I'm back and trying out zeovit after a past failure

[Kschmez]

I had previously tried to start fresh with a zeovit system a few years back. I failed miserably. I had a dino break out that caused me to eventually give up and break down the system. Fast forward to July 2019, I started with dry rock in a bin to start cycling. Took it slow and added Zeobak, Microbacter7, and Dr. Tims, all over time and at different intervals to give my rock diverse bacteria strands. I set up my system in september after keeping my rock cycling in a bin all summer. Ran the system with fish only from September until January when i started adding test corals. Everything did good (didnt die) so I started stocking my tank. I believe my failures from my previous set up were from using dry rock, straight out of the gate and not being patient, plus a bad batch of salt, led to my dinos and killing my corals/fish. I feel now my rock is a bit more mature to try this again. I have ordered an avast automatic zeo reactor and want to know how and where to start to slowly turn this system into a successful Zeovit system. Hopefully without losing any corals. Below is my current setup and what I dose. Any tips and pointers to start off with when my reactor comes in would be great! I want to make sure my dosing and amount of zeovit is correct.

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - 170 US gallons
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - 150 US gallons
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique - CaCO2 reactor is being custom built and will be used when received, right now I'm dosing 2 part B-Ionic ESV
4. Are you using a PO4 reactor - NO
5. Are you using Ozone - NO
6. Are you using UV - Yes, plumbed into my return line, I can shut off the UV using my controller easily if need be.
7. What skimmer are you using Nyos Quantum 160
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels - PO4 is .01ppm Red sea test kit, NO3 is 10ppm Salifert test
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels - Ca - 455ppm Salifert, Alk - 8.46ppm Hanna, Mg - 1365 Salifert
10. What filtration method do you use - bare bottom, no sand, high flow, filter socks/filter floss
11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.) - Six gen4 radion xr15 with diffusers, less than a year old, running a slightly modified ab+ schedule
12. What corals do you keep - 90% acropora, some Lps, a few mushrooms. Scolys, torch, frogspawn, favias.
13. Tissue color (light or dark)
14. How long has the tank been running - rock has started in a bin back in July 2019 with bacteria additives and shrimp to feed the bacteria. Tank was filled with water with rock added in September 2019, ran with just fish from september 2019 until January 2020 when I then started adding corals to test. Test corals did well, so i started stocking the tank.
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system - I want fast growth, brilliant colors, and the challenge that I had previously failed on a pass zeovit system bugs me haha
16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.) - I currently use alot of zeovit products already, zeobak, spongepower, coral vitalizer, flatworm stop, coral system 1-4
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.) - approximately 90 pounds of rock, started as dry rock in the bin since July 2019.
18. Any present problems - none that i'm aware of.
19. Problem description (tissue loss tips, tissue loss base, diatom bloom, algae, etc.) - none
20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.) test kits listed behind the levels above.
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.) Zeobak - 7 drops 2x week. CV -7 drops 3x week. Flatworm Stop - 5mL 1x daily. Sponge Power 7 drops every other day. Coral System bottles 1-4 30mL 1x week.
22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.) temp 78 degrees F, salinity 1.025. I run automatic water changes through my Apex DOS, 3 gallons a day.
23. Which salt brand do you use - Tropic Marin Reef Pro

[G.Alexander]

Welcome back !


I would recommend you to start as follows:

1. Place 1.3 liter zeovit in a Zeo Reactor. Water flow around 135 liters per hour. Connect the reactor pump to a clock 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 0.5 liters activated 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 clean. Most users get perfect results with korallenzucht carbon.

3. Dose 5 drops ZeoBac daily for the first 2 weeks, flowed by a 2 – 3 x weekly dosage of 5 drops each. Dose 0.5 ml ZeoStart 2 x daily (morning & evening). Dose those in front of the Zeo reactor pump while it is switched on.

4. As you already have additional products you can dose 5 drops SpongePower every other day and 5 drops CoralVitalizer 2 x weekly, at the moment lets stop dosing the CoralSystem, it can be used later.

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.


With the system it is not recommended to use UV, just switch it off when you start with ZeoVit as it does destroy elements which are dosed with the system as long as they are in the water column.

Basic water parameters looking good, try to keep them as stabile as possible close the NSW in the following ranges:

KH 6.5 – 7.5
Ca 400 – 420 mg
Mg 1250 – 1300 mg
K+ ~ 380 mg

For a nutrient poor environment K+ (potassium) seems to be a important element. I would recommend you to get a test kit for this element also, posting your results.

This is a start-up dosage which might have to be adjusted later.

G.Alexander

[Kschmez]

Thanks G. Alexander! Shod I continue dosing flatworm stop for now or stop until a later date?

[G.Alexander]

Basically it is not necessary at this stage but you can use it if you like to once per week additional if you do not treat flatworms at the moment.

G.Alexander

[Kschmez]

Got my reactor up and running and started today! I'm excited and nervous all in one! Running everything like what was recommended above.

[G.Alexander]

Good luck, please post a update from time to time.

G.Alexander

[Kschmez]

Posting my levels as of this morning
Calcium: 470ppm (turned my dosing pump off to let it drop slowly)
Alkalinity: 7.6ppm
Magnesium: 1350ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Phosphate: 0.01ppm
Potassium: 440ppm

[Kschmez]

I read my Potassium test wrong, I actually don't have any detectable potassium per the salifert test kit. I added 20mL of K-Balance Strong, do you recommend a larger dose to bring levels up fast or just add slowly over time to bring levels up? The rest of my test results are as follows:

Alk- 7.89dkh - I just hooked up my calcium reactor so this level raised on me, I'll hopefully get this back down gradually
Calcium - 460ppm
Magnesium - 1335ppm
Nitrate 10ppm - I think I've been feeding too much which is why this is higher than last time, I've been nervous to let my nutrients bottom out like last time and get dinos.
Phosphate - 0.01ppm
Potassium - undetectable

[jacky]

You can judge the potassium level by Tropic Marin Reef Pro salt mixture. If the measured value (salt mixture) is normal, it may indicate that the potassium level in the tank is indeed low. Or get a new potassium test package. This allows cross-comparison. If it ’s me, because I do n’t know what the concentration of the product is per 1ml, my approach is to automatically add the pump, potassium @ 4 times a day, 1ml dose each time, then measure and record at a fixed time every day, such a I can adjust it when I come. Also keep in mind that slow potassium rise is good, otherwise coral pressure. The NP level looks good. Since the reactor has just started, give the system some time. At this stage, only the Zeo basic administration and CoralVitalizer need to be added. Detailed instructions are in # 2

[jacky]

I think you are doing very well, great. From # 7 to the current # 8, things are developing well (Zeo system is starting)

[Kschmez]

Ok. I'll add Postassium slowly over time and test frequently. Corals appear to like everything so far, probably will encrust/grow/color up better once Potassium levels are where they are supposed to be. Thanks for the response jacky!

[G.Alexander]

I read my Potassium test wrong, I actually don't have any detectable potassium per the salifert test kit. I added 20mL of K-Balance Strong, do you recommend a larger dose to bring levels up fast or just add slowly over time to bring levels up?

Detecting absolute no potassium is really unusual, I would recommend to cross check the level with a different test kit or check the test with a reference. Please also keep in mind that potassium needs to be increased slowly, otherwise corals can respond negaative (TN).

G.Alexander

[Kschmez]

My po4 has become undetectable, I know low nutrient is the goal but am I on track with everything? Other tests are as follows:

Alk - 8.4 dkh (had an issue with my new calcium reactor which spiked my alk up to 9.5, I currently shut everything down to let it drop slow by itself over the next few days)

Calcium - 450ppm (also on its way down)

Magnesium - 1335ppm

Nitrate - 5ppm

Phosphate - undetectable

Potassium - I believe is 400, getting a new test soon to cross reference it due to the other test not changing colors for me.

Am I on the right track? Continue the course or change anything?

[G.Alexander]

Basically all looks like planned, how are your corals doing, do they show growth and has the tissue already started to become lighter ?

G.Alexander

[Kschmez]

They appear to still be encrusting, a few have lightened in color but nothing major there.