280g Inwall

[Delphinus]

I am playing around with zeovit on this tank. I was running pellets on the old tank but haven't yet moved the reactor over. I will probably get around to doing so at some point this week now, but I have to reload it while I'm at it since it's gotten down pretty low in there.

I've run zeovit before so have a reasonable idea of what I'm getting into with that system. When the pellets first came out I experimented with an approach of using both and then settled on just using pellets. Pellets by themselves work not too bad. Although not quite as aggressive as the zeolite based nutrient limiting methods, they definitely do pull down NO3 (and PO4 to a lesser degree) if left to their own devices, plus the bacterial film that is continually shed off as a result of the pellets tumbing is a decent source of food for both corals and fish. What pushed me back into going full on zeovit for this tank however is water clarity. I just can't get over how clear the water gets on that system. It's a little more work daily but honestly that doesn't bother me since I look at the tank as much as I can everyday anyhow and feed the fish everyday anyhow, so it's a very small step to just say "oh ok I'll pump the reactor now and add a couple drops of this or that".

The alternative to get that much water clarity but with a more passive approach would be to run UV and/or ozone and a fair amount of GFO. Was running UV for a while on the other tank and that does seem to remove the yellowing compounds in the water but I was a bit surprised how often you have to replace the lamps. Well I guess it's no worse than the T5's or the halides but it's just yet another thing you have to budget to replace every few months.

[MitchM]

Have you considered Prodibio?

[Delphinus]

Not specifically but I hear it's pretty good. The one thing I'm not 100% sold on is the rock replacement. It's not that it's expensive per se (probably one of the cheapest elements of the whole system) but it seems sorta wasteful to send rocks to a landfill.

[MitchM]

Sorry, what rocks?
I thought it was bacteria, ect. dosing only.

[Doug]

Tank looks very nice Tony. Good job. Love those fishy pics.

[Delphinus]

Thanks Doug!

Mitch - sorry, the "rocks" in this case being zeolites. The zeovit system is so named since you put these zeolites in a reactor and I guess they're porous and thus create new surface area for the dosed bacteria to colonize (I'm sure some settles on the regular substrata as well). The instructions tell you to change it out every 6 to 8 weeks or thereabouts.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/zv...-+1+Litre.html

I don't think Prodibio makes use of zeolites but I believe both the UltraFauna and Brightwell systems do.

[MitchM]

Hi Tony,

Yeah, I know Zeo uses the rocks, I was just wondering if you had considered using Prodibio instead of Zeo because Prodibio uses no rocks.
I haven't heard too much regarding the water clarity and Prodibio though.
I am considering using Prodibio for my new setup.

[globaldesigns]

Hey Tony,

I have a few bags of zeo rocks, good deal if you want them. let me know.