Dumb Experiment - Hybrid Zeovit In A Nano w/ No Skimmer

[Nepenthes88]

Hey!

Welcome to my dumb experiment thread where I test something crazy so you don't have to.

I'm putting together some different methods that make a lot of sense to me in the hopes of running a successful mixed reef tank in a 20L DIY AIO w/ no skimmer.

System Info

• 20L standard aquarium with DIY acrylic baffles to create an AIO w/ sump section on left side of tank
• Cycled tank using dry Marco rock from BRS + Brightwell MB7 + 5lbs Garf Grunge
• Lighting: Reef Breeders Photon V2 24
• Circulation:
  • AI Nero 5 in display section
  • Random Rio pump for circulation between display and sump area
• Mechanical Filtration:
  • 3 sections of AquaClear sponges cut to fit into the first section of the sump area
  • No skimmer!
• Nutrient Reduction:
  • Ball of cheato lit by Tunze Ecochic Refugium Light (ghetto setup)
  • Carbon dosing using Tropic Marin NP Bacto Balance (explained later)
• Dosing
  

  • Various Zeovit products (explained later)​
  • Brightwell Amino Acids​
  • Kalk in ATO (based on alk/calc consumption)​
• Livestock:
  

  • 3 Damsels​
  • 5-10 Trochus snails​
  • 5-10 hermits​
  • 1 Peppermint Shrimp​
  • SPS - Various acros, montipora, birdsnest​
  • LPS - Branching hammer​
  • Soft - Various zoas/palys, green kenya tree (I think)​
  • 1 RBTA​
• Feeding
  

  • 1/2 cube brine shrimp per day​
  • Reef Roids around 2x per week​

Experimental Theory

• Almost full Zeovit except for the carbon source which will be Tropic Marin NP Bacto Balance because this product makes a lot of sense to me. Also not running a skimmer which goes against most recommendations when carbon dosing. Weekly 5 gallon (25-30%) water change.
  • Zeovit products:
    • 150ml zeolite in a media bag in overflow section of tank (will be shaking into display section of tank daily)
    • 2 drops Zeobak per day for first 14 days, maintenance dose after
    • Periodic dosing of: Coral Vitalizer, Spongepower, Pohl's Xtra (I actually don't have a set schedule for these yet)
  • Other products:
    • Brightwell Amino Acids - 5 drops per day
    • Tropic Marin NP Bacto Balance - .10ml per day to start out

Day 1 (5/15/20)

• Chemistry
  • Nitrate: Barely detectable around 0.25ppm
  • Phosphate: .037ppm
  • Alk: 6.7 (will slowly be bringing this up with kalk in ATO)
  • Don't test anything else at this point. Tank is pretty new so consumption of alk/calc is low. I use a high quality salt and do weekly water changes and I've never added an unbalanced source of alk or calcium to the tank. No reason to believe anything is off at this point.
• Setup / First Doses
  • Added the zeolite bag to the overflow area of the sump
  • 2 drops Zeobak
  • 0.10ml NP Bacto Balance
  • 5 drops Brightwell Aminos

I'll be updating the thread periodically with how the tank is responding to this method. I think the combo of products will work out fine. At this point my biggest concern is lack of skimmer with carbon dosing so I'll be taking it very slow with the NP Bacto Balance. Any recommendations or concerns I'd love to hear them! Thanks for reading.

Day 1 Pics

 

[F i s h y]

how is the experiment coming along?

 

[Nepenthes88]

Time for an update!

I'm still continuing the 14 day Zeo start up guide which includes 2 drops of Zeobak every day along with a carbon source. My N and P have basically reached the end point in terms of Zeovit/ULNS levels so I'm wondering if going to the maintenance dose of Zeobak at this point makes sense instead of continuing for the full 14 days. If anyone could chime in here I'd appreciate it.

Like I said above, nutrient levels of N and P have reached Zeovit/ULNS levels of non-detectable nitrate and 0.037 P and these levels are maintaining. Alk seems to be stable at around 7.1 dkh. Overall I'm very pleased with my levels at this point.

Carbon dosing using NP Bacto Balance also seems to be going well as it's reduced my nutrient levels to where I want and I also suspect the bacteria are feeding corals directly. I do however see strings of bacteria in a few places in the tank such as low flow zones in the "sump" area. This doesn't bother me at all since it's staying there and not really present in the display area of the tank.

Corals have responded well so far. My LPS (especially hammers) are extremely fluffy and SPS seem to be paling while also coloring up at the same time, if that makes sense, and are showing small signs of growth. I'm unsure how zoas/palys are doing. They seem to be just existing. No signs of growth or decline.

I've settled on a Day A/Day B dosing schedule for all my additives with the exception of Zeobak during the 14 days start up period and my carbon dosing. I just alternate every day between Day and Day B.

Day A

• Brightwell Aminos 5 drops
• Zeovit Coral Vitalizer

Day B

• Zeovit Spongepower
• Zeovit Pohl's Xtra

Concerns at this point:

• Nitrate: Do I care that it's undetectable? NP Bacto Balance does contain small amounts of N and P so I know I'm dosing at least a small amount every day. Nothing has declined or lost color so I think I will not be too concerned until I see a decline in coral health.
• Carbon dose: As I mentioned in my first post, I'm not running a skimmer. I won't be very happy if I start to see strings of bacteria in the main display. However, I will most likely halve my carbon dose at the end of the 14 day Zeovit start up plan, or possibly even sooner since my nutrients have stabilized. This could help with presence of strings of bacteria.
• Overdosing: This is only a 20 gallon tank. Am I overdosing on all the additives? Once everything seems to be stable I may decrease frequency for 1 additive at a time to see if it makes a difference.

Shots for documentation. First two FTS's are from when I started to now. Pay attention to how fluffly the hammers in the top right and mid left are.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

 

[VR28man]

Just founs this in a search. how did this go? i thought a skimmer was an important part of the zeovit system, if only for aeration.