The Bacterial “Rip Clean” Method

[Dburr1014]

I have a 6-month old mixed reef that went through a battle with SCA which I successfully defeated using nutrient management (dosing NeoNitro and NeoPhos daily to achieve 100:1 ratio), daily dosing of live phyto, daily dosing of beneficial bacteria (rotation of MB7, EcoBalance, and LifeSource), big dosing of live pods, adding live ocean rock, and a healthy dose of patience.

Now I have some big patches of cyano and, in the last week, GHA starting to grow. I'm trying hard to play the slow game and not go nuclear on things....really want to build a healthy, sustainable system. But man, it's hard sometimes.

I no longer have to dose nutrients and am maintaining consistent 100:1 ratio (nitrates are around 7-9, phosphates are 0.07-0.09 with daily testing).

Will dosing Reef Actif help with my cyano/GHA issues?

Any risk in this reducing nitrates/phosphates and dinos returning?

Post #57, some good details on how to dose or believed system requirements.

 

[brandon429]

DBurr that's a shockingly nice tank, I don't recall seeing that
the true coral growth / old age all healthy


plus that degree of algae is a signal of health not any sort of imbalance requiring intervention

real reefs grow that, something has to feed ten thousand tangs and turtles

its in the crevices not the coralline or the coral flesh, reef details

coral flesh healthy like that is algae excluding/takes its real estate vs yields it

so that would be a cosmetic job, which there is still a high demand for and what harm is there in attempting a 0% algae reef, I'd be striving for it

if this method can ferret it out of the crevices then that's an advancement for sure.


given a tank exactly that scale the small presence would be a positive signal for me, it's not overtaking anything. healthy reef

 

[exnisstech]

It’s not a just do it once and it’s all gone it’s a way of reefing.

This is exactly the type of thing I have been looking for. I've been drawn to older / more mature reefers methods because they just seem to work better with less complications but it seems like they get beat down or ignored because the methods aren't cool and there is no high tech equipment involved.
I have to order as the LFS didn't have any but I'm definatly on board. I'll do before videos and images to document things. Thanks for your efforts and you too @brandon429

EDIT: I retract my thanks to brandon. I think he has done more to take over and derail this this thread than help. JMO

 

[exnisstech]

Hopefully this is not correct or it will put a damper on this? I've only been able to find it in stock at one of the four online vendors I use. This is from premium aquatics

 

[beesnreefs]

Hopefully this is not correct or it will put a damper on this? I've only been able to find it in stock at one of the four online vendors I use. This is from premium aquatics

Maybe @Lou Ekus can tell us if this is being discontinued.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hopefully this is not correct or it will put a damper on this? I've only been able to find it in stock at one of the four online vendors I use. This is from premium aquatics

I found it on Amazon
Check this out! https://a.co/d/1BEzyGn

Mine will be in the 1st of the month.

 

[Dburr1014]

DBurr that's a shockingly nice tank, I don't recall seeing that
the true coral growth / old age all healthy


plus that degree of algae is a signal of health not any sort of imbalance requiring intervention

real reefs grow that, something has to feed ten thousand tangs and turtles

its in the crevices not the coralline or the coral flesh, reef details

coral flesh healthy like that is algae excluding/takes its real estate vs yields it

so that would be a cosmetic job, which there is still a high demand for and what harm is there in attempting a 0% algae reef, I'd be striving for it

if this method can ferret it out of the crevices then that's an advancement for sure.


given a tank exactly that scale the small presence would be a positive signal for me, it's not overtaking anything. healthy reef

You are to kind, thank you.

This tank has been up since April 2014.
After the sink outbreak last year, the algae came in. The hairs grow really long and bother the sps so I have to do something. I'm picking it out weekly with my fingers. Before Dino I never saw hair at all. Just the film algae is all.

 

[exnisstech]

I found it on Amazon
Check this out! https://a.co/d/1BEzyGn

Mine will be in the 1st of the month.

I've found it available but do not want to start and not be able to continue long term.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Did I mention that this fella is also assimilating nutrient by preying on the bacteria, and those nutrients will be locked into the starfish body mass for as long as she or he is alive?

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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That starfish is super pretty.

What kind is it?

 

[bishoptf]

I was going to comment about the same thing Tropic Marin Reef Actif is kind of hard to come by. THe OP did mention that waste away is a similar product, that appears to be much easier to come by, would like to know would it be comparable and close enough vs reef Actif?

 

[DHill6]

Aqua Cave lists it.

 

[bishoptf]

Aqua Cave lists it.

Yeah you can find it but its not easy to come by, I'd prefer not to start going down a path if I am not going to be able to continue to do it long term. I am hoping that waste away is close enough for similar results since it's much easier to come by.

 

[sixty_reefer]

One thing that was mentioned on the first page, which I agree in, but hasn't received much attention since, is the benefit of ammonia to corals. I believe they prefer it vs nitrate. With enough coral it can be consumed very quickly. In fact, I run my system with close to 0 Nitrate, but make sure I do have enough organic compounds (in fact dose it via TM Bacto Balance). So probably worth pointing out again, that when algae is gone (if it helps) that corals may suffer if you don't have a constant supply of ammonia.

Also keep in mind fish excrete ammonia through their gills. In fact I contribute a lot of bad coral growth tanks to not enough (or not big enough) fish (unless you dose, in which case you can run coral tank without fish).

I really hope that many folks pay attention to what you just said, that’s the main message. Ammonia is the preferred sources of energy to all photosynthetic organisms (desirable and undesirable) understanding how to divert ammonia can help reduce the growth of algae although learn how to make it more available (once tanks are pest free) will aid with coral growth.
bacto balance is another product that I would recommend to anyone looking for coral growth due to be so complete at the macro nutrients level, it’s a carbon source that aids the removal of pollutants and it’s a nitrogen and phosphorus source also that contributes to coral growth.

what folks at tropic marine must know is that organic carbon stimulated bacteria don’t affect ammonia directly.
This allowed them to develop a product that is carbon based that will remove organic and inorganic pollutants (fish waste and nitrates) and replace them with clean nitrogen compounds (mostly source of ammonia) that heterotrophic bacteria can’t use directly and import for coral growth.

unfortunately lowering ammonia with this method will affect coral growth and stall growth as it will also stall the growth of algae. This is why it’s important to keep no3 and po4 detectable, we need to leave a source of energy for coral to survive, they will have to spend more energy to convert nitrates back to ammonia but they won’t die just survive during cleaning.

 

[brandon429]

Waste Away: Is it really bacterial? Or chemical? What does it do?

[Edits for clarity - 4/21 - shown in brackets] I've been looking into debris that accumulates in the sand (Dan's Thread for that discussion) in our tanks and ways to "clean it up" whatever that means. In the process Waste Away by Dr Tim and similar "grunge-eating" products became of interest...

www.reef2reef.com

@Tom Bishop

TaRich’s did a rather in depth study of waste away

 

[sixty_reefer]

Very interesting read, will be following. Always open to new Reefing ideas. I just put an Oxidator in a Reefer 170, what a difference in glass and water, coral. Not to derail this thread by any means, just my observation. BB tank.

It’s not derailing, there is many different ways to achieve the same goal.

 

[reefluvrr]

How long should one expect for reef actif type of bacteria to start noticing an effect in reef tanks?

 

[sixty_reefer]

I have a 6-month old mixed reef that went through a battle with SCA which I successfully defeated using nutrient management (dosing NeoNitro and NeoPhos daily to achieve 100:1 ratio), daily dosing of live phyto, daily dosing of beneficial bacteria (rotation of MB7, EcoBalance, and LifeSource), big dosing of live pods, adding live ocean rock, and a healthy dose of patience.

Now I have some big patches of cyano and, in the last week, GHA starting to grow. I'm trying hard to play the slow game and not go nuclear on things....really want to build a healthy, sustainable system. But man, it's hard sometimes.

I no longer have to dose nutrients and am maintaining consistent 100:1 ratio (nitrates are around 7-9, phosphates are 0.07-0.09 with daily testing).

Will dosing Reef Actif help with my cyano/GHA issues?

Any risk in this reducing nitrates/phosphates and dinos returning?

Wend using an organic carbon source there is always a risk of affecting nitrates and phosphates, that can be easily corrected by just dosing more.
reef actif would help reduce organics that are feeding your Cyanobacteria and algae, take in consideration that mb7 has organic carbon and you could achieve a similar result with it although it could take longer and be more expensive on the long run.

 

[sixty_reefer]

That starfish is super pretty.

What kind is it?

It’s a fromia, I do have before and after pictures somewhere showing growth

 

[sixty_reefer]

I was going to comment about the same thing Tropic Marin Reef Actif is kind of hard to come by. THe OP did mention that waste away is a similar product, that appears to be much easier to come by, would like to know would it be comparable and close enough vs reef Actif?

Any product that is sold to clean the system will have organic carbon that will reduce organic matter, there are a lot of folks that use mb7 fairly successfully and post results with less algae and less build up detritus.
Reef actif won’t be the only product available I just find that knowing the ingredients and that the amount is less diluted more cost effective in comparison.
The basis of a “rip clean” is to reduce organic as per @brandon429 threads, in here myself and Brandon propose a clean made by bacteria allowing them to do the work for you instead of breaking a full system down.
the difference is also that sometimes a normal rip clean may not be effective as the person performing it would just clean the rock and leave the sand bed untouched, only solving half the problem. With a bacterial rip clean all parts of the system will be clean from organics the difference is that it will take longer to do.

I suggest reef actif as I find it safe enough for all stages of experience im the hobby it’s a fail proof kind of product as long as instructions are followed, one could even use nopox although the carbohydrates content in fairly small and reduce more inorganic nutrients vs organic nutrients.

 

[sixty_reefer]

How long should one expect for reef actif type of bacteria to start noticing an effect in reef tanks?

It will depend on how much organics and detritus is build up in your system, the bacteria will start growing straight away, this type of bacteria is fairly fast growing although for the full system to start looking clean it may take a few weeks.

some signs that is working is less film algae on glass surfaces and the system will look visually more clean.

some signs that you may need to use a source of Doc for cleaning is yellow water and a lot of film algae in glass.