Discussion on LiquidLife USA's Products

[FuEl]

W0W....potent stuff...so..how does it smell like? Worse than DT?

[islander]

does tis product needs to be cultured?

[Terryz_]

Seems good... Hehe... Anywhere selling it now...

[Achilles Tang]

does tis product needs to be cultured?

[Achilles Tang]

Was going to do a product review but since I don't have a digi cam and Rumor has already started one, I will just add on my comments as follows:

Having a predominantly SPS tank, and used to feeding GPs and live rotifers at night when most of their polyps are out, this product has long piqued my interest as an alternative source of protein for my SPS corals.

The high rotifer count per ml did impress me and that the suspension media was phytoplankton of a different strain, could only mean that this food source was not only potent but providing a new source of microplankton (Pavlova) for other filterfeeders & corals.

I find that polyp extension is as good as when feeding GPs and live rotifers. I have not noticed a drop in water quality even when I feed my tank a few pumps a night.

(on a separate note: my bottle's squirt pump failed to work after the 2nd day and I have used it as a form of dropper instead by unscrewing the cap).

I do not find the smell of the product offensive... I quite like it actually, hahaha... visually, the liquid is dark, almost like black medicine and I'm curious what gives it the blackish colour.

It is rare to find real zooplankton products that do not have a high preservative content (like bottled 'coral food' which do not need refrigeration and therefore cast some doubts on the freshness of the contents).

CoralPlankton is freshly harvested rotifers (perfect for SPS corals and filterfeeders like sea fans and gorgonians) that needs to be kept refrigerated and thus has a short shelf-life.

Application is easy and although the recommended feeding method is to pump a squirt of CoralPlankton into a container of tank water for swirling/mixing before pouring into the tank, I simply pump it direct into my tank in front of my Tunze Stream where it is promptly dissipated into the water column.

To my amazement, sometimes when I squirt it into an area of lower flow, my Sailfin Tang and anthias would swallow the solid pieces before they get dissolved! They seem to enjoy it!

I can logically deduce from my observations and the product literature that it is a good product that could be good for the continued health of my corals and will not hesitate to recommend fellow reefers a suitable alternative to live rotifers/zooplankton substitutes to feed their corals/filterfeeders.

AT

[chinmo]

wow! this product sounds cool man! want to try out both products myself! any1 knows where to buy or when avail? can pm me? Thanks!

[RockyBoy]

How much is this product? Always worried that my Gorniopora not eating anything.

[yus75]

How much is this product? Always worried that my Gorniopora not eating anything.

wow! this product sounds cool man! want to try out both products myself! any1 knows where to buy or when avail? can pm me? Thanks!

guyz SeaQuest Aquatics Trading Post will be bringin it soon here.....price stil not out yet....me stil waitin for it eagerly too

[Michael Young]

How much is this product? Always worried that my Gorniopora not eating anything.

RockyBoy, prices for both BioPlankton and CoralPlankton will be released here next week.

Yus75, my company's name is actually SeaQuest Aquatics minus the 'Trading Post'. I guess I need to have the caps of these 2 words removed to avoid confusion.

BTW, both CoralPlankton and BioPlankton will be available here 4th week of March.

[yus75]

Yus75, my company's name is actually SeaQuest Aquatics minus the 'Trading Post'. I guess I need to have the caps of these 2 words removed to avoid confusion.

yea im tinkin w/o the "tradin post" too.....sori ya

[Michael Young]

I dripped the solution over 1 hour before lights out.

The particulate matter from the solution seem to be able to remain in the water column pretty well

Rumor, you actually don't have to drip the plankton into your tank over a period of time as they have a neutral buoyancy and will stay suspended in the water column even when you pour them in in one go.

For people who still prefer to drip, please let the drip be completed in no more than an hour. Our ambient temperature is high and having the plankton mixture out un-refrigerated for too long will affect their quality.

[Hon]

Michael, Where can I buy them??

Opss...just saw the details

Edited March 8, 2004 by Hon

[Maxima]

Rumor, you actually don't have to drip the plankton into your tank over a period of time as they have a neutral buoyancy and will stay suspended in the water column even when you pour them in in one go.

For people who still prefer to drip, please let the drip be completed in no more than an hour. Our ambient temperature is high and having the plankton mixture out un-refrigerated for too long will affect their quality.

When you drip rotifiers or Plankton, it loses it's freshness and nutriontal value + alot of these rotifiers will stick to your tubing ofthe drip. Juz off your Tunzes or circulation pumps, pump 1 or 2 or more drops into your tank base on tank size and Coral loading. -TAKE it back to the frigerator ASAP. Then stirr your tank surface with a chopstick or whatever and see the content dispense and drip slowly aross the tank. You will see your corals response within mintues. If you don not see your all corals responsing fast, why? You have not been feeding for a long...long time. It will take a few more days to coax all the corals to feed again- some will definitely response faster......... Patience........you can definitely see result on all the corals within days to a week.

Max

[yus75]

how abt skimmer.....is it best to turn it off too...??

[Michael Young]

how abt skimmer.....is it best to turn it off too...??

Gotta get out for a couple of hours, I'll answer this one when I get back.

[Michael Young]

OK I'm back and here's my reply to the skimmer question: We do not recommend you switch off your skimmer during and after feeding. Here are the reasons:

1. Both BioPlankton and CoralPlankton have neutral buoyancy and will stay suspended in the water column; which is not near the surface where the water will overflow into the sump. Therefore, the amount of plankton that will find their way into the sump and the skimmer is negligible.

2. I always forget to turn my skimmer back on after I turned it off for whatever reasons and I'm assuming that quite a number of you out there are just like me.

[Michael Young]

Hey People,

here's a short message from Liquid Life USA:

First, I wanted to give a sincere appreciation for those that have evaluated our liquid based feeds. I wanted to provide some additional information that can help to better understand our products.

Liquid Life USA is a manufacture of specialty feeds, and currently we operate a small scale finfish hatchery in which we breed gobies and clownfish.

In creating feeds, we operate within some strongly accepted protocols. Plankton feeding, be it live, preserved, or lypholized can have a huge impact in marine aquaria. Liquid Feeds are generally well accepted by corals because as a moist feed they travel well in the water column and have beneficial biofilm coatings. No matter what style of plankton feeds you chose, I highly suggest that you begin a plankton feeding regime in your aquaria. The results speak for themselves.

CoralPlankton is a first of a kind feed. After lengthy testing we decided to base our feed on rotifers. The key indicators of CoralPlanktons success was that our test group reported faster development of new coral polyps per square cm. on Small Polyped corals. Once we asked for more specific feedback on this, reports came in of faster healing time after fragging, and rapid encrusting of surfaces. It is our opinion that improved development occurs from the ingestion of the rotifers as an additional carbon source for the corals. The Pavlova algae was selected because this algae was being used in tridacnid clam culture in the islands.

While CoralPlankton is our latest food, our First food was BioPlankton.

Within the US, BioPlankton has the highest cell count of any retail plankton feed. While we have been encouraged to dilute our product and make the packaging bigger, we have always stuck to our desire to sell professional grade products that are never watered down.

The questions that we have encountered lately center on which food is the right feed for a given application. In short, those that regularly feed BioPlankton will generate a natural source of ZooPlankton. CoralPlankton can be used when Fragging corals, or for young aquaria.

All of our products come with calibrated pumping devices to prevent the overdosing that is common when attempting to measure via capfuls.

Ultimately, we are quite excited about our pipeline of developing products. Should you desire a custom application protocol for you aquaria, please feel free to contact us.

With enthusiasm,

Edward Ramirez

Director of Operations

[KingFish]

CoralPlankton stays on the water column, no doubt, but I'll have to contest the extent of loss of beneficial value due to extended feeding duration.

Breakdown of organics before losing significant amount of its benefits will take more than 1 hour.

I put it on drip to extend the feeding period and maximise their chances of capture before settling down onto sandbed or rocks. And even so the fauna or other critters will quickly feed on them.

Turning off all circulation is not recommended as the odds of capture is lessened. Basic kinetics will correlate with chances of capture. Switching off the return should do, and maintain at least some level of water movement in your tank.

Its a simple matter of estimating the intake and trade off with very minute loss of benefits.

I don't bother with switching off skimmer as I find any loss due to skimming negligible.

Don't sweat the small stuff guys, its only small stuff

[robe]

I'm still observing the effect of the Coral plankton as I have never fed my corals before. A few more weeks time then I will be able to say something that will be more credible....

I have never been a believer in feeding SPS so this will be a test of my belief as well....

[Michael Young]

Hey guys,

the shelf life for CoralPlankton has been increased from 3 to 4 months with the upcoming shipment. I hope this is good news for people with small tanks whom may be worried that they may not be able to finish the bottle before it expires.

In fact, during one of my earlier correspondences with Edward Ramirez of LLUSA, he told me that even though CP was rated for a 3-month shelf life, it'll only loss all its nutritious value in 6 months.

[Michael Young]

Hey people,

Here and here are what people are saying about CoralPlankton and BioPlankton on Reef Central.

Mike

[giantbicycle]

just bought it too...suberb product...

[giantbicycle]

good product..no regrets

[giantbicycle]

[giantbicycle]