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  #1  
Old 04-08-2006, 04:47 PM
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vanreefer vanreefer is offline
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I'm going to give this a try as well I will try to take some pictures every week to document changes... There are a few questions That I would have... Maybe polyp lab could answer them for me... Does this new strain of bacteria we are adding replace or compete for nutrients with the de-nitrifying bacteria that is normally present in our reefs... ie if I run out or decide to stop using this product wiil my tank re-cycle as the normal flora returns?... are there any negative effects to missing a day or two? will the bacteria die off too rapidly (without the food) and release the nitrates and phosphates ,back into the water collumn, that they had comsumed? I don't think this would be to big an issue with the size of skimmer I am running (G4X on ~100gals) but good to know.

Mike: are you seeing the development of bacterial mats like they advertise?

Polyp lab: Is the food (reef fuel) simply a source of organic carbon... and would this fuel the growth of the pre-existing bacterial strains present in our reefs?
without the addition of your bacterial strain?
Thanks for your answers,
I am looking forward to giving this product a try

Regards,
Dan
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Old 04-08-2006, 05:35 PM
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dirtyreefer dirtyreefer is offline
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Well it's been a week of using this stuff and I can't really significantly report any major difference up till now. I did notice that the water clarity was good, and I can also report a bit more skimmate than before.

As for SPS changes, I can't really say. I am not going up to the tank every night and checking to see whether there are any difference because I honestly wouldn't know whether a branch is growing more than before or not.

The best way is definitely to take some before and after pics which I may do this weekend. These will be the before shots and I'll post them here.

I think the normal waiting period is about 4-6 weeks before you can really notice any dramatic improvements so I'm not gonna get too excited at this point.
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Old 04-08-2006, 06:03 PM
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Mike Olson: I’m glad the product is working out for you.

Tangman: The winner of our photo contest has placed some photos of his progress on several forums. I am not sure if I am allowed to post links to these forums on Canreef so I’ll let you do some searching =)
There is some information on cost on our faq page at www.polyplab.com/faq/html
The cost for a 100 gallon aquarium is around 17-18 dollars a month.

StirCrazy: No problem about the confusion =) I must admit, the names we chose are a little confusing. You can read more about this product at www.polyplab.com/reefresh.html


Ruth: System Reef-resh is a much more gradual (and consequently safer) nutrient export system than other European bacterial systems. We use more efficient strains and a much safer carbon source. Bleaching is not a problem that you will encounter with this product.

VanReefer: I’ll try to answer your question with a quick summary of some of the mechanisms at work here..

There are several bacterial species in the RF-Genesis product. Some species are designed to stay in a planktonic (free-floating) state in the aquarium while other species are designed to firm micro-colonies with existing and novel strains. These micro-colonies are also known as biofilms.

Biofilms typically contain many layers of bacterial cells to form microcolonies. These colonies have fairly complex cell to cell communication between the cells and act as a “team”. The bottom layers of these biofilms attach to a surface and provide some kind of structure for the upper layers. The upper layers are the nutrient exporting elements. They trap nutrients to feed the cells that it is made of. As the top layers of the biofilm consume nitrates and phosphates, it repeatedly grows and sheds.

The layers of the biofilm that have been shed are either eaten by your corals (sound tasty huh?) or are skimmed out by your skimmer. That is why people are noticing more skimmate - you are skimming out bacterial slough.

There is no real problem with missing a day or two of dosing, but the system is most effective when dosed as instructed. With an extended period of non-dosing, the biofilms will find other food sources to survive, but over time will be unable to sustain the structure of the biofilm and will slough off entirely. If you are running a skimmer, they will not break back down before they are skimmed out.

However, if you are running a skimmer-less setup and you stop dosing the product for an extended period of time (several weeks), then you do run the risk of the biofilm layers breaking back down. This is why we do no recommend running System RF in a skimmerless setup. Will you get a second cycle? Unlikely… At this stage your aquarium will likely be mature enough to handle a temporary increase in excess nutrients.

Correct. RF-Fuel is a source of organic carbon and several amino acids that are soluble in the carbon source. The fuel source encourages some strains to multiply that we want to grow, while not effecting other strains that we do not want. It does minimally fuel the growth of some of your existing bacterial stains.

Some European methods use vodka as a carbon source. Vodka is a terribly stupid thing to use as a carbon source in aquariums since it encourages the wrong types of bacteria to grow (Mostly autotrophic as opposed to heterotrophic). It also rapidly results in monocultures of that species and over time you end up with aquariums filled with bacteria that do not provide any real nutrient export.

In a market saturated with hundreds of garbage "reef products", skepticism towards any new product is wise. So regardless of how this product sounds on paper, the experiences of other hobbyists will be the best reviews.

We have put in a LOT of time into developing this product, so to hear positive experiences with the product is very rewarding. Thanks!
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Old 05-17-2006, 04:45 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vanreefer
Does this new strain of bacteria we are adding replace or compete for nutrients with the de-nitrifying bacteria that is normally present in our reefs... ie if I run out or decide to stop using this product wiil my tank re-cycle as the normal flora returns?... are there any negative effects to missing a day or two? will the bacteria die off too rapidly (without the food) and release the nitrates and phosphates ,back into the water collumn, that they had comsumed?
That is exactly why I didn't start using this product... Hell It took five years for GF to talk me into making a lifetime commitment...
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