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Nualgi additive review and testing...


Islandoftiki

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Islandoftiki

Ok guys, I'm sure most of you are already familiar with most of my tanks, or at least one or two of them, so you already know I've done some pretty cool stuff and have at least a remote idea of what I'm doing.

 

So, it's time for a new experiment! What is it, you say? A new product that I've become aware of through Facebook. It's called Nualgi and it sounds very interesting. It seems like an interesting approach to algae management. I'm not entirely sure if there are any other additives that are on par with this one, so let me know if you have heard of any. In their FAQ, they describe it as such, "Nualgi is a patented formula of nano silica based nano nutrient in size range of 5-100 nm. The silica becomes both the carrier for other nutrients and the nutrient by itself. It contains a special formulation of Fe, Mn, Zn, Co, Cu, Mo, B, S, Ca, Mg, P, K & Si".

 

Anyhow, I have a small sample of the product that I'm going to be testing on my 30 Gallon IM Nuvo peacock mantis tank. Why this tank? Well, despite being a very low nutrient tank, having a peacock mantis shrimp pretty much eliminates having most of the commercially available algae eating clean up crew, or as my mantis shrimp Betty calls them, snacks.

 

So, here we go. We're going to give it a try...

 

Let's start with some info about the tank and water parameters before starting the treatment:

 

Tank: IM Nuvo 30 gallon

Filtration: Filter Pad, activated carbon, Rowaphos, purigen, polybiomarine filter pad, Innovative Marine skimmer, InTank chaeto fuge lighted with a JBJ Nano-Glo LED light.

Flow: Vortech MP-10, 85% reef crest mode. Jebao WP-10 "Else" mode. Sicce Syncra 1.5 return pump (357 gph).

Lighting: Maxspect Razor Nano 60 watt, 120 degree optics.

 

Red Sea Pro Alk: 7.8 (This is normal average range and is maintained with alkalinity supplement via BRS dosing pump)

Red Sea Pro Calc: 380 (This is a little lower than normal this test, which is usually 420)

Red Sea Pro Mag: 1880 (Intentionally high due to Kent Tech M treatment for bryopsis, which is gone now)

Hanna tester Phos: 0.01

Elos Nitrate: Less than 1ppm

Milwaukee Digital Tester Specific Gravity: 1.026

 

This tank also receives Kalk in the ATO water at a rate of 1 tsp per gallon of water.

Water changes of 20% occur weekly.

Dosing includes AcroPower Amino Acids each week and twice a week broadcast feeding with Reef Roids.

The damsel is fed daily with a frozen food mixture from the LFS (I forget which brand)

The Mantis receives one whole krill soaked in Selcon and VitaChem every day.

 

So, here are some pictures of the tank before the addition of Nualgi and I've tried to highlight some of the small problem areas that I've been manually treating with hydrogen peroxide.

 

Full Tank Shot:

20140323_165322_zps9aa348ad.jpg

 

Unknown SPS, birdsnest, rhodactis, halameda, and some named zoas that I don't care what their name is:

20140323_165205_zps6defa44d.jpg

 

Mixed stuff:

20140323_165120_zpsabb6cf2b.jpg

 

Barney:

20140323_165102_zps6c61fbb0.jpg

 

Betty:

20140323_165044_zpsfd4d5c48.jpg

 

ORA Red planet left, pink birdsnets top, blue/green acro right, hair algae middle:

20140323_165011_zps5548b81c.jpg

 

Small hair algae patch:

20140323_164958_zps73eae248.jpg

 

This rock... I've NEVER been able to get rid of this little hair algae patch. I maintain it with hydrogen peroxide one or twice a week:

20140323_164946_zpsbf64b66f.jpg

 

For reference, Green Slimer acro polyp extension:

20140323_164939_zps5d18580c.jpg

 

 

So, I've dosed about .8 ml of Nualgi and will be monitoring everything closely over the next couple months and reporting on my findings. Stay tuned and subscribe to this topic!

 

--Islandoftiki

  • Like 3
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I thought about asking them for a sample, but I don't have any nuisance algae in my tank (so they won't give me any) and I'm worried about my emerald crab starving.

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Yet Another Tiki Tank Experiment? I wonder what we'll all learn this time around?

 

My mandarin tank's in need of a clean-out following what appears to be a near-crash or at least a significant wobble (all soft corals, macro & fish/shrimp/crabs OK, but all LPS a complete loss). I'd dose peroxide to clear the current mess of resulting hair algae, but fear for my fire shrimp so something like this would/could be ideal.

 

Quick and brief (for me) question - does the this product rely on a skimmer to actually export bound nutrients (like biopellets) or can it be used effectively with water changes + chemical filtration setups?

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I ordered a sample but I think I have changed my mind. I don't want a diatom bloom or algae. I know that when the silica buster cartridge in my Spectrapure runs out, I have algae in my tank. I'm not sure 'adding' silica is a good idea for my tank.



I would be more eager to try this product if I did not know the source of my algae problems. I do. If it is not TDS it is my over feeding and lack of water changes.

  • Like 1
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I am interested to see ALL of their results. They say over 400 tanks with positive results, but obviously they are only going to show the good ones. Without a table or figure or anything showing any negative data, I am suspicious of their claims. I'd like to see the total number of entries and the outcomes.

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I am interested to see ALL of their results. They say over 400 tanks with positive results, but obviously they are only going to show the good ones. Without a table or figure or anything showing any negative data, I am suspicious of their claims. I'd like to see the total number of entries and the outcomes.

I doubt anybody will ever share that data. I had horrible results with Brightwell Aquatics KALK+2 yet thousands of people use it. Each tank is different as you know. Failure of a product can be user error as well.

  • Like 2
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I doubt anybody will ever share that data. I had horrible results with Brightwell Aquatics KALK+2 yet thousands of people use it. Each tank is different as you know. Failure of a product can be user error as well.

Yep. They specifically say on their site that overdosing will cause problems. I'd be willing to bet some folks overdid it with the nualgi (1ml? This looks right. *dumps in*). I have contacted them and I might pick some up myself to see if it helps feed my tank overall. I'm worried about starving my crab.

 

I also wonder whether or not this negatively affects macro like chaeto, etc.?

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Islandoftiki

Yep. They specifically say on their site that overdosing will cause problems. I'd be willing to bet some folks overdid it with the nualgi (1ml? This looks right. *dumps in*). I have contacted them and I might pick some up myself to see if it helps feed my tank overall. I'm worried about starving my crab.

 

I also wonder whether or not this negatively affects macro like chaeto, etc.?

 

 

I can imagine a lot of people aren't taking into account actual water volume in their dosing. My Nuvo 30 only holds about 25 gallons of actual water with all of the sand, rocks, corals and equipment in it. I only dosed .8 ml

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I'm going pretty conservative on my volume. 180g tank and 30g sump, but estimating about 120g of water. It's pretty easy to figure out your volume using one of the reef calculators and playing with the numbers a bit. I dose 10 tsp of dow flake to bump my calcium 30ppm so I just put in the known values and adjusted the volume until the result came out to 10 tsp.

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This is random - does anyone know why I'm not getting notifications of people quoting me? I have that setting turned on under my profile settings (I ask because Tiki's quote never let me know and this has been happening frequently).

 

 

Back to the subject - I'm still skeptical about their claims, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I look forward to seeing your results, Tiki and MikeTR. I'm willing to bet people added too much.

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Islandoftiki

Back to the subject - I'm still skeptical about their claims, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I look forward to seeing your results, Tiki and MikeTR. I'm willing to bet people added too much.

 

Well, I'm not expecting a miracle, nor does this tank need one. With nitrates nearly undetectable and phosphates under .02, much of the algae should just kinda go away on it's own or stop growing for the most part. A number of people have noted improved SPS polyp extension in SPS. I'll be curious to see if my blue acropora starts exhibiting the same kind of polyp extension that my green slimer does.

 

Anyhow, if I see an improvement of those few spots that I have to keep spot treating with hydrogen peroxide, I'll be happy.

 

Anyhow, the tank is already doing quite well, so we'll see if this pushes it to 11.

  • Like 1
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natalia_la_loca

I've been looking into this product too. For me, the sticking point is this (pasted from their site):

 

Every system is different, but some of the possible reasons Nualgi would not work in a tank are:

  1. Over feeding. We recommend feeding once every other day. [emphasis mine]
  2. Poor quality lights and/or incorrect lighting periods. Connect to our forum for specific recommendations
  3. Excess nutrients in the water from using nutrient products alongside Nualgi.
  4. Contact us to speak with one of our experts to help you troubleshoot.

 

So they're basically saying this won't work if you feed your tank heavily. For those of us with seahorses, mandys trained on frozen, and other animals that require nutrient rich foods at least daily and often several times a day, I'm gathering that our tanks wouldn't be good candidates for Nualgi.

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Islandoftiki

I think they're more or less saying that poor feeding and husbandry practices can still outcompete anything that Nualgi can do for you.

 

I'm going to request another batch of Nualgi for my 25 gallon that that I forgot to change the GFO in a while back and the phosphates got up to around .9. There are a few sections of hair algae now that my tuxedo urchin seems to be ignoring. That tank would be a good test bed for a slightly dirty tank that I think most average people have from time to time.

  • Like 1
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I've been looking into this product too. For me, the sticking point is this (pasted from their site):

 

Every system is different, but some of the possible reasons Nualgi would not work in a tank are:

  1. Over feeding. We recommend feeding once every other day. [emphasis mine]
  2. Poor quality lights and/or incorrect lighting periods. Connect to our forum for specific recommendations
  3. Excess nutrients in the water from using nutrient products alongside Nualgi.
  4. Contact us to speak with one of our experts to help you troubleshoot.

 

So they're basically saying this won't work if you feed your tank heavily. For those of us with seahorses, mandys trained on frozen, and other animals that require nutrient rich foods at least daily and often several times a day, I'm gathering that our tanks wouldn't be good candidates for Nualgi.

I think they're more or less saying that poor feeding and husbandry practices can still outcompete anything that Nualgi can do for you.

 

I'm going to request another batch of Nualgi for my 25 gallon that that I forgot to change the GFO in a while back and the phosphates got up to around .9. There are a few sections of hair algae now that my tuxedo urchin seems to be ignoring. That tank would be a good test bed for a slightly dirty tank that I think most average people have from time to time.

I agree with Tiki.

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From Nualgi:

 

We have cancelled your order.

However, we don’t believe you are correctly interpreting the nature of Nualgi..we have explained in our faqs how nano sized particles behave differently from coarse particles. Here’s the link

Email us if you change your mind

http://nualgiaquarium.com/about-us/faqs/



I've been looking into this product too. For me, the sticking point is this (pasted from their site):

 


Every system is different, but some of the possible reasons Nualgi would not work in a tank are:

  1. Over feeding. We recommend feeding once every other day. [emphasis mine]
  2. Poor quality lights and/or incorrect lighting periods. Connect to our forum for specific recommendations

  3. Excess nutrients in the water from using nutrient products alongside Nualgi.

  4. Contact us to speak with one of our experts to help you troubleshoot.

 

So they're basically saying this won't work if you feed your tank heavily. For those of us with seahorses, mandys trained on frozen, and other animals that require nutrient rich foods at least daily and often several times a day, I'm gathering that our tanks wouldn't be good candidates for Nualgi.

Errbady knows I feed my tank with a shovel. I'm just not sure how the tank will react to what amounts to starvation (for my critters)

And this statement from them about overfeeding doesn't take into account the micro particles I feed especially for my corals.



This is random - does anyone know why I'm not getting notifications of people quoting me? I have that setting turned on under my profile settings (I ask because Tiki's quote never let me know and this has been happening frequently).

Where is this setting you have turned on? I've never seen it.

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natalia_la_loca

Errbady knows I feed my tank with a shovel. I'm just not sure how the tank will react to what amounts to starvation (for my critters)

And this statement from them about overfeeding doesn't take into account the micro particles I feed especially for my corals.

 

My point exactly.

 

 

Of course, in theory, this product should be able to replace the microparticles fed to corals, as it's supposed to feed zooplankton. But I still wonder whether it can handle large feedings given to fish as well as sun corals, acans, etc. Carbon dosing handles this very heavy feeding nicely in my tank (although I still have some tiny patches of turf algae, hence my interest in other solutions. Am trying Zeovit probiotics and carbon dosing additives currently).

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I think I'm going to order a trial too.

 

While I don't have nuisance algae problems, I am interested in increasing the amount of beneficial microbes in my tank. More coral growth with less feedings on my part, why the heck not ?!

  • Like 1
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natalia_la_loca

While I don't have nuisance algae problems, I am interested in increasing the amount of beneficial microbes in my tank. More coral growth with less feedings on my part, why the heck not ?!

 

I'm interested in that too. The idea behind it sounds great. The devil is in the details.

  • Like 1
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I'm interested in that too. The idea behind it sounds great. The devil is in the details.

Exactly.

 

I mean, what's the worst that can happen? *knocks on wood*.

 

If it works, a 50ml bottle ($18) would last me a very very very long time with a 6 gallon tank. LOL

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