Brightwell Aquatics - Reef BioFuel Carbon Source

Bioavailable Carbon Source for Promoting Rapid, Natural Phosphate and Nitrate Reduction in all Marine and Reef Aquaria

Overview
    •    Helps maintain a balanced nutrient-limited marine aquarium
    •    Enables the hobbyist to enhance the rate of microbial growth and reproduction
    •    Replaces “vodka method” of microbial activity-enhancement with a completely safe and biologically-sound alternative
    •    Indirectly benefits corals and other suspension-feeding invertebrates by encouraging reproduction of bacterioplankton
    •    Encourages polyp-expansion in all corals
    •    May be used to help expedite biological filtration in new set-ups
    •    Formulated by a marine scientist

Technical Background
The concept of biological filtration is simply to utilize living organisms to remove substances from aquatic systems as a natural result of their respiration and metabolic processes. This mode of filtration is at work in any aquarium system housing live organisms, though microbes (e.g. various types of bacteria) are arguably responsible for the majority of nutrient-remineralization that takes place
Oceanographic studies have shown that up to 90% of the dissolved organic carbon present in seawater may be assimilated by planktonic bacteria (bacterioplankton) into new biomass. This nutrient assimilation simultaneously removes nitrogen (as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) and phosphorus (as phosphate) from the water, making bacterioplankton a very effective sink of dissolved organic material that would otherwise fuel the growth of organisms such as cyanobacteria and filamentous algae in aquaria.
Bacterioplankton are also an important food source for organisms that are able to capture them from the water column. Utilizing these microbes to control dissolved organic material and then gradually removing the microbes on a continuous basis through protein skimming and the feeding activities of corals, clams, tube worms, tunicates, sponges, and their respective allies, becomes an effective means of nutrient-harvest.
Simultaneously, it promotes the health of these suspension-feeding organisms through constant feeding (encouraging polyp-expansion in many types of corals), and promotes water quality. The entire process requires that adequate carbon be present in a usable form. In aquaria with a tendency towards elevated phosphate and nitrate concentrations, an appropriate source of carbon may quickly become depleted. Brightwell Aquatics' Reef BioFuel provides a source of bioavailable carbon to ensure that nutrient remineralization is efficient and effective.
Instructions and Guidelines
Shake product well before using. The main goal of using Reef BioFuel is to provide a source of organic carbon to bacterioplankton, enabling them to assimilate available phosphate and nitrate into new biomass (removing these nutrients from the water column and making them unavailable for uptake by cyanobacteria and algae); the resulting increase in bacterioplankton biomass is then removed from the aquarium via protein skimming

Do not use this product in any aquarium in which active and effective protein skimming is not in use.

Medium- to High-Bioload Systems: Add 5 ml (1 capful) per 50 US-gallons (189.3 L) [≈2 drops per gallon (3.8 L)] of aquarium water daily. Monitor concentrations of phosphate and nitrate with accurate test kits; phosphate and nitrate should eventually become immeasurable (or nearly so) when a balance is reached between the rates of nutrient-input and nutrient-assimilation. Thereafter, switch to “low-nutrient” dosage (below).

Low-Bioload Systems: Add 5 ml (1 capful) per 100 US-gallons (378.5 L) [≈1 drop per gallon Add 5 ml (1 capful) per 100 US-gallons (378.5 L) [≈1 drop per gallon dosage and/or dosing frequency by up to 50% sufficiently maintains a low-nutrient dosage and/or dosing frequency by up to 50% sufficiently maintains a low-nutrient dose 1 drop per 50 US-gallons daily for one week, then resume “low-nutrient” dosage.

Sizes: 250 ml, 500 ml

If you have questions or would like to place a custom order, Call Nemo Marine Systems at 408.238.8240 (8:00 am to 6:00 pm Pacific Time). You can email us anytime.