Notes from the Prof.

So some of you have heard me mentioning some professor in a few threads. This person is prof Dirk Bellstedt from the University of Stellenbosch, I have been in contact with him for a few weeks and finally met the man on Saturday to discuss studies and collect some products that he creates or imports. He has quite a few qualifications under his name:


B Sc Agric (Biochemistry, Genetics, Animal Physiology)
B Sc Agric Hons (Biochemistry)
M Sc Agric (Biochemistry)
Ph D Agric (Biochemistry)


To give some background for y'all he started keeping fish back in 68' when he was 12 years old and living in Germany and has had fish all the way since then, now teaching biochemistry and applying a lot to his fishkeeping, managing a 32 tank room and even having a tank of wild angels in his office! A few notable feats of his include managing a 400 gallon discus system that rarely needs water changes (more on this later) and a line of Pelvachromis kribensis he's had for 20 years! He also has forumlated a plant food range specifically for the soft water in South Africa, since its formulation in 1991 it has become extremely popular with the planted guys here for good reason. I really enjoyed meeting the man and discussing various concepts with him

So let's start! Some are copied and pasted from texts, the rest from my conversation at his lab on Saturday

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Q: Is there a good way to quickly establish an infosuria culture for fry?

A: Milk, two to three drops per liter. Take 100 ml of pond water with some sediment and add to five liters of water prepared with the milk and the sugar. Leave on a windowsill at temps not higher than 25 and then leave and observe to see if you see something like Paramecium which is visible with the naked eye. They can really grow well. Once growing take a sample out of the jar and add to another jar with 5 liters of water

Basic method is to add max a teaspoon of sugar and a few drops of milk to the mix, and watch. This creates a good culture within a few days, lots of little specks in the water. This is ideal for fry and can be fed from there

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Q: Is hormone buildup in aquariums something to be concerned about?

A: Fish hormone levels have never really been tested or researched comprehensively, however they are of a nature that they quickly break apart in water so buildup of hormones isn't something to really worry about in an aquarium.

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Q: What effective ways are there to maintain buffers in an aquarium?

A: Oyster shells or any other beach shells. Once cleaned (often done by waves already) they are ideal to use as buffers, and can be thrown into your filters to help maintain a stable PH. They release calcium carbonate (CaCO3) over time which helps keep your PH up. The real magic is how it happens in soft water. In the soft water we have here the PH can easily start lowering down into the acidic side, and when it does the rate at which the shells dissolve increases dramatically and the release of calcium carbonate then helps pull water back to neutral where the rate of release slows again, It's a safety net of sorts. Works very well

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A: What lights do you use to get good growth on your plants in your tanks?

P: GC10 LED downlights. The trick is to mix whites and reds, which really achieves good growth. In my tanks I use one white and one red as a pair, I use a 5w white and 3w red in combination placed above the tanks. The use of a 6000-6500k and a red bulb gives luxuriant growth and often pearling too, red is often a spectrum that can be lacking without comprehensive lighting. For 30-40cm deep tanks I use a pair for ever 30cm of tank length, this is just a guideline since planted tanks vary.

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Q: What can be used to ensure you have a well rounded diet for your fish?

A:
When it comes to food for fishes, besides the contents, there are other important considerations. Granulates need to be softer or else they can cause bloat, and fishes don't eat them readily. So my black food for example has the best contents in terms of feeding value, but fishes don't like to eat it on an ongoing basis because it is a hard granulate. All my other granulates are soft granulates and the fishes eat them a lot for readily. If you are looking for a granulate that fishes will eat readily and has a high nutrient value, then the brine shrimp granulate is much better. Then the fine granulates, SP1 and SP2 are very good general granulates for raising fishes, but the EPA and HPA granulate contains these two fatty acids which are almost like vitamins for fishes. Fed in a balanced way, these different granulates would give you excellent growth in any fishes, as well as very good conditioning for breeding.

The frozen foods are good to fill the gaps in nutrition that the dried foods struggles to fill. By that I mean that dried foods have the disadvantage that oxygen penetrates the food easily and oxidizes parts of the proteins, some of the amino acids, so that they need to be acquired from elsewhere. Frozen brine shrimps are rich in the amino acid cysteine which is absolutely essential for growth and reproduction. Krill contains less of the cysteine, and more roughage and is therefore similar but not as good. You need some mosquito larvae in the diet for some nutrients but mainly for roughage, so some bloodworm fed once or twice a week maximally, and some white mosquito larvae fed 2-3 times a week are also essential. However, the bloodworm that is sold by Campcon comes from contaminated sources. The cheap bloodworm from the east is fed pig manure or runoff from pigstys and is full of bacteria which cause bloat and internal bacterial problems in fishes, so only high quality stuff such as I import from Germany can be considered. However, also fed in small amounts only.

Side note: Sp1, Sp2 and the EPA/HPA are fine powder foods rich in protein. He also imports frozen foods on top of dry products.

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Q: How well do PH pens and liquid tests work in soft water?

A: Liquid tests don't work in soft water and a pen has a too insensitive electrode to accurately measure pH in soft water. Do some googling about measurement of pH in soft water. Only a lab type pH meter measures accurately. I have shocked many an aquarist when I showed him the pH was actually 4 and not 7.

With pens it's best to leave the electrode in water for at least 15 minutes to get a stable reading too. A more advanced meter with a highly sensitive electrode is much better to measure in very soft water.

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Q: What are good ways to combat algae on plants, particularly black beard algae?

A: Beard algaes like softer water as we have here, but also take over plants that aren't growing optimally. The best solutions are using a plant food and hardening mix or shells and keep your light cycle reasonable. This helps reduce the amounts of BBA and other algaes growing on your leaves. A toothbrush is another good solution on wood and tough plants

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Q: What reading material would you recommend for fish keepers in general?

A: The 2 things I highly recommend are the Amazonas magazines and the manual of fish health. The Amazonas magazine is a German publication that has huge amounts of information on various aspects of fish keeping and isn't so ad driven as other magazines. I also recommend the manual of fish health by Dr. Chris Andrews, it's a very informative book that is still relevant in the hobby today.

https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Fish-Health-Everything-Environment/dp/1554076919
https://www.amazonasmagazine.com/

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Now for what we have all been waiting for!

Q: I heard that you have a denitrification system on your discus tank, how does it work?

A: Yes, I have a system in place to do this. I run a sump under my discus tank with mechanical filtration the biological in the form of rough gravel, a lot of it. From there I pump water slowly through some canister filters joined in a chain, the water is put through siporax media (a type of ceramic) from one can to the next and then out before the return to the tank. The water is deoxygenated to some degree from the biological filtration and anything left is consumed by aerobic bacteria in the starting stages of the setup. From there it's anaerobic and bacteria there consume the nitrate. I run under 5 nitrates constantly and don't have to do much in the way of water changes, the water must just be buffered with bicarbonate of soda due to acidification of the nitrogen cycle. It's a careful balance but will be easier with other fish that can be maintained at a higher PH with the use of shells.

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So that's all I have from him! I found my visit to his lab extremely interesting, he's just on a whole new level to most of us, I hope you all enjoyed the read, feel free to ask my questions here

 

A lot of us know Dirk... He used to be an active member here a few years ago.

 

Yes he wasn't a fan of the moderation.

 

Yeah... That is probably putting it a bit lightly.... Lol!

 

Yeah - if I was asked who influenced my thinking the most when it comes to aquariums it would have to be Dirk, zafgak and vegal. For me the latter two was to this day the best LFS interaction ever on TASA.

For many April 2011 was the epoch, things like https://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/threads/has-the-rules-changed.7441/#post-102005
2012 had some bumps and many took a time-out form TASA,
2013 probably the final straw https://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/threads/new-plant-blacklist.13696/

I post the above links to show two things; 1) once you post it on the internet it has a life that will probably live past yours 2) when one looses people with different opinions you loose healthy debate.

Nice questions ... you might have a bright future as an investigating journalist. Reading this just triggered a thought .. well some info I had previously read but filled in the wrong draw. "acidification of the nitrogen cycle" he he it happens.

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks for the effort to write down what you learned.
I feed Prof's food but unfortunately missed the time when he was active on the forum.
Regards

 

Thank you for posting this article.I really enjoyed the Q&A,especially the Infosuria culture and maintaining a stable PH.

 

Thanx for posting, I was once addicted to Dirk's posts.

 

Where can one obtain some of the Prof’s food nowadays?

 

Directly from him

 

Anyone have any contact details?

 

You can PM me. Word of warning, he is busy so be patient

 

Does he courier to JHB as well?

 

I think Marco distributes his stuff over there

 

Great interview Hendre, great to get professional advice on questions that one struggles to get a definitive answer to, definitely looking forward to another Q&A

 

How do I get in contact with Marco?

 

https://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/members/marco.943/

 

Thanks @eros111