rowa ?

[reeftec]

i just got started with zeo ,can i still run my rowa reactor or should i stop that?

[G.Alexander]

You generally should stop the usage of PO4 absorbers with the system. This will cause problems.

G.Alexander

[reeftec]

thanx alexander ,would you please tell me why?

[G.Alexander]

The main problem is the system is changing the environment significant, eliminating different kind of nutrients. A PO4 absorber will only reduce PO4, just one of the different kind of nutrients being available for the corals. It seems this causes the problem which was observed many times in different tanks running the system. It looks like corals do not tolerate quick PO4 changes (for example if the absorber is replaced with fresh material) if the “general” nutrient situation is well balanced. Corals mostly loose tissue, starting from the tips, which is caused by the light, but this also depends to the quantity of PO4 absorber which is used. However, sooner or later it will cause problems and I would not recommend to use a PO4 absorber with the system.

G.Alexander

[reeftec]

i understand what you mean & i know what you mean with the sudden change of po4,which is what i am afraid of myself,i change my rowa every 4 weeks,i never give it enough time to completely get saturated therefore change the po4 absorbtion speed,my experience with it aslong as it was maintained & not clumped thing are good,i think more than anything the people use it then don't change it often enough then change it with full blast flow trough the reactor drops the po4 all of sudden that might cause bleaching,tissue loss,etc
what i am worried about is that i was using o3 ,uv,rowa & all of the sudden stopping all 3 i am afraid of algae bloom or any other sudden change in my tank
so do you think i should still use it for a few more weeks until zeo starts working,or just leave it? thanx

[Aged Salt]

No, Jason. ZEOvit method reduces both N03's & P04's in a balanced manner[with zeolite-filter cycling], not unbalanced as with RowaPhos. Using both can result in coral consequences, therefore, follow the ZEOvit guidelines completely for the success you're seekingBob

[Spur2]

I have a lot of algae in my tank before starting the Zeovit. After the Zeovit arrived I remove everything I.E. (UV, Phosban Reactor) and add the Zeovit system. My Zeovit has been running for almost 10days now and I can see all the algae slowly going away. You shouldn't try something that is not recommended.

[cetled]

It looks like corals do not tolerate quick PO4 changes

.

Could the problem be more to do with the ph drop than reducing po4.??
I have noticed that when using rowa it does lower the ph quite a lot and i feel this does cause a problem, i normally add additional ph buffer which seems to fix the problem.

[wasp]

I'm no expert Cetled ( Not seen you here for a while :icon_bigg ), but I've dropped PH a few times in my tank with no ill effects of that type.
In addition, I've seen reports of TN being associated with too sudden a nutrient drop caused by overdose of vodka, and also zeovit products, neither of which would be associated with major sustained drop in PH.
Just seems a consistency to me in admitedly anecdotal evidence, sudden nutrient drop caused by 3 different ways, ie vodka, rowa, zeo, and result possible TN each time. Additionally, if alkalinity is too high, likelyhood of TN is increased with sudden nutrient drop, where one would expect a higher alkalinity to in fact hold PH higher.

How much does Rowa drop PH?

[wasp]

Another thing Reeftec, there are quite a few sad stories about people starting out on zeovit, and then losing or damaging corals. The common ingredient to these stories is that the person almost invariably did not properly follow the instructions in the zeovit guide. My advise follow the instructions absolutely, at least at first. After say 6 months you'll be getting a feel for things and may experiment, but in the initial phase do it exactly, this is while you are learning and the guide is to make sure you don't screw up.

[Aged Salt]

As Alastair said, if one follows the guidelines the TN event is very remote with the replacement now of Start1 with Start2. With the advent of Start1's replacement, I am not aware of any TN's events from my PM/EM's.

Alois, as I do use a pH monitor, I can not say from my experience if your supposition is on target. Bob

[cetled]

do use a pH monitor, I can not say from my experience if your supposition is on target. Bob

How much does Rowa drop PH?

This is my experiance using iron based products.
In fresh water a number of hobbyist have lost there fish a the ph dropped too low.
This usually happened when hobbyist used too much rowaphos.
The same thing could happen in a reef tank if you use too much rowaphos.
It could also be the reduction in KH which could cause problems as i think rowaphos does remove KH.
Over the last few days i started up my rowaphos reactor and noticed some of my acros going brown. when i checked my kh it was very low, once i increased the kh all the colours seem to improve.

[Spur2]

I have the same problem with using too much rowaphos. I bought two phosban reactor one for rowaphos and the other is for carbon. I pack my reactor with rowaphos and the next day all my bali xenia turned super thin and my noen green toadstool look half dead but i don't know what is going on till i turn off the reactor. My KH was down to 5.0 and Ph is 7.2. Luckily no coral get TN. But they stress out for almost 3 weeks.

[cetled]

That is a common problem that hobbyist have been overlooking,
Sudden reduction in Po4 could be one of the problems but sudden drop in ph/kh could also be causing stn etc.
So my supposition might not be off target.

[wasp]

If one thing goes out of whack, it will no doubt compound the effect on the coral from the other problems, so the whole thing combined is probably a deadly ****tail.
However sps can still TN from a rapid reduction in nutrients from vodka dosing, and to my knowledge this does not cause a big PH / Alk drop like rowa.