Over the last couple months, it has been spreading like mad. I’ve had a patch of it in my tank for +2 years, but it is just now that it has decided to take off, and it getting a bit out of hand. So that leads me to a related dilemma: my clownfish. My pair of A. percula took this Xenia as home within 24 hours of being put into the tank, and the momma defends it to the death. I’ve been considering fluke tab removal of the Xenia, but I don’t want to deprive the clowns of their home.

My 2 thoughts have been a) once the tank gets back on track and I’ve manually removed as much as possible form the areas I don’t want it, possibly the once again clean water will keep it contained as it used to be. Or, b) remove the rock w/ Xenia that the clownfish host in, QT it, fluke the tank, and then put the rock back in. The issue I have with ‘B’ is that I am afraid any leftover trace of the fluke tabs may kill of the Xenia I wanted to save… but the plus side of ‘B’ is that I also have some anthelia and GSP that I definitely want no trace of, ever again, and the fluke tabs may take care of that…

decisions, decisions…

Off to do some reading on experiences with fluke tabs… here’s a video (cloudy after extreme maintenance). See, how could one possibly take the clowns from that xenia… I think they’d be devastated :). Check out the Ecsenius stigmatura about 1:30 in, cleaning out the kicked up sand from his hole. Also think I may have to hack down the M. capricornis a bit to re-position that rock.

*Post Script - I’ve halted all dosing of Fauna Marin products while I continue renovation. I am still running a reactor / stones, but have stopped all Power Trace, Bak, AA’s, etc. Until I get a grip, just sticking with bi-weekly doses of Prodibio bacs and carbon source.

Last Sunday I sat down and ran a whole battery of tests on my tank water. It was the first time I’d done it in at least a month (aside from quick daily checks of alkalinity). Everything else seemed to be more or less normal with exception of a couple parameters…

So, from all the tests, my results follow. AWT’s are noted as well:

Alkalinity (kH)

• API - 13 drops = 6.25 dkH = 2.23 meq/L
• IO - 8 drops /4 = 2 meq /L
• SeaChem - between 4 - 5 drops ~ 2.25 meq /L
• Lamotte - 112ish on the syringe ~ 6.272 dkH = 2.24 meq/L
• AWT RESULTS = 2.21 meq/L

Magnesium (Mg)

• ELOS - 22 or 23 drops (double sample) / 2 = 1100 to 1150
• Salifert - around 1200
• AWT RESULTS = 1075 - a little lower, but more or less in line

Nitrate (NO3)

• Test 1 Salifert - clear / undetectable
• Test 2 Salifert - clear / undetectable
• AWT RESULTS = 0.4 - not bad, who can read those Salifert NO3 tests anyway
  

Potassium (K)

• Fauna Marin Kalium Kit - 425 - 450
• AWT Results - 192…. ?!
  

Iodine (Io)

• SeaChem #1 - 0.05 - 0.0.6, I can never tell exactly
• SeaChem #2 - “”
• SeaChem #3 - “”
• AWT RESULTS - 0.05 - good

Calcium (Ca)

• Elos #1 - 300ppm?!
• Elos #2 - 300ppm ?!
• Elos #3 - 300 ppm ?!
• AWT RESULTS - 148*

Phosphate (PO4)

• DD Merck - colors matched somewhere between 0.024 - 0.046 PO4
• AWT RESULTS - 0.06 - Fine, I’m just using a kit, no hanna or anything

And that’s all I test for. They did provide other results on Silicates, Copper, Molybdenum, an others (just head to their site for a whole list), but I don’t really care. If the tank had really high copper, I think the coral would have mentioned something long ago. I do not understand the role Molybdenum plays enough to worry about it now, but it did make a kick ass lubricant for pinewood derby car wheels when I was a Cub Scout. They wonder why my cars would never lose…

I do wish I had another Ca kit on hand. I knew about some discrepancies between home kits and AWT’s Ca results (Reef Central thread here) beforehand, so in all honesty, I didn’t really care - Ca is easy to test for, and easy to adjust. I wonder how the hell I let it drop to 300, but that’s an easy adjustment. It would be a boon to their service if there were less discrepancy (low result seems par for the course).

It was great that the iodine came back within the same range the SeaChem reads. Not a huge fan of SeaChem kits in general, either based on past use with other kits, or just the whole thing with the little tray. As far as I know, hobbyist test kits for Io are dodgy at best, so this result was nice too see.

The one parameter that’s really bothering me is the potassium (K). I ran 3 tests with the Fauna Marin kit, and came back with 425ish to 450…ish, a little high, every time. I also kept a sample of the water I sent in, just in case, and tested it 3 times since I got the results - 425 to 450… ish. It’s a little hard to read, but I find it very hard to believe that the potassium in my tank is under 200. Fauna Marin’s MinS additive, one of their main components to the basic system, lists Potassium Chloride as one of the ingredients. Given that I’ve been dosing Min S every day for the last few months, it’s a little curious. I also fail to mention I haven’t noticed any signs of K depletion commonly noted.

All in all, it’s OK. The idea of the service is great. They mail a packet quickly, and the turn around time from when sample is sent in until results received is very good. I am going to order a few more “submission packets”, or whatever they call them, and I’ll send them in every so often. I hope the discrepancies in calcium levels get worked out, and I hope it’s not me, it’s them, regarding the K levels.

The next submission should be interesting - I’ve been dosing the Power Trace 4 for the last couple weeks. Currently only dosing 10% of the recommended amount, but will be sure to note where I am with those on the next submission to AWT. I think “flabbergasted” won’t even begin to describe a report of lower levels of those elements I’m adding daily…

Half-dose of the straight AA’s (Ultra-MinS & UltraAMIN) goes right to the tank, then I wait a little while because I usually see a feeding response shortly after dosing, maybe 10 - 15 minutes. While waiting, I add the remaining doses of Min S / AMIN to the Ultra-Life powder in a tiny amount of RO/DI water, let it soak for a bit before adding a little more RO/DI so I can squirt it around the tank in hopes that the amino acid soaked particles have a better chance of getting trapped & utilized by the corals.

I also tend to (over)feed heavily - fatty oily foods like Rod’s Food, Cyclop-eeze, oyster egg & phyto concoctions, soak in Selcon, garlic extraction, you name it. I rotate what I feed and I keep my fish plump. Not fat, but I make sure they’re well fed. Normally when I feed something like Rod’s Food the skimmer foam dies down and takes some time to regain decent production. With the Ultra-Life, it seems that not only does the foam regain its head in less time, it doubles production. I’ll take some photos soon, before and after, it’s pretty sick.

Fauna Marin claims Ultra-Life also binds ammonia, nitrite & nitrate. I have no detectable levels of NO3 anyway, and I don’t test for the other two, but I can say at least the NO3 hasn’t gone up. Regardless of whether using the Ultralith system or not, I think Ultra-Life could probably find a place in any reef tank. I’d be interested to hear results in terms of NO3 reduction using just the Ultra-Life.

So, here’s where I’ll finally put stock in Prodibio’s Bioptim / BioDigest. Since the start of the regimen, I have watched PO4, NO3, and crazy nuisance algae disappear from my tank. I made no significant changes to my normal husbandry, other than the use of c-dosing / bacs. It wouldn’t be prudent to attribute all the changes to prodibio, because good husbandry must be maintained, but I will say based on the changes I’ve seen over the last few months, that it is an effective product. It isn’t magic, nor is it a cure-all. However, with the right conditions and proper maintenance, it works.

Started the FM ultra yesterday. Since I haven’t worked on the DIY zeolite reactor yet, I’m just dosing the UltraBak, UltraBio & UltraMin S, no stones yet. I’m starting with 2 drops of the Bio (bacs) each day, and light doses (0.25 ml / day) of Bio and Min S. My water is crystal clear. If it weren’t for bubbles, it would be hard to imagine that there’s even water in the tank. Prodibio / c-dosing also has this effect, sure, but the issue with Prodibio is that since I was dosing bi-weekly, the clear water would return to normal after a couple days. With small daily doses of the Ultra, we’re talking sparkly every day.