At last!!! All advice welcome

[juppy]

At last i am about to order my zeo starter kit!!!!
My tank is a 48x18x18 panoramic so not so easy to work out the gallonage!!
Sump is 24x12x18 deep (12 inches water line)


1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.)
worked it out to be about 63 uk gal before displacement? Sound about right?

2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.)
This is another tricky one have a far bit of rock but not weighed it!! reckon would take volume down to about 50 uk gal?

3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique
Not yet but am planning to will use additive in the meantime

4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.)
fluidize half a cupfull of rowa at the moment. should have been changed a but am leaving for the zeo.

5. Are you using Ozone
no

6. Are you using UV
no

7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume)
Aquamedic tf1000

8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels
p04 is lighter than .1 on my test kit but could mean anything! no3 is 0.5

9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels
ca 420 alk 9.4 mag - need to pick up a new test kit

10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.)
live rock and thats it!! bare bottom and shed loads of syphoning at the mo!!

11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.)
4x new 54w t5's will be overdriven to 85w each next week via an icecap (dont ask, cant have halides as the cat sleeps on the hood!!) may go with 2 extra 54 watters so 320 odd watts of t5 may go to 430w but dont think i will need to.

12. What corals do you keep
at the moment have a couple of softies left but am slowly moving them out for the sps. have 2 large colonies and 10 odd frags that have all been growing and colouring up in my tank as it is for the last month-6 weeks

13. Tissue color (light or dark)
ummm.........not brown?? would say some light some dark (is that ok?)

14. How long has the tank been running
moved from 2 year old tank about 8 months ago so 2 yrs 8 mnths ish.

15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system
you serious??? no, want to compensate a bit for the halide thing by having wickedly clean water. like the colours, want to follow you guys and help to pioneer this method and make fellow reefers so green with envy that they hate my guts and boot me off the board!! (jk)

16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.)
kalk, 4 pint a day to match my evap. to balance my calc ,alk ect.

17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.)
dont know, a lot. as old as th tank 2 yrs 8 months.

18. Any present problems
am losing the frag race!!!.......No seriously, green glass every few days if not wiped ( i know is only small thing but i hate doing this!!) i need more flow
other than this no nuisance algae. Although i know that my po4 are coming from my ro which is being replaced in a couple of weeks.

20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.)
salifert apart from po4 cause they ran out so got a red sea one for now. All less than a month old


phew!!!!!

hope this is enough info guys...............hit me!!

[Aged Salt]

Hi Barry, thnx. for your interesting thoughts & tank description By now you know that KW is not driped with the ZEOvit method. Be certain to follow through on improving your product water, as it does make a world of difference & to align your parameters[especially Mg/KH] with the guide recommendations. For your system, I recommend the following:
1) dose 3/4ltr. zeolite with a filter flow rate of 300l/h. Cycle the stones "on" & "off" on 3hr. intervals. Exchange these after 4wks. on the first time period, then, change-outs are at 6wks. intervals. Pump clean the zeo-filter 1-3x's/day daily.
2) dose 3/4 Cup carbon, passively, in your sump, kneaded 3x's/wk. & exchanged every 4wks.
3)Dose bak/food 3 drops daily for 2wks. with new zeolites, then 2x's/wk. Turn off your skimmer for 60min after dosing. Dose these in front of your zeo-filter intake pump.
4) Dose Start2 .3ml 3x's/day or .4ml 2x's/day daily. It is not necessary to turn off your skimmer when just dosing Start2. Ask any questions as they appear. Bob

[juppy]

Thanks for your time Bob!!

[juppy]

I am sooooo excited about this.........sad i know. Wish me luck peeps start friday!

[skeletor]

At last i am about to order my zeo starter kit!!!!

cant have halides as the cat sleeps on the hood!!)

congrats juppy,

I want to see a pic of the cat sleeping on the hood...

rich.

[Heinz]

congrats juppy,

I want to see a pic of the cat sleeping on the hood...

rich.

i second that

[juppy]

will get you one..........bl**dy cat!!

[juppy]

all my stuff has arrived..........im scared!!!

[gqjeff]

Don't be scared at all.. Take it slow and you will be nothing but HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY... Its not a miracle cure and it depends on the nutrient level in your tank now on how fast and effective the method will work.. Over time though it will work for you as it has for many others.. Congrats and make sure you take a bunch of pre zeo pics. Then take some new pics in about 2 months and you will see the true difference..

Peace and good luck, Jeff

[juppy]

ok stones are in!!!

what now? do i dose straight away or what ? also will use a salifert syringe is that ok?

we have to acclimatize the corals and other inhabitants to this nutrient poor conditions slowly right? like a couple of weeks? if thats the case how long are you guys acclimatizing new stock for? cheers

juppy

[adobo]

dont ask, cant have halides as the cat sleeps on the hood!!

You know, it will only hurt once.. maybe twice. Then the bl**dy cat won't sleep on that hood anymore.

if thats the case how long are you guys acclimatizing new stock for?

I always wondered that with the zeovit method. As I understand it, there has been some reports of problems when nutrient levels are reduced too rapidly in an existing tank. Assuming that the place you get your livestock from doesn't have low nutrient levels like you would with a zeovit tank, (lfs in my area use tap water for make up water and to make new salt water with) how do you go about acclimating new corals? I would think that even the process of rapidly reducing nutrients with zeovit would take several hours or several days. Why would you not see similar type of problems when introducing new corals that are coming from a higher nutrient level tank?

[juppy]

ok, about to do my first 4 week changeout. Sofar no real problems but also not a noticeable change in any of my corals either. Still getting phosphates in my ro due to faulty di on my new unit though so until this is sorted cannot critique the system. Have just upgraded to icecap have 4x54w overdriven and 2x seio 1100gph so except for my product water am good to go for some awesome colours hopefully.

Bob, could you take a look and give me some dosage numbers for the next 6 weeks when you have time please.

Many thanks and kind regards
Barry

[G.Alexander]

Barry, Bob is very busy so I like to give you support.

As Bob already recommended in his last post its time to change the zeolite. You could leave 5 % of the old stones in the rector, changing the rest. Carbon should be replaced once a month.

You could further go on with Bobs last dosing recommendations. Please post if you notice any overdosing sign.

4 weeks is not a long time, so patience I am sure you soon will notice the first changes in your corals. Please make sure your water parameters are kept as recommended.

Next zeolite change should be in 6 weeks.

G.Alexander

[juppy]

many thanks,

4 weeks has gone really quick so am not concerned about the system at all, just cant wait to get rid of the po4 in my ro! (Bl**dy farmers!!!!) then hopefully i will start to see a small difference.

[Heinz]

many thanks,

4 weeks has gone really quick so am not concerned about the system at all, just cant wait to get rid of the po4 in my ro! (Bl**dy farmers!!!!) then hopefully i will start to see a small difference.

i hate to bust your bubble, but your PO4 in your tap water has nothing to do with the farmers, in fact, phosphat is not moving in the soil, it will stay where it is when ablicated from a farmer,