and using multiple media. Zeo system is interesting because I only need to use zeolites as my media. However I'm not sure what are the basic AF products I absolutely need to get to transition my tank into somewhat ULNS to get the pastel (intermediate level I'd say... not too pastel) colors. I can get the Probiotic salt no problem. I just would like to reduce the amount of filter media I need to put into a reactor or a sump.

Thanks in advance for help!

Forsaken77 · Jul 25, 2017

Peng said:
I have an established tank currently using some AF and KZ additives but nothing related to nutrient reduction. I constantly have about 1.5 ppm NO3 and 0.05 PO4. My tank only has 1 skimmer and minimal filtration. Most of the work is done by skimmer and live rocks. T5 light. Mostly acros. I'm very satisfied with the colors of my corals but want to go one step further to have the pastel look.

Products I'm currently adding to the tank to enhance coloration and growth:
AF Build
AF Vitality
AF Pro Bio S
AF Power Food
AF Pure Food
KZ Coral Vitaliza
KZ Pohl's Xtra
KZ Flatworm Stop
KZ B-Balance
KZ Amino Acid
KZ ZeoSpur2
KZ ZeoSpur Macroelements

I'm contemplating between either choosing the Zeovit system or AF system. I don't really like adding reactions and using multiple media. Zeo system is interesting because I only need to use zeolites as my media. However I'm not sure what are the basic AF products I absolutely need to get to transition my tank into somewhat ULNS to get the pastel (intermediate level I'd say... not too pastel) colors. I can get the Probiotic salt no problem. I just would like to reduce the amount of filter media I need to put into a reactor or a sump.

Thanks in advance for help!

I actually tried a few of their products and didn't like it much. I didn't go all in, just used their salt (both probiotic & regular) and 2 bacterial additives that go together. The salt I didn't like at all. Very inconsistent.

A family member uses the zeo system and has great results with it.

Anirban · Jul 25, 2017

Peng said:
I have an established tank currently using some AF and KZ additives but nothing related to nutrient reduction. I constantly have about 1.5 ppm NO3 and 0.05 PO4. My tank only has 1 skimmer and minimal filtration. Most of the work is done by skimmer and live rocks. T5 light. Mostly acros. I'm very satisfied with the colors of my corals but want to go one step further to have the pastel look.

Products I'm currently adding to the tank to enhance coloration and growth:
AF Build
AF Vitality
AF Pro Bio S
AF Power Food
AF Pure Food
KZ Coral Vitaliza
KZ Pohl's Xtra
KZ Flatworm Stop
KZ B-Balance
KZ Amino Acid
KZ ZeoSpur2
KZ ZeoSpur Macroelements

I'm contemplating between either choosing the Zeovit system or AF system. I don't really like adding reactions and using multiple media. Zeo system is interesting because I only need to use zeolites as my media. However I'm not sure what are the basic AF products I absolutely need to get to transition my tank into somewhat ULNS to get the pastel (intermediate level I'd say... not too pastel) colors. I can get the Probiotic salt no problem. I just would like to reduce the amount of filter media I need to put into a reactor or a sump.

Thanks in advance for help!

Lol I missed this one completely.
I think after yesterdays discussion you don't need anymore help. If yes, then let us know.

Peng · Jul 25, 2017

Anirban said:
Lol I missed this one completely.
I think after yesterdays discussion you don't need anymore help. If yes, then let us know.

Need more help

DDD I'm still deciding... I was almost ready to just get the AF system yesterday but still some people say Zeo is solid.... I guess what I really want is the "kinda pastel" colors you'd see on freshly shipped Australian corals. However I need to look into the safety, stability, and cost of the two systems.

For AF I would go with
-NP + Pro Bio S + Probiotic Salt
For Zeovit I would go with
Zeolit + ZeoBak + ZeoStart + ZeoFood

The cost is about the same considering the Probiotic salt increases the cost of running AF quite a lot. Zeovit has an initial reactor cost but in long term the cost shouldn't be very high as I have a lightly stocked tank.

Stability wise: I feel like zeovit system can constantly absorb nutrients like ammonia while providing surface for them to grow and then I really like the shake-and-feed feature on zeo system. This is why I'm still undecided because AF seems to be a bit simpler but I feel each time I do WC the chemistry changes quite a lot and I might have to do it more frequently than biweekly or monthly. Other than that I feel like the zeovit system is like AF basics plus a zeolite reactor...which AF has it but just not shaking... So I don't really know and I don't know if AF can produce the pastel but bright colors that zeovit system can and if AF is stable and good at avoiding culturing bad strains of bacteria that might also feed on their -NP.

Safety-wise, I would definitely try to avoid dangers brought up by depletion of nutrients. I would definitely keep amino acids, coral foods always available in the tank but sometimes if a system is not very stable nutrients can be depleted suddenly and corals start to have problems.

However since Zeo really seems like a bacterial method + zeolites, so I'm thinking maybe I can start with the 3 AF products I mentioned and if I need greater reduction, then add in zeo reactor and slowly switch to the zeovit system?

Peng · Jul 25, 2017

Forsaken77 said:
I actually tried a few of their products and didn't like it much. I didn't go all in, just used their salt (both probiotic & regular) and 2 bacterial additives that go together. The salt I didn't like at all. Very inconsistent.

A family member uses the zeo system and has great results with it.

Do you run ULNS system with AF? How stable is the ultra low nutrient conditions produced by zeo system?

Anirban · Jul 25, 2017

Peng said:
Need more help DDD I'm still deciding... I was almost ready to just get the AF system yesterday but still some people say Zeo is solid.... I guess what I really want is the "kinda pastel" colors you'd see on freshly shipped Australian corals. However I need to look into the safety, stability, and cost of the two systems.

For AF I would go with
-NP + Pro Bio S + Probiotic Salt
For Zeovit I would go with
Zeolit + ZeoBak + ZeoStart + ZeoFood

The cost is about the same considering the Probiotic salt increases the cost of running AF quite a lot. Zeovit has an initial reactor cost but in long term the cost shouldn't be very high as I have a lightly stocked tank.

Stability wise: I feel like zeovit system can constantly absorb nutrients like ammonia while providing surface for them to grow and then I really like the shake-and-feed feature on zeo system. This is why I'm still undecided because AF seems to be a bit simpler but I feel each time I do WC the chemistry changes quite a lot and I might have to do it more frequently than biweekly or monthly. Other than that I feel like the zeovit system is like AF basics plus a zeolite reactor...which AF has it but just not shaking... So I don't really know and I don't know if AF can produce the pastel but bright colors that zeovit system can and if AF is stable and good at avoiding culturing bad strains of bacteria that might also feed on their -NP.

Safety-wise, I would definitely try to avoid dangers brought up by depletion of nutrients. I would definitely keep amino acids, coral foods always available in the tank but sometimes if a system is not very stable nutrients can be depleted suddenly and corals start to have problems.

However since Zeo really seems like a bacterial method + zeolites, so I'm thinking maybe I can start with the 3 AF products I mentioned and if I need greater reduction, then add in zeo reactor and slowly switch to the zeovit system?

Lol.....if you are worried that AF will not produce the pastel looking corals like zeo does then its not true. AF does that too. AF sells zeolites too but they always warn people that if the end user don't use it cautiously it can damage alot. AF water chemistry is one of tmost solid and stable water chemistry I have ever seen. Its because of the full balling method. You dose all the components all together to maintain the balance. You dont need to dose 10 different components from 10 different bottles but just 3 components to control all. When I started using my system with AF I ran a more than a month without water change just 3 component dosing and it was just great.

If you really want to see then go to facebook and look for Aquaforest forum. You will actually see how many tanks are actually using it and getting those pastel colours.
Or you can see here the tank from the links below
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aquaforest-coralfarm.259113/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tanks-based-on-aquaforest-products.231650/