Which ULNS method?

[illumnae]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply, both productive and less productive We are all passionate about this hobby and sometimes tempers may fly. Nonetheless, you spent time and effort trying to help me out and I appreciate it.

I understand the basics on nutrients being dependent on bioload and frequency of feeding. I need to exercise self control in this area for sure, but I also know my temptations which is why I feel I also need "external" help via one of these dosing methods to keep nutrients low.

@ wongyeng

I had my reservations about the lighting as well, but when I asked around on Reef Central as well as with some experienced shopkeepers, they assured me that a Hydra 52 is sufficient (no reason for shopkeepers to bluff about this, since telling me it's not enough will boost their sales). One of the people who responded on RC has an exact same sized tank and he keeps SPS too. This is why I just bought 1 Hydra 52 for now. I also bought a Director that can control multiple units. Hence, if I'm finding that the single unit is not enough, it's easy for me to just add 1 more unit (makes my Director more worth the expense too!). Alternatively, I'm also looking at ways to mount 2-4 tubes of t5 to supplement the Hydra 52 (either 1 in front 1 behind, or 2 in front 2 behind). Options are still open and I'm ready to add as needed

@ tofubox

Thanks so much for your detailed write up about your experience with both methods! I've actually had partial experience with Polyplab too via my wife's tank (she used it for awhile). Same experience that she needed to use additional products to achieve good results. In her case, she had a refugium plus had to add either algone or biopellets to achieve SPS- worthy conditions. She's actually now considering moving to Triton because the allure of no water change is hard to resist. For me lucky I don't have to consider it for my current tank since my sump has no space for a 10% volume refugium.

For zeovit, I understand that I will need to learn to keep and read my corals before dosing the "little blue bottles". However, based on my research, the startup time in "Phase 1" using just the basic 4 can take up to 9 months. Would that be sufficient for me to "learn the trade" so to speak? Dosing just the basic 4 seems pretty straightforward to me while I learn the ropes. Maybe Fauna Marin may be more suitable for a newbie, since the fundamentals of the system seems the same (Ultralith used the same "basic 4" under different names, and the new Zeolight system is similar but with more products), but the "extended" portion beyond the basic 4 seems more newbie friendly (colour elements and food for various types of corals vs the confusing array of "little blue bottles").

@ skinbone

This is my first response post since I started the thread. I wasn't the one who responded to andtsg

@ Resser

I've done my research on and decided not to go with some lesser used products like Redsea system, Brightwell Aquatics system, traditional Vodka/Vinegar, Glassboxes VSV mix, etc. Narrowed down on these 4 most common ones due to the amount of support and recorded results available. I left out biopellets because I'm familiar with this method and find it even less controllable than Prodibio. In my office LPS predator tank, I've had to use Nualgi and Prodibio in addition to AIO Biopellets in order to achieve Nitrates 2.5 (Salifert), Phosphate 0.03 (Salifert) - perhaps due to the high bioload nature of predators. In this tank, Biopellets ends up being almost as much work as the other carbon dosing methods. On the bright side, I have never encountered cyanobacteria using Biopellets, and my wife didn't encounter it either while dosing Polyplab Reefresh - she only encountered algae issues after she stopped dosing and the Algone expired. The issues went away after she started AIO biopellets.

If by all natural methods you mean DSB and refugium, I have considered them but have space constraints. My 4ft tank and my wife's tank both have refugiums, but I don't find them sufficient to sustain ULNS (especially with my abovementioned temptations to add more fish!).

After all my research, my preference is actually between Zeovit and Fauna Marin, the difference being one has much greater control while the other is more newbie friendly. Use of zeolites is also new to me as I've always been going with biopellets instead. I'm attracted to the use of a single system vs having to mix and match, as I feel that using a single unified system may be more newbie friendly as opposed to experimenting between different brands and coming up with a "customized" system on my own. Fauna Marin has its own reef salt and balling system as well, making it really a 1 stop shop for the entire tank's needs (which is attractive due to the aforementioned reasons though not strictly necessary, since there are many other good salts in the market and balling can be done with food grade Ca/kH/Mg powders and a commercial trace mix).

Hopefully more people who have used these systems would be willing to chime in and share

[woyeng**]

Bro illumnae,

If u interested to go see that reefer who has successfully colored up using extensive led coverage pls drop me a pm and i pass u hos contact... For me personally, since u oredi hv a gd led lightset, no point introducing t5, just stick with led....

As for led coverage...this is a highly contentious area ...its not about lying or telling half truths since everything is captured by the subjectivity of the human eye.....but the results can be clearly determined thru comparison or experience.

[illumnae]

Thanks for the advice bro wongyeng I will standby to add on 1 or more extra units of Hydra 52 as needed.

[illumnae]

Noone uses Fauna Marin system?