Oh why not...this is my tank...

[Paintguru]

As those here know, I'm a very slow mover, but I figure I can post the answer to the newb questions just to get the ball rolling. I will note I am missing some testing info.

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) 92 gal cube with 15 gal rubbermade sump
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) Approx 75-80 gal
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique yes
4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.)no
5. Are you using Ozone yes
6. Are you using UV yes
7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume) Older Euroreef CS8-2, allegidly good up to 400 gal
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels N/A, but no algae to speak of, film or macro
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels Ca: 375, Alk: 9.0, Mg: 1200
10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.) Barebottom
11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.) 400W 14K Hamilton + 2-24" 03 Actinic VHOs
12. What corals do you keep? right now, all types, but trying to reduce it to SPS, a few zoa/mushrooms, and a few LPS
13. Tissue color (light or dark) Since changing from 10K to 14K, I've noticed certain SPS coloring up (darkening)
14. How long has the tank been running 2 years
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system Improve color/health/growth of SPS
16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.) Mg to increase levels, CaCl if calcium drops below desired level
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.) Hmmm, guessing 50 lbs??...the structure is pretty open. Rock is a good 4-5 years old
18. Any present problems Aptasia and green stars growing too much , other then that, just slow growth
19. Problem description (tissue loss tips, tissue loss base, diatom bloom, algae, etc.)
20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.) Ca is SeaChem, Alk and Mg is Sailfert all purchased within the last year
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.) N/A
22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.) Salinity is 1.026, Temp is kept between 77-79. Try to keep things as stable as possible

[Aged Salt]

Hi PG, for SPS coloring there simply isn't any better & easier method available in my 16 yrs. of trying times with these corals, than the ZEOvit method. Before beginning ZEOvit, it is worthwhile to read all the stickies at the top of this forum, especially the ZEOvit guide & to note that KW, 03 & UV are not used[needed] & the parameters are kept as those of NSW, ie. Ca>400<450/Mg>1200<1400/KH-6-8 & stable/salinity 1.023-26. I would recommend obtaining N03/P04 testing kits if you're switching to SPS. Obviously, your nutrients will be lowered as by evidenced with lack of growth in Aptasia. For your system, I recommend the following:

1)place 3/4 Cup carbon in a mesh bag, passively, in your sump, kneaded daily & exchanged monthly.
2)place 3/4 ltrs. zeolites in a zeo-reactor with a flow rate of ~ 50-75 gph. A little less is fine. Cycle the reactor on & off at 3hr. intervals, careful that the stones remain submerged when the reactor is "off". You may need to inline check-valve your reactor to orevent back-siphoning. Clean the zeolites 1-2 x's/day about 10 reps each time when the reactor is running. Exchange the zeolites every 6wks.
3)dose 3 drops Bak & Food7 daily for 2wks, then dose 3 drops each 2x's/wk. when the reactor is "on" & in front of the reactor pump. Turn off your skimmer after dosing these for 60min. ZeoBak is refrigerated.
4)dose 0.3ml Start2 2x's/day near the reactor pump when it's "on" & do not need to turn off the skimmer when just dosing Start2.
5)optional but recommended:dose 3 drops AAHC & 8-10 drops C-V[refrigerate] into your display daily

Plz. ask any questions. Bob

[Paintguru]

Hi PG, for SPS coloring there simply isn't any better & easier method available in my 16 yrs. of trying times with these corals, than the ZEOvit method. Before beginning ZEOvit, it is worthwhile to read all the stickies at the top of this forum, especially the ZEOvit guide & to note that KW, 03 & UV are not used[needed] & the parameters are kept as those of NSW, ie. Ca>400<450/Mg>1200<1400/KH-6-8 & stable/salinity 1.023-26. I would recommend obtaining N03/P04 testing kits if you're switching to SPS. Obviously, your nutrients will be lowered as by evidenced with lack of growth in Aptasia. For your system, I recommend the following:

1)place 3/4 Cup carbon in a mesh bag, passively, in your sump, kneaded daily & exchanged monthly.
2)place 3/4 ltrs. zeolites in a zeo-reactor with a flow rate of ~ 50-75 gph. A little less is fine. Cycle the reactor on & off at 3hr. intervals, careful that the stones remain submerged when the reactor is "off". You may need to inline check-valve your reactor to orevent back-siphoning. Clean the zeolites 1-2 x's/day about 10 reps each time when the reactor is running. Exchange the zeolites every 6wks.
3)dose 3 drops Bak & Food7 daily for 2wks, then dose 3 drops each 2x's/wk. when the reactor is "on" & in front of the reactor pump. Turn off your skimmer after dosing these for 60min. ZeoBak is refrigerated.
4)dose 0.3ml Start2 2x's/day near the reactor pump when it's "on" & do not need to turn off the skimmer when just dosing Start2.
5)optional but recommended:dose 3 drops AAHC & 8-10 drops C-V[refrigerate] into your display daily

Plz. ask any questions. Bob

Hey Bob, thanks for the tips. I read the Zeo overview and did notice the lack of UV and O3 (which is fine, I can take those off easy enough). Right now my biggest problem is that my water level in my sump is not constant, and I think that adds to my shotty skimming. I shot OUinLA a note about reactors, but have not heard back from him yet. Once I get the whole reactor situation squared away, the rest is simply buying the components, which is easy . Do you feel that growth is also enhanced by the Zeo? I switched from 10K to 14K because I did not like the yellow of the 10K (I had XM). I figured since my tank is only 24" deep, that keeping my 400W level would provide me enough PAR to keep my growth going. Perhaps my SPS are still adjusting, but they did appear to stop growing for a time. I did notice that the "official" Zeo guide does mention 10Ks are preferred, but have seen many tanks of different K's using Zeo. Thanks again for the help. I'm sure I will be back for advice as I SLOOOWWWLLLY move forward!

[skippyreef]

Chris,

Madison (OUinLA) will get back to you I am sure on the reactor and I can say from mine that you will not be disappointed in his workmanship.

Welcome to Zeoville BTW

[Aged Salt]

P-G, growth has never been a problem, just coloration, inspite of literally tons of resins/chemical & mechanical filtration/ DSB/BB methods in the past. At my stage into ZEOvit[Phase 4], I drop in some Bak & Food7 once a wk or 2, add daily Start2 & pump the reactor a couple of X's/day with great SPS color & growthBob

[Horace]

Bob you say not to use KW. I sure hope KW does not stand for Kalk Water. If it does than I will have a problem with the switch over to Zeo. That is my main means of calc/alk supplementation. Please clear that up please... Thx :P

[nbd13]

Kurt- You should not use Kalk w/ zeo. It is stated in the guidlines on www.captiveoceans.com heres a link

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

take a minute to read it a couple times.

You should not use UV, ozone, or kalk with zeovit.

I forget the reason off the top of my head, maybe something to do with PO4. Again not sure, maybe Bob can help on this.

Nick

[Aged Salt]

Hi Kurt, KW=kalkwasser, yes, kalkwater, which sequesters P04's in our systems only to precipitate back into our waters with the normal pH swings. This bloom in P04's negatively affects our nutrient depletion objective, which is one of the prerequisites to SPS brilliant, show colors. Ca & KH levels[along with Mg, can be maintained with 2-part solutions if a small CR is not viable for your system. Now some zeo-users in Europe has used KW but I'm not sure about their colors?? & it's been K-Z's experience that KW in a nutrient-poor environment causes dulling of SPS colors for the reason above, Bob

[Horace]

Wow this is most unfortunate news . I have never heard anything negative about coral color and kalk water before. This is a big surprise to hear. From all that I have read, KW actually increases water quality because inside the reactor or tub it percipitates impurities because of the super high PH inside the container. As for a calcium reactor, I would like to build one anyway and could for ~$200 or so but I just dont have the extra cash to drop on that right now. Man I am kind of bummed. Im surprised Jeff didnt tell me that. He knows I run KW. Perhaps he didnt know...

[jac]

Kurt, you could use a two part like ESV Bionic. It does cost more on an annual basis to use than a Calcium Reactor but less start up costs and keeps magnesium in check. This is what I do.

There is also a recipe in Reefkeeping on making your own two part with a recipe for magnesium supplementation. It is really simple to make and price wise might actually be less than running a reactor. In any case you can make years of solution before you touch the startup cost of a reactor. I'm working on collecting the ingredients now. I'm also looking adding a medical dosing pump for more of a hands off operation.

Two parts are nice too because you can use this calculator to make adjustments if need be.

John

[Paintguru]

Update: Just got my PO4 test kit. What a pain to use....well at least to feel "confident" in your readings. I *think* my level is <0.03. NO3 is on its way.

[skippyreef]

Chris what test kit are you using?

[Paintguru]

Sailfert

[nbd13]

Chris- that's why many zeo users use the Hanna Colormeter... It's some $$$ about 200ish i think maybe alittle more....

But you get an Exact reading... no guessing about it

it is very accurate also down to .01

very nice tool to have...i personally will never use those crappy salifert test kits again for PO4.

Nick

[Paintguru]

Chris- that's why many zeo users use the Hanna Colormeter... It's some $$$ about 200ish i think maybe alittle more....

But you get an Exact reading... no guessing about it

it is very accurate also down to .01

very nice tool to have...i personally will never use those crappy salifert test kits again for PO4.

Nick

Yeah I figured I would start out with this for now and maybe....oneday after I get all the zeo stuff...invest in a colormeter. I guess my Sailfert will tell me if I'm REALLY bad, but not the borderline stuff.