Cam barr Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 hey all ive benn wondering what all the fuss is about black powder does it work and what is it good for its a weird type of coral food and i was wondering if it worked or if it was junk cam b Link to comment
Crakeur Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 I use it every so often and all I can say is that it tends to leave a nice coat of black on the water surface. Then, when I stick my hand in the tank a day or two later I end up with a tonf of black crap on my wrist, arm and hand. Does it work? Don't know. I don't use it enough to really tell. I am finding that little or no feeding of any kind works just fine. A couple of flakes for the neon dotty once every week or so and the fish is fine. The lobster is fine, the corals and inverts are all fine. Link to comment
Cam barr Posted March 18, 2003 Author Share Posted March 18, 2003 humm thats kinda weirdd whats it supposed to be made out of Link to comment
Crakeur Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 not sure what it is made of. I like the fact that it slowly sinks and stays in suspension so that it gets swept around by the powerheads and reaches all the different filter feeders etc. but that layer of soot on the surface (which only recently started happening) annoyed me. It only happened the last two times I used it so I am thinking I might have put too much into the tank. I'll try it again tonight and see if I get the same crappy results. On the bright side, it seems as if I could drop anything short of a fistfull of pennies in my tank and the inhabitants would make out ok. Link to comment
klownfsh Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 How big is your tank? I have seen people crash small tanks,>50, by over dosing. it seems to work good in larger tanks. i have used it in very small ammounts in the past and it worked ok , nothing spectaculer. I take mysis shrimp and crush them up and all most all my corals and fish eat it. i do that once or twice a week. my red lobo and all my zooanthids all catch it and since zooanthids are largly carniverious they multiply like crazy. And as far as whats in Black Powder thats propritary information that our Good friend Mark Weiss is famous for. I dont think its worth the $15-20. His specta vital works realy good for Starting up new tanks. its kinda like a live rock booster. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 the tank is 7 gallons with a 2 1/2 gallon fuge. I add very little of the stuff (when I add it) and if I see the black surface, I do a water change. I repeat that aside from my own bungled attempts at aquascaping and my own oafish mistakes when cleaning the tank, I have a very healthy happy tank. Link to comment
klownfsh Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 i have heard that it works realygood for tunicutsand sea squirts Link to comment
klownfsh Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 I i didnt mean to imply that there was any thing wrong with what you are doing . i think that it is good to Try new things. Moderation is the key to succes Link to comment
Crakeur Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 agreed. I have a few purple tunicates in my tank and every time I do a major aquascape change I find them again, put them out in the open and then they get moved. I have heard they are hard to keep but these little balls are impossible to kill in my opnion. Maybe it's the random black powder hehe. Link to comment
Cam barr Posted March 18, 2003 Author Share Posted March 18, 2003 lol humm prob wouldent hurt to try it maby ill start dosing it on my prop systems and see what i get outta it i mainly use DTs and marine snow ive had pretty good lick whith boath esp.. the snow becuse it has a longer shelf life but other whize should i try it Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 eit smeieallz leik poop. It is bicolids and some enzymes and mineral deposits or some crap like that. I have had some fer like a year. I use it of and on, but sparingly. I usualy mix it up really wellin rodi topoff water and shake the bejexzus out of it in a small jar with a lid, then pour it into the stream of a powerhead. I don't know if it really has any affect, but if they sell it, there may be some good to it.... right ? ??? there MUST BE or else they wouldn't sell it... Link to comment
Cam barr Posted March 19, 2003 Author Share Posted March 19, 2003 yea hopfully i think i might try it Link to comment
cmoreash Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 I use the combovital, and man, that stuff really helps, fanworms like it a lot, and i swear it makes the zoos grow mad..they dont grow if i forget to dose it......which i've been a lazy ass about.... Link to comment
Cam barr Posted March 21, 2003 Author Share Posted March 21, 2003 what is a combo of black powder and coral vite???? Link to comment
cmoreash Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 ehhh the combovital is blackpowder+spectravital Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 junk junk junk ALL JUNK. marc weiss stuff is junk Lunchbucket Link to comment
Cam barr Posted March 22, 2003 Author Share Posted March 22, 2003 if its comin form luchbucket then im not usin it lol after much reserch ive decited to pass and stick whith DTs Link to comment
Cam barr Posted March 22, 2003 Author Share Posted March 22, 2003 hey lunch i love the tank i have various systems at home and am going to set up a 20h i was thinking of puttin a 150 50,000 k iwaski over it the one that hello lights has goin for 160 what do u think cam b Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted March 22, 2003 Share Posted March 22, 2003 cam i am not the "all knowing reef God" but i have used it. i used some in my 10gal and the next day my 2 clowns were dead....no temp spikes nothing like that so i attribute it to the deaths. also, when i used it in my 55gal i NEVER saw any posibive results. most people say it is junk i have new pics of the tank too 150 w would be good. 50k bulb??? that will be blue as crap...you sure it isn't a 20k? Lunchbucket Link to comment
Cam barr Posted March 23, 2003 Author Share Posted March 23, 2003 humm yea i can eaather get it in a 6,700k or 50,000 k here the link i might go whith double ended instead of mougal???? i know your not the all knowing reef god, I am!!!! ha ha ha nah u just ahve really good inste and will take your advice also after much reasearch i found that DTs nad marine snow work the best cam b Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 LOL, thanks i try to help others out from my mess ups and try to give good insight. yeah i use DT's and a golden pearls type product Lunchbucket Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 lunch, they are not messups, its "Corrective Loss accessment". Link to comment
HuBu Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 i havent seen any great change in my tank other than the red coralline. which leads me to believe that there are spores in the powder. this just makes you think that something is actually happening in your tank. i believe its pretty much worthless. Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 I've done a little bit of research with a Michigan State oceanography grad student on BlackPowder, and we're pretty sure that there's glucose added to the mixture. Those findings stretch across the board with some of Weiss' other products. Basically, we're pretty sure that if you dumped KoolAid in your tank, you might see the same results. I've got some BlackPowder, and from time to time I dose it, but haven't noticed any real benefits from using it. I have, however, seen a big tank go CRAZY when it's dosed into the water column. Corals open up and start ingesting it like mad. That might lend itself to the thought that it's got some sugar in it. I make no guarantees on this research, but this is what we think might be added to the mix in order to make corals respond the way they do. Later. Link to comment
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