Jestersix

Derek's 225g - 1 Year Birthday

iani said:
what is he doing?
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Making a solution of:
  • Bacteria
  • Particulate Food
  • Carbon Source
  • Trace Elements
  • Zeozym
Then fermenting it in a mason jar. Even if you sterilized all your materials, you still have carry over bioburden from any of those components or the surrounding air. A lot of the bacteria added aren't even marine bacteria. Anyone with a micro background has red sirens going off reading what he does.
 
derek_SR said:
This is my primary concern as well. Allan recommends sterilization, but I'm skeptical that one can really sterilize the process fully with so many ingredients and so much involved. A lot of well-known hobbyists are having some really repeatable results, though - which is pretty rare in this hobby. I listen to a ton of podcasts and consume a lot of reef content, and it's unusual for any "method" or "product" to have such consistent sentiment.

Still - I am hesitant. The tank is doing so well, and I am always reluctant to dump any crap in there. But I also have the inner change demon on the other shoulder telling me to try things. :)
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You can't really sterilize with out an autoclave though. You can sanitize or disinfect. Is he doing that with peroxide or bleach?
 
Darkxerox said:
Making a solution of:
  • Bacteria
  • Particulate Food
  • Carbon Source
  • Trace Elements
  • Zeozym
Then fermenting it in a mason jar. Even if you sterilized all your materials, you still have carry over bioburden from any of those components or the surrounding air. A lot of the bacteria added aren't even marine bacteria. Anyone with a micro background has red sirens going off reading what he does.
Click to expand...
what kind of bacteria?
 
I watched the latest youtube circuit Allan went on but have no plans of trying myself. I like watching in on others trying new things.

Would an instapot pressure cooker be considered an autoclave? I hear Telegraham recommending that for the sterilization.
 
iani said:
what kind of bacteria?
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www.reef2reef.com

Some of my Acro Collection

Curious with all the bacteria focus you have I don't think I’ve read you talk much about carbon dosing. Do you have any experience with it or thoughts? My understanding right now is the positive of growing bacteria faster but a negative of not knowing exactly what bacteria is growing… so seems...
www.reef2reef.com www.reef2reef.com

He claims that any bacterial product is fine, but a lot of the "probiotic" commercial ones for our hobby have been found to be terrestrial species like lactobacillus or refuse to state what they actually contain. If you look at any of the "healthy" splits of populations from Aquabiomics, there are huge varieties of species that are considered "good" that can up or down regulate other species. Telegraham tested one of his open containers and found human pathogenic bacteria that grew in there (another reason not to culture these without a controlled environment). More recent posts had him using BioDigest since that actually had some Aquabiomics data.

Regardless, it's not hard to feed your tank particulate foods, plankton, etc. without letting them ferment.
 
Patio said:
I watched the latest youtube circuit Allan went on but have no plans of trying myself. I like watching in on others trying new things.

Would an instapot pressure cooker be considered an autoclave? I hear Telegraham recommending that for the sterilization.
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If you can get over 121C for >30 minutes at 15 psia for a dry container, then yes. Some autoclave background: https://blink.ucsd.edu/safety/resea... saturated steam under,—usually 30–60 minutes.

But that whole process is moot if you're adding non-sterile items like powdered or liquid foods from non-sterile containers. It's like taking a shower and putting on dirty clothes.
 
Darkxerox said:
Regardless, it's not hard to feed your tank particulate foods, plankton, etc. without letting them ferment.
Click to expand...

No, in fact it's quite a bit easier than doing this process here! But I haven't (personally) seen any results from feeding any of that myself, which is why I don't do it (and why I have most of the ingredients for this concoction sitting around already, largely unused). Nor have I ever read about any consistent results or consensus when it comes to feeding bacteria, particulate food, phyto, or anything else really. The majority of what informs our decision-making is unfortunately anecdotal in this hobby.

My *expectation* is that I would try it, not see any meaningful result, and stop...like most everything else. The risk would be the introduction of some cultured super-bacteria that bombs my tank. But, I suppose that risk always exists since nothing else we put into our tanks is sterile or well understood, either.

Still, I think you've talked me out of it. :) I guess I'll just go feed the fish some more...
 
Switching gears to a different project to occupy me - setting up auto water change. I currently do a manual 50g water change every 2-3 weeks, but love the steady influx of trace elements (and reduction in effort) that AWC would provide.

My thinking is to run RODI lines from 2x Versa pumps located at the mixing station in the garage, up through a roof vent, across the roof, down the side of the house, and into the sump via the same hole my now-retired skimmer intake was using.

The SW Versa would be pushing water up about 6ft, horizontally about 12ft, then down about 8ft. The waste water Versa would be pulling it, roughly the same distance. Anyone have experience with AWC? Versas seem like a good option but I'm open to other ideas? My main concern is uneven in/out flows making salinity wonky over time. Any other pitfalls to worry about?
 
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Messed around with the flow some today. As noted earlier, I've been experimenting with a Jebao pump in the corner to make a standing wave. I also also have 2x XF350 gyres in the tank, one on either end. I've included some precise technical drawings to illustrate what I did today. Before:
before.jpg


I decided to remove the XF350 on the overflow side and center the Jebao to get a more efficient wave going. It also eliminates some of the forceful gyre return flow along the bottom on this side, which is where my LPS and softies live:
after.jpg


The wave impacts the entire tank, and the gyre on the right creates additional flow on the mag/SPS side that also gets very chaotic where it hits the jebao pulses. This leaves a relatively calmer area in the "LPS zone" on the left:
flow.jpg



This turned out to work really well - better+stronger wave with less return flow hitting the LPS. One less wire and pump in the tank. So for this entire 6foot, 225G tank I have enough flow to support a mag anemone and a ton of SPS - with just 2 pumps that total about $200! A Jebao SOW20 ($65) and an XF350 ($135). Not too shabby.

Here's a video of the motion the wave produces:
 
This flow post gives poor people like me hopes in owning a 6ft tank some day too doesn’t always have to be a grand for each group of equipment that performs a function in success like what’s in your tank.
 
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