Setup recommendations

[hardtwist]

Hello
I would like to here what you all think would be the definitive setup for a new Zeovite system. I dont need brands necessarily. Just what is needed and not needed would be fine.
I have been reading and trying to put this puzzle together and just would like to find out if I am getting close to understanding the method.



Jim

[mikester]

You'll get some varying opinions, but I would say:

- Barebottom/Starboard or shallow sand bed (1" or less)
- 10k MH lighting with actinic supplementation
- at least 30x turnover for circulation
- a good skimmer rated for at least 2x the tank volume, and that will wet skim effectively
- zeovit reactor
- No refugium
- No kalkreactor

Those are the bare minimum. Some nice-to-haves are:

- calcium reactor
- easy water change system (since you will be changing water weekly)
- an Aquacontroller (just because I like toys)

[hardtwist]

Thanks mikester. I was a little unclear on whether to have a retugium or not. I have been reading that most dont use them with Zeo. Guess I just wanted to hear it to make sure.


JIM

[hardtwist]

How about live rock. Do or dont?

[hardtwist]

Maybe I should explain why I ask about the liverock.
If the goal of Zeovite is to starve the Nitrogen Cycle at the Ammonia point of the cycle wouldnt it be better to start out with as low of a bio load as possible?

JIM

[scottw]

There is only a handful on ZEO that don’t have rock. I for one don’t. Bob has little. You can use it for sure.. Just cook the rock before you use it, I know gqjeff would have done that part different if he could do it over. But he has been on for 3-4 months now and it’s all gone for the most part (algae that is) as well as a lot of other crap, his rock was some base and 4+ year old rock. I just grow frags so I don’t need rock, You can use it though ..

[GTR]

Same here... very little rock. Maybe 70# total in 350g.
SteveU

[hardtwist]

Thanks for the reply scottw.
I was thinking of making my own rock. It would be clean cement rock. Think it would work?

JIM

[scottw]

You'll get some varying opinions, but I would say:

- Barebottom/Starboard or shallow sand bed (1" or less)
- 10k MH lighting with actinic supplementation
- at least 30x turnover for circulation
- a good skimmer rated for at least 2x the tank volume, and that will wet skim effectively
- zeovit reactor
- No refugium
- No kalkreactor

Those are the bare minimum. Some nice-to-haves are:

- calcium reactor
- easy water change system (since you will be changing water weekly)
- an Aquacontroller (just because I like toys)

You can use Sand if you like, I know a lot that have DSB that are on ZEO, and its working great, it will take a lot longer for zeo to work (if its old sand) if its new then you wont see much lag time at all.

I use MH, but I use 20k.. the k of the bulb doesn’t effect zeo at all, you can use t5's, mh, pc, what ever you want. Now ZEO is tailored for people growing SPS so I would highly recommend MH and if you want supplementation go with T5's as they are cooler then VHO (temp that is) but some use VHO.. Bob has something like 340 watts of VHO, and his tank is sweet. (bob = agedsalt) he also has 1 or 2 1000 watt MH and 2 or 3 400 watt MH as well. You can change water every 2 weeks but mikester is correct, you will want easy access to this. A calcium reactor is a good investment, even if you don’t go with ZEO, I had over 800 pieces of SPS and water changes was not enough to supply them with enough calcium, so a reactor is key for SPS (IMO).





Tell us more about the size you want to go with, the approx money you want to spend on equipment, live stock, tank, etc.. That will make it a lot easier on us to help you with a little more detail.

[scottw]

Thanks for the reply scottw.
I was thinking of making my own rock. It would be clean cement rock. Think it would work?

JIM

Jim,
You can make your own rock for sure.. agrocrete is great stuff, but you have to make sure its cured or it will take forever to do it in a tank.. most people that I know that make it around here have a river/creek around for them to make it, let it harden, then they place it out there for a couple of months, then sun dry it for a couple of weeks to let it cure the rest of the way, then they will soak it in Saltwater for a couple weeks, then it should be ready to go. But I will still then cook it for a month in your tank with heavy flow, water changes, and no light at all.

That is the basics for using agrocrete rock.. it can be done, not sure where you live but im in the Midwest and its freezing here now lol.. So no sun to cook it and not much flow in the creek lol..

[hardtwist]

Thanks for the input Scott. Its cold here too. I am in Oklahoma. It is snowing as we type. LOL
I have about 300lb of concrete rock curing now. It is 11 months old and has been soaked in fresh water for 3 months and cooked in the sun all summer. I will be putting it in a salt water horse tank to soak for as long as it takes. I am very slow and deliberate with my projects. LOL (slow) Now since I cant depend on the coralline for color I will have to do some experiments with cement dye.
JIM

[scottw]

lol.. awesome. sounds like you know what your doing.. use it for sure.. use milk crates or something in the tank, makes a great cave and you hide it with rock, and use a lot less rock.. if you needs pics let me know i have some of me setting up my 230.

[scottw]

and what do you need color for, thats why you cover the rocks with CORALS

[hardtwist]

The color is because I dont like to look at that ugly gray until the corals grow in. But hey. With Zeo I wont have as long to wait. LOL

[scottw]

that is very TRUE 300 lbs of rock, how big of a tank?