280g Inwall

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

Oh come on now Tony, you start things, and I have to follow! Now this? Reminds me of the BioPellet Days. Tagging along to see the overall results.

I still use the biopellets on the small tank for now (which is just a fowlr). The nice thing is when I test the water in the tank, PO4 is zero, NO3 is zero, so they seem to do their job. Since the addition of the small doliatus the valonia in there is receding big time too.

Since going to larger water changes per week (about 16% now whereas before it was 8%) I've noticed an overall bounce to the tank that wasn't there before. The downside is my consumption of salt is way up (well, double, I guess, technically). It's not really something that's measurable or even perceivable in photographs but it is something I really notice myself when hanging around the tank: it just feels better.

But the PO4 wasn't going down. As you know I've been trying to follow the zeoheads advice over at zeovit.com but if after 18 months of zeovit and the PO4 isn't going down, I think it's fair to say it's not going to. They kept saying "be patient, be patient, be patient" but there's a limit to what I think one can tolerate. PO4 in small quantities is something needed for proper biology but too much of it is detrimental: you see it in inhibited growth, subdued colours, algae growth, etc. .. We've talked of this before but 2 things are becoming clear to me about zeovit:
1) Possibly more effective "per gallon" in smaller tanks (ie., less than 150gal) than in larger tanks
2) Possibly its strengths lie in "preventing PO4 buildup" as opposed to "actually able to reduce PO4 once it's there."

I still believe there are some benefits to the system so for now I plan to continue with zeovit, although at a much reduced footprint compared to before.

For me it's been a "journey of understanding" when it comes to PO4. I've finally figured out how to test it properly and get reliable numbers, and I think it explains a bit of what I was seeing. I just hope I'm not introducing too much risk for bringing it down so quickly after it's been so elevated for so long.

So yeah, you might want to consider adding GFO yourself. I'll see where this takes me but I think I might stick with keeping it for the long term, regardless of whether I stay with zeo or abandon zeo completely down the road.