Not enough surface area???

[tonkadawg]

I've been rethinking this whole zeo thing and my approach to it on my frag tank that hasn't done too well.

When I first started running the tank and began to add corals, I only had the zeo reactor running. That was my sole source of bacteria filteration. I am now wondering if maybe my system was too bare?

What has led me to think about this is the fact that most everyone here tanks are show tanks, there is some sort of live rock or reef ceramic - allowing additional surface area for bacteria to grow.

I am in the process of recycling the tank now, with 40lbs of fresh live rock. I have been thinking about adding zeo back into my system becuase I do feel that it provides incredible results.

But what are everyones opinions on my thoughts above?

[scottw]

I've been rethinking this whole zeo thing and my approach to it on my frag tank that hasn't done too well.

When I first started running the tank and began to add corals, I only had the zeo reactor running. That was my sole source of bacteria filteration. I am now wondering if maybe my system was too bare?

What has led me to think about this is the fact that most everyone here tanks are show tanks, there is some sort of live rock or reef ceramic - allowing additional surface area for bacteria to grow.

I am in the process of recycling the tank now, with 40lbs of fresh live rock. I have been thinking about adding zeo back into my system becuase I do feel that it provides incredible results.

But what are everyones opinions on my thoughts above?

When I had my 800+ gallon setup running full of frags I had ZERO live rock, ZERO sand, I had a skimmer, reactor, and zeovit reactor. To run zeovit successfully I do not think you need rock, I was VERY successful with it and used nothing.

What exactly "didnt go so well"... What did you see? how much did you dose? how long did you go in-between rock changes. Did you shake the media daily and not once in a while? Did you dose daily on time and follow the dosing schedule to a T?

Just trying to get to the bottom of this bro.

Scott

[tonkadawg]

completely understand...

what didn't go so well was that frags were dying - the only thing I could keep alive in that tank were my two clams.

I was dosing:
start2 twice daily - .1ml each dose
3 drops food, 3 drops bak - every other day
1L zeolith - changed out around 5-6 weeks, pumped daily
1 c carbon, replaced monthly

[tonkadawg]

let me explain a little more of what went wrong...

I would put frags in and after a couple of days they would die. This was even after I was getting polyp extension - which I thought was a good indicator that they were doing good. In the mornings when I would go down and check on things, add water, and my start dosing, the tissue was pretty much gone, or just hanging off the skeleton.

At first I thought too much flow, so I cut the flow off completely - still had the same thing happen. Everything tested fine - would have to check past posts for exact readings.

[Heinz]

Matt, there is something wrong with your setup, if your frags die that fast,
as for cutting of the flow all together is never a good idea, if you are concerned that the flow blowes of the tissue, you should redirect your flow, to suply an indirect flow,

if you could give us as much info on your set up as possible and water parameter, we might find whats wrong with it, i highly doubt it is zeo,

[tonkadawg]

no I highly doubt it was zeo causing the deaths.

And when I cut the flow, I was referring to my Sequence dart CL - I still had some flow from the overflow/return to and from the sump.

I will post tank specifics when things here at work die down in a few

[Heinz]

Matt, if you could also provide some pictures of your setup, would be nice,

[tonkadawg]

tank is 48"x24"x12" ply coated in two part epoxy:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...11733/cid/3035


lighting is 250 hqi, ab10K bulb for 10 hrs a day

last measured:
sg 1.024
temp 77
ph 8.2
po4 0
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ca 380
alk - not sure will double check in past post
mg 1100

dosing is listed above

[tonkadawg]

that's all I have at the moment. If there are any specific shots you want to see, let me know and I can post later today.

[majesticangelfish]

Strange. The SE Bulb doesn't have a crack?

[tonkadawg]

not sure what you mean by it doesn't have crack

but FWIW - I don't use that set up. I just turned it on when I was setting up the tank

[G.Alexander]

Matt, your Mg and Ca levels are low. Are you sure your salinity is correct ? I also think there is something else causing the problem. The overdose of any zeo supplement would not cause the problem so fast. Which salt and which carbon brand are you using and how ?

I do not know the Epoxy Paint. Is there anybody around who is using it in a SPS tank without problems ?

Your system is around 260 gallons net – correct ?

G.Alexander

[tonkadawg]

Yeah those measurements were from a while ago. Before I added any frags, I got them both up into acceptable levels - I want to say from memory ca was at 420 and Mg was at 1350. All tests were with Salifert kits.

I double checked my salinity by recalibrating my refractormeter - it's reading matched my salinity monitor. So I am certain that reading is accurate. I've also tested my tds which came out to 0.

I agree, overdosing of zeo would not cause what I have experienced.

I did some research over on RC on that epoxy, several people have used it with great results. I let the tank cure about 2 weeks before even leak testing.

The tank with sump is approximately 75 gallons.

What I don't get is how I was able to keep a crocea and maxima with no problems but irreguardless of species, no coral would last longer than a week.

[G.Alexander]

Matt, a little bit off topic, but 0,7 liters zeovit with a water flow around 20 gallons would be the correct amount for your system.

G.Alexander

[tonkadawg]

Alexander actually now that you mention it, I was using 3/4L (I just remembered why I have open bags of zeolith at home). To feed the reactor, I was using a rio50 PH - probably a little bit more flow than required.