Getting ready for Prodibio

[stonyreef]

Originally Posted by dobly_1999

I started the Biokit this morning, March 24, 2008. I have photos before I started to keep a record. I want colorful corals.

In my opinion, Prodibio is not going to get you colorful corals by itself. It can definitely, in my experience (mileage certainly varies), help clear up your tank, lower nutrients, and maybe as a result of the c-dosing, get better colors by reducing turbidity and allowing more light get to the coral.

However, if you're going for colors / ability to control tweak, I'd look into another product, zeo or FM. That said, prodibio was very effective for me in reducing excessive nutrients. In about 3 months, NO3 and PO4 dropped substantially. It wasn't all prodibio - water changes & good husbandry assisted - it's not magic. Anyway, here's how it went.

9/12
# PO4 ~ 0.14
# NO3 ~ 20

9/16
# NO3 ~ 15 / 20
# PO4 ~ 0.14

9/21
# NO3 ~ 15 / 20
# PO4 ~ 0.12 / 0.14

10/1
# NO3 ~ 20
# PO4 ~ 0.10 / 0.12

10/11
# NO3 ~ 10 / 15
# PO4 ~ 0.14

11/1
# NO3 ~ LESS THAN 2ppm
# PO4 ~ LESS THAN 0.03

12/7
# NO3 ~ undetectable
# PO4 ~ 0.02 or less

Yesterday
# NO3 ~ undetectable
# PO4 ~ 0.02 or less

[dobly_1999]

The prodibio and urchins cleaned the tank. The colors did color up, but once I started using Reefboost, I notice Redhair algae. I have treated the tank twice to kill the algae and I stopped using Reefboost. The colors lost the colors and started turning brown. Even the colors that were colorful lost color.

I plan to follow the method of ReefCentral Tank of the month for July 2008. He uses Prodibio with some Zeovit stuff. I do believe the BioClean helps keep the tank clean.

My current skimmer was pulling some very dark matter. I have a new skimmer, Octopus Pro 250 and sump that I plan to install this weekend. I will be using BioClean to control the shock to the tank.

After Prodibio

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/SylvesterinFL/3MonthsAfterProdibio/photo#5216223575479311522"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/SylvesterinFL/SGO_tIV2XKI/AAAAAAAABQQ/jfSZJhqKNHk/s144/IMG_3783.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/SylvesterinFL/3MonthsAfterProdibio">3 months afte...</a></td></tr></table>

[Victoria]

I would love to see a test start to finish. The only experience I have with this product is hit and miss. What I mean by that is that I use it sometimes and other times I don't. What I did use it for was when I moved my tank and upgraded to the 120. I started to get some HA so I added some biodigest and it went away. So I'm not so sure if its good to use all the time?? But I do know it does have it uses. I too am a firm believer in very good husbandry!!