Dilemna

[Tom Berry]

I am very happy with the health and coloration of my sps, but continue to struggle with brown slime. I now believe that it is bacterial buildup from zeo dosing, not algae.

I currently have no fish in my tank. I am not feeding/adding anything other than zeo products. My skimmer is working fine. I am using RO/DI water that measures 0 TDS.

I recently stopped all zeo dosing for a week. My sps lost color, but I didn't see any difference with the slime.

I cut way back on my dosages, and started start2 last week. I believe I am in phase 2, but it's hard to tell. My curent dosages for my 75g (net volume) tank are:

.4 ml start2 1x daily
1 drop bak 1x weekly
food7 none
AAHC 1 drop 2x weekly
PIF 1 drop 2x weekly
Fe 1 drop 1x weekly

I think my sps would benefit from more AAHC, and maybe food7, but I don't want to feed the slime.

I am reluctant to stop zeo dosing for an extended period, as my corals would suffer. Will the start2 help with this over time? What else can I do?

Tom

[G.Alexander]

Tom, is it possible to post a picture of the slime to be sure ?

With my experience I can tell you the slime is caused by a overdose of ZeoStart2 and / or AAHC. Your AAHC dosage seems to be fine. I would recommend to cut down the ZeoStart2 dosage. I would not completely stop, because this will change the bacteria comparison in your system. 2 drops in the morning and 2 drops in the evening should slow reduce the slime.

I had the same problem by overdosing ZeoStart2 and it took about 4 weeks until the slime disappear, than I adjusted my ZeoStart2 dosage to the optimum.

G.Alexander

[Tom Berry]

Here are a couple of pics of the lovely stuff





Tom

[Aged Salt]

Tom, very frustrating, as Alexander & myself have also experienced this problem. The new ZS2 seems to be very concentrated, therefore, I agree with Alexander's assessment. I would recommend manually removing the slime daily by whatever means you choose[razor blade/toothbrush/baster] For your sytem, I recommend the following:
1) dose 3/4ltrs zeolite @75gph
2) dose 3/4 Cup carbon
3) ZeoBak--2 drops, every other day for 2wks. with new zeolites, then 2 drops 2x's/wk.
4) ZeoFood--1 drop as above
5) ZeoStart2--2 drops 2x's/day daily
6) Hold AAHC, PIF, Fe, etc. until the slime deposits have abated. Bob

[Tom Berry]

So start2 and AAHC cause the slime more than bak or food7?

Tom

[Aged Salt]

Yes, Tom, slime is mainly from excess of Start & AAHC/AALPS. By not dosing enough bak, one can not obtain the maximum effects from the ZEOvit method. With the new Start2, as Alexander has mentioned, decrease the Food quantity by 33-50%, as this regimen will allow the optimim benefits from all of the basic four components. Bob

[Tom Berry]

Thanks Alexander and Bob

Tom

[G.Alexander]

Tom, thanks for posting the pictures. I would lower the dosage as Bob mentioned.

Could you tell me how long you use ZeoStart2 now ?

Thanks,

G.Alexander

[Tom Berry]

Alexander,

I have only been using start2 for 6 days now. I had the slime before I started using it, and I was not using start1. Therefore, I think it is from previous excessive dosing of AAHC and other supplements.

Hopefully, stopping the supplements for a while, and reducing start2, will help get rid of it.

Thanks again for your help.

Tom

[G.Alexander]

Tom, I expect you will see the decrease of the slime within the next 4 weeks.

Please keep us up to date.

Thanks,

G.Alexander

[Aged Salt]

Hi Tom, I'm positive the schedule above will energize the ZEOvit system to expediate removal of these nutrients over the next month or soBob