Tanks based on Aquaforest Products:

[M007]

Hey Andrew, thanks for the vids, entertaining as always! So AF has got your stamp of approval? What AF products are you using at the moment?

 

[Biggles]

Hey Andrew, thanks for the vids, entertaining as always! So AF has got your stamp of approval? What AF products are you using at the moment?

Thanks mate, my vids aren't everyone's taste lol.

I use the following AF products daily:

Dose normal 3 part using the AF bicarb, calcium and Mg - no added components.

Vitality
Fish V - dosed with mysis after soaking
Aminos
Kallium
Strontium
Iodum
Fluorine

Pro Bio F - 10 spoons a night - i love, love, love this stuff.

I did a 10% water change a week ago after none for 3 months using AF reef salt.

I also dose Triton zinc and manganese daily and once a week i dose Salifert Boron.

Think that's it................

 

[M007]

Thanks mate, my vids aren't everyone's taste lol.

I use the following AF products daily:

Dose normal 3 part using the AF bicarb, calcium and Mg - no added components.

Vitality
Fish V - dosed with mysis after soaking
Aminos
Kallium
Strontium
Iodum
Fluorine

Pro Bio F - 10 spoons a night - i love, love, love this stuff.

I did a 10% water change a week ago after none for 3 months using AF reef salt.

I also dose Triton zinc and manganese daily and once a week i dose Salifert Boron.

Think that's it................

I'm on the lazy mans program. Comp. 1/2/3+ - NP Pro/Pro Bio S 10 drops daily - Pure, Coral, and Ricco foods 2 spoons daily - Build/Vitality/Energy/AA 6 drops/good dose of Phyto mix daily. 10% AF Probiotic salt WC weekly. My Biggles inspired bommie (crappy iPhone 5 pic)

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Ignore the commentary as i'm making these vids for good reef mates i've known for ages so i joke around at times. The health and colors of the corals is due to AF dosing

Very cool man and great tanks everyone!

 

[M007]

Also run AF carbon and GFO, Biolife life fil, and mud. Another crappy iPone pic, mind the mess.

 

[120reefkeeper]

Great picture! Very nice !

Looks like you lost your net lol [emoji23].

 

[M007]

;Jawdrop

Great picture! Very nice !

Looks like you lost your net lol [emoji23].

The net is there to discourage my resident moron (maroon) clown from up ending and dumping a newly acquired Millie into the sand ;Jawdrop

 

[Biggles]

I'm on the lazy mans program. Comp. 1/2/3+ - NP Pro/Pro Bio S 10 drops daily - Pure, Coral, and Ricco foods 2 spoons daily - Build/Vitality/Energy/AA 6 drops/good dose of Phyto mix daily. 10% AF Probiotic salt WC weekly. My Biggles inspired bommie (crappy iPhone 5 pic)

Lol, i like the little bommie, that bta is about $600- in Aus. I don't use the energy/build combo because the recommended energy dose is aimed at unnaturally inhibiting zooxanthellae purely by the dosing of copper sulphate to lighten and pastel out the tissue.

It is incredibly frustrating that instead of putting the poison in a separate bottle like zeo do with the zeospur stuff, that it's placed in with other stuff i might want to use. I have no problems pulling colors so the last thing i want to do is lighten them.

That wasn't aimed at you btw, just having a little rant mate. Love the FTS, looking really nice even if there's a net in the display lol.

 

[Aquaforest]

Tank fully based on Aquaforest products from start:

 

[120reefkeeper]

Tank fully based on Aquaforest products from start:

Wow!! Amazing tank!! [emoji173]️

 

[Aquaforest]

Lol, i like the little bommie, that bta is about $600- in Aus. I don't use the energy/build combo because the recommended energy dose is aimed at unnaturally inhibiting zooxanthellae purely by the dosing of copper sulphate to lighten and pastel out the tissue.

It is incredibly frustrating that instead of putting the poison in a separate bottle like zeo do with the zeospur stuff, that it's placed in with other stuff i might want to use. I have no problems pulling colors so the last thing i want to do is lighten them.

That wasn't aimed at you btw, just having a little rant mate. Love the FTS, looking really nice even if there's a net in the display lol.

In AF Energy There is some amounts of copper but it is in very low concentrations. Almost undetectable. Copper is for a purpose there. Corals need it in low concentrations. It is not a source of Cu in the water here if you dose as recommended, unless you put whole bottle at time.

 

[Biggles]

In AF Energy There is some amounts of copper but it is in very low concentrations. Almost undetectable. Copper is for a purpose there. Corals need it in low concentrations. It is not a source of Cu in the water here if you dose as recommended, unless you put whole bottle at time.

I don't want you to think i'm having a go at you mate, pretty sure i saw you interviewed in person by Jake from RB explaining some products. I think your products are great for maintaining a nice SPS reef and my display shows it.

I will point out however that hours ago i got a text from a mate which had me puzzled

' Hah you made AF change their website - epic ! '

' What you mean ? '

' Go look at energy now '

So i go look at your site and instead of this............

I now see this...........

I want to apologize to whoever you have maintaining the AF website for giving them work. Tell them i promise to say nothing about any other product that will require them to once again, stop playing video games etc, and make changes to your product descriptions.

Sending a screenshot ( i like screenshots as you now know ) of this post to my texting mate because in Australia we find stuff like this quite amusing.

Once again, i love your products............. the new font is cool too...........

 

[M007]

Why are you apologizing Andrew, clarity is most appreciated. The original product description might give people the impression that AF E is a copper based product when in fact copper is only a small piece of the puzzle. Thank you for mentioning it and thank you to AF for more detail on AF E. My current system has been running since 5/2012 and is a hodgepodge of coral. I always had issues with this or that but never true harmony. I started with AF in 9/2016, first with the salt. Within 6 weeks I saw very positive results. I switched my dosing from ESV CA/ALK/MG to AF Comp 1/2/3+. By 12/2016 everything really looked good. 1/2017 started with the supplements. Half doses for the first two months the gradually ramped up to where I am now. Also found AF Carbon and Phosphate - to be quite good. 6/2017 mixed in 1 container of Bio Life Fil with my Siporax and add AF Life Source a few days after water change. Works for me despite my lazy camera skills. Fortunately I have a reliable AF source, since Amazon.ca went stupid, so I look forward to continuing with AF. (FYI Fragbox.ca are the bomb for AF products in Toronto, Canada) Keep up the good work AF, looking forward to more products including your Anthia food! To,anyone reading this, AF is not an instant fix, slow and steady is the key. To AF, Debora rocks! Make sure you keep her around LOL! Finally, your AF media reactors need to be equipped with an inlet valve and outlet fitting that are fitted with union couplings or something that allows easy quick disconnect for media change.

 

[Biggles]

Why are you apologizing Andrew, clarity is most appreciated. The original product description might give people the impression that AF E is a copper based product when in fact copper is only a small piece of the puzzle. Thank you for mentioning it and thank you to AF for more detail on AF E. My current system has been running since 5/2012 and is a hodgepodge of coral. I always had issues with this or that but never true harmony. I started with AF in 9/2016, first with the salt. Within 6 weeks I saw very positive results. I switched my dosing from ESV CA/ALK/MG to AF Comp 1/2/3+. By 12/2016 everything really looked good. 1/2017 started with the supplements. Half doses for the first two months the gradually ramped up to where I am now. Also found AF Carbon and Phosphate - to be quite good. 6/2017 mixed in 1 container of Bio Life Fil with my Siporax and add AF Life Source a few days after water change. Works for me despite my lazy camera skills. Fortunately I have a reliable AF source, since Amazon.ca went stupid, so I look forward to continuing with AF. (FYI Fragbox.ca are the bomb for AF products in Toronto, Canada) Keep up the good work AF, looking forward to more products including your Anthia food! To,anyone reading this, AF is not an instant fix, slow and steady is the key. To AF, Debora rocks! Make sure you keep her around LOL! Finally, your AF media reactors need to be equipped with an inlet valve and outlet fitting that are fitted with union couplings or something that allows easy quick disconnect for media change.

Hey mate, i was apologizing because i wanted my friend from AF to know i wasn't trying to offend him or his company. The wording of the initial product description made it sound like it was a bottle of copper with other stuff thrown in to hide the true nature of the product.

I appreciate the fact that someone actually cared enough to clarify the whole subject so quickly rather than ignore it as just a single reefer having a whinge.

I have big bottles of both energy and build in the cupboard so i will give them a go, Perry was always at me to try the energy and he has awesome colors on his acros but as i said earlier, that last line which referred to the copper and it's purpose put me off for over a year now.

Something for a few of you to think about, sorry for the long ramble and feel free to ignore me...........

Do you know for more years than i care to remember i have had mates ask me what is the secret thing i'm dosing to always have such saturated and clean colors. I must have a blue thumb because what i do just doesn't work for others even when they have Radiums over their acros which as we all know, blow magical blue dragon breath all over the corals and eat LED's and T5's for breakfast...........

I feed 3 mysis cubes, 3 double pinches of mini fish pellets, 1/4 sheet nori every day. I live beside my workplace and as such can go home to feed the fish etc whenever i feel like so i do. There is only a skimmer and 15 liters of matrix in the sump, the matrix makes up for my lack of bio useful live rock in the display. I have 500ml AF carbon and 750ml of AF phos minus in the sump in mesh bags between baffles to ensure water flows through and not around the bags.

Pro Bio S gave me about 2sq feet of cyano spread acros the sand and just didn't help with anything for me which was puzzling because i know it works from many of you guys. After many months dosing it i stopped and overnight i switched to Pro Bio F - 10 spoons a night. It took less than a week for the display to look as it does below. This why i said i love, love the stuff - who wouldn't after changing one thing and seeing such dramatic results.
In the bottom left corner i have about 3sq inches of cyano and the tank has had one 10% water change with AF reef salt in the last 3 months.
Water changes are useless for trace element replenishment, you replace 10% but what about the other 90% that you aren't replacing, then next week you do it again and lose another 90% of the trace elements.........
The same goes for removing excess phos and nitrates, 10% is removed so your nitrates drop from 20 to 18 - awesome, that'll sure show on the acro colors next morning..........

I use water changes because it lets me clean the system of detritus, wash the matrix stones, siphon the sand bed ( mine is filthy after 3 months ) - changing water does keep your system running better and cleaner but not if you just siphon out clean water and replace it, your going backwards 90% not forward anywhere near 100% of replacing or removing anything that is present in the water alone.

I commonly see guys with stunning SPS displays having all manner of phos and nitrate levels, drives reefers nuts how the whole hobby just never seems to be one where you can have any real confidence in copying a successful reefer and achieving similar results.

Soooooooo

If you want to try running a simple system like me with the hopes of magically developing a biggles blue thumb you simply need to limit iron severely in your system. Don't add anything that contains any iron in the contents. Some people find macro algae propagation to work wonders for their acros and others run it and drop the same nutrient levels but their acros still look blah.
The guy seeing actual visual improvement in the clarity of colors isn't adding as much or any iron to his system as the guy getting poor results. Macro algae is great but not for the reason most think imo, it sucks out the color poison - iron.

I was using koral color for the manganese but it had too much iron content for my way of reefing so i went to the trouble of paying $60- to have Triton manganese sent from Germany to remove the unknown variables created by the iron, cobalt and lithium which makes up the actual ingredients of Brightwell koral color.

Besides the fish food i try not to allow iron to enter the system in any form besides water changes. When i was using koral color with Salifert trace hard i had pretty good growth but it turned out the trace hard is loaded up big time with copper - a Triton test confirmed this. I stopped the trace hard and things went south just using the koral color.
In the end i stopped the koral color and the alk draw went from 230ml a day to what it is now - 70ml. I'm pretty sure the acros aren't growing despite looking very colorful because i need to dose iron since the koral color was pretty much the only real addition i believe the system was getting iron from.

Tonight i will start dosing AF iron at one drop a night and see what happens over the next couple of weeks......... i'm probably totally wrong and nothing good will happen just by dosing a single element but i'm only saying that to sound less like i'm an up myself tosser who's talking crazy stuff.

If one guy does something to limit their iron and sees an extra polyp out the next day then i will be happy, if nothing good happens then it's AF's fault, it's never, ever my fault.............

Oh before i forget, my scolly never had whatever it has growing out of control on it until i started using AF stuff................ not that i'm blaming you Sever ( i am ).

Everyone keep an eye on their scollies............. ain't natural i tell ya's..........

 

[M007]

Geez and I was feeling guilty for being long winded LOL! Seriously tho, thanks Andrew, your insights are always appreciated.

 

[litenyaup]

Very nice

 

[jsker]

Hey mate, i was apologizing because i wanted my friend from AF to know i wasn't trying to offend him or his company. The wording of the initial product description made it sound like it was a bottle of copper with other stuff thrown in to hide the true nature of the product.

I appreciate the fact that someone actually cared enough to clarify the whole subject so quickly rather than ignore it as just a single reefer having a whinge.

I have big bottles of both energy and build in the cupboard so i will give them a go, Perry was always at me to try the energy and he has awesome colors on his acros but as i said earlier, that last line which referred to the copper and it's purpose put me off for over a year now.

Something for a few of you to think about, sorry for the long ramble and feel free to ignore me...........

Do you know for more years than i care to remember i have had mates ask me what is the secret thing i'm dosing to always have such saturated and clean colors. I must have a blue thumb because what i do just doesn't work for others even when they have Radiums over their acros which as we all know, blow magical blue dragon breath all over the corals and eat LED's and T5's for breakfast...........

I feed 3 mysis cubes, 3 double pinches of mini fish pellets, 1/4 sheet nori every day. I live beside my workplace and as such can go home to feed the fish etc whenever i feel like so i do. There is only a skimmer and 15 liters of matrix in the sump, the matrix makes up for my lack of bio useful live rock in the display. I have 500ml AF carbon and 750ml of AF phos minus in the sump in mesh bags between baffles to ensure water flows through and not around the bags.

Pro Bio S gave me about 2sq feet of cyano spread acros the sand and just didn't help with anything for me which was puzzling because i know it works from many of you guys. After many months dosing it i stopped and overnight i switched to Pro Bio F - 10 spoons a night. It took less than a week for the display to look as it does below. This why i said i love, love the stuff - who wouldn't after changing one thing and seeing such dramatic results.
In the bottom left corner i have about 3sq inches of cyano and the tank has had one 10% water change with AF reef salt in the last 3 months.
Water changes are useless for trace element replenishment, you replace 10% but what about the other 90% that you aren't replacing, then next week you do it again and lose another 90% of the trace elements.........
The same goes for removing excess phos and nitrates, 10% is removed so your nitrates drop from 20 to 18 - awesome, that'll sure show on the acro colors next morning..........

I use water changes because it lets me clean the system of detritus, wash the matrix stones, siphon the sand bed ( mine is filthy after 3 months ) - changing water does keep your system running better and cleaner but not if you just siphon out clean water and replace it, your going backwards 90% not forward anywhere near 100% of replacing or removing anything that is present in the water alone.

I commonly see guys with stunning SPS displays having all manner of phos and nitrate levels, drives reefers nuts how the whole hobby just never seems to be one where you can have any real confidence in copying a successful reefer and achieving similar results.

Soooooooo

If you want to try running a simple system like me with the hopes of magically developing a biggles blue thumb you simply need to limit iron severely in your system. Don't add anything that contains any iron in the contents. Some people find macro algae propagation to work wonders for their acros and others run it and drop the same nutrient levels but their acros still look blah.
The guy seeing actual visual improvement in the clarity of colors isn't adding as much or any iron to his system as the guy getting poor results. Macro algae is great but not for the reason most think imo, it sucks out the color poison - iron.

I was using koral color for the manganese but it had too much iron content for my way of reefing so i went to the trouble of paying $60- to have Triton manganese sent from Germany to remove the unknown variables created by the iron, cobalt and lithium which makes up the actual ingredients of Brightwell koral color.

Besides the fish food i try not to allow iron to enter the system in any form besides water changes. When i was using koral color with Salifert trace hard i had pretty good growth but it turned out the trace hard is loaded up big time with copper - a Triton test confirmed this. I stopped the trace hard and things went south just using the koral color.
In the end i stopped the koral color and the alk draw went from 230ml a day to what it is now - 70ml. I'm pretty sure the acros aren't growing despite looking very colorful because i need to dose iron since the koral color was pretty much the only real addition i believe the system was getting iron from.

Tonight i will start dosing AF iron at one drop a night and see what happens over the next couple of weeks......... i'm probably totally wrong and nothing good will happen just by dosing a single element but i'm only saying that to sound less like i'm an up myself tosser who's talking crazy stuff.

If one guy does something to limit their iron and sees an extra polyp out the next day then i will be happy, if nothing good happens then it's AF's fault, it's never, ever my fault.............

Oh before i forget, my scolly never had whatever it has growing out of control on it until i started using AF stuff................ not that i'm blaming you Sever ( i am ).

Everyone keep an eye on their scollies............. ain't natural i tell ya's..........

Great post, I think we all find our own secret way to run our systems. I to have stopped doing the Pro bio s. Wow those are some really nice shots

 

[Biggles]

Geez and I was feeling guilty for being long winded LOL! Seriously tho, thanks Andrew, your insights are always appreciated.

I have way more wind inside me than you my friend..........

I have always looked to what might be causing different results between similar systems rather than looking at similar results from different methods. I'm sure i often arrive at the right answer for the wrong reasons or vice versa though lol........ i like the AF because they are upfront with the ingredients of their bottles.
The only reason i know what's in koral color is because someone was a silly billy with their website and google found me the index with a listing of what's in about thirty Brightwell products even though they don't list them publicly. Not my fault google snooped them out.
Anyway, the point is at no time would i have ever been able to discover the contents of koral color because many companies are still lost in the good old 90's when most of us had no idea what was going on in our systems and we were all happy to take the advice of big name companies because we thought they knew what they were talking about. Knowing what we know now, i am of the firm belief they were just as clueless as us reef keepers were but good at telling us what we wanted to hear.
Now i believe they do know what they're talking about but the difference is so do we thanks to the companies such as AF that explain what's in the bottle and what they think it does. This allows us to experiment and observe visual results to a much higher degree than we were able to before.

Great post, I think we all find our own secret way to run our systems. I to have stopped doing the Pro bio s. Wow those are some really nice shots

Thanks mate, you hit the nail on the head my friend. All of us need to find our own way in this hobby and the more of us that share opinions using similar products and methods, the better the knowledge base is for all of us to base our reef keeping methods on.

Why did you drop the pro bio s mate ?

 

[jsker]

I have way more wind inside me than you my friend..........

I have always looked to what might be causing different results between similar systems rather than looking at similar results from different methods. I'm sure i often arrive at the right answer for the wrong reasons or vice versa though lol........ i like the AF because they are upfront with the ingredients of their bottles.
The only reason i know what's in koral color is because someone was a silly billy with their website and google found me the index with a listing of what's in about thirty Brightwell products even though they don't list them publicly. Not my fault google snooped them out.
Anyway, the point is at no time would i have ever been able to discover the contents of koral color because many companies are still lost in the good old 90's when most of us had no idea what was going on in our systems and we were all happy to take the advice of big name companies because we thought they knew what they were talking about. Knowing what we know now, i am of the firm belief they were just as clueless as us reef keepers were but good at telling us what we wanted to hear.
Now i believe they do know what they're talking about but the difference is so do we thanks to the companies such as AF that explain what's in the bottle and what they think it does. This allows us to experiment and observe visual results to a much higher degree than we were able to before.



Thanks mate, you hit the nail on the head my friend. All of us need to find our own way in this hobby and the more of us that share opinions using similar products and methods, the better the knowledge base is for all of us to base our reef keeping methods on.

Why did you drop the pro bio s mate ?

I had been dealing with Cyano and after reading different threads were other had cyano when using pro bio s and after trying many other option dropping the Pro bio s in my system helped a great deal.

 

[M007]

I had been dealing with Cyano and after reading different threads were other had cyano when using pro bio s and after trying many other option dropping the Pro bio s in my system helped a great deal.

Odd, I don't remember seeing any cyano but I do remember things looked a bit funky when I went over 10 drops per day.

@Biggles; Those beautiful pics of yours have almost got me to pull my digital SLR's out of hibernation ;Snaphappy