AquaNerd How To: Dosing Prodibio
Dosing bacteria-based products isn’t as novel a technique as one might think. Despite the recent boom in biopellets and the various dosing systems aimed at improving biological filtration, companies like Prodibio have been doing it for over 13 years. I was first turned onto the world of bacteria dosing when I worked for a local [...]
Red Sea’s Brand New Complete Reef Care Program
Over the past few weeks, Red Sea has released an entire new lineup of test kits and additives called the Red Sea Reef Care Program. The system is based on testing all of the essentials for your reef, then dosing those elements that your system lacks, as well as controlling excess nitrates and phosphates. The [...]
Peeing in Our Tanks to Jump Start the Cycle
I came across a very interesting thread on one of the forums discussing the act of urinating in a newly set up marine aquarium in an attempt to jump start the nitrogen cycle. The basic premise behind the theory is that ammonia in the urine won’t have to come from decaying organic matter typically found [...]
D-D Gets Into the NP Bio Pellet Game
D-D The Aquarium Solution, the company that brings us Deltec products and Giesemann lighting, has joined the solid carbon market with their Nutri-Fix NP Bio Pellets. These bio pellets, much like pellets from other companies, function as a food source for specific strains of nitrate and phosphate reducing bacteria. Also like other pellets, Nutri-Fix is [...]
Are Expesive Protein Skimmers Better?
There’s a never ending debate about protein skimmers raging on in aquarium-related forums across the globe, none of which are backed by anything other than personal experience and faulty logic. Many people claim that inexpensive protein skimmers work just as well, if not better than, the higher end models. On the other end of the [...]
ZEOstart3 and Bio-Mate Added to ZEOvit Lineup
ZEOvit is a great dosing system for anyone who wants to reduce their nitrate and phosphate levels to super low levels, and Korallen-Zucht is adding two more additives to their lineup. Bio-Mate and ZEOstart3 have just found their way onto the KZ website, and both will function as part of the the “Basic 4″, which [...]
Can Aquarium Water Be Too Pure?
With aquarium filtration becoming more advanced, a lot of reef aquariums are beginning to run extremely low nitrate and phosphate levels. Protein skimmers, bio pellets, chemical additives, and large/frequent water changes are doing what they are intended to do (e.g. remove dissolved organics), but are some aquarists going too far? Natural seawater does have detectable [...]
Brightwell Aquatics Katalyst Bio Pellets
Image from Marine Depot Brightwell Aquatics, a producer of all sorts of aquarium additives, is unveiling their own line of solid carbon source bio pellets called Katalyst. This media from Brightwell Aquatics works very similarly to other bio pellets, in that it serves as a food source to promote the growth of healthy bacteria populations. [...]
NP Reducing Bio Media from SWC
It seems that the nitrate and phosphate reducing media are really gaining traction in the hobby. For years, reef keepers had to rely solely on their live rock and sand bed to house all of their nitrifying bacteria populations and excess nutrients to feed these populations. Now, they’ve got a little boost in the form [...]
Changing sediment and carbon filters on RO/DI units
I changed the sediment filter and carbon on my RO/DI unit recently, and I’m always amazed at how gross they can get. These are the cheapest cartridges in the water filtration sequence, about half the cost of DI resin or an RO membrane. Looking at the state of this filter, I know I definitely should [...]
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