Dynamite's 90g Tank Thread and Prodibio review.

[dynamite]

So I neglected my tank cuz I travelled twice this year for a month and well I came back to a disaster, algae everywhere, diatoms and high nitrates, I've been trying to reduce the nitrates through water changes and vodka dosing but it didn't do much for me :sad: I want to get my tank back in track and keep it as nice as it was before I left, with 0 nitrates and good parameters.. So I'll start to dose Prodibio starting today.

Tank Specs:

90g soon to be reef (SPS)
40g Sump
SWC 160 cone skimmer
Vortech mp40 and vortech mp20

Inhabitants:

1 Yellow Tang
1 Cherub Angel
1 False perc
1 Black clownfish
1 Yashia Goby and Shrimp
1 Fighting Conch

I'll Start dosing 1 ampule of Biotim and 1 of Biodigest once a week for 4 weeks and then I'll change the dose.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1944.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1943.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1942.jpg

[dynamite]

Today I did a 30% Water Change, I vacuumed the sand and dosed 1 ampoule of Biotim and 1 ampoule of Biodigest and I'll keep up with the same dose for 4 weeks until I see my levels of Nitrates drop.

I'll post my parameters when I come back from work.
Last time I checked my Nitrates were 20/25ppm and my Phosphates 0.03ppm (Hanna Metter).

I'll turn on my skimmer in 15m :mrgreen:

[rastaangel]

Prodibio is a good system but takes a very long time to start seeing good results... in the area of 2-6 months depending on parameters when you started. Took more then 3 to see any kind of changes in my tank, then it crashed lol, none related

[dynamite]

Prodibio is a good system but takes a very long time to start seeing good results... in the area of 2-6 months depending on parameters when you started. Took more then 3 to see any kind of changes in my tank, then it crashed lol, none related

I know :mrgreen: That's why I'm giving it a try, after reading about all the ULNS I thought this was my best bet, plus dosing once a week an ampule seems easy and fair enough :) I'm not expecting to see drastic changes in a month, I'll give it time.
BTW.. What were your parameters when you started with Prodibio?

[dynamite]

So I just checked my water parameters (after a 30% water change)

Nitrates 10-15ppm (Some how they're lower than last time I checked while I was dosing vodka and It's been more than a month since last time I dosed)

Phosphates 0.05ppm (Hanna Meter, they raised a little bit :neutral: previously 0.03ppm)

*After dosing one ampule of Biodigest and one of Biotim the water got clear really fast like within 30m :mrgreen: After a water change it usually takes longer.
*I turned the skimmer off for half an hour after dosing and now I have an inch of dark skimmate :mrgreen:

Now I don't know if I should do another 30% water change tomorrow or should I wait till next week?

[dynamite]

Today I did a 15% Water change while I cleaned my sump.
Nitrates are at 25ppm.
I also added a CUC.

1 fighting conch
4 Turbo Snails
4 Babylon Snails
2 Top Crown Snails
10 Hermits.

Should I increase my CUC?

Thursday: I'll do a 30% Water change and add one ampule of Biodigest and one of Biotim.

*I read about the disadvantages or carbon.. So I was thinking maybe I could just run my phosban reactor for 2h every 3 days? Any input? :mrgreen:

[phi delt reefer]

pull out those hermits - they kill more snails than do any good.

add;

20 ceriths (or 40 dwarf ceriths) - keeps glass/rock clean
20 turbos - keeps glass/rock clean
20 narisuss - keep sand bed clean.

[phi delt reefer]

pretty much everyone runs carbon though very few go through HLLE disease (i think you are referring the recent study on this correlation.)

if you are not keen on running ti 24/7 - maybe run it only for a few days before you do a water change.

[dynamite]

pull out those hermits - they kill more snails than do any good.

add;

20 ceriths (or 40 dwarf ceriths) - keeps glass/rock clean
20 turbos - keeps glass/rock clean
20 narisuss - keep sand bed clean.

Yupp, I think that's what I'll do.. I saw 2 of them attacking one of my biggest snail :neutral: Thanks for the suggestion!

pretty much everyone runs carbon though very few go through HLLE disease (i think you are referring the recent study on this correlation.)

if you are not keen on running ti 24/7 - maybe run it only for a few days before you do a water change.

Yes, I was referring to that recent study I just don't want to take any chances :mrgreen:

*Little update*

I've got a skinny Yellow Tang a few months ago and I keep trying to get him fat but it doesn't seem to work.. All my fish are literally obese but somehow my Yellow Tang won't gain any weight :cry:

While I was feeding them today I realized that my Yellow Tang has Black Black Ich for the second time and it's just weird cuz there's no stress in the tank, all my other fish look amazing and the water parameters are good but the nitrates (20ppm), so I'm guessing it's because he's underweight :cry: I'm gonna buy a veggie clip on Friday and I hope it helps him to get some weight.

I also don't feel like destroying my tank to threat him, will a cleaner wrasse and cleaner shrimp do the trick?

Thanks!

[MKLKT]

I personally find that conches do a way better job of sand cleaning than Nassarius snails ever do and you don't need that many.

[dynamite]

I personally find that conches do a way better job of sand cleaning than Nassarius snails ever do and you don't need that many.

I only have a Coanch and he's always under my sandbed :twised: urggg... LOL

UPDATE:

today I did a 30% water change, I dosed one ampule of Biodigest and one of Biotim. One of my friends gave me his Elegance Coral that wasn't doing good in his tank and was closed and it's starting to open in my tank :mrgreen: He actually opens more at night that during the day. He's under 4 T5's and he'll probably be under them for a month (until I get ATI fixture), I have a MH fixture with two 250w 14k bulbs and 4t5's but it gets WAYYYY TO HOT! so since last year I've been only using the t5's. Will the elegance coral be doing fine under the 4 T5's or should I turn on the MH? I saw some posts when people had them under 4 T5's.

Observations:

I didn't have to clean my front glass at all :mrgreen:
I added a small CUC but the sand was WHITE!!!! For the 1st time in ages my sand was white after a week lol :mrgreen:
I'll test my nitrates and Phosphates when I come back from work and I'll also post pictures :mrgreen:

[daniella3d]

I would add more good porous liverock into your tank as I think there is not enough for the filtration you need. It seems from the photo that you don't have much of it. I would add some totally cured totoka or other very porous liverock so that denitrification can take place in your tank and your nitrates would be lower. You could put some macro algae as well to feed on the nitrates.

[dynamite]

I would add more good porous liverock into your tank as I think there is not enough for the filtration you need. It seems from the photo that you don't have much of it. I would add some totally cured totoka or other very porous liverock so that denitrification can take place in your tank and your nitrates would be lower. You could put some macro algae as well to feed on the nitrates.

Oh well, I never had any problem with nitrates before, I even had less rock than now :mrgreen: and it was all base rock LOL, my problems started when I decided to go away for long vacations.
I even saw tanks with less rock than mine, like the japanese tanks, they have the minimal ammount of LR and I really ike the Minimalist aquascape and the open look, well in the future everything will be cover with corals, I may add some more LR but I'm not sure about it.

****

I checked my Nitrates and they're at 25ppm
Phosphates 0.05ppm

A few pictures.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1969.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1970.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1971.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1974.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g74/mauro_90/IMG_1972.jpg


Sorry for the quality :neutral: The pictures were taken with my iphone.

[dynamite]

Update:

Today I did a 20% WC, I dosed an ampule of Biodigest and one of Biotim and added some Microbakter 7.

I'm so Happy with Prodibio :mrgreen: It's my 3rd week and Nitrates are at 10ppm!!!!!!!!!! :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: Water is clear, I only clean my front glass once a week, sand is pristine white! This is a dream LOOOL I can't wait to start seeing more changes :)