DARK's 210g on Polyp Labs System Reef-resh and Reef Roids

[robthorn]

to bad we can't get someone with a lab to test the zeo stuff and then post as an anonymous reef additive instead of saying it's zeo. the world is into gouging especially in this hobby. I am sure there is about 20 cents in each bottle of zeo.
not sure if you guys have been following the polyplab thread by darkphreak but he one the polyplab contest and ran out of the free additives and now his corals are all turning brown. why I don't know but it's something to consider before starting these products.

 

[DARKPHREAK]

They were issues IMO with the contest/support but I'll not get into that. I did win something free of charge and while using it, it did improve the colors of 95% of my sps but Im on my 3rd 50g water change to try and reduce the amount of damage my sps are going through. I guess I should have read more on these products before hand.

Keep in mind that all my sps had nice colors before adding this product, 1 week before dosing started I purchased 2 orange caps, one went into my tank and the other one went into a friends tank, during dosing my cap grew 3-4 times the size of the second cap in my friends tank and was alot more vidid in its orange color so the product does work while your using it but when you stop everything goes downhill. And Im not just saying this about the Polyp Lab product, I would think its true of any simiular product.

Nice color before dosing began and good growth during dosing

It did grow well for the 5 weeks of dosing but...

Added to the tank 1.5(ish) months before dosing

During

After brown/slimey on bottom right side.

 

[kirstenk]

DARKPHREAK

Sorry about your troubles.

I use PolypLabs Genisis and Fuel. Are you saying that the basic 4 you used and then stopped are causing the problems or was it an additional item they do not have on the market yet?

Did you ever think the Fuel smelled kinda like Isoproply Alcohol? Me and a friend sure did. How about you robthorn?

 

[DARKPHREAK]

kirstenk,

I used the basic 4, RF-Genesis, RF-Fuel, RF-Acids and RF-Plus. All the problems happened after I stopped using The System. As for the smell I really cant say because I cant smell that well but my girlfriend said Fuel tasted like vinegar(I gave her heck when she told me she tasted it(by accident)).

 

[kirstenk]

Hmmm..........maybe the abrupt stopping caused the bacteria to die and release a lot of PO4 back into the system. That was what people said happened with Vodka. I dosed only Vodka awhile back and when I stopped I weaned the tank off of it. I had no problems except some corals lost some color.

I hope your water changes help.

 

[kirstenk]

One other thing, check your ALK.

 

[robthorn]

fuel is a carbon source like vodka and smells alot like it to me. acetate?
kirsten your tank is looking great in your gallery.

 

[dirtyreefer]

Kirsten, do you notice any ill effects from not dosing the RF-Acid and RF-Plus? I always thought these were a must since the Genesis and the Fuel working together would strip too much out of the water column which could in turn cause coral bleaching due to a lack of food source?

I am using all 4 supplements and have been very happy with the results, especially the growth.

 

[elephen]

I'm tagging along, seems really interesting.

 

[robthorn]

dirty I am not sure that there would be ill effects this early in the game if ever. corals need ammonia which I am not sure polyplabs products do anything for until it is already used by corals and other bacteria and whatever else uses it in our systems. since there isn't anything removing the actual ammonia directly from the water I am not sure what the effect would be. I would think it would possibly reduce some algea doing it this way. I used vodka alone with no ill effects. then vodka and prodibio now prodibio and polyplab. haven't seen anything ill either way so far.
if you were using the zeovit system with the ammonia removing media then I could see a possible negative effect but since these other methods don't use them ill effects would be hard to create in my opinion as long as you have fish and feed them.
just my opinion of course,
robert

 

[kirstenk]

Hey Dirty,

I'll agree with Robert. I feed much heavier now and have been dosing Salifert AA's. I also dose Prodibio Reef Booster and this is loaded with good stuff. I was going to add the Acid and Plus when I felt the time was right (that happens to be now) but, I ordered a couple of ZEO products instead. K-Balance and Pohl's.

Robert, we are basically doing the same thing. I started with Prodibio and Vodka, added RF-Genesis and Fuel and continued Vodka until a few days ago. I know you posted that your Prodibio would last longer than the PolypLabs. I am the opposite so maybe when I run out I should dose only PolypLabs and you Prodibio and see what we see.

I have liked the improvments I have seen, the greatest being a big drop in cyano. Color wise I am slightly better than in Dec when I had a HUGE CYANO problem but what that cyano consumed sure made my colors look great. I could not stand it thou.

 

[robthorn]

i am so confused on what to dose. if I dose the reef booster I get algea. if I dose the plus and acid at full strength I get algea. if I don't dose it full strength the colors fade some. I turned my skimmer up a little today and I will see what that does. I even shut off my main pump while feeding to prevent any food from not being consumed. still get algea. I need to come to the realization that algea even grows in the ocean just clean the junk up i don't want to see.

 

[kirstenk]

Robert, I am sorta in the same boat but mine is cyano. What kind of algae do you get?

This is why I am gonna try the K-Balance and Pohl's.

 

[chtan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7375703#post7375703 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis
K_one, you might want to look into the product that DARKPHREAK was using first before implying that he is using something similar to the Marc Weis products. These probiotic nutrient control methods are pretty much in a league of their own. They are not just one bottle, but a combination of several different components that are dosed separately to make up the system. The PolypLabs System Reef-fresh and the Prodibio line are fairly new products to the market that are modeled after the ZEOvit line that has been around for several years. Take a look at some ZEOvit tanks or have a look at Iwan's tank that is run on a hybrid of Prodibio/ZEO products and it may change your outlook on these products. The driving factor behind these probiotic methods is that they introduce strains of bacteria to the tank that are not present because they have been outcompeted by other strains. This diversifies the bacterial populations and allows for more efficient/complete nutrient reduction. Another component of these products is a carbon source that helps feed all of the strains of bacteria, including the newly introduced ones so that they do not become extinct due to be outcompeted. I don't think you will find these bacteria in other "tried and true methods".

Hi there ... I concur ... i think probiotics is probably the way to go .... I struggled to maintain sps coloration in the last few months ... now it is much easier .... the colours I have are much more vibrant ....

I have been using reef-resh for the last 2 months ....

below ... pic of part of the tank in Dec 2005

 

[chtan]

Just 1.5 mths into dosing reef-resh ....

The best result I got is with this staghorn (pictured in the centre; also in the centre of the Dec pic ... still a ugly dark greenish brown) .....

 

[kirstenk]

Nice results. I see an over all lighting and the blues look very good!

 

[chtan]

Thanks .... currently, I use only Aqualine 400 w SE 13000 k bulbs to illuminate my tank ... when I did not have the vibrant blues and stronger reds and purple, I used to think that perhaps I was using the wrong lighting ..... that was more than 6 mths ago ... now that the sps are coloring up nicely (well most of them) .... I m quite partial to using MH vs T5s.

 

[robthorn]

man things are sure out of wack in my tank at the moment I am stopping everything til it stops. things were looking better daily then color started fading and some rtn from the tip on one coral and from the base on the next. I had been running only one bio digest and one bioptim per 2 weeks. then running the full dose of reefresh. that being 10 drops of each. seems that I started using the genesis and the colors started going downhill or at the same time I started the reduction slide of the fuel product. I also have alot of funky algea everywhere. it's about 2 inches long in the sand and all over the rocks. I have not been using reef booster for quite a while because I thought it might be the algea problem.

 

[chtan]

Yes I think it is a good idea to stop until your tank gains an equilibrium again ....

Perhaps, you could dose either /or ; either prodibio or the reef-resh t....

When I use reef-resh, I follow most of the instructions except that I do weekly instead of bi weekly water change and I do not use RO, DI or Distilled water for water change ... I use normal unfiltered tap water (only add anti chlorine)

Apart from the Reef-resh, twice a week, I dose the standard trace, strontium and iodine and magnesium ... run a calcium reactor and additional calcium with kalkwasser top-up.

the only other things I do is feed DT's phyto and oyster egg 3 times a week.

The other thing I did notice was that there was more skimmate to collect ... so using a huge skimmer (a turboflotor 5000 single) really help ... i used to clean the skimmer cup every 3 to 4 days now I try to do it every day and the amount of skimmate is 3 times what I used to have.

my skimmer pic below

 

[SERVO]

All of these products really intrigue me, but I am glad that there are people willing to undertake the experience for our observational analysis.

I really have a problem of putting stuff into my tanks that we have no idea what it is. I assure you that given the quick Zeovit threats of legal backlash on certain proprietors (sp?) the ingredients are likely very simple. This is his livelyhood, but you can't copyright a bottle of acetate .

I would love to see some hardcore science on these products. I am really fascinated to see some of the results, but I also fear some of the contrasting findings. Given the price of dosing these products in a 500 gallon system and the risk of possible STN/RTN, I'll wait. I will however continue to feverishly read all of the different posts.