Zeovit vs. Fauna Marin

[christyf5]

I used FM for about 6 months or so. After the first ultralith rock change I experienced a brownout of corals that was never really fully explained. I continued with the product and coral colors rebounded after about 2 months now (about 3 months into using the product). Any subsequent rock changes were done without any problems and I never did figure out what happened. During the time I ran FM, I never saw the great colors that were experienced by others, some corals were looking pretty good but they mostly looked like they had before I started using the product. During this time I had heard about a couple of zeovit products, Coral Snow and Pohls Coral Vitalizer, and decided to incorporate those into my daily dosing. I'd say within 7-10 days (no lie) I saw my corals start to color up like they hadn't done with the FM product. I continued on with FM as I wanted to give it a full 6 month trial. However close to the end of the trial a zeovit reactor with some supplements became available to me for a really good deal and I jumped on it.

I'm into my 3rd week with zeovit now, corals are getting more colorful each week it seems. I'll give zeovit the same 6 month trial but for sure I think its doing better than the FM although its too early to tell and I'm not yet at that first rock change.

Now I'm not saying that FM isn't the one for you, it just wasn't the one for me. I found that when I was running it there wasn't much support out there for it online. Someone had started a website (www.ultralith.com) however it is poorly supported. There is also a FaunaMarin forum now at ReefCentral which has better support. At the time I was having problems it was like pulling teeth to get some help. However, some people certainly have great success with ultralith, there are many photos of successful tanks online. Wendell at Ocean Aquatics was running it on his SPS display tank and the colors were incredible. I just was unable to achieve that. I strongly suspect I might have without the brownout at the first rock change. It was just taking too long to see results and I felt I was just pouring money into something that wasn't working for me.

Anyway thats my fifty cents

[martym]

Thank you

[Fauna Marin]

Hi

ultrlith.com was made by private people and they were not able to give us the site so we can make the support which was necessary.
It needs some time till we can organize our distribution and
support in north america.
Now we have in reef central our bord and i look also here in that great forum all 2 days.

Fauna Marin is different then Zeolith cause our Ultralith System is only a part of our pröoduct range . We alsocreate and developed special foods and our system are made for mix tanks with a wide range of corals and fish and not only sps corals
With a special dosing you can also achive great coloration but this needs also time and diszciplin to get good results
Even during changes it can need some time till the water levels wil be
so good to get the good resulst

Feel free to ask here whenever you want
greets claude

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

Just thought I’d chime in here with my own experience and observations on both systems.

First, a quick debriefing on the one issue that seems to have kept most people out of Probiotic methodologies for so long:

Cost comparisons between Zeovit System from Korallen-Zucht and Ultralith from Fauna-Marin

Zeovit Basic 4:

Zeovit Media 1L: $14.45 (J&L)
Zeofood 50 mL: $15.95 (J&L)
Zeobak 10 mL: $15.95 (J&L)
Zeostart 250mL: $35.95(J&L)

We’ll make the calculation for a 120 gallon tank, assuming 100 gallon is the net water volume. Dosing would be as follows:

Media Exchange: 1 L every 6 to 8 weeks.
Zeofood7: 4 drops per day
Zeostart2: 0.8mL per day
Zeobak: 4 drops once a week

Each mL approximately contains 20 drops

Zeofood7: 0.2 mL per day
Zeobak: 0.2 mL per week

At this rate:

Zeofood 50 mL: $15.95 (J&L) 250 doses /30 = $1.91 per month
Zeobak 10 mL: $15.95 (J&l) 50 doses /5 doses per month= $1.60 per month
Zeostart 250mL: $35.95(J&l) 312 doses = $3.46 per month
Zeovit Media 1 L: $14.45 for 6 week = $10.32 per month

Total costs for 100 gallon net water volume: $17.29 per month

This is the Stage 1 & 2 the system, once established and at Stage 3, you will reduce dosing and, subsequently, the cost to pretty damn near only 70% of this figure.


Ultralith Basic 4:

UltraBio 50 ml: $56.03 (Progressive Reef)
Ultralith 1l: $19.07 (Progressive Reef)
Ultramin S 100ml: $26.28 (Progressive Reef)
Ultrabak 100ml: $26.28 (Progressive Reef)

Again, we’ll make the calculation for that same 120gallon tank, assuming 100 gallon is the net water volume:

Media Exchange: 1 liter every 6 to 8 weeks.
UltraBio: 8 drops twice a week
Ultramin S: .8ml per day
Ultrabak: 1.6ml once a day

Each CC approximately contains 20 drops

UltraBio 50 ml: $56.03 (Progressive Reef) 125 doses / 17= $7.62 per month
Ultralith 1l: $19.07 (Progressive Reef) for 6 weeks = $13.62 per month
Ultramin S 100ml: $26.28 (Progressive Reef) 125 doses= $6.31 per month
Ultrabak 100ml: $26.28 (Progressive Reef) 62 doses = $12.72 per month

Total costs for 100 gallon net water volume: $40.27 per month.

So basically, Ultralith, for the same size tank, cost almost 233% more. Actually, while doing the calculations, this was a shocker to me since I was told that Ultralith is a cheaper system.

In addition, as per the Ultralith manual, you have to soak the media one week in advance while changing the water several times to rinse it. With Zeovit you just rinse and it’s ready to go.

Overall, I find the Zeovit system easier to apply.

Here’s another costs differential – Startup kits (no reactor):

Zeovit: $82.30 J&L
Ultralith: $127.66 Progressive Reef

With both systems, you’ll want a reactor and you can get a complete Zeovit system for $199.95 from J&L including a Reactor (http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...t_ID=zv-00p151).
If you buy the same reactor from J&L (http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...uct_ID=vt-zr15) then tack on the Ultralith, you’re looking at $267.61.

Finally, where a review really counts, my own personal experience:

As stated earlier, my first foray into Probiotic systems was with Ultralith, purchased by merit of hearsay on the forums claiming that the costs would be significantly lower than Zeovit. I ran the system for over three months with little result other than slightly reduced nutrient levels. This wasn’t really at par with my expectations. But before throwing the towel, I figured I’d double back and try the Zeovit system (I had really good experiences with KZ’s Coral Vitalizer and Coral Snow), which I have now been running for a little over six months.

Here’s what I can say; after only four weeks of switching out the Ultralith media with Zeovit media and running the new additives (basic 4 only), I began to see amazing results. My algae started to rapidly die off, my corals both exhibited noticeably increased color and polyp extension.

I believe that Zeovit has a lot more going for it as a Probiotic system. It’s been around longer, it’s tried and proven across many reef tanks across many countries and more readily available.

I personally prefer the Zeovit system, as I have a mixed reef and don’t like the pale look of corals people get from other probiotic systems. With Zeovit, I have been getting amazing colors & polyp extension beyond what I expected from the system initially.

I hope this helps. All calculations based off manufacturer’s guides and observations are IME.

[BC Mosaic]

Good post and info Oceanic Corals.
Much appreciated.

[christyf5]

Oceanic, I think you'll find it much cheaper if you price the ultralith from Ocean Aquatics. I think I had it priced out at around $30 a month for 100gal net water volume.

Also Ultralith doesn't have to be run using a reactor, or you can run it in a phosban reactor if you choose.

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by OceanicCorals

First, a quick debriefing on the one issue that seems to have kept most people out of Probiotic methodologies for so long:

In my opinion, the issue that keeps even more people from reliably using a probiotic system is that it is incredibly labor intensive. I've gone out of my way to automate evaporative top-off, Ca, Alk dosing. Why would I then add a husbandry practice that requires tedious daily dosing? I could forego the costs of the dosing pumps, and auto top-off if I chose to stand around the tank in the morning and dose a bunch of probiotic supplements.

I know all the probiotic proponents will say things like "Well when you're feeding your fish daily it only takes a couple more minutes to dose the additives." or "Probiotic systems are not for 'lazy' hobbyists." Unfortunately, I regularly have to go out of town for the weekend or longer and I don't want to have to rely on someone else to dose several additives. When I've tried vodka dosing in the past I always felt guilty about having to miss days of dosing when I was away and didn't have a tank-sitter.

I like my tank and I like to tinker (sometimes too much) but I don't want to HAVE to do something daily at the risk of some potential negative consequences - I have enough stress at work. I don't want my hobby to be a source of stress. So I guess probiotic systems are for those people who can devote the time and aren't worried about the incurred expenses.

Sorry for the off topic post. I just wanted to make it clear that while many of us look at probiotic tanks and like what we see and aren't concerned about the costs, we just don't have the patience for the tedium of daily dosing.

[Fauna Marin]

Hi Oceanic

Thanks for your costs calculation but i think there is something not correct.

First of all it depends on the situation how much you need of the products to get the results.

As sample Ultra Bio or Bak
This products need mostly only for 2 month en then never or
with very very low dosings
so you can use Ultra Bio as sample for 400 days with one bottle

Min S the same the most reefers use after longer time may 0.5 ml/1000 Liter !!!! a day
which means one bottle good for 500 days with a 260 gallon tank
only during the beginning or if you have a change you need a little bit more
as sample 3 ml / 1000 Liter not on 100 liters

So you cannot make a calculation on that way
the same is that the starter kits that we produce have 2 Liter media in not only 1 and we have also other sizes of bottles.

The Ultralith System is a little bit different following a littel other ideas and animals it is more for mix tanks and more in direction natural colors
We did not work with high copper dosings or such things which make the corals very fast very white .
No problem to create such a product but this i not our line
greets claude

[Aqua-Digital]

Hi Oceanic corals.

In regards to support, now I am the distributor the support is constant, 7 days a week, contact me by email any time and you will get fast response, I am aware of issues in the past but that was the past, we are now commiting to our users and proud to assist everyone, no matter what system the support as many use parts of both.

The Ultra Lith starter is $99 and comes with 2L of media.

If your dosing and calculations are what you are basing your results on cost and tank effectiveness I am not surprised.

This is the reason why Ultra Lith is so popular and Cheaper! with Ultra Lith you don’t have to dose every day.

For example with other system you have to always dose the bio food stuff with fauna you only dose for two weeks, then stop for one week and repeat until you have brought your total media volume up to the correct level, after which you only dose for 2 weeks again when you do a media change, and here is another catch with other systems, you have to replace ALL the media, with Ultra lith you replace only half, so you see you are saving on media and bio immediatly.

If you were replacing ALL the media this is basically like starting from scratch again and so your results would never be very comparable.

In regards to effectiveness other than this, Fauna employ only natural ways to achieve coral success, and do not adopt fast methods for temporary results, the Fauna system takes time but the results are natural and highly successful. As Claude points out no copper is used in the system only natural ingredients so you are replicating what is achieved on the wild, this does not mean other systems are wrong, just fauna takes the approach of replicating natures own methods.

As for ease of dosing this is something that the Ultra Lith system is known for and with the advent of the comparibly cheap GHL dosing system you can automate the whole process.

Picture here, info can be found in our forum



Here is the basic dosing schedule for Ultra Lith systems from start up, as you can see it is dead easy to follow and can be fully automated

Here is a simple step by step guide mainly based around 400L or 100 gallons of tank water. When calculating your own volume please decrease by 20% to take into account displacement of sand and rocks etc.

To start
• Use 250ml of Ultra Lith per 400L of water as an initial start up
• Increase by 250ml every two weeks until you have reached 1L capacity per 400L of water
• After 6 weeks exchange 50% of the Ultra Lith. Repeat this 6 week 50% cycle from now on
• Clean (shake) the Ultra Lith daily, for best results utilise an Ultra Lith reactor, this makes life so much easier.

Initial dosing from start up

Dose as follows

Ultra Bio
• Dose 1 drop per 100L of water per day for the first two weeks
• Week 3 do not dose
• Repeat after 1 week break
• Turn skimmer off for 2 hours when dosing.

Note – after initial set up it is only required to dose as above when changing the Ultra Lith media.

Ultra bak and Ultra Min S
• Dose 3ml per 1000L of water every day of each until nutrients have dropped significantly then reduce dosing to 1ml a day of each.

Continued use.
• Repeat Ultra Bio dosing schedule when replacing media every 6 weeks.
• Dose Ultra Min S and Ultra Bak 1ml a day per 1000L of water keeping check on your parameters.
• It is now advisable to be adding trace elements such as Ultra organic this is key to colouration. Dose as instructed on the bottle.
• You can also use Ultra organic with Ultra Amin to achieve very bright colouration
• I recommend using Ultra carb L also this is important for removing the yellow tannins from the water.

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

Hold the horses friends!

Originally Posted by christyf5

Oceanic, I think you'll find it much cheaper if you price the ultralith from Ocean Aquatics. I think I had it priced out at around $30 a month for 100gal net water volume.

I paid attention to that fact when I did my calculations. Having dealt with Ocean Aquatics in the past, I realize their prices are fair. However, not all prices were listed on the website during my analysis and, for convenience’s sake, I went with a vendor that did have all the listed prices.

But for the sake of arguement, let’s do a quick comparison just to be sure:

UltraBio 50 ml: $56.03 (Progressive Reef)
Ultralith 1l: $19.07 (Progressive Reef)
Ultramin S 100ml: $26.28 (Progressive Reef)
Ultrabak 100ml: $26.28 (Progressive Reef)

UltraBio 50 ml: $38.49 (Ocean Aquatics)
Ultralith 1l: $17.39 (Ocean Aquatics)
Ultramin S 100ml: Price not listed, so let’s assume it’s the same price as the Ultrabak $23.89 (see Progressive Reef)
Ultrabak 100ml: $23.89 (Ocean Aquatics)

Cost difference $19.50.

At this rate, we’re looking at a 15% difference. So let’s apply that to my previous monthly figure:

$40.27 x 15% = $6.04, so our costs go down to $34.23/mo

Originally Posted by christyf5

Also Ultralith doesn't have to be run using a reactor, or you can run it in a phosban reactor if you choose.

Both systems are ideally utilized with a reactor. In essence, your statement is correct, but a reactor is a big advantage to Probiotic methodology (see Aquadigital’s comments for set up), being able to agitate the media to slough off bacterial films is a GOOD THING and my corals can attest to this. Despite this, I can think of several examples on other forums and even here where Zeovit users have run the rocks in Phosban reactors successfully. I’m not trying to debunk Ultralith (yet), but I do think the two systems should be contrasted at points where they actually differ, without promoting or resorting to ‘halfway’ methods that yield subpar results.

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

Hi Oceanic corals.

In regards to support, now I am the distributor the support is constant, 7 days a week, contact me by email any time and you will get fast response, I am aware of issues in the past but that was the past, we are now commiting to our users and proud to assist everyone, no matter what system the support as many use parts of both.

The Ultra Lith starter is $99 and comes with 2L of media.

Aquadigital, I realize this and applaud your efforts. This is how things should be

But as far as the price goes, we still have to compare products where they merit comparisons, so let’s add another bag of media ($14.45 @ JL) to the Zeovit started kit at $82.30 = $96.75

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

If your dosing and calculations are what you are basing your results on cost and tank effectiveness I am not surprised.

This is the reason why Ultra Lith is so popular and Cheaper! with Ultra Lith you don’t have to dose every day.

For example with other system you have to always dose the bio food stuff with fauna you only dose for two weeks, then stop for one week and repeat until you have brought your total media volume up to the correct level, after which you only dose for 2 weeks again when you do a media change, and here is another catch with other systems, you have to replace ALL the media, with Ultra lith you replace only half, so you see you are saving on media and bio immediatly.

If you were replacing ALL the media this is basically like starting from scratch again and so your results would never be very comparable.

First off, my dosages were calculated and followed according to the Ultralith manual. So if I and other (former) users were doing something wrong, then it is through no fault of our own. Consider a reiteration of context please.

Also:

http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14322
Reaffirmed by the manufacturer http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14318

Point being is that yes, with any Probiotic system, you can get away with using less equipment, dosing less product, getting slower results, then claiming that the processes are more natural. Fundamentally, however, you’re pulling the proverbial wool over your eyes to justify unimpressive results. My experience with the product already demonstrated this. From the looks of things, Christy’s experience also mirrored this sentiment.

I would like to note that when using Zeovit, you DO NOT have to presoak the media for a week nor do you replace all the media upon switch-out, you replace 75% of it. Apples to apples please.

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

In regards to effectiveness other than this, Fauna employ only natural ways to achieve coral success, and do not adopt fast methods for temporary results, the Fauna system takes time but the results are natural and highly successful. As Claude points out no copper is used in the system only natural ingredients so you are replicating what is achieved on the wild, this does not mean other systems are wrong, just fauna takes the approach of replicating natures own methods.

Okay, this is where I take offense. I am neither ignorant nor am I stupid, but this post gave me pause. Am I really adding copper to my tanks? I almost fell out of my chair reading this; I am well aware of the detrimental toxic effects of copper. However, upon further digging:

http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread....ghlight=copper

Look, my previous post was to elaborate in as to what constitutes as a better system IMO. You may not look upon it as such, but I find such broad handed statements not only advocate fallacy, but misrepresents how the system (Zeovit) functions. Basically, it’s comparable to quote mining and, as a salesman by trade, I don’t appreciate the underhanded tactics by either yourself or the manufacturer. You can give us the straight facts and that would be appreciated a great deal, but the current lot of information really dissuades me from attempting the brand any further.

So, being accountable, let’s look at the facts (as per my research):

- The Zeovit system is a product produced by Korallen-Zucht.
- Korallen-Zucht manufacturers a host of other additive lines that work independently of the Zeovit system.
- The Zeovit system does NOT contain COPPER in any form, be it organic or inorganic, chelated or otherwise.
- The product you refer to is called Spur2. This is an optional additive that can either be used either with or without the Zeovit and has no association with Probiotic methodology. See the above link for more info on Spur2.

Ultimately, Fauna Marin should be able to stand independently by its own merits and should not need misrepresentation of information to generate a sale and/or following.