The Bacterial “Rip Clean” Method

[exnisstech]

If your levels of n and p are nearly undetectable it will work against the beneficial bacteria, for it to work you would need to have po4 and no3 elevated at all times (this is due to heterotrophic bacteria not being able to divide and grow if nitrates or phosphates are depleted) also if you using neonitro for nitrates it will have contradicted elements.
Try and use known sources of nitrates like calcium and sodium nitrate instead if possible.

Thanks. I am dosing sodium nitrate and sodium phosphate. I finally gave in and added chemiclean yesterday. I know it's temporary but I'm tired of looking at the cyano all over everything. At this point I'm just working on keeping N and P at detectable levels tho I have no idea why they are being depleted. No chaeto and skimmer is running with the cup removed so really my only export is filter socks

 

[Dburr1014]

Well, I did get to talk to Lou briefly.

According to Lou, actif is a close to natural form of carbon dosing, which we all know.

I straight up asked him if it will help defeat things like GHA. His answer, nope.

I feel he is coming more from; this is to maintain or a maintenance form of carbon dosing. Not to really help with defeating invasions.

So I have him my condensed history of my tank. Dinos, to hair, to this form of dosing. Cronic low no3 and po4 is spot on.
He pretty much said, feed more. I need more urea, ammonia, more grazers.

I bought some more hermits and snails at the show yesterday.

He also went on to say to stop dosing NO3 and feed more.
Feed more is a pretty common theme in his lecture.
These are his take aways.
If I'm not suppose to post these, mods, please remove.

 

[exnisstech]

He pretty much said, feed more. I need more urea, ammonia, more grazers.

This seems to be most peoples recommendation. If I fed more my tanks would be cesspools. I actually flood the tanks with so much frozen food it looks like a snow storm. I do this twice a day in two tanks with squirts of plankton off and and on during the day for wrasses. I also toss in pellets several times a week as treats along with nori. I also have grazzers including large tangs. It seems like "feed more" has become a parroted phrase like "do more water changes". I suppose I'm in the minority here but feeding more is not a fix for low nutrients in 2 of my tanks.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Well, I did get to talk to Lou briefly.

According to Lou, actif is a close to natural form of carbon dosing, which we all know.

I straight up asked him if it will help defeat things like GHA. His answer, nope.

organic carbon has been used for many years to keep nutrients In check in addition for many years folks have been using protein skimmer, algae refugiums, ats, roller filters, poly pads, filter socks, many types of bio media etc… with the goal to keep nutrients in balance or within acceptable ranges and aiding in the competition with nuisances each one in a different way. as any of my previous examples if they not implemented correctly have the risk of being misinterpreted.

 

[Dburr1014]

So, been a while posting here.

I have a couple changes going on.
I have been weening off of actif.
I'm pretty much not dosing anymore.
My cyano is gone. My refuge cheato is a deep green and really healthy looking.

To be upfront, last weekend I did change my sump light also. I had a home depot 65k led outdoor flood light lighting the cheato.
I now have a 175w metal halide 14k. (setup a frag rack and it's been laying around)
But the cyano was breaking up before I did this.

Also stopped dosing calcium nitrate. Weened off that also and have been feeding the fish twice as much I was before.

Don't know why all this is going on but I like it.

 

[Moe K]

Any updates to this a year later?

 

[ShoreReefer]

Any updates to this a year later?

Thank you for responding to this thread almost a year and a half later. . I’m not sure why it suddenly stopped but I spent a lot of my Labor Day reading this thread. I learned a lot about this product as well as carbon dosing in general.

 

[Moe K]

Thank you for responding to this thread almost a year and a half later. . I’m not sure why it suddenly stopped but I spent a lot of my Labor Day reading this thread. I learned a lot about this product as well as carbon dosing in general.

I don't know where to start with this thread lol. I found it terribly hard to read. No clear answers and the experiments were all over the place. I am not any more knowledgeable about the results of reef actif as I am at page 1.

I have 2 aquabiomics test kits on the way and now with OCEAMO tests showing SAC254 for DOC I am planning on a several month test of some form of carbon dosing to see if I can brute force the tank into a better mature microbiome. Reef Actif seemed like a good candidate from what sixty was describing. The only thing is that it seems like a PITA you can not put it on a doser which is making me second guess if I want to go that route or just up my ElimiNP dosing till my nutrients drop to the point I do not need chaeto anymore. Kind of seems a lot of guys bailed because of the hassle? I am in the lazy boat too lol.

Once I figure out what I will do I will probably post in the experiments section.