Some of my Acro Collection

[Charlie the Reefer]

40 mins in the video. Digging it so far and will provide thoughts when I’m through it. Relegated to listening to it on my commute

 

[runetspike]

Hi, the video is great.
Everything is laid out on the shelves.
It turns out that I've been lying rotten all this time)))
I ordered a pump for aeration.

 

[bcarl77]

What does your mixing rig look like? Are you just putting an air pump in or something else to move/mix? Are you refrigerating at all?

 

[coral reeftank]

What does your mixing rig look like? Are you just putting an air pump in or something else to move/mix? Are you refrigerating at all?

No refrigeration, just air pump in mixing container

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Finished listening. I'm very intrigued with/inspired by the idea, seriously fascinated! The case you laid out is convincing IMO. I like the parallels to other industries (fish farming, agriculture, etc).

Here are some topics/questions that I would be very keen to dive a bit deeper in (some may be nonsensical/dumb due to my ignorance on this topic...) I wouldn't be surprised if some are beaten to death already in academic papers too.

1) What biological attributes delineate a "good/probiotic" bacteria strain from a "bad/pathogenic" strain? Can we dive deeper into the specific qualities each have and what makes one more palatable for coral?

2) Can we reliably measure the prevalence of each (probiotic vs pathogenic or neutral) in a sample environment (aquabiomics etc)

3) What are the detailed biological mechanisms which coral undergo to metabolize bacteria? What is the interplay with calcification, zoX, tissue, photosynthesis, etc?

4) To facilitate calcification in SPS, dosing alkalinity / calcium is ubiquitous. Can we draw a parallel/quantify/measure the content of bacteria in the water, how corals uptake it, and how corals may use it in a different way than calcium/alkalinity (i.e. plumpy tissue). Kind of like 2), but 2) I'm more discussing the proportion of each. Can we examine/postulate the ideal "density" of bacteria in water?

5) You mentioned something like 80/20 light/"coral snow" in the video in terms of how corals receive their (nutrition I believe?)... I wonder if this ratio can be explored more to determine how much a reefer misses out on if they are neglecting the nutrition side of things, or sub optimally addressing nutrition (just dosing N/P, dosing additives haphazardly)

6) What exact ratio of ingredients (calcium carbonate, seed bacteria strain, nutrition supplements, carbon, etc) lead to the most robust, ideal bacteria culture?

7) Are some probiotic bacteria strains better than others? I.e. is zeobak better than prodibio? Can we formulate/discover the "broccoli" of bacteria strains when it comes to coral nutrition?

8) Bringing it all together, an awesome goal would be to minimize mortality of imported corals. Can answering these questions help us grow acros ex situ that we wouldn't otherwise be able to, as hobbyists?


Just some food for thought... Thanks for all the work here Allan. You have been super generous in sharing your time and findings with the reefing community!

 

[Jeffbear]

I’ll be posting a long-form video providing more detail on the topic. I hope everyone enjoys it! Please feel free to provide critiques!
Here's the link to the video: CRT by CRT Episode 1

Just watched! Great info backed by Studies. I'm guessing part 2 will go into the amounts of each? And the dosing?

 

[coral reeftank]

Finished listening. I'm very intrigued with/inspired by the idea, seriously fascinated! The case you laid out is convincing IMO. I like the parallels to other industries (fish farming, agriculture, etc).

Here are some topics/questions that I would be very keen to dive a bit deeper in (some may be nonsensical/dumb due to my ignorance on this topic...) I wouldn't be surprised if some are beaten to death already in academic papers too.

1) What biological attributes delineate a "good/probiotic" bacteria strain from a "bad/pathogenic" strain? Can we dive deeper into the specific qualities each have and what makes one more palatable for coral?

2) Can we reliably measure the prevalence of each (probiotic vs pathogenic or neutral) in a sample environment (aquabiomics etc)

3) What are the detailed biological mechanisms which coral undergo to metabolize bacteria? What is the interplay with calcification, zoX, tissue, photosynthesis, etc?

4) To facilitate calcification in SPS, dosing alkalinity / calcium is ubiquitous. Can we draw a parallel/quantify/measure the content of bacteria in the water, how corals uptake it, and how corals may use it in a different way than calcium/alkalinity (i.e. plumpy tissue). Kind of like 2), but 2) I'm more discussing the proportion of each. Can we examine/postulate the ideal "density" of bacteria in water?

5) You mentioned something like 80/20 light/"coral snow" in the video in terms of how corals receive their (nutrition I believe?)... I wonder if this ratio can be explored more to determine how much a reefer misses out on if they are neglecting the nutrition side of things, or sub optimally addressing nutrition (just dosing N/P, dosing additives haphazardly)

6) What exact ratio of ingredients (calcium carbonate, seed bacteria strain, nutrition supplements, carbon, etc) lead to the most robust, ideal bacteria culture?

7) Are some probiotic bacteria strains better than others? I.e. is zeobak better than prodibio? Can we formulate/discover the "broccoli" of bacteria strains when it comes to coral nutrition?

8) Bringing it all together, an awesome goal would be to minimize mortality of imported corals. Can answering these questions help us grow acros ex situ that we wouldn't otherwise be able to, as hobbyists?


Just some food for thought... Thanks for all the work here Allan. You have been super generous in sharing your time and findings with the reefing community!

Just watched! Great info backed by Studies. I'm guessing part 2 will go into the amounts of each? And the dosing?

thanks for the insights, since this is an ongoing development it will have to take time to solidify everything and formulate. Now that we have more people using the method, we should have more results and information back soon!

 

[reefstc]

great vidoe and very informative, thanks for doing this.. can't wait for the next one...

 

[bcarl77]

So whats options for air pumps? I assume youd need something around the size for a fish bowl or betta fish? Any good dosing vessels/pump combos you guys like?

 

[coral reeftank]

So whats options for air pumps? I assume youd need something around the size for a fish bowl or betta fish? Any good dosing vessels/pump combos you guys like?

Ideally you want a pump properly sized to your container so that you can keep the entire culture in suspension. You don’t want to see a layer of sediment/ stagnation

 

[Dorsetsteve]

Would a magnetic stirrer work?

 

[Troylee]

Ideally you want a pump properly sized to your container so that you can keep the entire culture in suspension. You don’t want to see a layer of sediment/ stagnation

I haven’t let mine sit as long as you… hmmm sunny x does 5 min I do about 30min and use a small baster to keep it stired and suspension every 5 min or so.. maybe I’ll try a longer soak…

 

[penguinexdeus]

Been following along on this concoction for a while... tried a few times, but the air mentioned in video was first time i caught that part... Really curious what your preferred recipe is (assuming everything was available to you and nothing was hard to get hold of). I think we need a cooking video where you walk through actually making it once...

 

[coral reeftank]

Would a magnetic stirrer work?

It should work, some people have used them. Ideally, it is best to maximize gas exchange and to keep the mixture oxygenated so that PH does not drop too low.

Been following along on this concoction for a while... tried a few times, but the air mentioned in video was first time i caught that part... Really curious what your preferred recipe is (assuming everything was available to you and nothing was hard to get hold of). I think we need a cooking video where you walk through actually making it once...

Like I mentioned in the video, there are lot of potential combinations out there. As long as the core components are met, you should be able to achieve similar results. Will iron things out as soon as I get more data/input.

 

[runetspike]

and if you add an aqua

It should work, some people have used them. Ideally, it is best to maximize gas exchange and to keep the mixture oxygenated so that PH does not drop too low.

Like I mentioned in the video, there are lot of potential combinations out there. As long as the core components are met, you should be able to achieve similar results. Will iron things out as soon as I get more data/input.

forest build to the mix? it increases the ph

 

[Moe K]

I have only been following along recently since your video came out. I love the idea of gut loading bacteria and this is the first time I have seen anyone present a nice process to do just that.

In the video you mentioned using new saltwater batch to make your concoction. I understood your reason for clean saltwater (lower risk of pathogens) but is there a specific reason it must be saltwater and not fresh water? I believe many of these strains are able to survive in regular fresh water also. Do you notice you getting elevated levels of salinity over time because of the added saltwater?

Also one other question about Fauna Marin Coral Balance. Is it similar or do the same thing as zeozym?

I am planning on trying this soon and think I will use fritzyme9 as my bacteria choice, elimi-np for carbon source since it also has trace elements, FM Amin S, Coral sprint, and coral balance for the flocculant.

I am just assuming you follow the dosing instructions per each products recommendations. Then mix it all and aerate it for a couple of hours.

Reeeaaaallly should start a whole new thread on this. Thanks for your and others hard work.

 

[legacy2mj]

I have a tank thread, but haven't updated it.
Here are some more pics.


JF Shocktart

RR USA Cactus

RMF Diablo

RR CANADA Bleeding Avengers

RR Red Bull

I love your taking these in a good white spectrum. Shows the real health and color, absolutely beautiful specimens

 

[Reef Psychology]

Also one other question about Fauna Marin Coral Balance. Is it similar or do the same thing as zeozym?

It’s a flocculent & zeolite powder. Combined with bacteria it may help to reduce phosphates and assist in the conversion of organics to urea to be taken up by corals. Personally, I only use it at 1/4 strength once a week. When exhausted i don’t think I’ll be getting any more and will just use home made coral snow. Coral Balance does work well as a flocculent though.

 

[coral reeftank]

I have only been following along recently since your video came out. I love the idea of gut loading bacteria and this is the first time I have seen anyone present a nice process to do just that.

In the video you mentioned using new saltwater batch to make your concoction. I understood your reason for clean saltwater (lower risk of pathogens) but is there a specific reason it must be saltwater and not fresh water? I believe many of these strains are able to survive in regular fresh water also. Do you notice you getting elevated levels of salinity over time because of the added saltwater?

Also one other question about Fauna Marin Coral Balance. Is it similar or do the same thing as zeozym?

I am planning on trying this soon and think I will use fritzyme9 as my bacteria choice, elimi-np for carbon source since it also has trace elements, FM Amin S, Coral sprint, and coral balance for the flocculant.

I am just assuming you follow the dosing instructions per each products recommendations. Then mix it all and aerate it for a couple of hours.

Reeeaaaallly should start a whole new thread on this. Thanks for your and others hard work.

Microwaving the saltwater is a good practice to help sterilize it. I use saltwater so that the bacteria can adjust to the conditions of the reef before I dose. To counterbalance, I take the equivalent amount of SW out of the tank.

I have not used fritzyme9 before, let me know how it goes for you.

 

[coral reeftank]

CRT Unstoppable

CRT Face Melt

So hairy you can't even see the color!