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Prodibio freshwater care ampulesH ere's a product

format most won'thave seen before.French company

Prodibio sells a range of waterquality and chemistry basedproducts in 1ml ampulesinstead of bottles.

They look like thosewonderful stink bombs frommy childhood days ofplayground fun, but inside is agood blend of ingredients.

Dosing is blissfully simple.Each ampule relates to avolume of water. Calculate howmuch water you have, checkoff how many ampules youneed, pop off each end and justpour it in.

Stop Ammo is a plantextract-based product, usingchemicals that plants utilise tobond to ammonia, rendering itquite harmless.

Although somecommunication with Prodibio'sdevelopment researchers waslost in translation, 1 understandthe process takes place via themedium of glycoproteins theseplants use to bind ammoniaand other nitrogen sources.These gradually release theactive ammonia back into thesystem over a delayed period.

That'll certainly give bacteriasome breathing space in theevent of a filter crash or surgeof pollution.

BioVert is pretty self-explanatory as a plant foodsupplement. It's made up from

a mix of iron, manganese, sulphurand potassium, in the absence ofnitrate and phosphate, andalthough ifs not going to appealto aquascapers who use El,orsomeone on a strict fertiliserregime, it should help the everydayaquarist who has limp greenery.

However, the biggest treats inthe range are the biologicalsupplements. Unlike UKcompanies that refuse to revealwhich bacterie they use, Prodibiois quite transparent

ln its BioDigest additive, itadvertises a mixture of bacteriafrom the Nitrosomonas,Nitrobacter, Paracoccus andPseudomonas groups - so is agood mixture of bothauthotrophic and heterotrophicnitrifiers and denitrifiers.

If ail of these bacteria reactivatein the aquarium we're in for atreat. They all activate at differentrates and do different jobs, and inan ideal world would even help toreduce nitrates and phosphates.

Do they have any effect on mytanks? Ifs hard to say, as nitratesand general water quality issuesdon't tend to bug me. The jury'sout on this one.

Likesimilarly marketed products,these bacterial supplementsrequire periodic replenishing, withfortnightly doses recommended.With no need to refrigerate, andhaving a long shelf life,thatshouldn't pose a problem.

l'rn taken by BioTrace,which isliterally just that - trace elementsfor anything in the aquarium. That

A new way of dosing has arrived!

may be bacteria, fish orplants. Either way thereare vitamins and othergoodies for allorganisms.

Ifs also daimed thatbacterial colonies mayflourish at a higher rateand that this may helpwater quality. My fishlook a little sprightliersince l've started usingit, but 1 can't commenton filter activity.

Induded in BioTrace is aninteresting addition of plantsurfactants, which, oninvestigation, may indeed enhancethe rate at which bacteria cangrow.There's much speculativescience surrounding the subject,but a similar process is often usedin reducing the surface tension offertilisers, making them easier toabsorb at a cellular level by plants.

• VerdictThis range is well thought through.There are also a couple moreproducts in circulation, inspiredcombinations of the aboveproducts. These are BioClean,which is a biodigest/biotrace, and

Combination packsare a niee touch.

Start Up, which is an ammo stop/biodigest combo.

The latter product makes a granddaim that l'd ignore, in that infreshwater tanks fish may beadded a mere four hours after theadditive. Of course, there's muchto factor in to that, but l'd stillavoid doing 50.

• More info: www.prodibio.com• Priees: From f4.99 to f34.99.

Nathan HiU