My 65G Shallow Reef Tank

[codydemmel4]

very nice growth and colors! The last milli looks insane!

What are you keeping your alk and calc at now? How often are you doing water changes?

[kainic]

Originally Posted by Pife

I just bought some reef actif because of you Bulent.

Me too! 1st dose today, 1/4 spoon for 90g

Enviado desde mi SM-G900F mediante Tapatalk

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Pife

I just bought some reef actif because of you Bulent.

Good for you Brandon. When are you starting to dose? I already posted my dosing regimen in my thread, which is perhaps over cautious, but seems to be working up to now. You can also find it on my Facebook page with a diary. I think K+ and A- elements nicest compliment this product. Please provide regular updates. I will be following them. I am curious to find out how your corals will react to dosing.

Thanks

Originally Posted by codydemmel4

very nice growth and colors! The last milli looks insane!

What are you keeping your alk and calc at now? How often are you doing water changes?

Thanks.

KH: 6.85 dKH
Ca: 405 ppm

I endeavour to change water once a week, but I end up changing it less frequently than that (perhaps once every 10 days).

Originally Posted by kainic

Me too! 1st dose today, 1/4 spoon for 90g

Enviado desde mi SM-G900F mediante Tapatalk

Sergi,

You have been quiet lately. I did not realise you were following my experiment sneakily. Did you put the powder in a bottle with a little aquarium water and then shake it like you are making a cocktail before pouring it to your tank?

Can you please share your experience? Please feel free to comment under my Note on Reef Actif on my Facebook page.

[Pife]

I just ordered it yesterday so I don't believe it'll before Monday. I'll write a little note when I dose on your Facebook account. I do need to read back through your dosing regimen here as it appears to have worked great.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

[kainic]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

Sergi,

You have been quiet lately. I did not realise you were following my experiment sneakily. Did you put the powder in a bottle with a little aquarium water and then shake it like you are making a cocktail before pouring it to your tank?

Can you please share your experience? Please feel free to comment under my Note on Reef Actif on my Facebook page.

I consider myself a forum lurker.

I've been battling AEFW and a temp swing so there's not much to show from my tank.

My daily dosing routine is as follows:

3ml Flatworm Stop
2ml TM Bacto Balance
2ml TM A- Elements

As I said I started Reef Actif today and the first impression is that my water is clearer than before. I'll keep this dose for 4 weeks and then move to 1/2 spoon for 4 more weeks and finally recommended dose. What I do expect from Reef Actif is to lower my nitrate levels and increase my corals health.
I'll try to document the changes as much as I can. In my case there's a lot to improve (not like you, you see subtle changes because there's a limit on coral beauty and you are really close) so I will push Reef Actif to its limit.

Bülent, keep up your passion, reefers like you (and Biggles, Ed, Matt x 2, Mark) are guiding us to a better reefing experience. My thanks.



Enviado desde mi SM-G900F mediante Tapatalk

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Pife

I just ordered it yesterday so I don't believe it'll before Monday. I'll write a little note when I dose on your Facebook account. I do need to read back through your dosing regimen here as it appears to have worked great.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Here it is (Tick means 'experimented'):



If you notice lighting of colours and do not like it, then go back to your previous dose and maintain that.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by kainic

I consider myself a forum lurker.

I've been battling AEFW and a temp swing so there's not much to show from my tank.

My daily dosing routine is as follows:

3ml Flatworm Stop
2ml TM Bacto Balance
2ml TM A- Elements

As I said I started Reef Actif today and the first impression is that my water is clearer than before. I'll keep this dose for 4 weeks and then move to 1/2 spoon for 4 more weeks and finally recommended dose. What I do expect from Reef Actif is to lower my nitrate levels and increase my corals health.
I'll try to document the changes as much as I can. In my case there's a lot to improve (not like you, you see subtle changes because there's a limit on coral beauty and you are really close) so I will push Reef Actif to its limit.

Bülent, keep up your passion, reefers like you (and Biggles, Ed, Matt x 2, Mark) are guiding us to a better reefing experience. My thanks.



Enviado desde mi SM-G900F mediante Tapatalk

Thanks for your kind words Sergi.

Bad luck on AEFW. I hope you get rid of those pets soon before they cause any damage to acros.

Your intended dose is exactly what Hans-Werner Balling would recommend. However, due bad experiences with organic carbon dosing in the past, I am proceeding cautiously. I am looking forward to learning from your experience as I still have many weeks to reach to the maximum dose. Once you dose, you will get increased skimmate production. I would skim wet to remove excess bacteria. Keep an eye on your alkalinity especially if you notice any chance in coral growth. Polyp extension should increase. If you notice any increase in coral growth, increase your water flow if it is feasible to do so.

[illumnae]

I've used Reef Activ for 2 weeks.

My tank is about 800 litres, so recommended dosage is about 1.5 scoops per week. I'm experimenting in a slightly different manner from Bulent. I am dosing 1/4 scoop 3 times a week, which totals up to 3/4 scoops per week, or 1/2 the recommended dosage.

Since Reef Activ is supposed to adsorb nutrients/elements and make them available to corals over time, I figured more frequent small dosages would be more beneficial to the corals than just once a week.

My intention over time is to increase it to 1/2 scoop 3x a week, which would make it the recommended dosage then after a couple of months experiment with 1 scoop 3x a week, which would make it double the recommended dosage, but 2/3 of the maximum dosage.

So far after 2 weeks of my initial dosing, what I observe is that coral polyp extension is very noticeably better. I noticed better polyp extension after starting K+ and A- dosing, but it's gotten even better since starting Reef Activ. Aquarium glass cleaning frequency is also decreased, similar to what Bulent has observed. I don't think I've dosed long enough to notice a different in colour and growth yet, but I do note that my consumption has not decreased despite removing 3 large colonies from my system, so it looks like consumption might have gone up slightly.

[DiscusHeckel]

Xiang Lye,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Please provide more updates.

Because I am using Bacto-Balance at a quite established dose, I decided to start Reef Actif with a much more conservative dose. I agree that 3 times a week gives a better coverage for a seven day period. Once I know how much Reef Actif powder my system can handle, I will spread that amount to three times. That will be the last leg of my experiment, twice a week vs three times a week.

[DiscusHeckel]

Inspired by Matt, I produced a short test video clip without sound using my son's GoPro last night. I deliberately got closer to corals to test GoPro's focus. As Matt said in his thread, colour rendition is a lot more realistic than iPhone. I even recorded myself while watching my tank to see what fish see inside their glass box. They must be fed up with the untidiness in my room.

[reefmutt]

That is so post modern of you to film yourself through the glass!
I would like to have seen that view.
The go pro takes a nice video and is better at colour rendition, for sure.
The pe is crazy in that Millie!
I think it's main limitation is depth of focus. It's not designed to focus up close like the iPhone is capable of doing..
More, more!

[Pife]

Now I need a go pro! Great video.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

That is so post modern of you to film yourself through the glass!
I would like to have seen that view.
The go pro takes a nice video and is better at colour rendition, for sure.
The pe is crazy in that Millie!
I think it's main limitation is depth of focus. It's not designed to focus up close like the iPhone is capable of doing..
More, more!

Thanks for your feedback Matt. There are apparently some accessories that can be attached to GoPros to focus close up object (http://www.divephotoguide.com/underw...r-photo-video/). I am not sure how feasible it is to use them in a confined space like my reef tank. I will look at GoPro forums.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Pife

Now I need a go pro! Great video.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Thanks. My son is going back to his university at the end of next month. I am worried that he will take his camera with him. I may have to bribe him to leave the camera at home.

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

Thanks for your feedback Matt. There are apparently some accessories that can be attached to GoPros to focus close up object (http://www.divephotoguide.com/underw...r-photo-video/). I am not sure how feasible it is to use them in a confined space like my reef tank. I will look at GoPro forums.

It looks like the macro mate mini is the lens to get. It gets you up to 3 inches away from your subject. That's pretty good. The close up lens only gets you a couple inches closer that no lens at all..

[Big E]

Hi Bulent,

That polyp extension looks great.............makes sense as you have dropped your nutrient levels lower.

Were you at nutrient levels where you couldn't drop them lower with just the Bacto balance?

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Big E

Hi Bulent,

That polyp extension looks great.............makes sense as you have dropped your nutrient levels lower.

Were you at nutrient levels where you couldn't drop them lower with just the Bacto balance?

Thanks Ed.

Can you please re-phrase your question as I did not quite follow the highlighted bit?

I can lower nutrients to really low levels if I want to by simply increasing the dose slowly without worrying because of the way Bacto-balance is designed means that some nutrients remain in the water column. That said, instead of lowering nutrients by increasing bacto-balance dose I decided to experiment with a Reef Actif instead. I did it simply because of my curiosity. I have insatiable appetite for experimentation.

Hopefully, I will give you a better answer once I understand your question.

Cheers

[Big E]

Sorry for the quirky wording in my post.......I was bacically asking what you were tyring to accomplish with the Reef actif? I did see your nutrients have settled to new lower levels.

You did answer the question in that you are experimenting with Reef Actif........I'm not sure I see what it offers that Bacto balance doesn't? Bacto balance contains a carbon source, correct?

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Big E

Sorry for the quirky wording in my post.......I was bacically asking what you were tyring to accomplish with the Reef actif? I did see your nutrients have settled to new lower levels.

You did answer the question in that you are experimenting with Reef Actif........I'm not sure I see what it offers that Bacto balance doesn't? Bacto balance contains a carbon source, correct?

Thanks Ed.

I am working on an intellectually acceptable answer to your perceptive question. I will come back to you once I have an answer.

[DiscusHeckel]

Here are some NO3 and PO4 data. Below is some relevant information, which is worth noting. I will update these charts as I go along and will try to analyse them at some point in the future.

• TM Reef Actif dosing began on 25th May 2017.
• The peaks in NO3 and PO4 readings in the middle of July 2017 are due to the fact that I stopped dosing TM NP-Bacto-Balance between 5th July and 15th July as I was away.
• Both NO3 and PO4 tests were carried out in the same day at the same time, NO3 followed by PO4.
• TM NP-Bacto-Balance dose remains constant.
• Feeding amount remained constant (more or less, but cannot be guaranteed) until 28th July 2017 after which it was increased to ~4 cubes per day from ~ 3 cubes per day.
• I have included NO3 and PO4 data prior to the commencement of Reef Actif to see nutrient trends without it. The starting date was chosen randomly.

[Big E]

I read the comments from Hans you amassed on your facebook page from the German forum and some of it seems nonsensical..........that's not unusual as some of his posts can tend to contain psychobabble

The quotes on copper seem confusing. It expels zoo but not like other products?

From what I gather it's a "pastel color enhancer" that may not be as damaging as straight dosing of copper and/or other metals that expel zoo.

I did notice from your comparison (facebook) pics the gomezi does have some expelled zoo on the branch skin (lighter-whitish) in the after photo.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Big E

I read the comments from Hans you amassed on your facebook page from the German forum and some of it seems nonsensical..........that's not unusual as some of his posts can tend to contain psychobabble

The quotes on copper seem confusing. It expels zoo but not like other products?

From what I gather it's a "pastel color enhancer" that may not be as damaging as straight dosing of copper and/or other metals that expel zoo.

I did notice from your comparison (facebook) pics the gomezi does have some expelled zoo on the branch skin (lighter-whitish) in the after photo.

All these coral product companies should do themselves a favor and just give us straight info on the results we should expect......that's all people care about.

What you read on my Facebook page is a translation submitted by someone to Google. This translation may or may not be faithful to Hans' original words. I do not know. I can also send you the original link in German. I will approach Hans-Werner and ask him to clarify a few points.He is good at responding to queries.

[Big E]

That would be great if he could give us more straight forward information. He used to occasionally post on RC, but I'm not sure he still does.

I've seen him posting at the "other" reef site.

[codydemmel4]

What do you think of using Reef Activ by itself?

Or do you think you need to add in the other Tropic Marine products, such A-, K+ and Bacto Balance?

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by codydemmel4

What do you think of using Reef Activ by itself?

Or do you think you need to add in the other Tropic Marine products, such A-, K+ and Bacto Balance?

I have not used Reef Actif one its own. So I cannot comment on it. I do not think there is any prerequisite that it should be used in conjunction with Bacto-Balance. However, information I read suggests that it is a good idea to use trace elements with it. In the context of TM, I refer to A- and K+ elements. Reading between the lines Reef Actif (or biopolymers contained in the products) binds not only nutrients, but also trace elements. Biopolymers are then broken down (i.e. decomposed) by symbiotic bacteria living on corals and filter feeders. I am getting the feeling that Reef Actif is like a transport mechanism.