Thinking of going fauna

[marie]

So I am toying with the idea of going to the fauna marin ultra lithe system in the new year.
I have a 175g bowfront with approx 200g total water volume, mostly sps that are doing wonderfully well with good colour and fantastic growth.
The problem is the algae which is also doing wonderfully well with good colour and fantastic growth.
I test for alk only and that every 3 months or so, water changes are approx 60g at a time and infrequent.
What would I need to do, what would I need to buy to start the process and would I be better off just leaving things alone...Oh and did I mention I'm lazy?

recent pics

[marie]

I should also mention I run a couple of cups of carbon passively and do not use phosphate removers

[fencer]

Hi Marie
Leave it alone...
Having said that.
Make sure your Nitrates are down
Make sure you have your Phosphates under control...use Phophate remover
Make sure you run Carbon and due at least 10% water changes a week using ro/di water
Salt make sure it has high potassium levels....some salts are not compatible with Ultra

Then we'll talk more

[marie]

Thanks Fencer
I guess my biggest question is what happens to the tank if I decide to quit after a few months? Is it similar to Zeo in that tanks can crash if not done right or if its discontinued for some reason?
I wouldn't be doing this for my corals, I have no complaints there, the colours are bright and if the polyps extended any further they would no longer be attached to the coral...and all this with a serious case of red bugs.
I have algae of every make and model though and sometimes I do feel like the "dirty bubba" of fish tank world it would be nice to get rid of them.

I guess if I was more diligent about water changes and lowering phosphates, it would solve the algae problem and I wouldn't need ultra lithe

[fencer]

Yes you have to slowly get off of Ultra like Zeo. I think you should do the easier stuff first...water change etc

[Delphinus]

When I dabbled in Zeo with my old 75g the folks over at the zeovit.com forum advised me that older tanks don't always react well to switching to a ULNS system and that one should ease themselves into it slower. Can't remember what all the potential symptoms were of shock but the one thing I do remember is I got a wicked and persistent cyano bloom a few weeks in. I ended up running a red slime remover treatment to get rid of it.

I don't really recall that it got rid of any nuisance algaes. I know for sure it did not starve out the stupid caulerpa problem that particular tank did have.

[Myka]

Hi Marie! I agree with fencer. I suck at doing water changes too because I am also lazy. I have set up myself a system where water changes are super easy though, and I find I do a lot more water changes. I used to do maybe 6 water changes a year before, now I'm up to weekly!! If you make it easy for yourself you will be more likely to do it.

You could use some of the additives without using all the nutrient lowering products. You can gradually ease into using some of the bacteria encouraging products as time goes on, and see the reaction of that. I am familiar with Zeo, so I would have to suggest these products: Sponge Power, Xtra, Amino Acid High Concentration (for SPS), and Coral Vitalizer. These four you should have no issues using on your established tank, except the latter of which I find I have to use very sparingly or I will get diatoms and cyano. You could also put Coral Snow to use which I have found is a great combatant of algae especially if used with Bak. However, on an established tank I would be careful using both of those, but especially the Bak.

As far as Zeo goes...don't follow the directions on the bottles. If it says use 1 drop per 25 gallons daily use 1 drop per 25 gallons 3x per week or even less. You should notice a different with a small amount. However, I do find that with Zeo you need to be tedious about it (I assume FM is the same way). Either do it, or don't - there is no halfway. If you do it halfway (use the additives irregularly) you will cause yourself more grief than good imo.

[Aqua-Digital]

Hi

Sorry for late coming into this, trying to take weekends of now.

As everyone has said for now it is important to get your basic maintenance regime in place.

10% water changes a week
PO4 and nitrate tests.

If your PO4 is high then using FM Ultra power phos to bring this down. This is powerful suff and does not leach the PO4 back into the system it remains bound, you also dont have to use much of it and the absorbant rate on tests is fast. (but thats another subject we will be doing this review in the new year)

correct PO4 test proceedure

heat sample of water to 80oC
Allow to cool for 5 minutes
Take test in normal way

By doing this you are unbinding the PO4 trapped in the water molecules and obtaining a correct reading.

After this as Myka says you can use some nutrient lowering products, a good start would be

Ultra Bio
Ultra Bak

These as Mike proved in his tests rids he system of any nutrients in a stable and structured manner. But again as Myka points out you must keep up with this.

IF you want to go down the Ultra lith route, in some parts it is not too different from Zeo but you will not get the crash situations if you come right off of it, as the forumla is a lot milder in nature. However we do still recommend a weaning process off of it as no tank should experience sudden changes.

With Fauna Marin Lith systems the independant reports are you get a more gentle change to the tank and more natural colours, it is reported to eb more user freindly.

So what would you need

the very least is the following

Ultra Lith rock
Ultra Bio -(the bacteria)
Ultra Bak (the bacterial food)
Ultra Min-S (the amino acids)

This is the basic 4 for start up.

Again - If you chose this route, it would mean for the first 6 weeks some daliy tasks of adding drops of the above mentioned products. After this period things settle down, and after the first 3 months you will have a stable system.

Remember also, we offer direct and outstanding support every step of the way to anyone that starts and continue to use Ultra Lith you are not left wondering what you should be doing.

[marie]

Hi Myka, you say I can use these 4 zeo products safely ( Sponge Power, Xtra, Amino Acid High Concentration (for SPS), and Coral Vitalizer.) but what exactly would they do for my aquarium? I'm not looking for things I can add to my tank just because.

Specifically I'm looking for the easy way to control numerous species of macroalgae. The algae isn't particularily out of control (except maybe the coralline algae) just unsightly when guests come over

[Aqua-Digital]

Hi Marie,

This being the Fauna Marin product forum we can only really talk about FM products here.

To control Algea we first need to know the route cause before suggesting any Fauna marin product (that goes for any product as well really)

If you can get back to us with your "true" PO4 results and nitrate results, we can then establish a maintenance plan for you.

Using FM products you would only need two

Ultra Bio
Ultra Bak

This is the uilding blcoks of low nutrient dosing and will keep you nutrients in check