Bio Pellets verses Zeolite?

Mark1

Mark1

New member
Hi everyone

I'm looking for opinions on using bio pellets verses Zeolite with microbactor7 and biofuel. I'm running a 150 gallon SPS only tank with an SWC160 protien skimmer. I'm having a bad cyano outbreak and am afraid of the bio pellets because hear that cyano can be a problem.
I've been lucky for a long time and haven't had to many issues. But my tank is getting older and my SPS are lots bigger I hardly have room, the system seems to small to support itself and needs more help, weekly water changes have kept me going, needs more now.
I think I have cyano because I did a major rearrange of the aquascape, I may have killed alot of benificial bacteria. Would just dosing microbator7 balance it out in time?
Nitrates and phosphates test low of course, bulbs are 8 months old and could be to root of my problems. All the SPS seem good. I'm thinking Zeolite is the way I want to go. Seems sililiar to Bio Pellets, but I hear the color can really be amazing. Any thoughts?
 
Ill bump this. Im trying to make some changes to my 150 also. Im figuring bout 15-20$ a month for zeo. Much less for pellets. Also considering just a bigger skummer. Too many choices.
 
I,m treating the red slim in my tank with cyano RX, so far everything looks good. I'll do a water change thursday then run GFO and carbon for a week and then I'm going to add the microbactor 7 for a week and start carbon dosing with biofuel, eventually I'll do the bio pellets. But need a bigger reactor. What skimmer are you using? I think my SWC160 is not big enough to handle the bioload.
 
zeolite is great but you need to buy into the system. It'll cost closer to $30 a month when you take into the account of stones, zeostart, potassium supplement, etc. It also requires daily maintenance but you will have better control. Almost cheaper / easier to do bigger volume or more frequent water change. Probably cost less to buy more salt.
 
the Zeovit system, allows the user to make small adjustments, to reach a perfect balance,, something biopellets lack.

with that said, Zeovit is not for everyone ... if you like to go with "how much XX do I dose per day" Zeovit is not for you ... but if you can get to know your animals, and dose, according to their needs, then Zeovit opens up your hands and choices.

JMO
 
I really like the ideal of zeolite, but I need to do a lot more research. My system is not very self maintance. I don't even have a ATO set up yet. I need to invest a lot more money. A Apex controller would be great!
I've had a lot of coral growth and good color, every thing has grown so much it just time to do more then frequent water changes and adding ALK/CA.

Mark
 
Allmost said:
the Zeovit system, allows the user to make small adjustments, to reach a perfect balance,, something biopellets lack.

with that said, Zeovit is not for everyone ... if you like to go with "how much XX do I dose per day" Zeovit is not for you ... but if you can get to know your animals, and dose, according to their needs, then Zeovit opens up your hands and choices.

JMO
Click to expand...

I've recently started zeovit and love it everything in my tank has doubled in size and the colors are amazing. I'm OCD to begin with so this works for me as I do not test much only alk and I go by how my corals look opposed to chasing numbers. I also use a calcium reactor which makes life a lot easier.
 
I was running WM EcoBak pellets for 8 months and recently pulled them as my tank was close to crash. The pellets were awesome for my system for the first 6 months. I had no measurable phosphate or nitrates. My water was clean and I got great growth and amazing color. I dose a lot of the ZEovit products also. The issue came when I needed to replace the pellets because the bacteria ate a large portion of them in my reactor. When I added new stuff, I immediately got explosion of turf and hair algae, and cyano was out of control. I blame myself for probably using too much pellet when I replaced. But prior to those issues I loved them and still endorse their use.

I am currently vodka dosing and have trace reading of PO4 and 0 nitrate. I also run GFO and GAC.

With any form of Carbon dosing/Zeovit system, a quality skimmer is the key.
 
Question. Can zeolite media be ran by itself? no bio fuel or mb7. (nothing)
My tank is fine. I'm just looking to add bacterioplankton to my tank to feed my acros...

thanks
 
henrystyle said:
Question. Can zeolite media be ran by itself? no bio fuel or mb7. (nothing)
My tank is fine. I'm just looking to add bacterioplankton to my tank to feed my acros...

thanks
Click to expand...

The zeolites work best if you dose bacteria and a carbon source to colonize them with bacteria.
 
henrystyle said:
So without the carbon and bacteria the zeolites aint really doing anything, correct?
Click to expand...

Only Thomas pohl of zeovit knows. According to the chemist gurus, zeoliths have minimal effect by them selves in seawater. But don't get me wrong they are still great place for bacteria already present to populate.
 
Zeolith rock primary purpose in a saltwater tank is to strip the tank of ammonium. That is why the rock is changed at 6-8week intervals. Then the zeolith rock becomes artifitial live rock.

I spoke with a person in the rock/zeolith industry. He told me you can recharge zeolith rock in saltwater. He had no idea what the zeolith rock can do inside saltwater.

I started out running the NeoZeo method then switched to Zeovit due to no support. With NeoZeo Chris Brightwell himself is giving customer support through email. With Zeovit you have a huge community of reefers offering help.
 
smalltime said:
Zeolith rock primary purpose in a saltwater tank is to strip the tank of ammonium. That is why the rock is changed at 6-8week intervals. Then the zeolith rock becomes artifitial live rock.

I spoke with a person in the rock/zeolith industry. He told me you can recharge zeolith rock in saltwater. He had no idea what the zeolith rock can do inside saltwater.

I started out running the NeoZeo method then switched to Zeovit due to no support. With NeoZeo Chris Brightwell himself is giving customer support through email. With Zeovit you have a huge community of reefers offering help.
Click to expand...

sorry, but Zeoliths in FRESHWATER uptake ammonia, not saltwater, please check the chemistry forums for more info.

[they are used in freshwater fish farms alot]
 
Allmost said:
sorry, but Zeoliths in FRESHWATER uptake ammonia, not saltwater, please check the chemistry forums for more info.

[they are used in freshwater fish farms alot]
Click to expand...

here's a quoted section from the Brightwell NeoZeo Method pdf

"NeoZeo is a zeolitic material that is specifically selected for adsorption of
ammonium in solution. By removing ammonium before it can be converted
into nitrite and nitrate, the nitrate concentration in the system typically
begins to decrease on it's own as the pre-existing denitrification potential of
the system is no longer exceeded by the rate of nitrate production."
 
smalltime said:
here's a quoted section from the Brightwell NeoZeo Method pdf

"NeoZeo is a zeolitic material that is specifically selected for adsorption of
ammonium in solution. By removing ammonium before it can be converted
into nitrite and nitrate, the nitrate concentration in the system typically
begins to decrease on it's own as the pre-existing denitrification potential of
the system is no longer exceeded by the rate of nitrate production."
Click to expand...

Advertising. Zeolites will remove some ammonium in saltwater but the amount is minuscule. They do whoever work well at removing ammonium in freshwater. For the most part they work well for hosting bacteria in a saltwater system.
 
I disagree with the idea that zeolith rock only hosts bacteria. It 100% strips something out of a saltwater system. I've seen zeovit systems and the water is pristine.
 
icdeadpieces said:
I disagree with the idea that zeolith rock only hosts bacteria. It 100% strips something out of a saltwater system. I've seen zeovit systems and the water is pristine.
Click to expand...

lol that is effect of coral snow by KZ :)

lol doesnt matter how much science and facts we have, some will never agree with it .
 
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