MKFMedic
Aquarium Advice Activist
Hi Everyone,
I was introduced to Blue Life Clear FX Pro at a local 2012 Fish Expo in Costa Mesa. I purchased a bag of the stuff and was going to substitute it for my Chem-Pure Elite when it was time to change and that time has come. It was presented as a "Superior" All-in-One filter media that of course will perform miracles for my tank. Let me start by saying I have no opinion on the product, and have been happy with the results of using Purigen and Chem-Pure in my tank. My levels are consistent, I've had no major problems and everything is currently going smoothly.
I've seen the many arguments about this product and knowing that many of us attend these boards for advice, or others experiences, I thought I would share and document this products use, pro or con, for other smaller tank owners.
A little about my tank. I have a 30 gal. rimless glass tank from Innovative Marine. It has the media section in the back and upon starting up my tank I did a couple of things. I added a Koralia Nano Skimmer to one compartment and used the other existing media basket to add the purigen and chem-pure elite, getting rid of their sponges. My equipment includes a Ecotech Radion LED fixture, Ecotech MP10, Koralia 425gpm power head, a Tunze ATO and a Neptune Controller to manage it all.
I use RO/DI water with Kalk II as my Top Off Supply.
The livestock in my tank include a mated pair of clowns, a firefish, two chromi's and a green goby, which until a couple of days ago, I thought was dead.
I have a mix of LPS with 3 pieces of SPS coral and Ritteri Anemone which has grown like a weed over the past few weeks. Seriously, I'm either going to have to find a new home for it or get a bigger tank. I'd prefer a bigger tank!
My maintenance is fairly simple with 5 gallon water changes every 8 to 10 days. I change out the Purigen when it starts to discolor and the Chem-Pure every 3 months or so. Not much else.
To start the experiment, with no real methodology, I measured my water chemistry and took a couple of pictures. My tank is always pretty clean, but you can see that there is some slight diatom growth against the glass and I do have to "Wipe" the glass pretty consistently to stay on top of the film algae. I'm curious to see if there is any reduction in the film algae, and if there is any significant reduction in the discoloration of the sand bed against the glass.
For comparison, I use 1 unit of Chem-Pure Elite and will be using a 450ml bag of Blue Life Clear FX Pro. The bags themselves look remarkably similar. Although the 450ml bag appears to be slightly larger than the 1 unit bag of Chem Pure Elite. I opened the Blue Life and rinsed briefly. One noticeable difference is that the Blue Life requires much less rinsing to get rid of all the carbon dust. I placed this bag in the same location and manner as the Chem Pure Elite which allows the water from the right side overflow to fall down through the filter floss, and through the media.
Water Chemistry today at 4:30pm
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates Less Than 10
Alk 235
pH 8.3
So here we go, I know it is far from scientific, but I will update the thread from a real users perspective to see if there is an improvement, no noticeable change, or hopefully not, it gets worse.
Here are some pictures of my set-up. Please feel free to comment, ask questions or let me know what you think!
I was introduced to Blue Life Clear FX Pro at a local 2012 Fish Expo in Costa Mesa. I purchased a bag of the stuff and was going to substitute it for my Chem-Pure Elite when it was time to change and that time has come. It was presented as a "Superior" All-in-One filter media that of course will perform miracles for my tank. Let me start by saying I have no opinion on the product, and have been happy with the results of using Purigen and Chem-Pure in my tank. My levels are consistent, I've had no major problems and everything is currently going smoothly.
I've seen the many arguments about this product and knowing that many of us attend these boards for advice, or others experiences, I thought I would share and document this products use, pro or con, for other smaller tank owners.
A little about my tank. I have a 30 gal. rimless glass tank from Innovative Marine. It has the media section in the back and upon starting up my tank I did a couple of things. I added a Koralia Nano Skimmer to one compartment and used the other existing media basket to add the purigen and chem-pure elite, getting rid of their sponges. My equipment includes a Ecotech Radion LED fixture, Ecotech MP10, Koralia 425gpm power head, a Tunze ATO and a Neptune Controller to manage it all.
I use RO/DI water with Kalk II as my Top Off Supply.
The livestock in my tank include a mated pair of clowns, a firefish, two chromi's and a green goby, which until a couple of days ago, I thought was dead.
I have a mix of LPS with 3 pieces of SPS coral and Ritteri Anemone which has grown like a weed over the past few weeks. Seriously, I'm either going to have to find a new home for it or get a bigger tank. I'd prefer a bigger tank!
My maintenance is fairly simple with 5 gallon water changes every 8 to 10 days. I change out the Purigen when it starts to discolor and the Chem-Pure every 3 months or so. Not much else.
To start the experiment, with no real methodology, I measured my water chemistry and took a couple of pictures. My tank is always pretty clean, but you can see that there is some slight diatom growth against the glass and I do have to "Wipe" the glass pretty consistently to stay on top of the film algae. I'm curious to see if there is any reduction in the film algae, and if there is any significant reduction in the discoloration of the sand bed against the glass.
For comparison, I use 1 unit of Chem-Pure Elite and will be using a 450ml bag of Blue Life Clear FX Pro. The bags themselves look remarkably similar. Although the 450ml bag appears to be slightly larger than the 1 unit bag of Chem Pure Elite. I opened the Blue Life and rinsed briefly. One noticeable difference is that the Blue Life requires much less rinsing to get rid of all the carbon dust. I placed this bag in the same location and manner as the Chem Pure Elite which allows the water from the right side overflow to fall down through the filter floss, and through the media.
Water Chemistry today at 4:30pm
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates Less Than 10
Alk 235
pH 8.3
So here we go, I know it is far from scientific, but I will update the thread from a real users perspective to see if there is an improvement, no noticeable change, or hopefully not, it gets worse.
Here are some pictures of my set-up. Please feel free to comment, ask questions or let me know what you think!