What to do?

[SplishySplashy]

Hello everyone,

I just started the Zeovit system yesterday and have the following 3 questions below. Thanks for the assistance and looking forward to reporting back with updates.

1. I do not have a zeovit reactor yet but plan on getting one down the road. I am currently using a NYOS Torque reactor 1.0 for the Zeovit media and just spin the reactor to shake up the zeovit. Hopefully, this is okay for now.

2. Can anyone tell me if I am on the right path? I added 800 ML Zeovit, 3 drops daily Zeobak, 3 daily Drops Zeofood, just under 1 ML of Zeo Start daily. I also dose 3 drops of Bio-Mate 2 times a week for Mulm on my sand bed and will be dosing 3 drops of Pohls Coral Vitalizer daily.

3. Should i refrigerate all of the Korallen-Zucht products?


1.Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) -80 US gallons
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - 60 US gallons
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique - Not at the moment. 2 part in the future when needed.
4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.) - GFO in a filter cup. Once PO4 starts dropping, I will ease off completely.
5. Are you using Ozone - No
6. Are you using UV - No
7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume) - Nyos 120
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels - PO4 0.1 & NO3 2PPM
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk, and Mg levels - Alk 9.23, CA 576 & MG 1347 - Calcium is very high for some reason
10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.) - Chaeto Reactor, Carbon and GFO in Filter Cup, BioMedia
11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.) - Hydra 26HD running Pirates schedule, soon to be Radion G5 Blues
12. What corals do you keep - Mainly LPS and a few SPS
13. Tissue color (light or dark) - Medium
14. How long has the tank been running - 1 Year
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system - I want to achieve great coloration and have a steady ecosystem in order to get more SPS corals
16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.) - Red Sea Reef Energy Plus for coral food and amino acids
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.) About 30-40 pounds for 2 years
18. Any present problems - Aiptasia and just beat a mean case of Turf Algae
19. Problem description (tissue loss tips, tissue loss base, diatom bloom, algae, etc.) - Some tissue loss on Acans.
20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.) - Hannah ULR, Hannah Alk, Red Sea Marine test Kit, Neptune Trident
21. Present dosing, amounts, and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.) - 800 ML Zeovit, 3 drops daily Zeobak, 3 daily Drops Zeofood, just under 1 ML of Zeo Start daily
22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.) - Salinity 1.026, Temp 77.4 - 78.2, PH 7.68 - 7.85
23. Which salt brand do you use, - Fritz RPM. Thinking about switching to Brightwell NeoMarine

[jacky]

First of all, is the quality of ro / di good?


Not sure if extra items etc. leach out nutrients

We can do these parts first

net water volume 60 US gallons / 240 liters
The amount of zeolite is about 0.6 liters
Flow rate of about 240 liters per hour through the zeolite reactor
(Use a small container, collect the reactor outlet for 30 seconds, the volume x130, so that you can get the flow rate of the reactor per hour, and please also publish the actual measurement results)


Zeo basic product plan, let us adjust slightly:

Zeo Bac 3 drops, 2 to 3 times a week
Zeo Start 0.24ml, 2 times (Every morning and evening)
Zeo Sponge Power 3 drops every other day
Zeo Food-Temporarily discontinued
5 drops of BioMate every other day
CoralSnow 2.4ml, 3 times a week
Red Sea Nutrition Products-temporarily suspended

Clean the collection cup to make it more outlet and adjust the skimmer to wet. If using sand, evacuate as much as possible and change the water 5 to 10% every week

Keep the above plan, pay close attention to the nutrition level, if the nutrition begins to decrease (PO4), after a period of time (from the start to 2 weeks later). Slowly and gradually reduce the amount of GFO used, and keep it stable instead of rising again

We can try to do this first, look at the subsequent nutrition level, and do a good job of reducing the nutrition base

Some bad carbon also seems to leach extra nutrients, not sure what carbon brand you use

Is there a chance to post more pictures about sump?

The basic water parameter is high, check whether it is correct from the salinity

Kh 6.5~7.5
Ca 400~420
Mg 1250~130
K+~380

[SplishySplashy]

RODI filters were just replaced 1 week ago. Prior to that week i was getting about 1TDS out of the RODI unit. Now its reading 0 TDS with new filters and new membrane. I was dosing Chaeto Gro Regugium Fertilizer by Brightwell Aquatics and noticed that it has Calcium so not sure if my excess calcium came from that??

Net water is actually 80 Gallons I made a typo so i have .8 liters of Zeolite.

Flow Rate on the Nyos Media reactor is rated for up to 1000 liters per hour but with the zeolite media I'm getting up to 500 liters per hour. I have it adjusted to do about 240-250 liters per hour at the moment.

I dont have Zeo Sponge at the moment but do have Zeo Food on hand so will dose 3 drops every other day?

Coral snow is on order as well.

For the sand bed, I have wrasses that burrow. Is it required to remove sand bed?

Carbon used is: Nyos Activated Carbon

I just calibrated my Neptune Trident and Todays readings are
Salinty 1.026
KH 8.86
CA 529
MG 1323
K+ ??? Need to purchase a potassium test kit

[G.Alexander]

As the net water volume has changed since Jackies dosing recommendation I would recommend to continue as follows:

1. Continue to use 0.8 liters zeovit in a Zeo Reactor. Water flow around 80 US gallons 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 0.3 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 3 drops ZeoBac daily for the first 2 weeks, flowed by a 2 – 3 x weekly dosage of 3 drops. Dose 0.3 ml ZeoStart 2 x daily (morning & evening). Dose those in front of the Zeo reactor pump while it is switched on.

4. The additional dosage of 3 drops SpongePower every other day and 6 drops BioMate every other day is optional possible and might speed up the decrease of nutrients. Some have reported that SpongePower does speed up the growth of Aiptasia so I would recommend to use it once they are under control. Stop dosing ZeoFood at the moment until the system runs nutrient poor solid. 3 ml CoralSnow every other day will support to decrease the algae, it can also be used optional.

Later on you could use the additional products for coral coloration. 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 a PO4 absorber. I would recommend to remove 1/3 of the absorber if you start with zeovit, than reduce the rest over the next 6 – 8 weeks step by step to zero. If this is done keep a eye on the PO4 level which should not increase.

Basic water parameters are not really good, it is necessary to slowly adopt them and than keep them as solid 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

[SplishySplashy]

Update 6/5 and about a week and a half into starting the Zeovit system. I will begin transitioning to Brightwell NeoMarine salt coming from Fritz RPM at 10% weekly.

Salinty 1.026
KH 8.36
CA 584
MG 1339

For some reason i can't get my phosphate to drop and stay down. I have reduced feedings and currently dosing the following:

Dosing 3 drops ZeoBac daily for the first 2 weeks
Dosing 0.3 ml ZeoStart 2 x daily (morning & evening)
Dosing 3 drops of Spongepower every other day
6 drops of Biomate every other day

I plan on getting Coral Snow and see there is a Coral Snow Plus which helps reduce Phosphate. Should i got for the regular or plus? Do i need to allow more time for the zeovit system to stabilize or should i have seen some stabilization by now?

[SplishySplashy]

Another quick question: Can I leave ZeoStart at room temp and have it Dosed automatically or does it need to be refrigerated?

[G.Alexander]

I would recommend to just continue as planned, if you like to you can use CoralSnowPlus but personally I would not do it at this stage. Give the system some time, it is bacterial based so it does take some time before it does reduce nutrients effective.

In the meantime decrease the nutrient import as much as possible.

ZeoStart can be dosed with a automatic dosing system and it can be stored at normal room temperature. Just ZeoBac, BioMate and CoralVitalizer should be stored in the fridge after the bottles are opened.

G.Alexander

[Reefdom]

I see Bio mate is often suggested on the forum at a higher dosage than the bottle. I there a reason for this?

[jacky]

Yes. An additional dose of 6 drops of BioMate every other day is optional and may accelerate the reduction of nutrients. BioMate @2 drops/25 US gallons every other day

[SplishySplashy]

2 Week update:

I am now two weeks into the Zeovit system. I setup a Auto Water change using my Neptune DOS. I am changing 1.4 liters daily throughout a 24 hour period in order to maintain stability. Parameters are starting to drop little by little after switching to Brightwell Neo Marine. I also added a CO2 scrubber as my PH was between 7.64 - 7.79. I am now around 7.88 - 8.0 and peaking to 8.2 if I leave window open.

I have some turf algae starting to grow as my PO4 average is .12. Zeolite media set to be replaced in 2 weeks.

Salinty 1.026
KH 7.73
CA 554
MG 1306

Now switching dosing to as follows

Dosing 3 drops ZeoBac 3 times weekly (Nutrients still high)
Dosing 0.3 ml ZeoStart 2 x daily (morning & evening)
Dosing 3 drops of Spongepower every other day
6 drops of Biomate every other day
3 ml Coral Snow every other day
3 drops of Pohls Coral Vitalizer daily

[G.Alexander]

Sounds good to prevent the algae from spreading I would recommend to remove them additional manually, herbivore like sea urchins or snails might be helpful additional.

G.Alexander

[SplishySplashy]

4 Week update


I am now one month into the Zeovit system. Replaced Zeovit today and will allow new Zeovit to remain for 6 weeks now. Corals are slowly regaining their color and polyps are extending which is great! Water parameters are also adjusting to where they need to be with the exception of calcium which is still high. I have added some new coral so hopefully, the new additions should help lower calcium naturally.


Turf algae is spreading slowly but my PO4 average is now at .08. Still a little high for my liking but its dropping slowly and somewhat stabilizing. I believe my rock and sandbed is leaching PO4 but as long as I continue the program, the PO4 leaching should go away with time i hope. Ordered a few urchins to help mow the lawn and they should be in sometime next week.


Salinty 1.026
KH 7.07
CA 538
MG 1308

Dosing to as follows

Dosing 3 drops ZeoBac 3 times weekly (Nutrients still high)
Dosing 0.3 ml ZeoStart 2 x daily (morning & evening)
Dosing 3 drops of Spongepower every other day
6 drops of Biomate every other day
3 ml Coral Snow every other day
3 drops of Pohls Coral Vitalizer daily
Less than a teaspoon of Zeozyme 1 time weekly (Have a lot of floating particles in display tank)

[jacky]

Things sound good. Zeo Bac x10 days after every change of ZeoVit material, otherwise 2-3 times a week. After 2 weeks, if the coral is healthy, switch the reactor to continuous flow to maintain the dosing plan

The skimmer is slightly moisturized and the water is changed 5 to 10% every week

Get the potassium test kit

[SplishySplashy]

6 Week update

Colors are very vivid now and i have great polyp extension now. Very very happy with the zeovit system. Nutrients are now low and just getting nutrients stabilized. I am now 2 weeks without using GFO and only running carbon with zeovit system.

My issue is i have quite a bit of turf algea. I have a yellow tang, blue tang, and fox face but they rarely pick at it. Just purchased a small tuxedo urchin and also a small lettuce nudibranch to help and the lettuce nudibranch does eat the turf algea, but i feel like its going to take several months for him to even get half way through it. Any suggestions or just keep doing what i am doing?

Salinty 1.026
KH 6.96
CA 478 (Finally coming down, YAY!)
MG 1335

[G.Alexander]

Beside herbivore you already have I would recommend to remove the algae manually with a brush regular additional, dosing 2 ml CoralSnow / 25 US gallons every other day for some time will also support this process however you will need some patience.

G.Alexander