EMeyer Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 (edited) Hi everyone, In our first round I was really happy with almost every aspect of how the analysis behaved. My only concern is the low sensitivity for detection of biofilm bacteria that play important roles in nutrient processing. Nitrite oxidixing bacteria (NOB) showed up in the water samples, but at low levels... in some tanks they were not detectable (i.e., fewer than 1 in 10,000 cells came from these important families), despite known activity. Fortunately, samples from my experimental tanks confirmed that tanks with nitrite oxidizing activity can have undetectable NOB in the water but nice high abundance in the biofilm (sand, in this case). So its clear we can sample and detect them. The only challenge is how to sample the biofilm in a standardized way across different aquariums. See, I like water samples because every tank has water. Some tanks don't have sand. Or sumps. Or skimmers. etc. So we can't design anything aruond sampling those parts. But they all have a few things in common. And one of these is pipes. Everyone has pipes of some kind. We may have to get creative with little AIO nano systems, but the ones I've seen have something analogous to pipes. The literature shows NOB are well established in water pipe biofilms. So although I'm hesitant to modify things, it is too early in the development to dig my heels in. The evidence is clear that we need to include a biofilm sample for improved sensitivity. So I did a lot of thinking and reading and I will have new sampling kits ready to ship out this week. The new kit includes one additional step - swabbing a submerged, interior surface of one of your pipes with a sterile swab to sample the biofilm. ----- TLDR 1. If you participated in the first round of microbiome analysis, I would like to re-sample your tanks and this time include biofilm samples. This means @badxgillen , @Tampicocoralfarms , @Lexinverts , @youcallmenny , @SuncrestReef , @Knuckledragger , @SunCrestReef , @Tandor69 , @householdofpayne , @NateDawg , @daveo ... If you are interested, please message me for the new coupon code and you can place another free order on the website. (this ensure I can track the shipment and the sample) 2. If someone else is reading this, and wants to sample your tank, please message me. I've got room for samples from another 3 people in addition to the list above. So the first 3 who want in, send me a message. [No idea why that tagging thing doesnt seem to work!] Edited September 14, 2019 by EMeyer 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 I'm in! PM sent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youcallmenny Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Oh totally in on this. I messaged you. Thanks for continuing to involve me Eli! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knuckledragger Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Already in! Appreciate all the work on this. Very interesting to see how this is progressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sroberts Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 PM sent,... I hope there is room for one more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexinverts Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 I’m in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlu_gt Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 PM sent... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 Thanks everyone! I'll ship out kits early this week. All the additional spots are filled, thanks for the quick responses. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Just let me know what tanks to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youcallmenny Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 3 hours ago, EMeyer said: Thanks everyone! I'll ship out kits early this week. All the additional spots are filled, thanks for the quick responses. Do we still need to wait for the coupon code or are you just shipping them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 PM sent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted September 19, 2019 Author Share Posted September 19, 2019 Mailed out 12 sampling kits today, have a few more orders in hand to mail tomorrow. Still waiting on orders from a couple of you, so I'm sending messages next. Now that the bugs are worked out, this round will move much for quickly than the last. Aside from PNWMAS I have recruited some exciting participants for this round, including a couple well known coral aquaculture facilities... looking forward to expanding these comparisons. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 Hi everyone, If you have not already done so, please send me your samples by end of this week. I am setting a deadline for free participants so paid clients don't have to wait. If your samples are not in on time, I can include them in a later batch. But if possible, if you havent returned your sample, please do so this week. (I'll send individual emails too but this is easier) Thanks, -Eli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 1 hour ago, EMeyer said: Hi everyone, If you have not already done so, please send me your samples by end of this week. I am setting a deadline for free participants so paid clients don't have to wait. If your samples are not in on time, I can include them in a later batch. But if possible, if you havent returned your sample, please do so this week. (I'll send individual emails too but this is easier) Thanks, -Eli Sample sent. Looking forward to the next round of results! Just curious, approximately how many samples are in this batch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 13 hours ago, EMeyer said: Hi everyone, If you have not already done so, please send me your samples by end of this week. I am setting a deadline for free participants so paid clients don't have to wait. If your samples are not in on time, I can include them in a later batch. But if possible, if you havent returned your sample, please do so this week. (I'll send individual emails too but this is easier) Thanks, -Eli Thanks for the reminder Eli! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knuckledragger Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Will try to get mine in ASAP. Tied up with work and life. Thank you for the reminder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knuckledragger Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Sample done tonight and will mail tomorrow! Sorry for the delay. I appreciate all you are doing. Very cool and interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted November 18, 2019 Author Share Posted November 18, 2019 Thanks to everyone who contributed samples in this round. I finished the batch yesterday and am sending them for sequencing today. Its possible we'll have results by end of week, but in any case not much longer. I've sent them to a different facility this time that promises quick turnaround instead of the 5+ weeks we had last time! If you didn't get your sample back to me in time, no worries. Send it at your convenience and if I have room in the next batch I will fit it in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted November 27, 2019 Author Share Posted November 27, 2019 Hi everyone, I am pushing results out today, you'll be notified by email. Since the new (and future) samples include both water and biofilm, I'll caution you that comparing them with results from the previous "water only" samples may lead to some head scratching. I'm happy to discuss details but on a practical level, I think its something of a moot point because I can't imagine dropping the biofilm samples in the future. If you don't get a notification email by end of day it might mean your sample is not logged on the website. So if anyone sent me a sample but never logged it online, now would be a good time to do it! I'll post soon with some discussion of this round. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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