On a side note, a long time back I ran a full zeovit system and kept a ULNS system. I decided that this route didn't quite fit with my mantra and discontinued implementing the full system, this left me with a lot of zeolite media laying around. I decided to dump about 4 liters of the media in one of my sump compartments and use the remainder of the zeobak bottle. At the time I was battling algae due to the system only being a few months old. Since I dumped all the zeolite media into this system it has always stayed relatively low nutrient-wise, reading undetectable nitrates and phosphates. However, I was able to maintain very deep, rich colors unlike the characteristic pastel colors of a ULNS Acropora system.
The zeolite media serves as a great medium to facilitate bacteria growth to reduce nitrates and phosphates, while at the same time providing the acropora with a food source (bacteria).
The zeolite media is meant to shaken daily to remove the mulm that grows on it, however it's been several years since I've put the media into the compartment and have not disturbed it. While I cannot say that the addition of this stagnant zeolite compartment in my sump is the result of my success, I definitely think that this addition has greatly benefited this system's ability to manage and process nutrients.
The system with the zeolite media is a 120 gallon fully SPS dominant tank with a very heavy bioload (5 years old)
2 Yellow Tangs
1 Achilles Tang
1 Purple Tang
1 Black Tang
1 Kole tang
2 Choati Leopards
6 Clownfish
1 Allen's Damsel
3 Yellow Coris
1 Melanurus
2 Pink Streaked Wrasse
1 Neon Goby
1 Yasha Goby
1 Royal Gramma
For filtration I use a Bubble King Supermarin 200 as my skimmer, filter socks, and 1 cup of carbon through a media reactor. With this fish-load and filtration setup I was registering undetectable nitrates and phosphates consistently with minimal film algae on the glass or other algaes on the rock.
Meanwhile, in my 125 Sps Dominant tank (No Zeolite Media) I always had nitrates around 10 ppm and phosphate at .04ppm with a bioload of
1 Yellow Tang
1 Chocolate Tang
1 Purple Tang
1 Powder Blue Tang
2 Clowns
1 Sixline Wrasse
For filtration I use a Vertex 180i and carbon in media bags.
Both systems at their peak were completely filled with similar amounts of acropora, had the same wc schedule, feedings and supplements added. However, one would think that the tank with the substantially higher fish load would have higher nitrate and phosphate results. In my case this was not true, probably due to the zeolite media.
The media seems to have allowed me to keep and maintain a heavy fish and coral bioload without having sky high nutrients and algae. While my hanna checkers always reported undetectable nitrates and phosphates I knew that my tank was not starved, due to the amount of food and aminos I put in. This always provided the corals with an available food source and did not allow nuisance algaes to take hold due to the lack excess nutrients for their own growth. Thus creating an environment that favors acropora over algae. Essentially, you're providing just enough nutrient input to fuel coral growth but not algae. Where the zeolite media comes to play is that I think it allows me to scale up nutrient input while at the same time limiting algae growth. This allowed me to pursue deeper and more rich colors in contrast to the more pastel coloration associated with ULNS sps systems. The bacteria on the media will process the nutrients faster than algae, allowing for their proliferation and creating a stable food source for the acroporas.
In short, I think the addition of this media is quite beneficial as it greatly aids in nutrient processing(granted you seed the media with the proper bacteria) whether you implement the entire zeovit system or not.
This I believe is important to scale with fish load as
More Fish -> More Poop -> More Bacteria -> More Acro food
You basically can stock heavier, feed more, keep more coral, have more vibrant coral and mitigate the growth of nuisance algae.
This is perfect for me, as it allows me keep my fish fat and healthy and my corals colorful!
My assumptions and hypothesis may be incorrect regarding the usage the of zeolite media, however, based off the resulting health and coloration of my acropora in this particular system I am quite happy. This is by no means the "best" way to keep a SPS Dominant tank but in this particular system it has provided me great results!
Currently, I still have the media in this system and I am now dosing nitrates to maintain around 20 ppm nitrates. Whereas before, I was not dosing nitrates. So we will see how this system reacts to this different approach. It's been about 1 month since I started dosing nitrates and the coral's colors have become richer with only minimal film algae growth on the glass and pretty minimal algae on the rocks.
I'd love to hear if anyone else has done this before or has any anecdotes regarding keeping zeolite media long-term without replacement in their systems.
Here is a video to show you how jam-packed this tank was at it's peak!
