Tanks based on Aquaforest Products:

[cbear44]

About to start my 180g. Curious about people's thoughts or @Aquaforest thoughts on using BioS for the 2 week startup. In a "bare" system without a source of ammonia to trigger bacterial growth and the nitrogen cycle how can it get established? I used Dr Tims before and it seems logical that some sort of ammonia source is necessary early. Why not for BioS?

Kinda related is if I should add a cycled marine pure block from my other tank during the startup phase.

I'll be setting up 5-7L of siporax in the system, skimmer and running cArbon and gfo per directions.

 

[Perry]

This is absolutely what Bio S is designed for, it will help to cycle the tank in approximately 2 weeks. I would imagine the pure block would help to speed things up due to it being loaded with bacteria, my thoughts would be to help seed the siporax more quickly, which can take several weeks. Later, you may want to pull the block, but for starting things up, I think this would be a great idea. After 2 weeks or so, you could then convert to using Pro Bio S and NP Pro to further establish the tank. Good luck on the new tank, looking forward to hearing about your experience

 

[Branespikin]

About to start my 180g. Curious about people's thoughts or @Aquaforest thoughts on using BioS for the 2 week startup. In a "bare" system without a source of ammonia to trigger bacterial growth and the nitrogen cycle how can it get established? I used Dr Tims before and it seems logical that some sort of ammonia source is necessary early. Why not for BioS?

Kinda related is if I should add a cycled marine pure block from my other tank during the startup phase.

I'll be setting up 5-7L of siporax in the system, skimmer and running cArbon and gfo per directions.

Im no expert at this but i just cycled my tank. What i did was i dosed pure ammonia to i think like 3ppm and than dosed the BioS every day for 2 weeks. I added marine pure balls from my friends tank in my sump to kickstart the cycle and a piece of live rock in my DT along with my dead ceramic rock and my dead sand. Skimmer and reactor offline. Lights online. First week nothing than by like day 8 ammonia was dissapering and Nitrite spiked. Dosed Ammonia again by end of 2nd week i dosed Ammonia again at night by morning it was gone and Nitrite was not detectable but Nitrate was no present at around 30 ppm. Did water change 20% and putmy skimmer online aswell as phosphate minus in my reactor. By the one month mark i added snails and a crab to keep algea down as i did have what looks lik byropsis take over but thats gone now. Everything seems to be going good for now. No livestock yet. Will. E adding some fish soon after QT.

 

[Branespikin]

Oh i also started dosing Np Pro and Pro Bio S now. Maybe i should have started earlier

 

[kodo28]

@Aquaforest,

Having a look on your "Aquaforest Product Guide" in different languages there are some incoherence between versions.
Taking example with the English & French version,
On the English version you tell us that there is no Bromide inside, also that Reef Salt is Phosphate and Nitrate free.
Then having a look on the French version, you tell us that there is Bromide in small quantities and nothing is referenced about the phosphate and nitrate.

I am actually running ozone on my tank and I would like to have a clear statement about the bromide.

@ Aquaforest...
Need some more answers,
Just got my 22kg of Reef Salt yesterday (Batch 000159) and I have performed some test on and what was my surprise when I tested the water
was reading Nitrates at 0.5ppm ( Test RedSea Pro ) Vs 0.00ppm tested on RODI water ((TDS 0.00) left flask) !!
When I read on the Product guide ,
Reef Salt Designed for aquariums with more demanding SPS and LPS corals. It does not contain bromides and can be used with ozone-assisted filtration. Also, it does not contain any probiotic bacteria or growth media. Phosphate and nitrate free. Upon filling new marine tanks it is recommended to let animals in not earlier that after 10-14 days. Use 3,95 kg (140 oz) per 100l (27 US gal) to achieve salinity up to 34 ppt (~1.025 S.G.)

Friend of mine has performed same test with his Reef Salt and got readings of 2.5 on Salifert test kit...

 

[jsker]

@ Aquaforest...
Need some more answers,
Just got my 22kg of Reef Salt yesterday (Batch 000159) and I have performed some test on and what was my surprise when I tested the water
was reading Nitrates at 0.5ppm ( Test RedSea Pro ) Vs 0.00ppm tested on RODI water ((TDS 0.00) left flask) !!
When I read on the Product guide ,
Reef Salt Designed for aquariums with more demanding SPS and LPS corals. It does not contain bromides and can be used with ozone-assisted filtration. Also, it does not contain any probiotic bacteria or growth media. Phosphate and nitrate free. Upon filling new marine tanks it is recommended to let animals in not earlier that after 10-14 days. Use 3,95 kg (140 oz) per 100l (27 US gal) to achieve salinity up to 34 ppt (~1.025 S.G.)

Friend of mine has performed same test with his Reef Salt and got readings of 2.5 on Salifert test kit...

@Perry will get you a quicker answer

 

[seargentslice]

6 months growth AF

 

[Perry]

@ Aquaforest...
Need some more answers,
Just got my 22kg of Reef Salt yesterday (Batch 000159) and I have performed some test on and what was my surprise when I tested the water
was reading Nitrates at 0.5ppm ( Test RedSea Pro ) Vs 0.00ppm tested on RODI water ((TDS 0.00) left flask) !!
When I read on the Product guide ,
Reef Salt Designed for aquariums with more demanding SPS and LPS corals. It does not contain bromides and can be used with ozone-assisted filtration. Also, it does not contain any probiotic bacteria or growth media. Phosphate and nitrate free. Upon filling new marine tanks it is recommended to let animals in not earlier that after 10-14 days. Use 3,95 kg (140 oz) per 100l (27 US gal) to achieve salinity up to 34 ppt (~1.025 S.G.)

Friend of mine has performed same test with his Reef Salt and got readings of 2.5 on Salifert test kit...

I would run the nitrate test on only the RODI with no salt mixed, just to see

 

[Perry]

6 months growth AF

Awesome growth!

 

[helldiver]

In all honesty, I am unaware of whether the alk part supports PH, I have never measured PH in my 10 years of keeping SPS, while I know it is important, I really do not test of monitor. I can tell you that the corals in your tank will most certainly tell you that the products are amazing, I have had had awesome growth using Component 123, I now mix my own, which gives you even more control over your mineral levels Cheers

How do u mix ur own

 

[Perry]

You need KH Buffer, Calcium, Magnesium, Reef Mineral Salt, and Component Strong.
Here is the recipe

Mix Yourself Recipe for Balling with trace:

Bottle/Component 1:
AF Calcium~ 50 grams per 1 liter
AF Magnesium~ 10 grams per 1 liter
Component A Strong~ 5ml per 1 liter
Component B Strong~ 5ml per 1 liter

Bottle/Component 2:
AF KH Buffer~ 80 grams per 1 liter
Component C Strong~ 5ml per 1 liter

Bottle/ Component 3:
AF Reef Mineral Salt~ 25 grams per 1 liter
Component K Strong~ 5ml per 1 liter

* I use the the premix bottles as to re-use the product, they are all 5 liter bottles, so I multiply values times 5

 

[kodo28]

I would run the nitrate test on only the RODI with no salt mixed, just to see

seems that you missed this part on my post...

Just got my 22kg of Reef Salt yesterday (Batch 000159) and I have performed some test on and what was my surprise when I tested the water
was reading Nitrates at 0.5ppm ( Test RedSea Pro ) Vs 0.00ppm tested on RODI water ((TDS 0.00) left flask) !!

...Today I have performed extra test. I mixed 1 Liter of another salt brand , and test was negative to nitrate with it.

 

[Perry]

So I will have to bring AF into this one, as I am unaware of what may be contributing to nitrates in salt. The lab is in Poland, they test and produce the salt there, I only can provide user support. I will alert someone to this thread @Debora Dlugopolska

 

[Perry]

seems that you missed this part on my post...

Just got my 22kg of Reef Salt yesterday (Batch 000159) and I have performed some test on and what was my surprise when I tested the water
was reading Nitrates at 0.5ppm ( Test RedSea Pro ) Vs 0.00ppm tested on RODI water ((TDS 0.00) left flask) !!

...Today I have performed extra test. I mixed 1 Liter of another salt brand , and test was negative to nitrate with it.

Sorry to misread, I will get the AF team in Poland in the loop to be aware of this thread and situation

 

[eg8r210]

So I have been doing some additional reading on the component 123 and wanted to get everyone's experience.

I have about 170 gallons of water in my system and based on Aquaforests recommended dosage of 50ml per 27 gallons of water I should be dosing about 315 ml per day. That would mean I would go through about 2 sets of the 5l bottles per month. Which would be about $100 for the month.

Is that about what everyone else is experiencing? I realize that it also depends on how heavy your tank is stocked and so on but just trying to get an idea of how much the system will run me per month.

I really wish they would pull that from there literature but maybe they have a reason to add it. You don't dose 123+ by tank volume. Maybe if you tank was slam full of acros you would go through that much but I don't think you are there just yet. Start with any number you want and test. Try 50 ml. Try 75 ml. Whatever you want to start at, test your tank for those parameters, dose, wait 24 hours and test again. If the test results went down then up the amount you are dosing by a bit and repeat 24 hours later.

 

[Slicktop]

Updated pic of custom cube, using AF Reef Salt and components 123 @ 2 months

 

[kodo28]

Sorry to misread, I will get the AF team in Poland in the loop to be aware of this thread and situation

So I will have to bring AF into this one, as I am unaware of what may be contributing to nitrates in salt. The lab is in Poland, they test and produce the salt there, I only can provide user support. I will alert someone to this thread @Debora Dlugopolska

Thanks Perry !!
Meantime, I have performed some more tests by taking some different samples from the upper, middle and bottom of the bucked , in order to check if it could be only from the upper salt but all tests were reading nitrates

 

[jsker]

Made up a nice colorful recipe and conversion sheet

Edit: link for download

 

[Perry]

AWESOME!!!

 

[jsker]

AWESOME!!!

I can put up a link for download?