Increase amount of Zeolith's?

[CAReefer]

Hey all, I still am not (started dec 04) getting the type of results everyone brags about. I am contemplating increasing the amount of zeo rocks in the reactor and am looking for info on doing this.

Currently;
2 liters plus 2 handfuls of old zeolite. Changed @ 6 weeks.
2 cups carbon. Changed @ 4 weeks. Kneaded every other day.
3 mls Start 2 daily. 1 ml x3 daily.
5 drops AAHC daily
5 drops Bak x2 week
4 drops food x2 week
4 drops PFIC x2 week

Tank volume is 250 gallons (net)

Some corals have lost intensity over the past few months, and some have gotten more colorful. Blues and Purples have mainly faded, while greens and yellows have gotten more intense. One large Nobilis (was purple with blue tips) has gone to brown with white tips and shades of blue. Blue mille is mostly brown, green mille is bright green with yellow tips. Growth has not been an issue. Still waiting to get a Hanna colorimeter but Salifert shows less than .01 P04.

Suggestions? What happens if I go to 3 liters of zeo and it is too much? Could someone layout the signs of O.D. of the basic 4? I now the Start will produce bubbles on rocks and "fuzzy glass" neither of which I have. I dosed spur once and didn't like the results even though they were minimal.

Here is one example off the top of my head.
First one taken in December about 10 days after starting Zeo. The piece has already started to brown in the branches. Previously it was entirely blue.


And here is one from late april. Nothing really has changed since this pic.


Sorry for rambling, I have been trying to formulate this thread in my head for a few days now and decided to just go ahead and post it.

Thanks for reading.
CAReefer

[OUinLA]

I'd cut out the zeofood, or only add it once a week. also try decreasing your total daily dosage of start2 to 1.5-2ml's daily.

when i've added excess zeovit, I didn't really see any changes.

[CAReefer]

Thanks for the response. I have slowly increased dosage of start from less than 1 ml a day to my current 3mls per day and have seen no changes. I will stop the food for a while and see what happens.

CAReefer

[G.Alexander]

Marshal, I would recommend to decrease the ZeoStart dosage to about 5 drops in the morning and 5 drops in the evening. In your situation it also could be helpful to decrease the quantity of zeolite to 2/3. Please make sure you adjust the water flow through the reactor while you do this. Less zeolite will bring much more water flow, because the water gets less resistance. Please make sure you mix the stones, if possible twice a day. You also can lower the carbon quantity to the half.

I made the experience in a very poor nutrient environment corals loose the intensive coloration. Lowering the materials and the dosage is helpful in bringing them back, however I never noticed any measurable increase of nutrients. The Hanna is relative exact but it is not possible to measure these fine differences.

I would recommend anyway to keep the daily AAHC dosage.

ZeoBac could also be lowered to 2 – 3 drops once a week. It is also good to decrease fish feedings – believe me they will be happy

G.Alexander

[Aged Salt]

Hi Marshal, I agree with Alexander, your nutrients are ultra low & in your case "less is more" Plz. be sure to read the thread by Wei[losmandy]--"I've converted to BB" in which dose titrations in Phase 3 are discussed. BTW, I believe Alexander meant "increase" fish-feedings in his last sentenceBob

[Orion76]

I believe Alexander meant "increase" fish-feedings in his last sentenceBob

That one had me puzzled, my fish sure wouldn't be happy about a decrease

[G.Alexander]

Thanks Bob increase for sure

G.Alexander

[losmandy]

There you go.

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showpos...6&postcount=31

[Orion76]

You make me sick with your zero PO4

[losmandy]

Kill all your potiential PO4 sources and you'll get undetectable PO4 :blue:

[Orion76]

Like remove the 4 month old LR from my tank?

[losmandy]

That's certainly great idea lol.

[CAReefer]

I understand the need for less zeo products as nutrients drop. BUT, I still have relatively strong macro growth, grape caulerpa, some weird brown plating algae and hair algae in the display tank as well has chaeto and brown hair algae in my frag tank. With this algae growth, are nutrients low enough to have to start decreasing dosages? If all nusiance algae had gone away or at least stopped growing, I could see this. The continued growth is mainly the reason I continued to raise levels of start2 and the question in re zeolites.

Thanks
CAReefer.
ps gonna read that link now.

[Tom Berry]

I think you may not be dosing enough bak. I recently figured out that I was under dosing all along. Since the bacteria are critical to zeo, you need to make sure you are dosing enough to get the full benefits of the system. The guide dosage recommendation for your size tank is 10 drops.

The algae would indicate that your nutrients are not that low. It is getting them from somewhere.

Are you using the 10 ml bottle of bak? If so, take a look at this thread.

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2838

Tom:fish2:

[G.Alexander]

If you still get those algae growing I expect nutrients are bound to the substrate. Algae are able to unhinge the nutrients for their metabolism. However, this takes time while the water column contains a very low concentration in nutrients which can be noticed in the look of the corals.

I made this experiences especially with tanks running kalkwasser for a longer period before converting to a nutrient poor environment.

G.Alexander