ickypimp
03-04-07, 11:12
I have been dosing prodibio for a month now... just thought i would share my method and observations.
Just as a bit of background i had a kalk, auto top up, snail related incident which caused a brown out.... this happened a week or so bedore i started on the prodibio. a snail guard has since been lovingly hand crafted to avoid situations like this
My system is small (130 litres), sumpless (but has a 15 litre HOB fuge) been set up for about 18 months
flow is from a seio 820 and a mj1200
Skimmer is an mce600 (which adds significantly to the flow) running a bag of purigen and a bag of ultiphos in the media chamber
Fuge is a 15 litre HOB with miracle mud LRR and chaeto, reverse lit to main tank with a 18 watt 7000k PC fed with a newjet 400
Lighting is an arcadia series 3 250 watt 14k (marine-lux) halide with twin actinics
plenty of live rock with an open structure and aragonite sand
stock is
pair of clowns hosting a RBTA
Laboutei fairy wrasse
yellow tailed damsel
neon dansel (soon to be leaving us if i can catch the bugger)
mandrain
purple dottyback
acroporas (nana, selago, millepora, formosa, yongei, akejimensis, couple of unknowns )
hysterix
monti (digi and cap)
acan echinata
blasto wellsi
euphyllia paradivisa
Caulastrea furcata
ricordea florida
discosoma
rhodactis
various zoans
anemone shrimp
skunk cleaners
flame scallop
probably more stuff i cannot remember at the moment
parameters are all within acceptable limits but i have always had a persistant nitrate issue that wont go below 10 ppm(normally 20-25 PPM), i have tried sulpur filters and vodka and this and that...
Having read lots about probiotic systems i have decided to start using tis method with a few changes..
The prodibio instructions (all 4 lines of them) suggest dosing once every 15 days an ampuole of bacs for upto 1000 litres) and an ampluole of bioptim for up to 400 litres, then weekly strontium and iodine ...
I am sure this is fine, however.. i have 2 observations, sounds wasteful to use all that additive in such a small system. Secondly with 15 day dosing cycles i would assume stabillity could be an issue...
so my current method of dosing is this
bacs, 50 ul (microlitres) every 3 days
Bioptim, 125 ul every 3 days
strontum 100 ul per week
iodine 50 ul per week
reef booster..1/2 an ampuole every 2 weeks and coral vibrance alternate weeks)
I Have recenlly added zeolite to the method also, i am using a mix of Clinoptilolite form 2 sources (1 turkish , the other australian), based upon the zeo/FM system guidelines i reckon at full tilt i will need around 200 ml of zeolite, i have started with 150 ml in a media bag hung in my fuge, i shake the bag every evening..
I plan to make a crude bottle reactor to sit in the fuge i am sure this will work better
I am using purigen instead of activated carbon which i run in the media chamber of my mce 600.
I have to say i didnt think anything was happening with the system... no evidence of bacterial growth, no budge in parameters..
Then this week i have seen a drop off to 10 ppm nitrate, the media chamber of the MCE is heaving with biofilm and my acros are lightening from dark brown to a much lighter brown and getting some colour back on them , few hints of green visible on one coral, pink coming back on my milli... the other thing i have reallt noticed is polyp extension... it is massive..
The other think i have seen is a vast increase in skimmer output... loads more and it is thick dark brown, evil smelling stuff, all good :)
All in all i am pleased with what i have seen so far but i think it will take a couple of more months to really see the benefit...
Just as a bit of background i had a kalk, auto top up, snail related incident which caused a brown out.... this happened a week or so bedore i started on the prodibio. a snail guard has since been lovingly hand crafted to avoid situations like this
My system is small (130 litres), sumpless (but has a 15 litre HOB fuge) been set up for about 18 months
flow is from a seio 820 and a mj1200
Skimmer is an mce600 (which adds significantly to the flow) running a bag of purigen and a bag of ultiphos in the media chamber
Fuge is a 15 litre HOB with miracle mud LRR and chaeto, reverse lit to main tank with a 18 watt 7000k PC fed with a newjet 400
Lighting is an arcadia series 3 250 watt 14k (marine-lux) halide with twin actinics
plenty of live rock with an open structure and aragonite sand
stock is
pair of clowns hosting a RBTA
Laboutei fairy wrasse
yellow tailed damsel
neon dansel (soon to be leaving us if i can catch the bugger)
mandrain
purple dottyback
acroporas (nana, selago, millepora, formosa, yongei, akejimensis, couple of unknowns )
hysterix
monti (digi and cap)
acan echinata
blasto wellsi
euphyllia paradivisa
Caulastrea furcata
ricordea florida
discosoma
rhodactis
various zoans
anemone shrimp
skunk cleaners
flame scallop
probably more stuff i cannot remember at the moment
parameters are all within acceptable limits but i have always had a persistant nitrate issue that wont go below 10 ppm(normally 20-25 PPM), i have tried sulpur filters and vodka and this and that...
Having read lots about probiotic systems i have decided to start using tis method with a few changes..
The prodibio instructions (all 4 lines of them) suggest dosing once every 15 days an ampuole of bacs for upto 1000 litres) and an ampluole of bioptim for up to 400 litres, then weekly strontium and iodine ...
I am sure this is fine, however.. i have 2 observations, sounds wasteful to use all that additive in such a small system. Secondly with 15 day dosing cycles i would assume stabillity could be an issue...
so my current method of dosing is this
bacs, 50 ul (microlitres) every 3 days
Bioptim, 125 ul every 3 days
strontum 100 ul per week
iodine 50 ul per week
reef booster..1/2 an ampuole every 2 weeks and coral vibrance alternate weeks)
I Have recenlly added zeolite to the method also, i am using a mix of Clinoptilolite form 2 sources (1 turkish , the other australian), based upon the zeo/FM system guidelines i reckon at full tilt i will need around 200 ml of zeolite, i have started with 150 ml in a media bag hung in my fuge, i shake the bag every evening..
I plan to make a crude bottle reactor to sit in the fuge i am sure this will work better
I am using purigen instead of activated carbon which i run in the media chamber of my mce 600.
I have to say i didnt think anything was happening with the system... no evidence of bacterial growth, no budge in parameters..
Then this week i have seen a drop off to 10 ppm nitrate, the media chamber of the MCE is heaving with biofilm and my acros are lightening from dark brown to a much lighter brown and getting some colour back on them , few hints of green visible on one coral, pink coming back on my milli... the other thing i have reallt noticed is polyp extension... it is massive..
The other think i have seen is a vast increase in skimmer output... loads more and it is thick dark brown, evil smelling stuff, all good :)
All in all i am pleased with what i have seen so far but i think it will take a couple of more months to really see the benefit...