This page will be to document the effects of Prodibio on my reef tank. I’m doing it here instead of starting a new thread on a moderated forum, because those threads have a tendency to get shut down for one reason or another, and I don’t want it to be viewed the wrong way. Not selling, not promoting, just using & noting the effects on my tank.
I ordered a 30 ampule pack of Prodibio Bio-Clean Marine, and a 30 pack of Reef Booster from Aquarium Specialty. For a small tank, it isn’t that expensive with bi-weekly doses.
Plan to start dosing Prodibio’s bacteria / carbon sources (Bioclean and Bioptim) on 11/1/07. That should give me plenty of time to figure out my starting schedule and take some ‘before’ shots. So, let’s see. If it works, it works. If not, won’t be the first time I’ve wasted money in this hobby.
About My Tank
- 25 gallon stony w/zoas & mushrooms
- 150w MH lighting, Reeflux 12K bulb
- Litermeter III for kalk top off & 2 part dosing (ESV B-Ionic)
- Neptune Systems AquaController III
My reef tank before Prodibio / carbon dosing
Felix
3 years ago
Awesome Blog…just found it today by mistake,
how many fish/inverts do you have in total?
any full tank shots?
Felix-
admin
3 years ago
Hi, Felix, thanks! Great reminder – Totally forgot about this post, I suppose it’s due time for some updated shots lol. For some reason my photo gallery quit working. I’ve added more water volume in a 2nd display / refuge and corals have grown very nicely since I started this blog / prodibio / ultralith, etc. Aside from a Duncanopsammia colony, I’ve gotten rid of all large polyped stonies,they were taking over the tank. Also got rid of the eggcrate lol.
Current stock
Acropora sp. (ORA Miami Orchid)
Acropora sp. (“Blue Free” Stag from Glassbox-Design)
Acropora sp. (“Bonsai”)
Acropora sp. (Tricolor)
A. gemmifera (or A. humilis)
A. secale (?)
A. horrida (possibly Chips, from Glassbox)
A. subulata (?)
A. nana (?)
M. capricornis
M. peltiformis
M. undata (Tyree true undata)
M. danae (“superman”)
Porites sp. (Tyree purple)
Porites sp w./ Spirobranchus
Psammocora contigua (green)
P. superficialis (blue tyree)
P. superficialis (orange tyree)
P. profundacella
Sansibia sp. (blue clove polyp, possibly Sarcothelia edmondsoni?)
Dendronephthya sp.
Scleronephthya sp. (possibly Umbellulifera)
Diodogorgia nodulifera (red w/ white polyp)
Diodogorgia nodulifera (yellow w/ white polyp)
Duncanopsammia axifuga
Pair of Solomon Island A. percula
Ecsenius stigmatura
Lysmata kuekenthali
L. wurdemanni
This is the most recent shot I have. I’ll start taking some more in the next week or two once I get a couple fragments that are sitting on the sand mounted.
Felix
3 years ago
Holly ACRO! lol..nicely done there..wow
Lovely system…I’m hooked now on this blog! lol
I’m also following Glassbox’s blog as well. Great info
Thanks,
Felix-
Moolis
1 year ago
What happened to the followup’s. I am busy looking into LNS for my retail shop and any feed back would be apreciated.
stonyreef
1 year ago
Hi, Moolis. Thanks for the comment. There are various followups throughout the pages here, as I kind of progressed from prodibio to ultralith to nothing to a tank move, but I guess I never wrote a specific followup for Prodibio!
So thanks for a reminder, and here’s a summary:
After starting the Biodigest and Bioptim (2007) dosing on a 2 week schedule (finally settled on dosing bacs on the 1st and 3rd Sunday and DOC on the 2nd and 4th), I watched my nitrates drop, over the course of about 6 to 8 weeks, to undetectable levels. Phosphates dropped to measurable, but very low levels using a DD Hach kit. During this time I made no considerable changes to equipment or husbandry. I skimmed like normal and did regular water changes. This start with prodibio was my first foray into DOC dosing and I think now , a few years later, there’s no doubt that carbon dosing has become an acceptable means to lower N &P in our aquariums.
I do believe that Prodibio bioptim and biodigest were very helpful in lowering these N&P levels. In my opinion, it is also one of the cheapest and definitely the easiest to use of the “main” carbon source “system” products, though it’s less a system than Ultralith or zeovit. With a schedule of dosing only once every 2 weeks, it’s pretty much a no-brainer. I guess it boils down to what you’re looking for. If simply to lower N and P, Prodibio does a fine job (so does vodka or Glassbox’s VSV for that matter) and I’d recommend it to use in LFS to keep your tanks n/p levels down, as well as to sell, as it’s an easy “system” to explain to clients.
That said, I no longer use the Prodibio schedule as before. I moved a few months ago and I have no desire to dose daily carbon sources. I am currently trying out the N/P Bio-pellets with just 1 single vial per month of Prodibio’s bacteria, and quite pleased with the results thus far.
Thanks for the note, and please let me know if you have any other questions!