Prodibio - RSM getting Tweaked!

DanSReef

DanSReef

Member
Over the weekend... I could not take the HA any longer. I wanted to wait to see how the HA would be impacted by the BioClean treatments...and for the most part I saw the HA lightening in color and kind of stopped spreading. But....I just could not keep my hands and fingers out of the tank. So... what started as pulling some HA manually....turned into pulling rock out of the tank and scrubbing it in a bucket of SW. I also made a bunch of changes to the rockscape. When I was all finished I pulled a ton of HA out of the tank. I cranked up the skimmer to skim a bit wetter than normal... changed the filter sock multiple times... and watched the water parameters... with the hope I did not release some nasty built up stuff...

The Nitrates and Phosphates never registered on the test kits. The fish settled in after all of the construction... and most of the corals are settled too. So this afternoon I have just dosed my third weekly treatment. The tank looks pretty decent. There is still a fair amount of HA I did not get out. The glass is a lot cleaner and longer... The only thing that I am noticing is that my CA levels have dropped. I cannot figure that out.

So... Al... any updates on your side? I feel like I have hijacked your thread with my weekly updates. Are you see some progress?
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
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Dan no worries re:hijacking :) we're all learning together and the more the merrier :)


I've had the same visual results. GHA lightening in color and almost looking brown in places. Also I've noticed it comes off a lot easier than it used to (I removed a LOT over the weekend). Something else.. .I have a red short turf like algae and it's coming off very easy now. I'm sure if I were to take the rock out (not feasible) I could take a toothbrush and scrub them clean.

Tomorrow is "Dosing Day" :)
 
DanSReef

DanSReef

Member
So... Yes.. I can post some pictures.... later. To be honest... I am a bit embarrassed of the condition my tank was in when I started. I was pretty much at my wits end with the HA and was close to breaking it down and doing a total clean and rebuild. I am glad I didn't... I think this Prodibio is helping... Let me see if I can get a picture of how it sits today... knowing I did some major work to it this weekend... including a fair amount of rockscaping... and where it was when I started.... and I will post...
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
you can see two weeks of pics in my thread.......same experience as these guys though - slowed growth and the GHA looks like it is deteriorating but it is still present. I do see my crabs eating it a lot more lately though.....seems like a good sign to me
 
DanSReef

DanSReef

Member
So this morning.... I changed out my filter sock and noticed something very good! a $hit load of Hair Algae that has sloughed off the rock. When I did the work last weekend... I scrubbed and manually pulled alot. But...of course... I could not get it all. I expected a lot of HA in the last two changes... (i change about every 2-3 days). But I had not expected so much in this change out...

Al, I am seeing the same thing as you... it appears that the HA has stopped spreading and growing.... lets keep our fingers crossed! I also clean my front glass about every 4 days or so. Before the treatment is was daily...

I will also take a picture later this evening to show the as-is view of the tank. I will also post a picture when I first started...it is pretty embarrassing! But...hey what the heck...
 
DanSReef

DanSReef

Member
So... Some asked and I guess I will give my before and current view of my tank. I am certainly not proud of the photos.... I have a ways to go.

This was taken before I started the BioClean Treatments. Due to the size of the tank (72 Gals) and the amount of HA I opted to go with one treatment a week. I may make it every two weeks now that I am seeing nice results... and that I have done some manual removal of HA. More needs to be done of course.
6789640923_a769a49b32_z.jpg


Here is a picture now...nearly three weeks later.
6789641943_be73f5a714_z.jpg


It is fair to say that the BioClean has had a positive impact. I think it is also fair to say that when I started I was pretty much at my wits end with the HA. For all of those wondering.... I have an RODI System with good cartridges... I have T-5 Lighting that is still under six month of age on the bulbs, I have Zero in Nitrates and Phosphates, I run GFO and run Bio Pellets.

I first started getting HA last year when I went out of town for a week. Not to blame my wife or anything... I think she did some feeding... at the time my T-5 bulbs were about 6-7 months... I was not running GFO...and the filters on the RODI system were due to be replaced. From there... I never had a Nitrate of Phosphate problem.... I have read once HA gets established... it can pull nutrients out o the water more efficiently than filters can.

The BioClean system I think is having a positive impact on my system. I will continue to dose... I will continue to manually remove HA... and hopefully will get a handle on things.

I hope this is helpful. Since I am only three weeks in... it will be interesting where things are in another three....

More to come!
 
redneckgearhead

redneckgearhead

Active Member
Wow, that is a drastic change, looking good! Ok, can you let us know exactly what you dosed, when you dosed it and where to get this stuff?
 
DanSReef

DanSReef

Member
Please read the whole thread as I think some of the detail is there for you. I am dosong BioClean which is a Prodibio which I bought from Premium Aquatics. BioClean is a two part dosing regimin of BioDigest and Bioptim. BioDigest is bacteria that is supposed to help breakdown waste within your system....waste that could be contributing to the availability off free nutrients which in my case was feeding my Hair Algae problem you see in the first picture I posted. Bioptim is a supplement to help this bacteria to thrive...

Again, I would read the thread.... you will see a bunch of observations by a couple of people not just me. I would also note that I did a rather significant manual removal of HA a little over a week ago. This resulted in some rock being removed....and some rock being scrubbed free of HA. The hope on my part is that once removed that it will not return....or if it does that a CUC and the herbivore fish can keep it in check. Time will tell.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Dan's using Prodibio products (you'll find them at some LFS as well as many online locations)

You start with ProdiBio BIOClean and run that for 6 weeks then after 6-weeks you start ProbiBio BIOKIT - REEF which is the same vials as BioClean but the rest of the ingredients are added to it.

Depending on tank size the suggested doses are 1-vial of each ingredient every other week. Larger tanks (or bigger problems) can get dosed slightly stronger but on many tanks it really doesn't help to increase the dose frequency but on some it does.

You'll want to research the ProdiBio product and evaluate the goal because it's not designed to just remove GHA. It's designed to aide in getting your tank into a ULNS state and then to maintain it. Please know what you're doing before just randomly dosing your tank. The others who have posted here as well as myself understand what we're doing and have a common goal ahead.


Dan your pictures tell a LOT! It's working well for you. Did you notice how much easier it was to remove the GHA after the treatments? I've started having to clean my filter media every morning and evening now because it's starting to come loose on it's own in addition to my manual removal. The remaining GHA is much more 'translucent" and even looking brown in some areas. Also I've noticed some of my coral are really starting to color-up VERY nicely but I've also converted my tank to LED in the mean time as well which could be adding to the effect or be solely causing the Color-Up effect.
 
redneckgearhead

redneckgearhead

Active Member
You'll want to research the ProdiBio product and evaluate the goal because it's not designed to just remove GHA. It's designed to aide in getting your tank into a ULNS state and then to maintain it. Please know what you're doing before just randomly dosing your tank. The others who have posted here as well as myself understand what we're doing and have a common goal ahead.
Click to expand...
I thought posting a thread on this forum was to help those of us that may not know as much. Am I wrong, isn't what you are doing, "research" for those of us that may not know? I do apologize for asking a question that had already been answered, I know how annoying that can be. I ask questions so that I am not just "randomly dosing" my tank. How am I to know what that goal is and if I want to pursue it or not without asking silly questions.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Oh no Scott you're correct. I apologize if my "tone" sounded derogatory I was concerned that someone would read the last few posts and start "randomly" dosing Prodibio. Anytime you do anything to your tanks I want someone to know WHY they are doing it not just how to do it. Or "Brief" posts before these only mention what we're doing and don't go into detail what's happening and why.

I try to always take into account that someone may only read the "current" post and then run off trying to duplicate the results without taking the proper precautions or knowing what's really happening. I guess I was just demonstrating CYA efforts :)

I do apologize for my tone as it wasn't meant to be towards you in any way.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
I've seen some great results. My coral seem to be taking on a new level of color and the algae is coming loose from the rock without any scrubbing. It turns light then sort of grey looking then it lets go. I'm having to replace the filter floss every day just to remove the algae from stopping up the flow.
 
Setragni

Setragni

Member
I just ordered a 6 vial bio clean and a 30 vials biokit reef Allen. Will dose the bio clean for the first 6 weeks, then start the reef kit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Tony that sounds like a good idea to me. It's time for me to restock some of mine. There is an extra "row" of Stronti+ which I guess this is used if you have a larger tank but I don't so I'll forever have a supply of Stronti+ if anyone ever needs it LOL!
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
I'm still having a smallish battle with some GHA but it comes off pretty easily in large "clumps" but I just never have time to "pull it". It's funny I see clumps stuck to the over-flow and if I don't clean it and the filter media daily I start to get water backed up in the Display portion of the tank.

One another note... this completely (as far as I can tell) wiped out all of the red/purple Cotton Candy algae that I had in my tank in January. Here's a pic from 1/5/2012 showing what I'm talking about
RSM130D_1_5_2012.jpg


I don't have a current picture (I'm at work) but unless I'm losing my mind I don't recall seeing ANY of the red stuff anywhere in the tank.
 
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