Need some advice/direction, please!

[Ifferfish]

Need some advice/direction please...

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Here are the answers to the tank questionaire you have.

1. 335 gallons total system
2. 260 net volume
3. I have a Deltec cal. reactor with C02
4. No P04 reactor
5. No Ozone
6. No UV
7. Deltec PF600s skimmer rated for 425 gal. High stocking or 555 gal normal stocking
8. P04 levels .25 N03 0
9. Ca 425, Alk dkh 8, Mg 1380
10. Live rock, rufgugium.
11. Mh Lights 400 watt AB's 2 months old 13k
12. I have lps, sps, and a few softies
13. The acros have the hint of the color that they should be, but not the "pop" that they have when I get them from other reefers. They seem to almost tan up a bit.
14. Tank has been running since 2003
15. It was suggested to me at MACNA this year by a well known professional coral propagator. I explained to him I was looking for the color he had, he sent me to the zeovit people.
16. I dose 1 drop Lugals Iodine daily. Thought that it might be something my system was lacking for color.
17. I have 200lbs in the display tank,2003 and then another 125lbs in the sump and fuge from this September 2005.
18. Some nuisance algae, from time to time. Little air bubbles around the tank. Not comming from the filtration, they all have "socks" on them. Seems to be from the algae areas when present.
19. I do get a Diatom bloom evey now and then. Seems to be related to large water changes.
20. I use Tropic Marin test Kits, change them every 6 months or so.
21. Not dosing any Zeovit of any type until I get some guidelines!
22. Salinity 1.25, Temp 78 Have a chiller and heaters to maintain constant temp. Use small amount of carbon, maybe 2 cups, and change it every 2 weeks for water clairity. They water does not seem crystal clear dispite a 50 gallon water change every 2 weeks. I use Tropic Marin and Tropic Marin pro reef salt. I do have a RODI system.

Thanks in advance for any guidence you can offer me.
Iffer

[Ifferfish]

Anyone out there?

[G.Alexander]

Iffer, first of all I would recommend to download the dosing guide from:

http://www.captiveoceans.com/pdfs/ZEOvitGuide1.pdf

It contains a lot of useful information and will be helpful to get a feeling for the dosage.

Just start with the basics products to decrease nutrients:

1. Place 2.5 liters zeovit in a Zeo Reactor. Water flow around 200 – 250 gallons per hour. Connect the reactor pump with a timer and run the reactor pump with a 3 hour on / 3 hour off / 3 hour on interval. Please make sure the zeolite is not exposed to air while the pump is switched off. Clean the material daily. Leave the zeolite 4 weeks in the filter until you do the first change out. This is the first changing interval, others could be lengthen to 6 – 8 weeks.

2. Place 1 liter carbon in a filter sock and keep it in a passive water flow in your sump, changed every 30 days. Knead the carbon daily to keep the surface cleran.

3. Dose 10 drops ZeoBac & ZeoFood7 daily for the first 2 week, flowed by a 2 – 3 x weekly dosage of 10 drops. Dose 1 ml ZeoStar2 2 x daily (morning & evening). Dose those in front of the Zeo reactor pump while it is switched on.

4. The additional dosage of some food source for the corals works fine. I would recommend to dose 10 drops Amino Acid High Concentrate & 20 drops Pohls Coral Vitalizer daily directly in the tank.

Later on you could use the additional products for coral colouration. This makes no sense at the moment while your nutrients are high. You will admire them if your system has changed to a nutrient poor environment. Adjust your skimmer to skim wet, keeping it clean to export as much as possible. Do a weekly water change of 5 – 10 % with a good salt.

G.Alexander

[Ger]

Just a couple random things to consider...

16. I dose 1 drop Lugals Iodine daily. Thought that it might be something my system was lacking for color.

You may want to back off dosing Iodine unless you are pretty sure this element is lacking in your system.

19. I do get a Diatom bloom evey now and then. Seems to be related to large water changes

Check the TDS of your RO/DI unit. Sounds like you may introduce some silicates with your water changes/make up water. Your RO/DI cartridge may be exhausted...

[Ifferfish]

Thanks for getting back to me on this. Now I have a few questions.

When I purchased the basic products, I opted to build a reactor, of which I was told was fine. I explained that my tank is on the main level and my sump, pumps, refug are in the basement. I was planning on gravity feeding the reactor. They said that was fine as long as the water was going through about 100 gallons per hour and I "pumped " the media once a day. Will this work? I don't want to build this/set it up if it won't work.

Good point on the Iodine. I am Not sure that it is lacking, just looking for something I might have been missing. I will stop for now.

I use Tropic Marin and Tropic Marin Pro reef. Any problems with this and ZEOvit?


Thanks for helping with this, Iffer

[Aged Salt]

Hi Iffer, & welcome to ZEOvit.com I see no reason why gravity feeding the zeo-reactor would not work, as long as the flow through the stones is 100gph/ltr. zeolites used[1 ltr. zeolites /100g net vol]

TM is not a salt that I have used, but I am concerned about the "extra-elements" which in low nutrients water[like ZEOvit] can result in darkening of our SPS, but if you like it, you certainly can continue to use it. Many zeo-users like Kent's, new Seachem's, Oceanic, IO, & Oceanic-IO[50-50] HTH, Bob

[Ifferfish]

Thanks for the information. I will set up my reactor this weekend and I am sure have more questions after that. Thanks again for taking the time to read this and get back to me! Iffer

[Ifferfish]

Ok, So now a few more questions. Since I am planning to gravity feed my Zeovit, I will put a ball valve on it so I can control the rate of water flowing through it. In reading the dosing guide, it sound like I should start off by only running 50-60 gal per hour due to a heavy nutrient load. If so, then how much Zeovit should go into the reactor? I also am not planning on turning this flow on and off. By looking at my live rock , I would say I have alot of excess nutrients!

Does this also mean that I no longer should feed things like oyster eggs and Marine snow products for my fans and clams?

I am sure I will have a ton more questions once I get going. Since I got my start up stuff at Macna, where do I order more from, being in NH.

I also feed fresh food most of the time, does this system require me to stop doing this?

Thanks again, Iffer

[Orion76]

Where are you gravity feeding from? If it's the first in line for your display's overflow water you may get a lot of detritus trapped in your reactor?

[Aged Salt]

Hi Iffer, go ahead & follow Alexander's instruction schedule exactly & you'll be fine. There's no need to feed FOE's, etc. as the mulm from your reserve nutrients will more than nourish the filter-feeders.
Timon, if she handle-pumps the reactor daily, detritus build-up will not occur.
Iffer, I'd recommend cleaning the stones 2-3x's/day with at least 5-10 reps each time. It is fine to run the reactor continuously, just takes a little longer to deplete all your stored-nutrients, but no matter as if your patient, you'll have wonderful success. Bob

[Ifferfish]

I have the option of running the reactor from the dump back in to my main sump from either my protean skimmer or my fuge. I was planning on my skimmer, but am always open to suggestions. By the way, I , Ifferfish, am female
Thanks again!

PS. How will sponges do, and will I end up loosing my fuge and all my critters in there?

[Ifferfish]

I don't mind about the time factor, this is the only place in my life I have any patients. Mainly because I don't have a choice!

[Aged Salt]

Thnx, we have several girls using ZEOvit The mulm released from the zeo-reactor helps nourish our filter feeders. I run a PH near the zeo-reactor to encourage the mulm into my water column to circulate into my display or more easily removed by the skimmer. No problem with sponges as nutrients excess is removed, there's less chance for algae overgrowth on them Bob

[slojmn]

I can't see why you would lose critters in the fuge, should not be a problem at all. Just a few little odds and ends from another female zeo user ...I was pumping my stone daily 2x's 5-8 pumps. When I started pumping them 3x's a day 15 times my PO4's dropped within a week or two from .16 to .03 using the hannah colormeter. It was amazing. I can't be sure it was the increase of the pumping but it may have helped. I run my reactor continuously and it did take a while to get the nutrients down. Mind you I started using zeo from scratch in a brand new tank but I still had a little trouble with some build up. I have had an immense amount of help on this site from a variety of people. This is an extrememly helpful, great bunch of folks. The vibe on zeo.com is friendly and family like. Just how RC use to be 5-6 years ago. Not to say there is anything wrong over there, I love to post and hang out there as well, just a different vibe overall.
Okay back to the zeovit system, getting the flow through the reactor at the recommended flow rate is important. I've been running much to fast and having some issues related to this so go with the flow rate Alexander and Bob suggested. I highly recommend the aminos and the coral vitalizer...amazing stuff that really perks the color up. I am still relatively new to zeo, I've been running it since July 2005 but I think it is doing great things for the tank. I have some great colors and very healthy corals. Many of my corals have the most intense colors, polyps and flesh. Others that run the system also have some pretty amazing colors as well. The overall health of the tank is wonderful as well, water clarity is great to, especially after a stone change out. Go slow, ask questions and give the system a year...that is my committment, a year no matter what. So far I am happy and don't have any intention of going off the system. It has made me a better hobbyist, I feel like I understand more about my tank despite a lot of years of doing this reef thing. I am much more in tune with the subtlties of my tank and I love that. Good Luck and Welcome

[Ifferfish]

Bob, Thanks for being so prompt. I love that I can think of a question and post and someone on this site is on it soo fast!!! I will start with the schedual that Alexander recommended.

Slojmn, Thank you as well for the warm welcome. It seems that there are so few women compared to men in this hobby, and even less that actually take care of there own systems. I have to admit though, without my husband , I would have had a heck of a time with all of the plumbing. He is wonderful. But make no mistake, good or bad, the health of this tank and all of the maintainance is mine. He just thinks that it is good theraphy for me so he does not mind the $$$$$ !!! LOL

So I will follow your advice and ask ALOT of questions and give this a good year before I decide if this is good for my tank or not. Again, thanks for being so kind.

Iffer