Some corals lightening after start of Filtra M

[Canarygirl]

Hello

I just started using Filtra M on my 120. I started with a small handful only, in a media bag in my filter sock. After a few days I noticed that a couple of corals at the top of my rock pile--both montis--were lightening in color. I moved both of them to lower positions. Is this because the water is clearer and it's like adding more light? Should I do anything else, remove the Filtra M or anything?

Thanks for your help

[elosusa]

Hey Canarygirl here are a few things to check.
p04?
no3?
Are you using a mh light or strong t5 light and did you increase the height of the light per the instructions before adding the filtra m?
In the instructions pay special attention to the, " molecular filtration" section and the "attention" section at the end.
Moving the corals to a lower position or raising the lights is a good idea and reducing the amount of filtra m is fine, as well. How many days have you been running the Filtra m?
In the "attention" section you will notice it says, " dosage should be reduced by half in case a skimmer or ozone is used". I am assuming you are running a skimmer so your max dosage will be 250ml per 34 gallons. To begin you should start with 1/3rd of this dosage or 83ml per 34 gallons. So to begin you should be around 300-325ml for your tank volume if you have 120 gallons of ACTUAL water volume. I understand that actual water volume is most likely going to be an approximation, so error on the low side in terms of filtra m dosage. Most will get good results with lower dosages so I would consider an even smaller dosage to start, with the lights raised for the first 8-10 days as instructed. Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

[Canarygirl]

ooo...I'd forgotten that part in the instructions and couldn't find them when I looked for them. I have 2 x 175 watt Iwasaki 15K halides and can not adjust their height.

In fact I have 2 tanks plumbed together with my sump so my total water volume not including rock-displacement is ~175 gallons.

I'll figure this out per your instructions. I've been running the Filtra M for 2 and 1/2 days.

Thanks again and I posted this same question over on ReefFrontiers (where the BarrierReef folks are asking for an Elos Primer/Refresher). Anyway, no need to respond to me again over there.

Another change I've noticed is that my skimmer output is much less after starting FiltraM, and the output is drier. I use an ATI BM 200 and it used to skim kind of wet. Now dry & bubble-y. It's all very intersting....

[Canarygirl]

Update:

Corals doing fine after moving them down a bit.


When you increase the amount of Filtra M, do you add to the previous amount or replace it? In other words, how often should you throw out your used Filtra M?

[Bricky]

I was replacing mine at about 7 weeks. When I did replace it, I was replacing 350ml of the 500ml.

[Canarygirl]

Another question....

Is there a difference between the Filtra M and Zeovit's rocks? In function, chemistry, potency, or anything else? I've started reading some posts over at zeovit.com to get more information on how these bacterial supplements work. For example, are people supposed to clean the Filtra M every so often like you're supposed to clean the Zeovit rocks? I lost my paper insert that came with the Filtra M and the Elos website is mostly in Italian.

Thanks

[elosusa]

Filtra M is one form of zeolites and is very strong, as you witnessed at the start of this thread;) Our media is smaller compared to most other zeolites used for this hooby and in the purist system you do not need to move the filtra m around daily but you do keep 1/3rd of the filtra m every time you change media (6-8weeks) and rinse the 1/3rd that will remain in tank water. If you pm me your address I will send you a new pamphlet for your filtra m and I also have pamphlets for the purist line I can put in the envelope, as well. Hope that helps.

[Canarygirl]

Thankyou very much, Jesse!