New Zeovit user

[dbjreefer]

I have just started Zeovit for the first time. I have a 240 gal reef tank with aprox 40 gal sump and aprox. 20 gal. refugium. There is aprox. 60 to 80 lbs. of live rock wich leaves me with a net water volume of 200 gallons. I am running a Koralin 1502 calcium reactor and a euroreef cs180 skimmer.Water parameters are Calcium 410, Magnesium 1225, DKH 7.0, PH 8.3, Salinity 1.025
temp. is 74-76 d Filtration is filter sock at sump, Refugium, and skimmer. Lights are 3x 400W
14K metal halides, 2- 96W 10K power compacts, 2- 96W actinic vho.
I currently have both SPS, LPS, and other soft corals. I have had the tank up and running for three years but I broke it down moved it and set back up 1 year ago. I have some brown or darkening of some of the sps and very minimal polyp extension.I started zeovit in hopes of improving my water quality and have better success with SPS corals. I currently use supplements as follows Sea chem reef advantage calcium, Sea chem reef advantage magnesium, Sea chem reef PH buffer. My test kits are new salifert. and I just started zeovit. I have been dosing amino sps8 drops, amino lps 2ml , and coral vitalizer 8 drops for a little over 1 week. I started zeovit, zeobak, zeo start, zeofood, and carbon sunday. My biggest need for advise is what dosing you recomend for my tank. Please advise. Thank you very much.

[Aged Salt]

Hi dbjreefer, can you first give us your N03's/P04's levels? Thnnx Bob

[dbjreefer]

Yes, My NO3 level is 25 ppm, and my PO4 level is 0. It might be worth noting that I first tested my nitrates with an older test kit and it read about 10 ppm I then went and got 2 new salifert kits today and tested twice. The readings above are from today's tests. Thanks for the quick response

[Aged Salt]

Thnx. dbj, for your information Your parms are fine which helps when starting the ZEOvit method. Plz. be patient as you have a reserve of N03's to deplete. If you stay the course, your corals will colorize overtime. For your system, I'll recommend you do the following:

1)place 3/4 ltr. carbon in a mesh bag, passively, in your sump, kneaded daily & replaced monthly. I strongly recommend using K-Z's carbon--it is the best yet gentle in removal of traces in our waters.
2)place 1.75 ltrs. zeolites in a zeo-reactor with a flow rate of ~ 150-175gph. A little less is fine. With the 1st exchange the quantity of zeolites will be 2 ltrs. with a flow rate of ~ 200gph. Cycle the reactor on & off at 3 hr. intervals, being mindful that the stones must always remain submerged when the reactor pump is "off".A check-valve inline maybe necessary to prevent back-siphoning when the reactor is "off". Clean the stone's surfaces 1-2 x's/day with 5-10 reps each time. Do this when the reactor pump is "on". The zeolites are exchanged every 6wks. You may "seed" the new zeolites with 5-10% old.
3)dose 6 drops Bak & Food7 daily for the 1st 2wks, then 8 drops each 2x's/wk. Dose these near the reactor pump when it's "on". Turn off your skimmer for 60min after dosing these. ZeoBak & C-V are refrigerated & have a shelf-life ~ 6 mos.
4)dose .5ml Start2 3x's/day near the reactor pump when "on". It is not necessary to turn off the skimmer when just dosing Start2.
5)optional but recommended:dose 4 drops AAHC & 0.5ml AALPS daily[these are accumulative in terms of excess dosing] & 15 drops C-V daily directly into the display. The skimmer does not need to be shut-down when dosing the zeo-supplements.

Plz. ask questions as you go along, Bob

[dbjreefer]

Hey Bob,
Thanks for the advice. One thing I did not mention was I am not using the zeovit reactor instead I am running the media in my refugium currently at about 100gph.
I can turn up that flow rate to 150gph but obviously not able to cycle on and off like you recomended. Is this OK? or should I invest in the reactor? Thanks Again
DBJ

[Aged Salt]

Yes, definitely, use a zeo-reactor as paasive flow will not optimize your results with ZEOvit. The dedicated flow & speed will allow optimim colonization by the special bacteria, & it's carbon food sources, therefore, more efficiency with the entire system.Bob

[dbjreefer]

Hey Bob,

Things are going well overall. I took your advise and bought the zeo reactor however I did my weekly water change yesterday and today I noticed a spike in my dkh it went from 8.4 to 11.2 in 2 days. everything else seems to be ok. cacium 425 mag. 1225
ph 8.3 etc. What do you recomend? Dave

[Aged Salt]

Wow, quite a jump, Dave. What salt are you using? Have you checked it's make-up before doing a WC? You may have a inconsistence batch right now. Obviously, hold the buffer component additive until the dKH is back into range & monitor your KH of new salt batches more closely. Bob

[dbjreefer]

Yeah I was wondering about the salt. I am using Tropic Marin pro reef and have been using this 5 gal. bucket for at least 3 or 4 water changes and never noticed a problem before now. What about my water maker ? Could it be old filters that need replacement? anyway I turned my calc reactor off for 24 hrs. and my dkh came right back down to 8.4 What are your thoughts?

[Aged Salt]

Hi Dave, of course, monitor all parameters closely for awhile until you confident they're stable. Turn down the CR when you do restart it. I believe you're running the CR too hard & as I recall TM's salt comes in ~9.5-10 dKH. If you have trouble dialing the KH down with the CR, I'd suggest using Oceanic + another salt in a 50-50 ratio. Oceanic is high in Ca, Mg & low in KH[6-6.5]. I use I0-Oceanic equally for that very reason

It's good to test your product water for TDS. If TDS>5, consider changing the filters on your unit. Bob

[dbjreefer]

Well I am only 21/2+ weeks into the zeo world and I have already overdosed on the bak and food. I am currently on day19 of dosing and I mistakenly continued dosing the bak and food7 up until yesterday day 18 at 6 drops per day. I was planning on discontinueing the bak and food7 for about 4 days and then start back again with the recomended 8 drops x 2 times per week is this ok or should I wait a little longer? Thanks

Dave

[Aged Salt]

Hi Dave, you should be fine Just skip one Bak, Food7 dosing, then begin the 2x's/wk. schedule. Bob

[dbjreefer]

I have been following dosing etc. exactly except for the little problem that I mentioned last time about the bak and food. I just lost a large blue stag that was one of my favorites. may be coincidence ? I also have a large red blasto that was thriving before zeovit now not so happy. What do you think? One other question I know that everyone says be patient and I can apreciate that especially as far as coloration but I still have very minimal polyp extension on most of my sps corals. Do I need to be patient on that as well? Thanks

Dave

[G.Alexander]

Hi Dave, the KH swing two weeks ago could cause the problem with your blue Acropora. Corals do not respond immediately to those swings.

If you have checked everything else (correct water flow through the reactor, using a good activated carbon, stabile parameters, also salinity) I would highly recommend to change salt.

What I have found out over the years, using the system, is most of the problems are related to parameter swings, incorrect salinity, to high or to low parameters or the usage of a unbalanced salt mix. If those things do not happen, you would not loose any coral even if you strong overdose products like ZeoBac, ZeoFood or ZeoStart2.

LPS corals generally need more time to adopt, this may be the issue with your blastomussa.

Have you also noticed colour fade in pink hystrix, blue acroporas and bad colouration in montipora plates together with washed out, weak colouration ?

G.Alexander

[dbjreefer]

Thanks for the advice. I am now mixing the tropicmarin 50/50 with oceanic and it seams to have stabilized the KH issues. My DKH has been staying between 7.0 and 8.3
range. What about polyp extension on SPS corals? Thanks
Dave