Polyp Lab

[Serioussnaps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10319247#post10319247 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rleechb
Sounds like a manufactured pappone to me:

I. RF-Genesis
Concentrated mixture of dormant bacteria.

-Probably useless

II. RF-Fuel
Amino Acid enriched bacterial food source

"We have developed a unique fusion of organic carbon sources enriched with amino acids. RF-Fuel is a safe but highly effective carbon-based bacterial food.."

-Sounds like sugar...

III. RF-Acids
Concentrated fusion of select amino acids

-AA, as in Pappone

IV. RF-Plus
Concentrated vitamin enriched coral food

-coral food.


Doesn't sound like anything special at all...

just my ignorant 2 cents, however

Maybe we should get together and put sugar in a bottle with some RO/DI water and call it something ending with an O and see how thankful everyone is for their clear water, lack of algae and 0 nutrients?

 

[burton14e7]

Umm...I want in on that I brought this thread back to life I should be entitled to some of the profit!!!

 

[glassbox-design]

research research research and take this thread with a grain of salt as it's rather amusing. :lol:

 

[burton14e7]

So far from my research which has only been done on RC and there weren't that many threads that came up on the "polyp lab" search is that it's 50/50 and low nutrient systems like this and using them is like walking on a thin line thats easy to fall off. So since you find this rather amusing I'm assuming you know more than I do and should shed some light and help some fellow reefers out on our systems or point us in the right direction I'd much rather read some sort of empirical paper than an opinion in bad english lol.

Are these things basically the same as running carbon+phos guard or similar products? I use Warner Marine for both carbon and phos already. It seems carbon is used up in days and Phos can last about a month. I change mine out monthly, I use both of them in "the bag" in one of my aquapod compartments.

I only test for mag, calc, and alk because I read on RC that the phosphate tests are pointless as they will give false readings or don't paint the right picture because algae will absorb the phosphates and give zero readings. I already run phos and I don't have nuiscance macro aglae but I feel like my water is not as clean as it could be.

 

[the_anti_honda]

burton14e7-

They are not talking about the same granular activated carbon that you are referring to. Its not used in the sense of collecting or binding anything. The carbon source we are talking about is a food for bacteria to colonize with and reproduce faster. Ethanol works well as it is a carbon source. I use a cheap vodka to get the same affects that most of the snake oil products of today are promising.

 

[Serioussnaps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10326398#post10326398 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Flint&Eric
research research research and take this thread with a grain of salt as it's rather amusing. :lol:

You mean with a grain of sugar?

 

[glassbox-design]

although a rather witty pun, it's much more than sugar... or let me rephrase, if done correctly it should be....and judging by polyp labs results as posted it is.

ethanol is great, but leads to monocultures. without the "correct" bacteria being added to reduce nutrients you're playing with fire.
save the vodka for yourself.

there are many discussions and the info is out there. if you really want to understand the theories behind the systems you can readily find it. rc is certainly not the place to discuss it, as we have again been informed that it's snake oil...

something are best left to those who seek it...

happy reefing.

 

[burton14e7]

Gotcha. So is Zeovit also snake oil? I thought the probido stuff was some sort of illegal steroid in the US but accessible over seas or maybe that was papone. Thanks for helping me out btw, I do appreciate it. RC is the only source of info I know other than the monthly reefkeeping magazine links. I do try google searches and stuff but most of the time I just get add's. Maybe I'm using the wrong type of search criterea's or something. I'm not really sure what I should be looking for I guess so I ask you guys

 

[the_anti_honda]

Zeovit works on a slightly different methodology then what we are talking about above. In turn you get the same results but how you achieve them is a little more along the lines of science IMO. I have used the system and it does work but just isn't the thing for me.

 

[jer77]

Its funny how this thread got dug-up from the depths, never would have imagined it. Its sort of funny too that people bash this stuff without even trying it. These kinds of topics always end up the same way on here.

I have stopped using the Polyp Lab kit for numerous reasons. Cost is the first reason. Second, I don't believe it did much of anything after many months of studying the results in my tanks. The only solid results that I have found that it does are twofold. First it makes the water much clearer, explain this as you wish. Second is that the only good part of the additives is IMO the RF-Plus. This is just coral food, but its unlike anything I've ever used. Its very potent, only a couple drops will do. It becomes completely suspended in the water without floating to the surface or clumping. It doesn't have any nitrates, phosphates or other bad stuff. And most importantly the corals loved it showing great PE and feeding responses for sps and lps alike. Its some crazy cool stuff IMO. But as for the other supplements I didn't notice any difference when I stopped using them. It did stop the growth of my macroalgae in my refugium.

So I'm sure there's some science behind it, whether its just sugar water or vodka with some bacteria is beyond me.

Just my 2 c

 

[burton14e7]

Thanks for the follow ups. I was trying to research the product and this was one of hte threads that came up under the "polyp lab" search on the forum that actually had dialogue in it so I thought I'd ask here so people would have some back ground on the product from the first posts. Some others sent me PM's with information. For me to start using this system would be about 160.00 and I only need one drop of each product basically because I only have a 24g. For the zeovit system it would cost me almost 400.00. Mainly because of the reactor needed for the zeovit. Not sure if I could use my old phosban reactor the same or if I need the zeovit one but that does increase the cost where as the polyp lab system I could just add the drops to the back compartments of my nano.

I don't recall reading a shelf life of the polyp lab but just from volume of each product I would only have to purchase this product about once a year. For the Zeovit system there are components that only have a shelf life of 3 months once opened. I wouldn't even get close to using the full bottle in 3 months. Still havn't made a decision but I'm leaning towards zeovit. I printed out the 30 page zeovit PDF at work and brought it home and I'm reading it now.

 

[the_anti_honda]

Your reactor should work long as you can stir the zeolith material to get the mulm out daily..

 

[newsalt]

I'm using Polyp Labs Reef-resh. I've been using it for several months. I'm not sure I notice a huge difference. I do agree the polyp extension is great after using the RF-Plus dose, but that's at night when the lights are out. I didn't observe any increase in my skimmate though. That could be because my skimmer pump is undersized. I was going to try Zeovit only if I could use my Phosban reactor. I'm not paying over $200 for a Zeo Reactor.

 

[glassbox-design]

i am not sure where those numbers are coming from... it can be run in po4 reactors as long as the zeolites can be shaken. you can also very easily DIY one.