After an ill-judged experiment with Tropic Marin BioActif (an experiment that left me with 25+ ppm NO3 and 1.0+ ppm PO4) I found an article (“Filter and suspension feeders” at coralscience.org) that mentioned a new form of filtration that made a lot of sense to me: a solid source of labile organic carbon that would release carbon only through enzymatic action of bacteria. This means two things: first of all, it makes overdosing pretty much impossible and secondly it avoids most of the problems that results from heavy use of DOC.

The old 2 liter setup. Pellets were quickly clogged with bacterial biomass.

I started out with only one liter of NP-reducing BioPellets (NPBs). Considering the “bioload” this was clearly too small amount for my tank but for once I wanted to be cautious. Seeing that nothing died and that the pellets were quickly colonized by bacteria (product was not available in stores at this time and there were no user reports) I added a second liter of NPBs. This was the recommended amount for the size of aquarium I have but considering my quite unorthodox feeding regime I didn’t stop the dissolved carbon dosing completely but cut it to half instead. With this combination of solid and dissolved organic carbon the nutrient levels stayed pretty much the same as they were with twice as high DOC dosing. So obviously the NBPs were working as advertised and I had reached my goal which was not to stop DOC dosing completely but to reduce it to more sensible level.

After a couple of months I still had some measurable nitrate (2.5 ppm) and phosphate (0.04 ppm) and I decided to really go “overboard” and ordered 3 more liters of NPBs. Since I didn’t have large enough “reactor” for this amount of NPBs I made a simple open top canister filter from an old 10 liter GAC container and a small 1000 l/h pump and placed the 5 liters of media in there. At the same time I stopped DOC dosing completely.

5 liters of NP-Biopellets in a 10 liter bucket. Using modest (1000 l/h) pump and large diameter container results in slow water velocity which seems to give best results in my case.

The results have been wonderful. It seems that the “critical mass” for my aquarium was around 5 liters of NPBs. The water stays crystal clear at all times and nitrates are finally dropping below 1 ppm. Using many commercial foods with excess phosphorous I still must use small amounts of GFO (before NPBs 2000 ml and now about 500 ml). I feed about 3-4 grams (dry weight) of pulverized invertebrate foods daily which is equal to about one 500 ml bottle of commercial liquid invertebrate food.

My NPBs used to get clogged pretty fast with thick bacterial growth but now, with twice as much surface area for them to colonize, the need to stir the media has diminished significantly. This might actually be a good indicator for sufficient amount of NPBs: if you find your media clogging very fast you might need more pellets to increase the usable surface area. Of course nitrate concentration is also a good indicator.

Comparison of costs of different filtration methods. Assuming 4 x 54W T5 lighting, 18 hrs/day. Bulb replacement every 9 months, 30% of NPBs yearly

I would recommend NPBs to all reef aquarists who are feeding their tank with invertebrate foods. Don’t be afraid to use more than recommended by the manufacturer. All tanks are different and manufacturers can only make general recommendations. Although the cost might seem high at first glance, NPBs are still a lot cheaper (and easier) than maintaining a large enough refugium to match the nutrient binding capacity of NPBs. Electricity and replacement bulbs aren’t cheap! There are also some competing products coming to market so I would expect the price to drop.

Related posts:

1. New ideas for reef aquarium filtration
2. Weapons of Nutrient Destruction: cone and pellets with sugar on top
3. Back to spirits (Updated)

Read all about it here.

Related posts:

1. Amino acids and reef aquariums
2. Amino acids and reef aquarium: Cysteine
3. Spongeguide.org

So, here are four tanks I think are some of the best looking reef tanks I’ve seen. There are certainly many more equally great looking tanks. Although in my opinion it is much more important to have healthy and interesting animals than picture perfect aquascape I certainly wouldn’t mind having a tank such as these.

These will work nicely as a contrast for my tank update I’ll post tomorrow

Japanese soft coral tank:

No related posts.

This was posted on coral-list today:

“The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is giving away the remaining copies of the book ‘Soft Corals and Sea Fans: A comprehensive guide to the tropical shallow water genera of the central-west Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea’ by Katharina Fabricius & Phil Alderslade, colour throughout, 264 pp. (2001). The book will be free of charge, but postage must be paid before delivery of the books (see instructions below). We still have a few hundred copies left to find a good new home. No second edition is planned, so please pass on this message to people who may be interested. The offer is valid until 30 June 2010.

Regards

Katharina Fabricius

SOFT CORALS AND SEA FANS

Fabricius KE & Alderslade P (2001) Soft Corals and Sea Fans: A comprehensive guide to the tropical shallow water genera of the central-west Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. 264 pp. ISBN: 0 642 322104

Free of charge but postage must be paid before delivery of books. Offer valid until 30 June 2010.

Postage:

Zone     1          AUD$10.50               Australia and New Zealand

Zone     2          AUD$13.50               Asia – Pacific

Zone     3          AUD$18.00               Rest of the World

PLEASE PAY BY DIRECT BANK TRANSFER  OR BY EMAILING YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS TO accounts@aims.gov.au

FOR SECURITY, SEND YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS IN TWO SEPARATE EMAILS.

BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS FOR the AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE

Address                          PMB No 3.  Mail Centre

TOWNSVILLE QUEENSLAND 4810

AUSTRALIA

Name of Bank                     Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Address of Bank                  Flinders Mall, Flinders Street, Townsville  Queensland  4810, AUSTRALIA

Account Details                  BSB No   064-817

Account No.          00070212

Account Name: Australian Institute of Marine Science

Swift No.                CTBAAU2S

Remittance Contact               Finance Department

Ph (07) 47534350

Fax (07) 47534338  (overseas:  +61 7 47534338)

accounts@aims.gov.au

If remitting monies directly to AIMS bank account, please EMAIL details to accounts@aims.gov.au

PLEASE PAY IN  Australian Dollars (AUD)

PLEASE ADVISE DELIVERY ADDRESS

FOR ASSISTANCE, EMAIL reception@aims.gov.au

Related posts:

1. Special Diseases of Aquatic Organisms journal issue: The Role of Environment and Microorganisms in Diseases of Corals

Related posts:

1. Summer break is over – a quick update
2. Tank update, June 2009 (Updated)
3. Tank update, July 2009