Zeolite Effects: Bad and Good

[Zweebe]

Hello guys ! :wavehand:

I'm still planing the building of the new tank and I'm wondering if I will use zeolite stone or not. As the principal effects are very known, such as amonium absorption, bacteria development support and water cleaner and I would like to know (according to your exepriences) if there is other bad or good effect? Does the Zeolite stone can absorb too much trace element?

Thanks for your light up on there :dance:

 

[mike810]

Not sure about it absorbing trace elements but yes, it can make your water very clean which isn't good for your corals. You will need to find the balance so that you leave some nutrients in the water for the corals to be healthy.

 

[StarF]

like Mike said, they can strip a lot from the water fast, so always start slow...

I myself am running about 1l of zeolith, in a filter, with 200ml carbon and 50g rowa.. (like the stacked aquaforest method), and i am happy with the results.. I did start super slow though 200ml -> 400ml-> 600ml->800ml> and then 1000ml.... Mabye i was a little to causious....

 

[LimeTwist]

I say stay away from zeovit if you dont want to be a slave to your tank. But if you have money to run everything automated them it has a good end result

 

[shih87]

Zeolite only absorb positive ion, so we usually focus on dealing K+ absorption.

Since now dosing pump is much cheaper than the past, and more powerful with remote function, using Zeovit with doser pump is a good choose. Homemade alkalinity, Ca, and Mg are almost dirt cheap and with KH monitoring device coming to the market in 2017, I would believe success rate of reef keeping will become much higher.

For supplements or food need shaking before use, do it daily when you at home (as BRS youtube video stated, if you don't have 5 minutes for your tank, why bother having a reef tank). When out of town for a couple week, just temporary stop it, no big deal. I am doing this way for 6+ years.

Just my two cents

 

[Ross33]

I have used zeovit for several months (the full system). For me, it stripped my water too clean and I couldn't ever seem to get the balance just right. It made my acros extremely sensitive to the tiniest alk fluctuations and I had some constant undiagnosed stn. After several triton tests I finally took zeovit offline and am doing much better. I would go very slowly and use much less than recommended by zeovit. cUDAreefer on here had a thread years ago with his system

 

[Hentz]

Zeolites work great. I've used the full ZEOvit method on my last two tanks. My Reefer 170 was setup to really take out the nutrients, though I was feeding incredibly heavy. I noticed daily growth on my Acropora. Color was good, but not great.

Like others said, it really strips water. So you need to very carefully monitor it during the setup period by reading your corals until your tank becomes somewhat automated in regards to nutrient control.

I just upgraded to a 120 and am only using a protein skimmer and chaeto reactor. For me personally, I'm seeing better results in terms of growth, color, and polyp extension. The color now is much more vibrant, though I knew going ZEOvit I would result in pastel colors. I'm more into the vibrant and saturated look opposed to pastel.. Though that is just personal taste of which I realized after two years of ZEOvit.