The Official Fauna Marin Ultralith/Zeolite thread

[2Sunny]

Fuana Marin Ultra-Lith System​

I'm just starting out, but I would like to document my progress on this thread for future reference so I am including some current photos of the corals I am most interested in seeing some improvement with. In particular I am interested in improving the color of the first coral shown which came to me with a vibrant rose tint that it did not keep. Personally, I am HIGHLY, skeptical because it sounds "too good" to be true, but if it works I will be the first to say so . . . wish me luck. I had been wanting to try the Zeovit system, but was put off by the "black box" element of their technique. Since Fauna Marin gives a detailed breakdown of what is in each element of their system, I have far greater confidence and willingness to try. My initial reaction is that the system uses a fortified vinegar like mixture to spur the growth of beneficial bacteria and then follows that up with improved food sources for filter feeding creatures. The real novelty I think lies in the added food source for the corals rather than the increased filtration afforded by the zeolitic material, but thats just my initial reaction, and I haven't done a whole lot of research yet. I'll be running my Ultralith in dual phosban reactors, and I'm going to eventually add some to my media trays. Actually I hope I do it right and it works because some of the pictures out of Germany are fantastic!

Anyone else using or planning on using this system don't be afraid to jump in and if there is already a thread going on this I'll be happy to jump over . . . :groupflip

Joe
​

 

[Deanos]

Add your current nutrient levels & water parameters, so that you/we can compare coral colors to different levels in your tank.

 

[Wes]

ive been using the system for 8 weeks now...I really like it.

 

[2Sunny]

First changes.

Water clarity is tough to gauge, but I would say there was significant improvement with regards to my water clarity.

What I can say with confidence is that the amount of algae growth on my glass is already improving. Normally I need to clean my glass daily because it develops a thin haze of dusty green algae, but in the 5 days with Ultra-Lith I have already noticed an improvement. This morning there is absolutely no build up on my glass and I did not clean the glass yesterday either so its been 2 days with no build up. I would say that is quite significant.

Add your current nutrient levels & water parameters, so that you/we can compare coral colors to different levels in your tank.

I promise to post some data on Tuesday.

 

[Wes]

yep that was the first thing i noticed when i started...Water clarity and no more green haze on the glass....

it takes about a month or two to really see the improvement in coral color...I have a browned out Acro that looks better every day...The funny thing is before Ultralith, i thought it was supposed to be brown. It was my first acro i bought for a couple bucks to see if i was ready for SPS. It always grew well but was always brown despite decent color from other sps in my tank.

Now it has shifted to a nice burgandy color w/ bright green polyps and looks nicer every day. This is the ultimate selling point for me and the reason i will be buying more when i run out.

 

[jhale]

I shifted this over to the advanced reef forum.

I'll be interested to see what results you both get in the next few months.

 

[Wes]

I just wanted to update everyone with some trials and tribulations.

I have been battling HA for almost 2 months now, I tried GFO, it was bad news, bleached my corals so i stopped using it.

I cut back on dosing the MinS and Organic, cut back fish feeding to every other day, decreased light period, tried beefing up clean up crew including Sea Hare...Nothing was helping and my corals are getting pissed off from screwing around w/ levels and my fish started looking skinny.

So I gave up and went back to the way I had been dosing and feeding the fish...I mean hey, at least the color and growth was good and the fish were nice and healthy.

Then I found a message board based in the Uk were they seem to have a better grasp on the system and I found a thread discussing macro algae refugiums and how they can have a negative effect on ultra low nutrient systems. In theory, the bacteria outcompetes the macroalgae until it begins to die off, releasing crap back into the water.

So Saturday i got the wet vac out of storage, removed all the macro and vacuumed out all the crap from the sump, the cloud of crap that came up looked god awful.

IT is now wednesday 4 days later and the hair algae is almost completely gone. A pretty miraculous turn around considering how long I battled w/ no luck. My lesson learned, in my experience refugiums are bad news w/ the ultralith system. Now I can focus on stability and getting my corals happy again.

 

[PalmTree]

Wow!! Nice thread. I will definately follow and I'm dying to see what the results are. I've never really been a fan of refugiums either but probably for diffrent reasons. Good luck!

 

[reefman]

very interesting and thanks for documenting your experience here so we all can learn.

 

[JRod]

I am thinking of possibly going Ultra and am reading as much as I can.

Wes, was wondering how the tank is doing.

 

[Wes]

it's doing pretty well now...Things are recovering pretty nicely. I hit a rough patch a while back but i think i have the hang of it now. :smile:

 

[JRod]

Yeah, I was reading the problems you were having.

Hair Algae issue taken care of?

Are you happy with your decision to do it?

 

[Wes]

yeah all the algae is gone...im happy with the decision.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

In the instruction it says,

"Clean UltraLith weekly from sediments and detritus by rinsing it in aquarium water."


Correct me if I am wrong, I guess that means outside the tank but using the water from the tank fresh salt water.

Also, do you find cleaning weekly easy, acceptable or a lot of work?

Oh forgot to ask, is your media in a reactor or just a bag in the sump?

 

[Wes]

i "clean" it by shaking the phosban reactor w/ the rocks in it. it takes a few seconds and i shake it up every 1-2 days, the "mulm" or sediment that comes out after shaking feeds the corals so the more often you shake the better imo

 

[LouZoo51]

This sounds like a realy great way to go,and I've been debating this for a long time.I am about a month away from completing my 120gallon set up.
Is there anything you would recomend on starting a new system with this method,and what package would you get for a system of my size?
thanx,Lou............

 

[Awibrandy]

Hi wes, like wingo asked. Are you using a reactor, or simply or did you just place it in the sump, and what part of your sump?

 

[Wes]

i use it in a reactor. I use a phosban reactor, the two little fishies phosban 150 holds enough media for 100g. They make zeolith reactors that hold more media and have a little hand pump thing that lets you clean the rocks by just pumping it a few times.

Lou, you will either need one of the reactors for the 120 or just hook up two phosban reactors daisy chained if you don't want to spend the money on a nice zeo reactor as they can be a bit pricey. I get the "small" package and it lasts me about 4 months on my 65g. The bigger bottles you buy the cheaper it is, i'll probably buy the big bottles when it's time to re-up next time.

I think starting up a new system w/ this from the beginning would be pretty cool be cause you can do all the tweaking to figure out what dosage regimen is best for your tank before you begin adding coral.

 

[JRod]

Anyone else on here running this system that anyone knows about?

From the reading that I have done, the system seems to be one of the cheaper of the systems, cannot run a refugium with this system, the additives are not as many as the Zeo system, and there still seems to be some playing and learning that is being done.

There seems to not be as many people using this system, is it because it is new or something else?

Would love to hear if others are doing it.

 

[Wes]

yeah it's pretty new compared to zeovit...there are several people using on RC, but compared to zeovit, there is not alot of support out there. Which is my only complaint, i went through a bit of trial and error before i got it right.

as far as playing and learning what is right for your tank, i think that will be necessary no matter what zeolith system you choose. Not one tank is the same so you have to tinker a bit with the dosages. You have to go slowly, watch your tank closely, and adjust accordingly until you get things tuned in.