Question on Zeolight system

[xseraph]

Good afternoon, my 47G tank switched to Zeolight system 3 months ago and started with 100g of Zeolite in a Zeolite reactor. During the first month, I observed that my NO3 was raising from 1 to 5 ppm. So I increased the usage of Zeolite to 150g and 200g during the second and third month. However, my NO3 kept raising and now it is 10 ppm. I also observed that the potassium level never drops since the first month (420mg) without any dosage of K. It sounds abnormal to me and do you have any recommendation or idea of what's going on with my tank? Many thanks in advance!

 

[xshmoox]

You really need to dose some sort of bacteria and carbon source to your system like zeobak or microbacter7 to take advantage of the zeolite system. You also have to make sure your flow through the reactor isn’t to low or to high.

 

[Cflow]

Check your zeolite flow. Do not add more zeolites than recommended. Potassium test kits are usually wrong. I wouldn’t worry about chasing potassium. I actually think NO3 at 10 ppm is a good place to be. I had to remove my zeolites and even stop carbon dosing to get my NO3 above 0.5ppm. Corals start to starve and nuisance algaes or dinos can creep in if nutrients too low. You’ll find expensive blue bottles to starve out the algae but it’s easier to stop doing so much and let it settle a bit. Just my opinion.

 

[xseraph]

You really need to dose some sort of bacteria and carbon source to your system like zeobak or microbacter7 to take advantage of the zeolite system. You also have to make sure your flow through the reactor isn’t to low or to high.

Check your zeolite flow. Do not add more zeolites than recommended.

Thanks for your advise, I did try to add microbacter7 or Bacto Blend to the system in a weekly basis, but couldn't help. About the flow rate, I counldn't find any information about suitable flow rate on FM website. Some people said slower is better, at the moment my reactor is running at 60lph.

 

[xshmoox]

When adding microbacter when you start out you have to follow the directions I believe. It’s much higher doses to start out to get the bacteria seeded. But then to feed the bacteria you really need to add a carbon source like vinegar or something. But being at 10ppm I wouldn’t be too worried what are your phosphates at? With that small of a tank you will also have to watch carbon dosing because the nitrates will drop pretty quickly.

 

[Cflow]

I would recommend following one program or another for ULNS. Either straight zeovit, aquaforest, etc. You probably don’t really need zeolites for 47 gal unless your bioload is super heavy or you really want zero nutrients. Zeolites can cause a lot of problems if not used correctly. I actually have a 40 gal breeder that I started with zeolites and aquaforest program but have weaned off to just bacteria twice a week because my nutrients were too low.