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PoonTang
07-13-2010, 07:41 PM
Well it would seem that I have been chosen by our Canreef sponsor Aqua Digital to do the Probio Reef Kit Review. Yay me! To all you people that applied to Aqua Digital but didnt win, dont feel bad, it just means that your tank is not as screwed up as mine. :lol:
A little history:
Here is a current FTS
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/FTSJUL10.jpg

The System is 120 G display with a modified Oceanic#3 sump, Reeflo Dart Return, ASM G1X skimmer that is heavily modified with my own intake design, meshweel, drilled air venturi, etc. more can be seen in my tank thread
http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=57551
I run a Neptune Apex Controller, 2 k4 korillas for circulation, and my lighting is a Aqualight pro 2x 250w running Phoenix 14k bulbs. TLF reactors in the sump, 1 with 1c carbon and 1 with 500ml biobeads.

Here is my skimmer in action with about 18 hours skimmate production.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/skimmer.jpg

My bioload consists of Kole Tang, Purple Tang, Powder Blue Tang, Clownfish Pair, Lawnmower Blennie, McKoskers Flasher Wrasse, Coral Beauty, Cleaner Wrasse, Orange Spot Watchman Goby, Yellow Clown Goby.
Cleanup crew consists of about 8 turbo and astrea snails, 4 nassarius snails, Sand Sifting Starfish and a Tiger Tail Cuke.
Corals: Various Acro's, Milli's, Montis, (more on these later) 1 Hammer and 1 frogspawn, 1 ricordia, 1 chalice, Porites, Stylo, Bird Nest, Pocillopora, and probably a few others i cant remember or dont know the name of.

My current Parameters are:
PO4 .09ppm Hanna Checker
Nitrate 5ppm Salifert
Alk 10 API
Cal 420 Salifert
Mag 1250 Seachem
Temp 78 to 81 as is controled by my Apex with the Lights/Heater/ Fans
pH 8.1- 8.3
My pH is on the higher side because all of my topup's are done with Kalkwasser.

Weekly waterchanges are between 10 and 20% recently and all of my levels are checked and adjusted using Randy's 2 part recipie 2 with supplies from Little Silver Max.

Issues: Well I really dont have rampant algae problems or anything like that, just a little on the sandbed and the green dust on the glass that need to be cleaned about every 3 days. But what I do have is some corals with virtually non existant PE. All of my Acros, Milli's , Prostratas have no PE and the colours are terrible. Growth is pretty good and all of the corals are growing great bases. Montis, Stylos, etc all seem to be fine and have good PE.
I have tried everything from Red Bug Treatment, massive WC (hence the 20% weekly) lowering levels, raising levels, coral frenzy, stray voltage, you name it. Nothing is working except the WC did help the colours out a little perhaps but not the PE to any extent.
So here we sit today, perhaps it is a nutrient issue and hopefully the Probio Reef Kit can help out. I will be doing weekly doses of 1 vial of strontium and bi-weekly doses of 1 vial each of Biodigest, Bioptim, Iodine and report back weekly here. Once my Levels are down i will begin dosing the Reefbooster vials.

Here is the Reef Kit
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/kit.jpg

Here are some of the most affected corals for reference:
This is supposed to be an Ultimate Prostrada. Nothing ultimate about it, bad colour and no pollyps.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral2.jpg

Here is a 2 tone acro that I got from Marie. It is supposed to be a vibrant purple with BIG lime green pollyps. See any Pollyps?
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral4.jpg

This is supposed to be a Marshall island tricolour: Looks pretty uni-colour to me
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral1.jpg

This one is supposed to be yellow with bright blue tips
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral3.jpg

A blue Milli believe it or not
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral5.jpg

A rose milli :sad:
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral6.jpg

So that basically sums it up and this review should last for about 3 months. Hopefully we can see some real changes for the better. Like I said i will be posting updates about every week or so and feel free to ask any questions.

Lance
07-13-2010, 10:34 PM
Hey Darren have you looked into water movement. All your params seem fine. I wasn't getting very good PE in the corner tank until I added a PH and moved another. Overnight, a big difference. Just a though anyway.

Zoaelite
07-13-2010, 10:43 PM
I really like the packaging on these, are they plastic tubes or glass?

TheKid
07-13-2010, 11:13 PM
I really like the packaging on these, are they plastic tubes or glass?
I'm pretty sure they are glass

Lance
07-14-2010, 12:23 AM
I really like the packaging on these, are they plastic tubes or glass?

They are glass. Comes with a little rubber tube that fits over the end of the vial and you snap off the tip.

OceanicCorals-Ian-
07-14-2010, 12:44 AM
They are glass. Comes with a little rubber tube that fits over the end of the vial and you snap off the tip.

Did your order of Prodibio from us arrive? Have you noticed some results?

Lance
07-14-2010, 01:27 AM
Did your order of Prodibio from us arrive? Have you noticed some results?


Yes, I've received it. Have only used it for the one dose so still kinda early to tell.

OceanicCorals-Ian-
07-14-2010, 02:00 AM
Yes, I've received it. Have only used it for the one dose so still kinda early to tell.

Okay! Great!

Ps. Accudoser II on the way!

Zoaelite
07-14-2010, 02:09 AM
Did your order of Prodibio from us arrive? Have you noticed some results?

Oh ya forget about me Ian ;)

OceanicCorals-Ian-
07-14-2010, 02:23 AM
Oh ya forget about me Ian ;)

LOL, I will never forget you! Your order is in customs as we speak! You will have it possibly by friday along with a little something else! :biggrin:

whatcaneyedo
07-14-2010, 02:35 AM
Have you considered a larger skimmer? I used to run an ASM G3 on my 120gal... you've only got a G1. That seems pretty small in my opinion.

Zoaelite
07-14-2010, 02:44 AM
LOL, I will never forget you! Your order is in customs as we speak! You will have it possibly by friday along with a little something else! :biggrin:

:biggrin: I'm a happy camper as always, interested to see how this stuff works!

Darren I agree with whatcanyedo, might want to look into an upgrade although it doesn't look like a massive bioload it might help your problem.

PoonTang
07-14-2010, 03:32 AM
Hey Darren have you looked into water movement. All your params seem fine. I wasn't getting very good PE in the corner tank until I added a PH and moved another. Overnight, a big difference. Just a though anyway.
Yes I have tried moving them around, pointing directly at, pointing away etc nothing seemed to make any difference. Even ran them on a wave timer on my Apex. Nada. However I am going to get 2 of the new evolutions and run them on a full wave program fairly soon.

Have you considered a larger skimmer? I used to run an ASM G3 on my 120gal... you've only got a G1. That seems pretty small in my opinion.

Well yes and no. They do rate them for 180G but i know as well as everyone else that is crap. Having said that I know that my mods have helped because that thing pulls out crap like you wouldnt believe. With the sump baffle mods and skimmer intake mods pretty much anything that is skimmable doesnt get past it. Christy did offered me her ER 180 to run with it so I could try and see skimming was an issue however I just havnt got around to it yet.

Zoaelite
07-14-2010, 03:58 AM
I would take her up on that offer, I would of bought a new Euroreef if they hadn't stopped making them as I loved my old small one.

PoonTang
07-14-2010, 04:16 AM
I would take her up on that offer, I would of bought a new Euroreef if they hadn't stopped making them as I loved my old small one.

I will at some point but I want to see what effect the probio has on the tank first. Plus you would think if I was underskimmed that much that I would be having huge issues and that 2 months of 20% weekly water changes would have had more of an effect

Aqua-Digital
07-14-2010, 09:42 PM
The kit provided is the NEW improved formula from ProdiBio that all Aqua Digital dealers have started to receive last week, it is easy to tell the difference ;)

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/05/12/bioclean-prodibio-includes-bioptim-biodigest/

Easier dosing, less dosing in some elements and improved performance.

Looking forward to seeing the results.

PoonTang
07-20-2010, 08:09 PM
Its been 1 week since I first started using this system so it was time for a 10% WC, some tests, and a dose of 1 ampule of strontium.
Test parameters were as follows:
SG 1.025
Alk 9 (will raise to 11)
Cal 520 (used a brand new kit, guess the old one was FUBAR despite
having 1 year left to expiry)
Mag 1440
Phos .04ppm
Nitrate 6ppm

Observations: Haven't noticed any big changes in the tank this week but I do think my sand bed does look cleaner and I think I only cleaned the glass once this week. As for my indicator corals (the ones with no PE and/or poor coloring) I have'nt noticed any real changes. However my wife commented that she thought that the corals that weren't struggling were looking better. She doesnt stare incessantly at the tank 20 times a day like I do so she may notice the changes easyer than I do. :smile:
She made the comment that my Dark green Digitata looked "Greener and fuzzyer" and my Pocillopora looked "fluffyer". All very scientific, I know :wink:
Stay tuned.......

DiverDude
07-20-2010, 09:49 PM
I really like the packaging on these, are they plastic tubes or glass?

Somewhat useless trivia: These are Ampoules (or Ampules). They are glass and are most commonly used for pharmacuticals. If you've ever seen the film "The Deep", the shipwreck is full of Morphine Ampoules.

They are hermetically sealed and sterile. Great for longer term storage and use in inhospitable environments. Recyclable too !

PoonTang
07-27-2010, 08:22 PM
Well not alot to report this week with last week being just a stronti dose. The Levels are starting to come inline and some of the corals appear to be changing colours, most noticably the purples appear to be getting more vibrant. Still no changes on the PE though :sad:
Levels this week are :
SG 1.025 Alk:9 Cal:490 Mag:1380 Nitrate:7ppm Phos:0.00ppm
The Cal is starting to come back into range and the Phos is great now, but not really sure what happened to the Nitrate.
This week I dosed ampoules of BioDigest, BiOptim, Iodi, Stronti and will continue to watch.

PoonTang
08-04-2010, 12:35 AM
Ok week now and I just did my WC of 16G and dosed the recommended 1 ampuole of stronti.
Parameters today were:
SG 1.025 CA:475 Alk:10 Mag:1320 Nitrate:5 Phos:.02
Observations: Sandbed nice and clean and I havnt cleaned the viewing glass since last week! My skimmate is still black and chunky but the volume appears to be reduced. Filter bags are coming out black and I am changing them every 2 days. My water is probably the clearest I have ever seen, all bright and sparkly and no hint of yellow. In fact I noticed when I did my WC today that the buckets of old water looked as clean as the buckets of new water, usually they have that slight yellow colour.
My polyp extension is no where to be seen yet but who knows.
Here is a picture of a coral frag that I got from Marie. It doesnt show in the picture but It has developed a blue tip on the closest branch and the edge of the growth on the base has turned blue. Perhaps she can chime in as to wether hers has ever shown signs of blue tips?
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/ya2.jpg
This is the triclour 3 weeks ago and today.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral1.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/tc2.jpg

This is the rose milli 3 weeks ago and today.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/coral6.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/rm2.jpg

None of the colours have changed much on any of the corals yet

Aqua-Digital
08-05-2010, 07:47 AM
Looks like things are going really well ;)

The reason for no colour changes is due to not dosing the reef booster as yet.

When starting prodi you have to give the base elements 6 weeks before starting the reef booster, this is to ensure no spikes in nutrients. Basically you are building the biological side first to support the nutrient level of the Reef Booster.

Polyp extension will follow, everything takes time, it is a slow process on purpose as to not stress the system.

Still in the UK but keeping track of this great review from here ;)

Skimmerking
08-05-2010, 02:15 PM
patience my friend remember not all SPs that are growing and sustaining require PE polyp Ext. some of mine were amazing colors when I had SPS , however i didnt have that much or little to none PE

Chaloupa
08-05-2010, 03:12 PM
Tagging along to see your results!

PoonTang
08-05-2010, 06:56 PM
Tagging along to see your results!

HeHe If this doesnt work out I am going to blame the previous owner of the tank for leaving some toxic residue on the glass or something :twised:

PoonTang
08-10-2010, 11:35 PM
Nothing new to really report this week. Did a 16G water change and added my doses of Stronti, Digest, Iodi, Optim. Levels this week are
SG:1.025 Alk:9 Cal:450 Mag:1320 Nitrate:7 Phos:.05
I am only cleaning the front glass once a week and even then it doesnt need it that bad. Water is crystal clear. Coral colouration is changing a bit. Some corals are fading out, some are getting more vibrant, and there is no change in the PE on any of them.

Aqua-Digital
08-10-2010, 11:46 PM
give it time it takes 6 weeks to stabilise and can take longer with a more mature system.

The fading or lightening of corals is the positive change, once I see PO4 at zero then we can look at adding reef booster. If your system is really mature with a nutrient sink you may need to give the system a help in hand with ultra power phos, this goes with any ULNS. These systems can only reduce low levels of PO4 and all advise using phos remover to get levles down first, but as we are assessing the power of Prodibio the review is best run without any external intervention where at all possible.

PoonTang
08-11-2010, 01:32 AM
Thanks for the words of support Michael. Steady as she go's

PoonTang
08-25-2010, 12:27 AM
Well there was no update for week 5 because I was away in the Bahamas for 10 days :mrgreen: however my fish sitter did do my weekly dose of strontium for me.
There were a few issues that had to be dealt with while I was away. 1 was a malfunctioning skimmer that would not stop overflowing and another was a Carbon issue.
I have the skimmer issue sorted out but for the time being I am going to be running 2 skimmers in my sump. Christy was kind enough to set up her ER cs6-2 in my sump while my skimmer was out of service and I now have my skimmer fixed and running right along side it. It will be interesting to see how the 2 compare and i am hoping the tank likes it.
The carbon issue is that i had my carbon tumbling too aggressively and as a result it has been pulverizing itself to death. I have since removed it completely from the system for the time being and want to see the effects on both my corals and fish. Some of my corals now are looking in very poor shape and my Coral Beauty has HLLE and my Purple tang may be showing early signs. I am hoping that the carbon was the cause of both issues as I suspect that it had been happening for some time.
So today was WC day and dosing of all of the other elements and all of my weekly tank chores. I also returned my filter socks to service. I had removed them for the ease of the tank sitters.
Parameters this week are CAL 460 ALK 9 MAG 1275 NITRATE 10 PHOS 0.0

Aqua-Digital
08-25-2010, 12:33 PM
Good, the PO4 is gone this is the biggest hurdle, however the nitrates are still sligjtly up which after 4 weeks points to a nutrient sink.

I think the list of recent events in the update post has not helped with tank stability, so lets see how things lie in 2 weeks and we may have to push you over the spike with some help.

We are still looking for a BM reviewer so I am happy to bolt that on if you do need another skimmer.

PoonTang
08-26-2010, 02:18 AM
Micheal
Which skimmer were you looking for a review on? Running 2 skimmers at the moment is fine with me but if you have something that is slightly oversized for my system (the direction i was leaning anyhow) I am more than willing to give it a try.

Aqua-Digital
08-26-2010, 12:14 PM
The BM-150pro review slot is still open

best drop me a pm to discuss

PoonTang
09-02-2010, 11:47 PM
Today i did a 32G Water change so that I could totally clean out my sump. There was still some carbon dust stuck to things and a small amount of detritous in the corners etc. I wanted to make sure there were no sources of Nitrates coming from the sump.
Parameters this week: Cal-440 Alk-11 Mag-1260 Nit-5 Phos-0
I dosed 1 ampoule of Strontium this week.
Observations this week: Not much change, Algae is still non existant, coral colours are changing slowly, some Blue tips are starting to show on some. Yellow acro is now green. Blue Milli is a fugly white/brown, and 1 acro seems to have perhaps suffered a case of pollyp bailout on the tips of the branches. Hard to describe but the tips have seemed to quit growing upwards and are now getting thicker as the tissue on the stem seems as if it wants to grow up and over the tips and envelop it. Very wierd.
And for those that are interested in a comparison so far of the ASM Vs. ER skimmers. The ASM is way easyer to clean out and way more stable to changes in water level. When i shut my return pump off the sump fills up about 2 " above normal and the ER floods its cup but the ASM doesnt change at all. I will keep fiddleing with both in an effort to fine tune the skimmate but the ER seems to be very fussy on how wet you can run it without overflowing it and it is too dry for my liking. The ASM currently pulls out about 2X the amount but it is wetter and lighter.
I may step up my dosing/WC schedule now to every 5 days in an effort to get the Nitrates right down. It would appear that the sand and/or rock may be a bit of a sink. Michael, feel free to chime in here on how you think the best course of action to continue on here would be.

whatcaneyedo
09-03-2010, 12:29 AM
Don't forget to mention again that you have heavily modified your ASM skimmer and the ER is stock. :wink:

PoonTang
09-03-2010, 12:54 AM
The ASM has a mesh mod and the intake mod that I designed. The ER has a mesh mod and the gate valve mod.

christyf5
09-03-2010, 01:24 AM
ERs work best in about 8 inches of water I think. Maybe give it a boost. It worked awesomely for me and I wish it would work on my current tank. I still think your ASM sucks balls :razz:

PoonTang
09-03-2010, 01:49 AM
ERs work best in about 8 inches of water I think. Maybe give it a boost. It worked awesomely for me and I wish it would work on my current tank. I still think your ASM sucks balls :razz:

LOL well at least the pump stays put :razz: YOUR ER pump has fallen out twice this week already :sad:
Not to worry. i'm still finding its "happy spot" then were off to the races.
Right now it is sitting in 11" of water, Think I should raise it up some? I have had to close the gate valve off 3/4 of the way to get the bubble column about 1/2 way up the neck.

PoonTang
09-07-2010, 12:06 AM
So I have upped my dosing and WC schedule to 5 days from 7 in an attempt to hammer the Nitrates lower.
Tests were Cal-430 Alk-10 Mag-1260 Phos-0 Nitrate-still 5 :sad:
The tank looks great, no algae what so ever. If it weren't for little spots of corraline growing all over the front glass then i would probably only need to clean it every 2 weeks. :biggrin: Some of my non Acro corals look fabulous but the Acro/etc group still have no polyps but some of the colours are now definately starting to improve, Perhaps we've finally turned the corner?
Does anyone know the consequences of testing Nitrates and phosphates at different times of the day? I am wondering if doing my tests mid-afternoon after my WC and 1 or 2 fish feedings would affect the numbers? Perhaps all tests should be performed first thing in the morning or something. ?

christyf5
09-07-2010, 12:17 AM
I definitely try to do all my testing either right before my WC or a few hours afterwards to let the water mix and circulate. I don't do any testing after feeding, even though its a small amount of food in a large volume I still like to get a more "standardized" measurement without the food possibly influencing it.

PoonTang
09-13-2010, 08:04 PM
Another 10% WC and a dose or stronti this week.
Here is the tests for the week and I did them first thing this morning so that they wouldnt be affected by the morning feeding.
Nitrate:4 Phos:0 Ca:425 Alk:11 Mag:1240
No new observations this week although I think some colour is coming back to the Blue Milli but its not Blue. Some of the other Acros that have been struggling appeared to have sufered some form of pollyp bailout and then a regrowth of tissue over the corralite opening. I am not exactly sure what is happening here but the corals look along way from dead or anything and i guess time will tell.

Aqua-Digital
09-13-2010, 08:06 PM
ALK is way too high!

aim for 7-8

PoonTang
09-13-2010, 08:15 PM
ALK is way too high!

aim for 7-8

Not really sure what to do here as I am not dosing anything. About the only thing I can try is to cut back on the Kalk and dose Calcium.

Aqua-Digital
09-13-2010, 08:17 PM
Cut back on the calcium reactor.

This is why I am such a fan of balling as you have exact control over each element. If one is too high you simply cut back the ML being dosed.

PoonTang
09-13-2010, 08:28 PM
Cut back on the calcium reactor.

This is why I am such a fan of balling as you have exact control over each element. If one is too high you simply cut back the ML being dosed.

I dont have a CA reactor.

Aqua-Digital
09-13-2010, 08:29 PM
Ok so cut back on your dosing ;)

PoonTang
09-21-2010, 02:52 AM
Its water change and dosing day, however due to Canada Posts incredibly inept service there wont be any dosing this week. I will dose as soon as it comes in.
Parameters this week are :
SG 1.025 ALK:11 MAG:1100 CAL:410 NIT:4 PHOS:0

I have'nt dosed anything all week in a effort to try to get my alk to come down but its kind of tough with using IO salt for WC. I have been dosing Mag all day and now have the Mag back up to 1350.
Color is definatly coming back in some of the corals that had recently faded and the new ones I have added all look good with good PE (horn coral) and the new clams seem to be doing fine. The corals that had their pollyps bail are now growing new corralite structures and have small pollyps. Sure makes for some interesting growth patterns.

PoonTang
09-28-2010, 02:35 AM
Ok so there has been a bit of a change up with the new formula Prodibio and the dosing amounts. I had recieved my next batch of suppliments and they are the new and improved formula. The dosing has changed from 1 ampoule of each additive per week to 3 ampoules/15 days as per the manufacturers directions. The tank looks pretty good and the corals are still looking slightly better each week and PE may finally be improving :biggrin: but i think this new dosage will push the tank over the hump that we have come up against with the nitrates.
So this week it was a WC and tests as usual with all the parameters the same as last week except the Alk which i am bringing down slowly through reduced Kalkwasser dosing. I am dosing 2 sets of suppliments this week to make up for the missed ones last week when I dosed 1 set instead of 3. Next week it will be the full 3 sets as per the Manufacturers directions of 1 set/50G.

PoonTang
10-08-2010, 01:50 AM
10% WC and dosing of 3 full sets of Ampoules minus the reef booster.
Parameters this week CAL:430 ALK:9 MAG:1335 PHOS:.04 NIT:4
Not really sure whats up with the phos/nitrate readings being up other than while I was away my pellets partially plugged up and werent tumbling correctly and I wasnt able to do my tests before the fish were fed today. I will redo those 2 tests tomorrow morning before feeding time. After being away for a week and seeing the corals when I got home I really noticed some colour changes in some of them. A lot of the colours are getting richer and my pocilliopora looks fabulous. Still no great improvements in the pollyp dept. tho. They are there but still no extension to speak of.

PoonTang
10-15-2010, 08:38 PM
WC day today. Nothing due to be dosed this week, but next week I am due for a full set.
Heres this weeks numbers:
Cal:450 Alk:8.5 (new Elos kit) Mag:1320 Nitrate:5 Phos:.05
Havnt really noticed anything new in the tank this week but colours are slowly improving still. I added a ton of new flow this week in the form of 2 Korilia Evo 14's on a wave program and the Seio 620 on the FrankenSwirler so we will see if that does anything. I had to do a couple of extra feedings this week because I added a couple of new fish and this probably caused the slight increase in Nit/Phos.

PoonTang
11-04-2010, 06:50 PM
I was due to finish my review of the Prodibio product however I was not happy with the results thus far. The results were there just nothing that made you kinda go wow or anything. I think most of the problem was the first half of the review was with the older formula and a reduced dosing and also not dosing any of the Reef Booster. It wasn't until i got the new improved formula and followed the recommended dosing for the final month that i was starting to see any great changes. My nitrate and phosphate numbers were still above 0 but i was starting to see definite changes and improvements in both the coral colors and PE. I managed to talk Michael from Aqua Digital into extending the tests for another month to see if the improvements would continue. I am going to be dosing the BioClean kit which is a stripped down version of the Reef kit as it only contains the Bioptim and BioDigest ampules. I will be adding to this the Reef Booster ampules that I had left over from the previous kits. I will update again in 2 weeks when it is time to dose again.
Tank parameters today were:
Cal-400 Alk-8 Mag-1200 Phos-.04 Nitrate-5

blacknife
11-04-2010, 08:03 PM
I have been working through a reef kit as well and feel the results about the same. I want to continue with the digest and biotipim. i have not been using the reef booster the last few weeks as it seems to overload and clog out my skimmer for a day or two. not sure if the batch i have is new or old formula or even what the difference is i guess ill have to re-read your thread when i have time later.

PoonTang
11-05-2010, 01:37 AM
Yes the reef booster definitely knocks the skimmer for a crap. Not able to form a foam column and micro bubbles out the wazoo.

PoonTang
11-22-2010, 10:58 PM
Added my last set of dosages today and did a 15% WC.
Parameters this week are: CAL-430 ALK-7.5 MAG-1335 NIT-2.5 PHOS-.09
No great changes but still noticing gradual color changes in some of the corals. PE is still minimal. I really hate dosing the reef booster as it really plays havoc with the skimmer. Skimmer wont produce anything for 2 days other than a TON of micro bubbles.

toxic111
11-22-2010, 11:04 PM
its funny that you have problems with the skimmer with the reef booster. I usually just shut my skimmer off for a couple hours after doing a dosing set, and it is usually good after that (Vertex IN-100)

Aqua-Digital
11-22-2010, 11:04 PM
This means the system is not taking it all up, in this case you can dose the nano size vials.

If booster is left in the system the corals have had enough of a feed, bit like us if we order that 20 oz T bone but knew an 8oz sirloin was enough ;)

If you also leave the skmmer running while doing the booster dosing this can play havoc as you coat the insides with neat Omega 3.

Hope that helps

PoonTang
11-23-2010, 12:12 AM
Yes I usually leave my skimmer shut down for 12 hours or so after dosing the booster.

PoonTang
12-08-2010, 10:42 PM
Final analysis
So its been an interesting couple of months working with this stuff and noticing changes in the corals. Firstly let me say there initally were 2 types of coral in my tank, the ones that were screwed and the ones that were relatively normal.
The screwed ones (all the Millis and Acro's with no pollyps) are still screwed however i believe that these corals were permanently and irreversibly damaged by what ever caused the condition in the first place. A lot of these corals have gone through color morphs and a serious case of zits (large water blisters in the underlying tissue) and some very odd growth patterns. Some even to the point as to be even slightly grotesque. I have been conversing with Bob Fenner on these issues and perhaps the only solution may be to simply remove the corals. They may never recover.
Now onto the good stuff. The corals that were normal to start with now look fabulous. Colours, Growth, PE all look great. My algae that grows on the sand bed and glass were eliminated to the point that i was cleaning the glass less than once per week. Although i never did reach ULNS status on the tank the additives did however get me quite close and i think it is probably very difficult to achieve anyhow when you are dealing with a relatively deep sand bed, old rock and high bio-load. Also in my conversations with Bob Fenner he was not really a proponent of ULNS systems anyhow stating that phosphate levels of 0 were not desireable where coral growth is concerned, but that reasonably low levels were more desirable as corals need the Phos. for growth.
The product was easy to dose however the dosing instructions were somewhat vague in the beginning. I am already starting to notice a change for the worse in the tank (algae coming back) now that I no longer am dosing.
I would definitely recommend this product to anyone who is looking to improve their tank, however it is relatively expensive to run for a larger system, but may be cheaper than some of the other systems out there say like Zeo.
Finally i would like to thank Micheal from AquaDigital for the opportunity to do this review and the advise along the way.

MitchM
12-08-2010, 11:15 PM
Great review.
Thanks, Poontang.

Mitch

Funky_Fish14
01-28-2011, 01:16 AM
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/m3bimmerboy/rm2.jpg


Wow im surprised no one has said anything but i Just noticed this...

I think this little critter might be your polyp extension problem. I suspect the very slight increase in noticing polyps recently might be due to the accelerated growth or the improved health of your corals... and so they can 'catch up' with it... but Clown gobies EAT SPS polyps.

I am wondering if anyone else can chime in about this?

I have personally kept a clown goby and from purchase time to 2 weeks later, I had 6 SPS colonies without polyps, so I promptly removed him and polyps came back.

Just thought I would throw this in there. I have not read the full thread yet, just got to this piture and scanned through the rest to see if your polyps increased... but great review!

Thanks & Cheers,

Chris

PoonTang
01-28-2011, 03:28 AM
I have never seen him eat any polyps and suspect that he is not the cause. The colony that he lives in is the healthyest colony that i have and it it growing quite well. Some of the colonies that are doing the worst are ones that he never seems to be interested in. I have recently added a acro frag to the tank and it seems to be doing fine and I am planning to try a Mlli frag soon to see what the results with it are. I am almost starting to wonder if whatever event has caused all of this is over however the affected corals were damaged beyond recovery. I actually miss using this product, my algae has increased quite noticibly.

abcha0s
01-28-2011, 04:57 AM
Wow im surprised no one has said anything but i Just noticed this...

I think this little critter might be your polyp extension problem. I suspect the very slight increase in noticing polyps recently might be due to the accelerated growth or the improved health of your corals... and so they can 'catch up' with it... but Clown gobies EAT SPS polyps.

I am wondering if anyone else can chime in about this?

I have personally kept a clown goby and from purchase time to 2 weeks later, I had 6 SPS colonies without polyps, so I promptly removed him and polyps came back.

Just thought I would throw this in there. I have not read the full thread yet, just got to this piture and scanned through the rest to see if your polyps increased... but great review!

Thanks & Cheers,

Chris

I had basically the same experience with my clown gobby. He nearly killed several very healthy SPS colonies before I figured out what was going on. I moved him to the sump and things slowly returned to normal.

Funky_Fish14
01-28-2011, 05:37 AM
I have never seen him eat any polyps and suspect that he is not the cause. The colony that he lives in is the healthyest colony that i have and it it growing quite well. Some of the colonies that are doing the worst are ones that he never seems to be interested in. I have recently added a acro frag to the tank and it seems to be doing fine and I am planning to try a Mlli frag soon to see what the results with it are. I am almost starting to wonder if whatever event has caused all of this is over however the affected corals were damaged beyond recovery. I actually miss using this product, my algae has increased quite noticibly.

Thing is, in the time I had mine i never saw him near any of the SPS colonies, and he did not eat the polyps on all of them... That is what drives me to have some suspicion?

Abcha0s: Yeah, some of my SPS took awhile to recover.


Poontang: Its just a thought... im not saying its the cause... but no one has really come up with anything so im just suggesting its possible.

Thanks for doing the review... and why not pick it[the system] up again?

Cheers,

Chris

PoonTang
01-28-2011, 09:14 PM
Well I guess it wouldnt hurt to put him into my nano for a bit to see what happens.
I may start the system again after seeing the difference that it made to my tank but I found that it is relatively expensive.

Northernseacorals
02-10-2011, 11:47 AM
Did moving him to the nano tank help at all?

PoonTang
02-11-2011, 01:07 AM
Did moving him to the nano tank help at all?
I havent done it but what I have done is add a nice big frag of pink milli next to his home. The polyps on this milli have stayed fully extended for the past 2 weeks and the goby hasnt touched them. I am now completely convinced that what ever event caused the damage to the corals is now over however the damage was permanent and the corals would never recover. I have since removed all of the affected corals from my system and am in the process of replacing them all. Unfortunately this wasnt discovered before the review as i think the results would have proven more favorable.