Field Trial of Ultralith System as of May 24/10

fencer · #1 10-11-2008, 04:01 AM

Firstly this was planned a month ago to try this product and is not a response to the recent Zeo/Ultra discussion on another thread. As some of you know I was Alcohol dosing my tank. Along with supplements from Salifert my SPS's responded very well. After some thinking I felt a more rounded and complete approach was needed. I did choose Ultra over Zeo simply because it was a newer product and "looked" simplier to use. Futhermore, I read most of the posts about Zeo and really did not come out with a clear idea that it worked. So I put some money up and bought the Ultra Starter package and an Ultra reactor. I have a fishless 100 gallon system(main and frag tank)( I am now rethinking this ) and my tank parameters are stable. I am going to follow Fauna Marin's guide to the letter. I will try to keep a log and pictures of any progress. This trial should last about 2 months but I have a feeling it will be more like a year. Please feel to ask or comment...you might have some good ideas too.

fencer · #2 10-11-2008, 04:10 AM

October 9/10
I started up the Ultra progam today. I followed the startup instructions. Since I already had a low nutrient tank I cut back Ultra Min and Ultra Bak to 1 ml dose. I did not stop my skimmer
- after 1 hour of adding I noticed polyp extension on my Candy Canes and the other LPS's
- 24 hrs of running and my tank(s) water looks crystal clear...clearer than with ozone running

michika · #3 10-11-2008, 04:56 AM

Awesome idea. I am really looking forwards to this.

rattler · #4 10-12-2008, 07:17 PM

Great idea and very timely also! Will be following along.

Rattler

Trigger Man · #5 10-12-2008, 09:35 PM

Can't wait to see what the final results show, i've been thinking about starting up one of the systems in the next little while, so this should help with my final choice.

fencer · #6 10-14-2008, 03:22 AM

Here are pictures of the Tank as of Oct 13:
http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/r...view=slideshow
Notes:
1)My tank redox level has dropped from 380mV to 335mv
2)Growth on Glass of main tank has slowed down
3) Spot fed LPS with mysis and coral frenzy today
4) I continue with the 1 ml dosage of Bak and Ultramin
-ultramin and bak are injected into the main tank and the Bacterial soln is fed into the sump
5) Have been agitating reactor once a day for 1 minute
6) There is an echino coral that goes bright green when Ultramin is injected in the tank

fencer · #7 10-18-2008, 04:21 AM

Oct 17
I have not seen any ill effects of the Ultra additives on the corals. I am still spot feeding my LPS corals. I have notice that there is considerably more polyp extension on the SPS's. The colors on there corals are just starting to show(more). Most corals are exhibiting various rates of growth. As for the control coral it is showing polyp extension only. I have not seen an increase rate of algae on glass or anywhere in the tank. I have decided to bacterial solution directly to the tank.

fencer · #8 10-20-2008, 04:19 AM

Oct 19th
Added another control coral today. (The other catspaw was exposed to alcohol dosing) A light pink Catspaws. I am expecting the colors on this one to increase. As it was claimed(I am not sure where I read it) that color intensity is most notable in this type of coral when using Ultralith. Photoadded to archive

fencer · #9 10-23-2008, 02:40 AM

Oct 22
Added another 25% of Ultra Rock to the reactor. Notice a fillm of bacteria(?) on side of reactor. No changes in dosage or effects to the tank. Will discontinue UltraBio for 1 week.

fencer · #10 10-31-2008, 07:25 AM

Oct 30
Resumed UltraBio today. Did a 10% water change(Thank the power company for that one). 3 hours no sump circulation, monti suffered a bit and I noticed a nice film on the front of the tank. All corals still showing good polyp extension. One of the pink Catspaw is turning brown. One coral is slowly RTNing on me. Haven't decide to frag it yet...hoping it will stop.