Quote:
Originally Posted by michika
"Cheap"? Right...cheap is relative don't forget.
Per the Brightwell page for dosing instructions; high nutrient is 5mL/25g for the first two weeks, then you switch to the low nutrient dosing levels which is 5mL/50g. Currently my tank has a volume of 600g, soon to be about 750g. Using the 600g number on a large tank like mine I'd be dosing in EXCESS of 120mL/day at the initial dosing recommendation and then about 60mL/day. A 2L bottle is $40.10 at JL (excluding shipping and taxes). A 2L bottle will last me 16.66 days at the high nutrient dosing amount. The lower dosing would last a little more then a month; 36.36 days. Therefor I could expect to have a fixed monthly cost of $40 + shipping & taxes. That isn't particularly economic. Add in the fix costs of running your tank (utilities, food, salt, etc.) and you can be easily paying out a large monthly cost for your hobby enjoyment.
To conclude when we talk about "cheap" we need to recognize that its a relevant term in comparision to systems, economics (prices at LFSs, accessiblity, etc.), and feasibility. What is realistic for someone isn't realistic for another.
Also remember a lot of these threads are people advising others of their experiences. Advice is often just a regurgitation of things that have worked for others, but isn't necessarily based on hard facts or provable science. Just because something worked for you is not a guarantee that it will work for someone else.
Additionally asylumdown has provided us all some great academic based responses in regards to cyano. I think it really does put much of the discussion into black and white terms when it comes to why some tanks may have cyano and others don't. I suspect that those points are the ones most often missed when we talk amongst ourselves in the reefing community about solving this issue when it appears.
Disclaimer: I have cyano, I've had it since I missed ONE water change during the Southern Alberta floods. I've tried Coral Snow, bacterial dosing (Zeobak)increasing my water changes, amending the flow patterns in my tank, and doing absolutely nothing. And you know what nothing has worked. I bought many products on the recommendations of others because it also worked for them. So there you go, why I felt the need to chime in.
/devil's advocate moment. |
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I use about 20 ml a week of MB7 in my 230g system (may be less than what Brightwell recommends). And I bought my last 2L bottle from J&L at their boxing day sale (15 0r 20% discount). I just checked, and still have about 1/2 left (keep it in the fridge). I started this bottle last Feb. So that means it costs me about $20 a year. For me, that is indeed cheap to stay cyano free, and all the other benefits that it provides.
And sorry for seeming to put down academic discussions. I find them very interesting too, and often learn something. But I also wanted to give my real experience with cyano problems I had in the past and how I conquered them. As I said, I have not had a single outbreak since I started using MB7. And a few times (not in the last year or more) when it tried to start up again, I just dosed MB7 heavily for a couple weeks, and it quickly disappeared. Interestingly that happened during a summer when I was away a lot and not able to dose MB7 regularly. While that may not be a scientific test, it was enough to convince me that it worked.
I am sure there may be other ways to lick cyano, but that is what worked for me.