Attn. SPS Gurus- A Few Questions

[MMAX]

I'm in the process of planning a tank switchover from mixed reef to strictly sps. I'm not new to sps, been keeping them for about 3 years and have quite a few, just wondering what systems/additives the experts are using. In the past I've used Prodibio, ran Zeo rocks in a home made reactor and I currently dose the "big 3" elements through a Profilux stand alone unit. I noticed my biggest growth came from bi-weekly 20 gallon water changes using H2Ocean salt. Greens & oranges are vibrant, reds & pinks not so much and a couple of blues are more brown than anything. My system is a 100gal, 22 inches deep with an 8 bulb T5 Tek. I know I have enough light and flow and I plan to stick with dosing and H2Ocean salt, I just need to know who's using what and the pros and cons of each. Lets just say I liked the ease of the Prodibio system, but living 1-1.5 hrs away from the 2 major centers, it was hard for me to get a hold of and keep up with it. I'm also thinking hard about Zeovit but it's just damn expensive.

[Snappy]

I would go with Prodibio over zeo. Much easier program to maintain.

[Aquattro]

I consider my tank fairly successful, and the only big things I do are water changes and zeovit. I'm sure you've heard everyone complain about daily dosing, it's so tough, takes too much time, blah blah. Mostly, it's true, and I just don't do it :)
I'll remember to dose properly for a couple of days, then miss 3 weeks. I agitate the rocks three days in a row, then don't for the rest of the month. So, I'm not sure if just having the reactor with the rocks is enough, or maybe it just doesn't matter. To me, the biggest change this tank has over any other (less successful) tank I've had is large frequent water changes.

[kien]

:pop2:

Tagging along because I love these discussions. As for myself, the only nutrient export method that I've used (aside from water changes and skimmering) is a macro algae refugium and bio pellets). My bio pellet reactor broke a few months ago but I'm ready to fire it back up again soon.

[ScubaSteve]

Water changes and VSV dosing is where it's at. Super easy. I barely have time to sleep, let alone take care of a tank. It's nice to have an easy method to take care things. I spent maybe 5 mind a day.

[Bblinks]

I believe water quality and stability is far more important then any additive. I believe in high flow in the dt and turnover rate through the sump. Heavy skimmering and a filter sock that's frequently changed also plays a important roll in the success of keeping sps corals. I use bio-pellets, carbon, and rowaphos, bio-pellets never gets emptied to preserve the bacteria mass and only topped up every 2-3month. Carbon gets changed once a month and rowa depends on phosphate reading from my hanna. The big three is supplemented by RX6 duo and kalk over top off. Water change every 2 weeks with IO, I have tried many different types of salt and here we are back to the basics.

IMO every tank is different. What works for one might not work for the other. I say keep the basics simply and stable, then if you want try some additive(zeovit is my preference) one at a time and wait and see how your corals react to it.

[kien]

I believe water quality and stability is far more important then any additive.

I agree. Although, it's the additives that some people throw into their tanks that help maintain that water quality no?

[Bblinks]

I was referring more towards "coral enhancing" additives like zeovit K or B balance and not additives like prodibio system. Probiotic system are a whole other topic.

[Proteus]

Though my tanks small I employed prodibio carbon and rowa(just in case). Prodibio is easy and works well. I do weekly waterchanges and am very discrete on how much I feed

I also just built a algea scrubber to sea what happens. I may stop the prodibio if the scrubber starts to grow anything. Though that could take 2 months.

[FragIt Dan]

+1 on Rich's (Bblinks) comments, I am running almost identical regime with recent addition of kalk ATO and about to start using bio pellets. When I do less frequent water changes I notice the tanks react negatively. I minimize the negative impact with dosing of non-big-three supplements, but it is not the same. After 20 years of tinkering, I have come to the conclusion that water changes have given me the happiest tanks.


Dan

[ScubaSteve]

+1 on Rich's (Bblinks) comments, I am running almost identical regime with recent addition of kalk ATO and about to start using bio pellets. When I do less frequent water changes I notice the tanks react negatively. I minimize the negative impact with dosing of non-big-three supplements, but it is not the same. After 20 years of tinkering, I have come to the conclusion that water changes have given me the happiest tanks.


Dan

I'm the exact same as you Dan - to a T. My only difference is VSV dosing instead of pellets. And I agree, water changes go a long way! I can definitely tell when I haven't done a water change in a while.

[kien]

Probiotic system are a whole other topic.

whoops, my bad. I thought that was the topic :lol: Carry on.

I always find it interesting how different people's interpretation of "simple" and "easy" are. For example, there are plenty of people who complain about the maintenance schedule required for zeovit while there are some who don't find it bothersome at all. Some people will say dosing VSV is easy, while some will say that's a pain in the butt. Some will say bioPellets are easy while others think that's a pain too. That's kind of the beauty of this hobby. There's a tonne of ways to skin this cat. Unfortunately this diversity in methods is also what makes the hobby challenging! We are always second guessing our methods and wondering if we're doing it wrong and the other guy is doing it right :lol:

[don.ald]

There's a tonne of ways to skin this cat. We are always second guessing our methods and wondering if we're doing it wrong and the other guy is doing it right :lol:

This is a good point.
When I started out I used so many different methods, never waiting long enought to find out if anything worked before starting something new.
Finally happy with the simplistic basics. Dose the main three, use carbon, when I think of it, run cheato in the sump, and do regular water changes .