anyone use tropic marin pro k and pro a

eastonreef · #1 11/29/2007, 08:09 PM

a friend told me great things about tropic marins' pro k and pro a suppliments. there was a thread in the parc site back in july and a few of you guys used it.
does anyone still use it? how do you like it?
i saw one of the things it adds is copper -- is that safe?

mkbtank · #2 11/29/2007, 08:14 PM

I use it. Colors got brighter and all corals are doing great.

I bought it based on that thread and Spankey's experience. I would be curious to hear more about the copper. I will say that I have been using it for a while and have (Knock on wood) not had any issues at all. (famous last words)

rotleybutii · #3 11/29/2007, 08:20 PM

I just ordered some from TFP for $14 for a 16oz. I bought it based on that thread as well.

Jay4Robin · #4 11/29/2007, 10:02 PM

If you use the salt you should not need those. My colors are popping. Tropic Marin reef Pro.

If you do not do weekly water changes then maybe it would help. I think Sal stopped using them. I forgot why.

fraggin · #5 11/29/2007, 10:52 PM

i had algea issues with it.

Jay4Robin · #6 11/29/2007, 10:56 PM

I am not suprised.

fraggin · #7 11/29/2007, 11:11 PM

i think there is no magic potion.
good water, daily inspections, and many other things i can't think of right now cuz its late.

spankey · #8 11/30/2007, 06:54 PM

Yeah Jay is right I did stop using it as I think the instructions causes you to dose it way to much. I was getting dust algae on my glass like crazy. I did however cut it back to once a week and so far its working fine. I did notice a huge difference though while I was using it.

Good water chemistry
good lighting and good maintanance is the key to a great reef tank in my opinion and as in others too.

I agree Tom, there is no magic potion, however what works for one person might and or will NOT work for another.

I tried this product, prodibio and ya know what I was getting much better results and response from my corals color wise and health by just doing the old fashion water changes.

People see my tank and always ask "What do you do?" I clearly tell them anymore, Nothing! I just do water changes and feed the fish. I let what happen-happen from there.

fraggin · #9 11/30/2007, 07:10 PM

Good water chemistry
good lighting and good maintanance is the key to a great reef tank in my opinion and as in others too.

yep Sal i think thats the bottom line.

i only used the A & K per the bottles instructions for a few weeks, before that i only used one squirt.now i only use 1 squirt a week.

also i have stopped using as much kalk, getting great growth on caps and PE is slowly returning on my acros and it looks like i am getting some base growth again.

i'm still learning

spankey · #10 11/30/2007, 07:18 PM

A good salt and possibly a biweekly dosage of some small trace elements should keep ya going. I did like TMP but with the amount of water changes I was doing it was killing my wallet. I went back to instant ocean as that is the salt I started with in the hobby and it worked just fine then for me. But again, just because one person uses one salt another might not like using it.

Its just personal preference I guess. Jay's colors pop and his tank looks absolutely incredible. What he does works for him as what I do works for me. I will be quite honest with you that I spent a good amount of money trying equipment and and products that I didn't notice helped or made things not so good. I also seen allot of people tweaking their systems way to much and ran into all kind of issues. I guess if it isn't broken don't fix it applies quite well in some of our cases.

I will be quite honest with you that Ozone is my next gig as I think it will only benefit my tank greatly. I did allot of reading up on it and believe with our closed systems it helps to run it.

fraggin · #11 11/30/2007, 07:40 PM

i am just going to trade frags for Jay's water

eastonreef · #12 12/01/2007, 12:21 AM

i used to use the tm salt and i wasnt impressed. i use reef crystals and have the same results for a lot less....

i thought it made sense to add the trace elements between water changes..

spankey · #13 12/01/2007, 06:49 AM

Between water changes that wouldn't be an issue but I think allot of amino acid and trace element bottles have people over dosing. If your tank can't (corals and such that is) absorb the left over nutrients the algae sure will!

Yeah I will be totally honest that there are allot of threads where people state, " I switched to this salt and WOW see this and look at that" This by the way is NOT a kick at Jay what so ever. I think Jay has been using TMP for a long, long time and he is the kind of guy that if sticks with what works best for him! But again there are allot of people out there who generally will tell you that they switched to another salt and look at this or look at that. They don't state the in between on what took place on their tank. Did they start to change more water than before, did they replace a bulb or bulbs. Are they feeding more or less. Did they finally clean that skimmer!!!!!! I have also read those same people later in threads stating that they went back to the original salt they used before due to not liking it, and seeing no real difference! Its apples to oranges in the hobby and

one guy might spend $100 for a calcium reactor and another guy might spend $500 for his, to me that doesn't make the first guy look cheap or neglectful, he might be able to make it work for his application. I know this because I have done it. In the past that is. But it doesn't make it bad its just a learning experience! I tried allot of approaches in this hobby and I will be honest my tank and the sps looked the best when I left it well enough alone! Sometimes we see something in the very corner of our tank and we panic and start moving something, tweaking something or even though I did a water change yesterday I will change a ton more today.

OMG Put the coffee down Sal. Sorry gang I have been up all night

Tom here is a funny story for ya about the water from Jays tank. I have a buddy who at one time had about 700 gallons at his house just for his one system. He only lives 3 miles from me. I told him when he first introduced me to this hobby that I am going to pay my city water company to run a line from my house to his just to tap into his system. That just struck me as funny when I read that! I said the same thing too!

eastonreef · #14 12/01/2007, 09:49 AM

i agree with what you said... what works for one may not work for another... i think regular water changes are very important.. then i know of people with beautiful systems that do water changes 2 x's a year....go figure.,,,,

i dont have a problem with tm salt -- i used it for about 1.5 years -- i just didnt see a difference when i switched to reef crystals except in the wallet lol ....

fraggin · #15 12/01/2007, 08:09 PM

thats good Sal.

i been using Reefcrystals forever, always seem to have good results.
last tank failed because of the lighting setup i still believe.

at the last meeting some people seemed surprised that i don't top off with kalk water, i only used about 1/4g per day added, but i have since cut that back even more. all i do is add fresh RO daily, and things are looking better with less kalk.

last time i did a water change it took me 3 weeks to get the algea removed and everything looked like crap.

Jay4Robin · #16 12/02/2007, 08:58 PM

OMG I was away this weekend and my name is in almost every post on this thread

At times I wonder why the corals look so good. One thing I did try was to take the ozone off and run ZEO. It lasted 2 weeks off!!! My water changed from a clear to a tint of yellow and the corals looked sad.
Now its back on and a few changes they way ot was injected and its akll back to normal and the corals growing like crazy.

I do think that the tropic Marin does help with colors and growth. You may not really see that much of a dfference unless you have alot of SPS. I have been using it for 2 years now.
I do like the looks of reef crystal systems also. I would rate that close to the tropic marin. I do think though you do get a lower PH with TM. I do not know why though. I have heard that from a few people and I do run a low PH. I am scared to switch though.
By the way I would never allow anyone to have the Pink Lemonade unless they usze TM salts LOL