Field Trial of Ultralith System as of May 24/10
 

Firstly this was planned a month ago to try this product and is not a response to the recent Zeo/Ultra discussion on another thread. As some of you know I was Alcohol dosing my tank. Along with supplements from Salifert my SPS's responded very well. After some thinking I felt a more rounded and complete approach was needed. I did choose Ultra over Zeo simply because it was a newer product and "looked" simplier to use. Futhermore, I read most of the posts about Zeo and really did not come out with a clear idea that it worked. So I put some money up and bought the Ultra Starter package and an Ultra reactor. I have a fishless 100 gallon system(main and frag tank)( I am now rethinking this ) and my tank parameters are stable. I am going to follow Fauna Marin's guide to the letter. I will try to keep a log and pictures of any progress. This trial should last about 2 months but I have a feeling it will be more like a year. Please feel to ask or comment...you might have some good ideas too.

October 9/10
I started up the Ultra progam today. I followed the startup instructions. Since I already had a low nutrient tank I cut back Ultra Min and Ultra Bak to 1 ml dose. I did not stop my skimmer
- after 1 hour of adding I noticed polyp extension on my Candy Canes and the other LPS's
- 24 hrs of running and my tank(s) water looks crystal clear...clearer than with ozone running

Awesome idea. I am really looking forwards to this.

ultralith system
 

Great idea and very timely also! Will be following along.

Rattler

Can't wait to see what the final results show, i've been thinking about starting up one of the systems in the next little while, so this should help with my final choice.

Here are pictures of the Tank as of Oct 13:
http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/r...view=slideshow
Notes:
1)My tank redox level has dropped from 380mV to 335mv
2)Growth on Glass of main tank has slowed down
3) Spot fed LPS with mysis and coral frenzy today
4) I continue with the 1 ml dosage of Bak and Ultramin
-ultramin and bak are injected into the main tank and the Bacterial soln is fed into the sump
5) Have been agitating reactor once a day for 1 minute
6) There is an echino coral that goes bright green when Ultramin is injected in the tank

Oct 17
I have not seen any ill effects of the Ultra additives on the corals. I am still spot feeding my LPS corals. I have notice that there is considerably more polyp extension on the SPS's. The colors on there corals are just starting to show(more). Most corals are exhibiting various rates of growth. As for the control coral it is showing polyp extension only. I have not seen an increase rate of algae on glass or anywhere in the tank. I have decided to bacterial solution directly to the tank.

Oct 19th
Added another control coral today. (The other catspaw was exposed to alcohol dosing) A light pink Catspaws. I am expecting the colors on this one to increase. As it was claimed(I am not sure where I read it) that color intensity is most notable in this type of coral when using Ultralith. Photoadded to archive

Oct 22
Added another 25% of Ultra Rock to the reactor. Notice a fillm of bacteria(?) on side of reactor. No changes in dosage or effects to the tank. Will discontinue UltraBio for 1 week.

Oct 30
Resumed UltraBio today. Did a 10% water change(Thank the power company for that one). 3 hours no sump circulation, monti suffered a bit and I noticed a nice film on the front of the tank. All corals still showing good polyp extension. One of the pink Catspaw is turning brown. One coral is slowly RTNing on me. Haven't decide to frag it yet...hoping it will stop.

Just wondering why you discontinued the ultrabio? I thought the film was from the ultrabak/ultraminS. The film results from an excess of food that the bacteria aren't using. In order to get rid of the film you need to continue to add bacteria (so they can eat it) and reduce their food.

Just a thought. My feeling on the various issues I had after replacing the stones was that I wasn't adding enough ultrabio to seed them and the tank had a bit of a "crash" that way and I lost a few things.

The manual required I discontiuned bio for one week...not sure why...keep you posted

Nov 3

I have altered the water path so as to more efficently disperse the "bacterial snow" from the reactor into the tank. Certainly the tank is much more cloudy after I flushed the Ultralith reactor. This also allow direct dosing of the Ultralith in the reactor. Today i have lost one of the more interesting SPS's in the tank...it was the dark Navy blue one to STN(I think)....I do not believe this was due to the Ultralith program. Both pink pocillopora's(sp) are turning more brown.

Nov 6
I have added another 25% of Ultralith to the reactor. I have noticed that the SPS are growing. But I am not convinced that they are growing any faster than before Ultralith program. A whitish film is appearing on the tank glass. The frequency of cleaning the glass is a little more than I usually do. I will continue to monitor this, but I will still be dosing Ultra products at the 1ml /day rate for another week. I will then decide if I need to cut back on dosage of Ultra product. My yellow polyps are being decimated, I have no explanation why this is happening. I noticed in the forum that some zeo users are not shutting off their skimmers. I am not shutting the skimmer down either while applying the Ultra porducts. I feel that (the way I have setup the return system) there is enough residence time for dispersion of the Ultra additives.

Nov 19
I have added the final amount of Ultralith to the reactor (1 l) I will now make a zeolite change of 50% every month. When I blow the reactor every night I do notice increased feeding activity of the corals. My main indicator is a small acan colony. I made a carbon change this month as well. One of the control corals is starting to show blue/green colouring. Both contol pocillopora's starting to "brown" out on me. The polyp extension on the green birdsnest is very good. I added 2 more control corals last Sat, mainly because they were going to expire at some point in the stores tanks. I also started adding trace minerals to the system again. I read in the Ultra manual the zeolite's tend to take out some of these elements. Growth in the tank is good. I still am thinking about adding some fish to the system. I wil get some tank prams when I get some free time.

Hi

The browing will be due to the requirement of AMIN and Organic.

Also if you are getting a white film the Bak level is too high and needs reducing. You can halve it at this point

The Bio is added initially for the first 4-6weeks then stopped at this point 25% media is changed and then re dose the Bio. Once you have the colony established the Bio can be stopped and only added when you replace media

Your issues are down to too much Bacteria activity and not enough food source as the corals are now competing with the Bacteria for food.

So next step as above lower the Bak dosing, raise the MinS and add Amin and Organic

One other important point, without fish the corals are not getting important elements and you will not get good results, it is vey important to have fish in a system that uses ultra lith

WHY?

You are stripping out ALL the nutrients from the system and at present only replacing it with building block amino acid, so as said above the corals will starve.

The thing with ultra Lith is that it is a potent system using only natural enhancement and as such can easily throw the results by over dosing and stripping out all the tank requires. So it is impotant to get the chemistry right

You are on the right track and the positive results you are seeing will increase with correct dosing and the negative will deminish.

Basically to sumerise - the system is suffering from Bio overload which is taking essential food from the corals - its a balancing act, but once found your system will explode with colour and growth

Hi Fencer

I see the Post now for the first time
let me read it complete and then i can tell you how to dose
meanwhile it will be helpful if you can post your actual water parameters
greets claude

I will be adding fish to the system shortly. My MinS dose is currently 1.0 ml. Should I increase another 50%?.

Claude will give you direct advise from here on.

You are so close to getting it right now :)

Okay...looking for to the advice. Parameters will follow shortly.

Use trace 1-4!!!!!!!!!!
 

I have been running now for 1 1/2 years.. I have a 110 gallon total system.. 8 drops bio every 3 days!! always.. I dose AMIN (2 ml) bak (1ml) and smin (1ml) a day.. every day..

I use to dose organics but have since gone the way of trace 1-4 .. I dose 15 ml of each every 3 days// Huge change!!!!! I wish I did this earlier ..Blues, purples and pinks have increase dramatically since using trace 1-4 .. it only took 1 week to start seeing the colors come out .. and because I did this 1 year into my system I know its beacause of the trace.. Also ULTRA LIFE is doesed every 3 days ( 1 tsp) good feeding response when this is added.. Later

Hi Fencer

Add the first fast reading it seems all things going to fast.
Our Products are very strong so more a problem of overdosing then most other stuff which is on the market

I need some more technical information about tank size and
technical you use and your water parameter
Then i will give you your Dosing recon.
If you have just now the full Zeo and the corals get brown and you lost one
as sample it shows me that the changes in the system are quite heavy and fast
Such a change need months till all parameter are correct and all corals
turns in this kind you want.
The reason is following

Ultralith take the ammonia out of the water and corals which
lives from Ammonia must change their metabolsim to the food which we get them. This can take some time.

Send me your details and i will read again to understand all
what you write
greets claude

Tank Description:
72 gallon tank mainly sps / 2 x175MH and 2 x40 03 Actininc
33 gallon tank mainly lps / 1 x250MH
both lights run under 12hour cycles
bioball sump + 40 gallon sump feeding both tanks
Skimmer - Beckett DIY (looks like a PM2)/ with 20% recycle into sump
Carbon in phosban reactor changed 1 per month
Calcium reactor, mineral trace supplements are added (salifert) at 5 ml/week
Live rock accounts for 15% of tank volume
SPS are at the top 50% of the tank
Both tanks have sand bottoms
10% water change per month
Parameters
Ca 420 ppm
dkH 8
Nitrate and Phosphate...not detectable
Salinity about 30 ppt
Mg,Iodine and K tests to follow
pictures will follow

Hi Fencer

Thanks for your information

As first don´t dose other Trace elements together with our system we just
have enough elements in our system.
Only dose a small amount of Organic when you receive it and don’t dose any
Amin for now
reduce the Ultralith to half and also BAK, you have too much bacteria
content too soon.
Increase Min S 50 % more.

Before you make the new dosing please send me your water parameters this is
important to work out the correct dosing of your system.

I write you a new short manual cause i see that most users uses AMIN and
ORGANIC in full Dosing at the beginning and also use other manufacturer
elements that compete with our system. This can produce too much Organic
compounds and to much Trace Elements which make corals brown and reduce grow

Start with the Basic and then if corals become bright starting everytime
with 10 - 20 % of the recon, Dosage and increase very slow the dosing till
you find your right level

Please send me all details then i give you the right dose

Claude

So this is correct?

1) discontinue the dosing of trace elements
2) Never used Organic or Amin because I was not sent the product
3) Remove 50% of UltraLith from the reactor( 1 liter to 0.5 liters)
4) Reduce Bak to 50%(0.5ml)
5) Increase MinS by 50% (1.5ml)
6) Keep UltraBio at same dose? 5 drops

HI Fencer

Please send me the complete water parameter
so that i can better give support for you

So this is correct?

1) discontinue the dosing of trace elements

+++ At the moment yes

2) Never used Organic or Amin because I was not sent the product

+++ No only at the beginning it will be to much and later use Powertrace
but this i will tell you when the time is right.

3) Remove 50% of UltraLith from the reactor( 1 liter to 0.5 liters)

++++ Did i understand it correct that the volume of both tanks is together ?
also 72 + 34 gallons ist this the real water volume or the tank volume ?

4) Reduce Bak to 50%(0.5ml)

+++++yes

5) Increase MinS by 50% (1.5ml)

+++++ yes also but let us first clear all tank details

6) Keep UltraBio at same dose? 5 drops

+++++++ Yes same as Min S

Claude

total volume
= (72+33)*0.85 + 40 = 129.5 gal or Aprox 500 litres true volume

New MinS dose 1.5 ml
New Ultra Bio dose 8 drops
New Bak dose 0.5 ml

Which readings are you interested in?
Will give you new water readings on Friday after the above is changed

Hi Fencer

So we will go step by step
if it will be possible please send me also a picure
of that tanks.

I need

No3 ; Po4 ; Salinity ; dKh , Ca , Mg, Pottasium Ph and maybe also a
heat Po4 Test.
Please wirte me also which test you use.

Your next dosings

1. Min S 3 ml/ daily
2. Bak 0,5 ml/ daily
3. Bio 4 drops every 3 days

4. Ultralith only 500 gramm no change at the moment
5. Carbon 125 gramm ( Ulta Carb )
6. Water change weekly 10 % with good salt

Did you use a calcium reacor or
balling ?
greets

Please keep me updated how your corals react
i need this to supportyou correctly

Adjusting to new changes:

1. Min S 3 ml/ daily
2. Bak 0,5 ml/ daily
3. Bio 4 drops every 3 days
4. Ultralith only 500 gramm no change at the moment
5. Carbon 125 gramm ( Ulta Carb ).....This has already been changed last week
6. Water change weekly 10 % with good salt...will change on Sunday
7. Water Parameters coming Friday
8. Will be adding fish to the LPS tank on Dec 4th
9. I use a Ca Reactor...not likely to switch to balling
10. New pictures ...all new ones Dated DEC 3( Sorry not a very good photographer)
http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/r...view=slideshow

Dec 7th
Did a 10% water change today. 3 fish (never thought I would have fish in my tanks)were added to the LPS tank...a few more coming later. I thought I would check the water parameters after the water change...so they will be done Monday. The change in MinS dose has resulted in more polyp extension in all the corals. I have noticed every coral exhibiting increased growth rates..even from Dec 3rd.....

Dec 8th
Water Parameters

All tests done with reagents from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals...will be switching back to Salifert when new supplies come in.
Potassium Tests....korallen-zucht.de
Ca...380mg/l
Mg...1300
Potassium....330 mg/l
pH...will follow
P04 heat test....will follow
dKH.....8
Phosphate...less than 0.1 mg/l
Nitrates....less than 0.1 mg/l
Salinity 30 ppt (1.022 SG)

This is great to see :)

Looking at the photos the colours are really starting to come out now, once the base aminos and bacterias have stablised and you start adding the Amin and the power traces then you will see a huge difference in colour.

With the power traces you can pretty much turn the colour up and down like a contrast button ;)

Hi Fencer

Thanks for your water parameters
I ám back from our show so i will be daily here to support you

If you get the powertrace elements so dose
on a following way

PT 1 50 %
Pt 2 100 %
Pt 3 100 %
Pt 4 50 %

of the recon dosage

Try to make a weekly waterchange of 10 % of the water volume and
take a salt which have more pottasium in

Greets claude

I have chosen Coralife Salt based on the salt mineral profile in the link below

http://reefsaltanalysis.googlepages....lysis_0208.pdf
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1287118
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/s...d.php?t=246450
In addition these products are readliy avalible in my area.

Claude what salt do you recommend?

Anybody else want to give their choice as well?

Powertrace chemicals are coming shortly.....
Will continue to do 10% water changes/week( you realize this adds up to a 40% tank volume change per month this is very aggressive )

Dec 11th

Hi Claude

I just recieved a supply of Ultra Amin and I suspect the powertrace elements will arrive on Friday. To review Dosages I am currently using:

1. Min S 3 ml/ daily
2. Bak 0,5 ml/ daily
3. Bio 4 drops every 3 days
4. 500ml of zeolite in reactor
5. Ultra Amin dosage.... 5ml/day based on 500l volume?
6. Powertrace This is based on 10ml/day at volume of 500l
PT 1 50 % ......5 ml
Pt 2 100 %......10 ml
Pt 3 100 %......10 ml
Pt 4 50 %........5 ml

7. 10% water change...will be done on Friday

8. All test kits are salifert
9. Coral life Salt will be switched over on the next week gradually

Any changes I should make?

I vote KZRB.

For salt I've been liking dd h2ocean salt, it measures well when I test it. You can also use rbs but may have to add a little calcium.

Thanks guys. I don't think I should be using zeovit salts because I have to add Ca and the fact that it is an Ultralith test. H20 sounds interesting. I will look into these two salts. Any specs on the pails. Have a look at that salt review.

My specs came pretty close to what they list on the pail for the H2ocean:
DkH- they list 8.7-9.8, I've been getting around 9
Cal- they list 430-460, I've been getting 440ish
Mag- they list 1300-1380, I've been around 1370
Pot- they list 380-420, I've been at 410

I keep my salinity at 1.025 and tank at 79-79.5 F,
hope this helps

Thanks Trigger Man ...totally helps...this is salt I will try if I can find it in Edmonton