Prodibio, is it for me?

[Jeff]

I have been having trouble keeping sps and some lps for over a year now. i have a 220 gallon reef that is mostly softies. The softies do well and thrive while sps seem to whither away slowly over a few weeks.

Tank:
220 gallon Perfecto, 40 gallon sump/refuge. 9 months old
Lights: 14 X 39 watt T5 Aquactinics Constellation
Skimmer: ATI Bubblemaster 200
Salt: Tropic Marin Pro Reef
Geo Kalk Reactor
Flow: 2 Ocean Runner 3500 return pumps, Sequence Hammerhead on 4 returns with flow adjusters (eductors)
Ph: 7.9-8.1 always had a problem with low ph
alk 10, calcium 410, nitrates and phosphates never register anything with Salifert.
Water changes: 15% every 2 weeks
Carbon reactor, Purigen, and Phosphate reactor running
Food: Rods Food every 2-3 days, Formula 1 and 2 a couple times a day in low amounts, mysis and cyclops every couple days
Fish, medium to heavily stocked with tanks and clowns.
I do have a large leather coral that is finding a new home this weekend.


I get a light coat of diatoms every so often on my sandbed and have to scrape my glass every couple days. I do feed heavily and have cut back but I do not have problem algae.

I am begining to think that I have nutrients that interfere with coloring and growth in my hard corals. Cutting back on food and wet skimming doesnt seem to help my cause. I started to do a lot of reading about Zeo, Ultralith, and Prodibio and think that running a Pordibio test for 3 months may be worth my time/money.

Here is a thread where I did get some info on my problem: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12097368#post12097368

Along with some better hubandry and less feedings, do you all with experience with Prodibio think that it is a good idea for me?

Thank you in advance.

 

[PSam]

It's not going to hurt. IMO, Prodibio is a pretty safe bet in terms of c-dosing, and it's effective, at least for me.

I used prodibio (and still do, along with the FM ultra system) and watched nitrates and phosphates slowly drop over the course of 2 or 3 months. Here's the NO3 + PO4 test results, it took a little while dropping slowly, then dramatically. My NO3 is still undetectable, PO4 still 0.02 on Merck kit.

9/12
# PO4 ~ 0.14
# NO3 ~ 20

9/16
# NO3 ~ 15 / 20
# PO4 ~ 0.14

9/21
# NO3 ~ 15 / 20
# PO4 ~ 0.12 / 0.14

10/1
# NO3 ~ 20
# PO4 ~ 0.10 / 0.12

10/11
# NO3 ~ 10 / 15
# PO4 ~ 0.14

11/1
# NO3 ~ LESS THAN 2ppm
# PO4 ~ LESS THAN 0.03

12/7
# NO3 ~ undetectable
# PO4 ~ 0.02 or less

and here it has stayed since, with the exception of a couple weeks I changed skimmers / wasn't skimming.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks I just read this thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=700454&perpage=25&pagenumber=1 and I am now hooked. It looks like a lot of people start with Prodibio and add some zeo products including Pohl's Coral Vitalizer.