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I will be the guinea pig

M

mgonz

OK So I started using the tropic Marin reef actif about eight weeks ago now. I must say I have seen a tremendous amount of growth using this product. My tank seems to be alot clearer and I don't seem to have to clean the glass as much as I use to. As far as my color I can honestly say I don't think it looks any different than they did when I originally started this product. Maybe a touch but nothing major. I recently started dosing both the Elos omega acids as well as the Elos Pro skimmer. I also Picked up the Prodibio Bio Optim, Bio Digest, and Reef Booster. I did my first dose of The Bio optim and Bio Digest yesterday Sunday the 23rd. I am hoping to achieve an ULNS. I will for the most part be doing exactly what is recommended, though I have read people dosing the two once a week for six weeks than continuing the recommended regimen. I don't think I would want to do that only because I feel that it would be to much of a shock for my system and don't believe in rushing things. I would much rather gradually introduce these products into my system. I will begin to dose the reef booster after the third dosing of the Bio Optim and Bio Digest which would be week seven. I will do my best to get some pictures up for anyone who wants to see the progress. Also anyone who has had any experience with this product is more than welcome to please give me some advice as I go along with this. Thanks.

Mark G.
 
M

mgonz

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M

mgonz

So I did my second dose of the Prodibio Bio Optim and the Bio Digest Sunday. I also began using the Reef booster Sunday night and here is what I have to say so far: THE STUFF IS GREAT!!!

In only this two week span I have begun to see the colors in the corals increase. They look so much more viberant. I am extremely pleased so far with this product. I cant wait to see the long term effects of it.

I did have a small problem with the reef booster. I turned of my skimmer over night like recommended and when I turned it on in the morning I failed to realize it mad my skimmer over flow. My skimmer went crazy and I did not catch it. I dumped roughly a half cup of skimmate back into my system. I adjusted the skimmer and let it catch up and put it back to the original setting and it is back in action. That was my problem. Other than that the corals seemed to love it. it was my first dose so I really don't know what will really benefit from it long term but I will keep posting.... till next time
 
M

mgonz

Not at all. It is scary at times trying something new when everything seems to be stable. I do not like the feeling of not knowing what will come out of it. I have had issues where I have disrupted the balance of the system and have had troubles trying to get it back. I will say this is the best chance I have taken up to this point. I am loving the way my corals are looking and growning. hopefully things continue the way they are.
 
D

Dave

Everthing looks great!

It seems like you have made quite a few changes in a relatively short amount of time.

Do you think you will be able to parse out which products were having an impact?
 
M

mgonz

It is really hard to say which one is having the effect, but I will say that when I used everything up to the time I started the prodibio I really did not see much other than growth. The original reason I started using these things were to get my colors to look better. I would assume everything for the most part works hand in hand though. I use the tropic marin K+ and A- to replenish my trace elements, I use the Elos omega and the Elos pro skimmer to feed my corals(that way I can get away from feeding the actual feed), I use the tropic marin reef actif to bind all nutrients in my tank making them easy to be skimmed, and I am now using the prodibio to achieve a full bac driven system. with this I am also hoping to achieve and ULNS. My corals seem to love what I am doing and have honestly never looked better. I had the option of going Neozeo/Zeovit but chose to go with prodibio. The reason for this was because I have two friends that are doing those methods and I wanted to do the opposite and see where we all end up. I did not want to give up my fuge section for the reactor nor did I want to dose so many products on a daily basis. I am confident that I will have, for the most part, the same results as them spending less money and less work. Only time will tell, but so far so good!!!
 
M

mgonz

I ment I am using Elos pro skimmer and omegas to get myself away from feeding coral food. I do not want the left over to sit in my tank and go through the breakdown cycle of what was not eaten.
 
H

Henrye718

So your using?

kalkwaser
Elos pro skimmer
Elos omega
tropic marin reef actif
Prodibio Bio Optim
Bio Digest
Reef booster

I believe you said you did not seee a benifit from anyone product? I would like to try some of these but it seems expensive to dump all these chems regularly.
 
M

mgonz

Kalkwaser is dosed dialey via a drip method. Tropic marin reef actif is used when I do my water change, three quarter teaspoon for roughly 90 gal.
Elos pro skimmer and omegas are dosed nightly as a source of nutrients and food for corals. Prodibio bio optim and bio digest is used every other week, the reef booster once weekly. I guess it all does add up but I see very good results from what I have been doing. Again growth was not an issue. I am trying to get my corals colors to be much more viberant. As for the prodibio I think between them and the elos products I would be spending less if not the same as a person who would be running zeo it is just a lot less to dose. Hopefully with the same end results but we will see. So far so good. I invest alot of time into my tank. I ve got more invested in live stock then what I ve spent to keep it all alive. Each thing does something different in my tank.


I did not begin using all these products at one time either I worked my tant up to this. I do not like doing to much all at once and shocking my tank. Iam sure somebody with more experience might read this and say that I am over doing it but my corals seem to love it so I plan on not changing it..
 
H

Henrye718

Thanks for the deatailed reply on how you were dosing. Cool that you got the color what you were looking for, sucks to spend alot of time and money and not have good results. :)
 
M

mgonz

would not say I have achieved totally what I was looking for just yet. It's starnge because my corals were all doing well prior to this. Colors weren't as sharp as they are now but I have high hopes that they will look even better once I achieve the ultra low nutrient state. Once I feel I am there I will begin to dose the reef booster. That's when I would hope things will do extremly better. From all the reasearch I've done the reef booster will make a tremendous difference. So I will keep my fingers crossed. Four more weeks of dosing the bio optim and bio digest and then I will begine the reef booster. At which time I will cut back from dosing bio optim and bio digest from weekly to every other week. I was also looking at picking up kz coral vitalizer. I've read really good reviews on the as well.
 
H

Henrye718

Im not sure what all the chems you are using do exacty but once you strip everything out of the water..

These are supposed to be very helpful in getting color to your corals..

Vit C of some kind.

Brightwell PhytoChrome

Brightwell Aquatics CoralAmino

I mention these cause I know a few guys who are doing very well with ULN and replenishing with the above and are getting better color than they ever did.
 
M

mgonz

not to sure what exactly the phytochrome is, nor what benefits vit c would give so if you know please let me know and I will look more into it.
as for the brightwells corals amino I am already using the aminos from elos.. Elos omega are the amino acids. prob one of the more concentrated on the market.
 
M

mgonz

Sorry I have not updated this with my progress in a while but here goes. I did end up going with the loading phase of six weeks straight using the prodibio bioptim and biodigest. I am on my fifth week. This sunday will be the sixth dose. I decided to do this because I figured it really wouldnt hurt me to be sure that I am at the ULN stage. It would basically assuer me that I am there.

I have also begun using a few different products. I have done tons of research and this is what I am doing now. I have continued to use the Elso omegas as well as the pro skimmer. I have also started using KZ Coral Vitalizer. That stuff is really amazing. My polyps come out crazy when I feed the stuff. that is what I am using to feed my coral at the moment.

I started using KZ zeostrat2 as a carbon source to feed the bac that I am putting in my tank. I am using it at a very low dosage, I figure I am putting in bac in my system and feeding them wouldnt hurt me.

I also picked up KZ phols xtra which is supposed to help increase the corals colors but I will begin to use this once my sixth dose is done..

During all this I upgraded my skimmer to the MSX200. seems to be working good.

What I have noticed since I started all this is my corals have lightend up a bit, which was expeceted. I am very confident that once I start the regular dose ofthe prodibio every 2 weeks versus every week and start using the reef booster my colors will do much better. But we will see.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Currently I am dosing Brightwells amino and Brightwells Reef Biofuel. I am going to pick up KZ coral vitalizer and KZ Pohl's extra. My question is what time of day do you dose? I have been dosing at this point right before I feed and turn the lights off. Should I wait until after I turn the lights off?
 
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