"How does the Reef-resh system enhance an already perfectly balanced and set up tank?"
It is simple. System RF works by the removal of unwanted nutrients and the input of proper additives that will benefit corals.
The following are indisputable FACTS and not "claims" of our product:
- You are introducing novel bacterial strains that induce the formation of biofilms with some of the pre-existing bacteria
- These biofilms want to grow and need to consume nutrients to do it. This is the nature of bacterial micro-colonies. It is the way that bacteria spreads on your kitchen counter. It is the way that bacterial infections spread in your body. They need to eat.
- Biofilms trap nutrients in their upper layers to grow. This is how they feed. In particular, some of the strains we have selected have a preference to consume organic phosphates and nitrates.
- As these particular biofilms grow they will "shed" off some of the layers. Not all biofilms shed (especially ones in the human body), but with certain bacterial combinations in their make-up, they do.
- The sloughed off layers are either skimmed out or fish/corals will eat them.
- Having an extra entity in your aquarium that consumes these nutrients is guaranteed to lower your nutrient levels. It would not be possibly for these biofilms to sustain themselves if they did not consume nutrients.
If you are further interested, there are thousands of microbiology references that will tell you the exact mechanisms of marine biofilms. Two of our employees have post-grad degrees in microbiology, so if anyone has extremely technical questions I can direct them to Tyler or Ji Hyun.
Lastly, the addition of RF-Plus and RF-Acids is what you use to provide amino acids, vitamins and nitrate/phosphate-free coral nutrition. RF-Plus took over 6 months to develop properly. These products are highly concentrated and incredibly important to the coloration of SPS corals. If you doubt the importance of these components, a quick search on google will bring you a decent amount of starter reading material.
It is unfortunate that so many "snake-oil" products have been release in this industry. It has made many hobbyists very skeptical of any aquarium product - especially unconventional products like System Reefresh. I am a hobbyist myself, so I know exactly where you come from. When I first got into the hobby in 1996, I was conned by my LFS into wasting hundreds of dollars on useless products. At Polyp Lab, we are trying to develop a reputable name for ourselves. Releasing a snake oil product into an already infested market would not be a wise way to go about it.
We have received very good feedback on our System RF product line and I personally love reading the comments and answering questions you guys have sent over emails. We have some very intelligent reefers with open and inquiring minds in Canada. You guys are truely amaze me.
Something that I should note that has been called to my attention, the label on the RF-Fuel package is not as clear as we would like it to be. Just to clarify, RF-Fuel should be dosed every day in the amounts listed.
A more thorough explanation of the dosing regime is available on our website at
www.polyplab.com/instructions.html
And lastly, to answer Stircrazy's other question:
There are a large number of hobbyists in North America who do all of the things we suggest (such as water changes, running carbon etc) who still do not have the coral health/colouration/appearance that they are looking for. I'm sure there are a handful of people who use this forum who could attest to this. Our product does not guarantee a flourescent rainbow garden in your aquarium, but it most certainly helps it along the way!
Oh and thank you for the correction on the salinity units =)