Just Starting Zeovit Some General Questions

[ChaoticReefer]

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter

75g tank (36"x30"x16") and 30 gal sump = 105g (US)

2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter

Around 80g (US)

3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique

Kalk Reactor (no CaCO3)

4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.)

No

5. Are you using Ozone

No

6. Are you using UV

No

7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume)

RedSea RSK 300 (rated for 75g - 225g)

8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels

PO4 - 0.25 ppm, NO3 - 12 ppm

9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels

Ca - 450 ppm, Alk - 11.4 dKH, Mg - 1350 ppm

10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.)

Skimmer, Live Rock, and Siporax (no sand, Bare Bottom)

11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.)

Currently just LEDs: three Radion x15s, peak at 40% (top shelf has a par of ~250), temp is set at 14k

12. What corals do you keep

Mixed reef (SPS and softies). majority being SPS

13. Tissue color (light or dark)

Light

14. How long has the tank been running

5 years

15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system

This tank has been a problem child from day one, it has stump me even when I got into reefing 20 years ago without this much problems. So...I am just trying to find the right formula in the bottle to make the baby happy. Zeovit is next thing on my check off list to see if it works. This tank always has cyano. If I stay stubbornly on top of things, I can beat it back to 50%, but if relax and something slightly happens it comes back full blown.

16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.)

Just kalk and LaCl (for phosphates). This tank has never have had had nitrate problems. Nitrates just now are starting to raise since I started LaCl. Phosphates has always been the constant battle.

17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.)

Oh that's a hard one to guessimate. I am guessing 60-70 lb. Most 5 years old, some about 1 year old.

18. Any present problems

Just cyano and phosphates

19. Problem description (tissue loss tips, tissue loss base, diatom bloom, algae, etc.)

Tissue loss underneath seems to be common in this tank.

20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.)

Alk - Hanna checker (dKH)
Ca - Salifert
Mg - Salifert
NO3 - Nyos
PO4 - Hanna checker ULR

21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.)

Just started

ZEOstart 3 - 3mL everyday
Coral Snow - 3mL everyday
Sponge Power - 3 drops everyday
Coral Vitalizer 3 drops Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays
ZEObak - 3 drops Sundays and Wednesdays

I bought ZEOfood Plus, but after the purchase (waiting for it to be delivered) I was told do not even start it until after I get my nutrients down to ULV. I am following that advice.

I just received CyanoClean today, I will start that up tonight - dosing 6 drops every day.

I thought about getting Flatworm Stop to help the other ZV additive (I forget which one it was, maybe it was Coral Boost, but I haven't started that too) but I read that some one mentioned he was advised not to dose FS until 3 months into the start of Zeovit system, so I held off from purchasing that.



22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.)

Salinity 35ppm
Temp 78F

23. Which salt brand do you use

Continuum Aquatics Halcyon - Marine Reef Salt

********

My general questions are:

Knowing what I dose (above in #21) do any of them need to be dosed separately during different times of the day with time in between each other or can they all be dosed at same time in one sitting?

Which additives should be refrigerated? I think I read so far the ZEObak and CyanoClean

Do any of these additives work better by shutting off your skimmer for few hours after you just had dosed them?

Should I order and start dosing Coral Boost and Flatworm Stop?

And...of course, I would deeply appreciate any advice you have on what I should be doing on anything, not just on what I have asked.

Many thanks in advance.

Bill

[Reefdom]

Are you running zeolites?

is the zeostart dosing dilutes solution?
dose sponge power every other day

[ChaoticReefer]

Are you running zeolites?

is the zeostart dosing dilutes solution?
dose sponge power every other day

No, I was advised that I didn't really need ZEOlite because I didn't have an ammonia problem (nitrates not being a run away yet).

I am not sure what you asking about dilutes solution. I don't dilute it, I just add the 0.6 mL. Ahh wait...I see my typo now, up above. Sorry about that. I dose ZE6Ostart 0.6 mL, not 3 mL.

I will start dosing Sponge Power every other day now, as advised.




I thought up another question, how does KZ feel about running active carbon when using it's additive system? Will additives like Coral Snow plug up the pores on the carbon?

[G.Alexander]

Hello Bill and welcome to ZeoVit.com !

As you have issues with the tank since a long time I am not sure if you are able to get a turnaround with ZeoVit as I do expect there are some other issues also.

Can you please post a picture of your sump and also of your display system ? Some pictures of corals would be good also.

Your ZeoStart dosage is to high if it is not a type, should be 2 x 0.3 ml daily instead of 3 ml.

To answer your questions:

1. You can dose the basics at the same time, just not mix them before dosing.
2. Some information to storage the products: https://forum.zeovit.com/forum/gener...795#post274795
3. Both can be dosed later if the system runs nutrient poor stabile, at the moment it is not necessary but if you like to give it a try you can dose each @ 3 ml 1 – 2 x weekly

SpongePower have a positive side effect to the biology so you can add 3 drops every other day to your dosing regimen. Carbon does not remove any of the products elements so carbon should be used continuously in the system (passively flown).

G.Alexander

[ChaoticReefer]

Just to be clear (to stop spreading misinformation, in which was totally my fault with a typo in my original post) I do not dose 3 mL of ZEOstart, I dose just 0.6 mL. But...I will definitely start splitting the 0.6 mL into two parts of 0.3 mL.

I want to keep pushing through with the ZV system, at this point I feel defeated and have nothing to lose.

Little bit near-future history about some tweaks to my system. When I got the RedSea RSK 300, I put it on a shelf in order to raise it up to the recommended water height (since my sump is old school, it doesn't have the adjustable water height feature built into it). I have always knew that I have had poor skimming, no matter what skimmer I use, I just don't get the cup full of skimmate in matter of days like people tell me they get. So about a few days ago it finally hit me, I should lower my skimmer all of the way to bottom of the sump's floor and make it easier on the skimmer's pump, drawing in more water flow and air. I did this 2 nights ago and I do totally see a difference in skimming. Will it be enough? I don't know, but I will be finding out.

I totally want to get away from LaCl, but I plan to keep using it until I break the tank's phosphates reserves (if that's possible, I am beginning to feel hopelessness) and once I start reaching lower phosphate levels, I will slowly back off of the LaCl and let the bacteria start taking full responsibility. I don't know if this is a good plan, but its the only course I can think of. At one point I was getting consistent low phosphate levels (~0.03 ppm), than my LR started to change, going back to closer to it's original color, light grayish, not dark browns and greens. Ever since, my phosphates have gone crazy (0.20 ppm - 0.50 ppm range. Since I started to use LaCl, I test every 2-3 days). I have always have had poor coralline algae growth. I am frustrated and stump with this tank, when I think I have figure things out and things are looking better, the tank turns around and gives me a double birdie every single time, going back to same same pest (cyano) and corals stop flourishing again. So...at this point I am totally begging and open to anything.

I will try to get the pictures to you this weekend.

[G.Alexander]

The improvement of the skimming process is for sure a important part, try to maximize it as much as possible, also clean the skimmer cub and the neck as often as possible to export as much as possible.

Your plan with the LaCl addition is what I would recommend you also as I am not sure if ZeoVit at the moment will handle the nutrient concentrations. Once you plan to stop using LaCl start to reduce the dosing quantities step by step over a longer period while keeping a close eye on the PO4 level.

I would also recommend you to think about stopping to use Kalkwasser and replace it with a different method:

https://forum.zeovit.com/forum/gener...796#post274796

At the moment I would recommend you to continue dosing as follows:

ZEOstart 3 – 0.3mL everyday
Coral Snow - 3mL every other day
Sponge Power - 3 drops everyday
Coral Vitalizer 3 drops 2 x per week
ZEObak - 3 drops 3 x per week

Additional run 0.75 liter ZeoVit with a constant water flow of ~ 80 US gallons per hour through the reactor. Replace the material every 6 weeks.

Additional use 0.3 liters activated carbon passively flown in the sump. Do not use a to aggressive carbon, most people have good experiences with the carbon of korallenzucht.

I never hear of the salt you use, it might be perfect but it can also be not adequate, maybe someone else does post first hand experiences with it. Many use Tropic Marin, Red Sea or Korallenzucht salt.

G.Alexander

[ChaoticReefer]

The salt is owned by Kent - my understanding is Kent owns Kent, Brightwell, and Continuum. With the business model of the quality of their products increases going in that order. So technically Continuum is their "top" quality. Jack could be pulling our leg, but I really like how clean and problem free it mixes up. Supposedly the salt doesn't come from sea water, it is made from adding the additives manually so it is supposedly "free of phosphates". It's what my local guy uses in his system and he has an amazing set up where coral are flourishing. I have tried TM, both reg and the Bio-Actif. I have tried Red Sea hmm 20 years or so ago, but not with this tank.

[ChaoticReefer]

Also....can I ask about your feelings on ZEOzym?

Also, with respect to ditching kalk, do you have anything against TM's Carbocalcium Powder for Alk and Ca? I still have some laying around and it would be best option for me since I am limited to 1 opening on my doser.

[G.Alexander]

I do not have experience with the TM product you have mention but basically from the product description it should be OK, it is just important that it does not contain additional trace elements as this will just darken corals tissue if the system runs nutrient poor.

ZeoZym as a excellent product and can be used additional if you like to to strengthen the biology. Use ½ to 1 spoon once or twice per week. Soak it well in tank water for a couple of hours before adding it in your system.

G.Alexander

[ChaoticReefer]

Ok, seem like I am changing this schedule every day.



How does it look?

[G.Alexander]

As yo dose Cyano Clean to treat cyanos I would recommend to dose a mixture of 6ml Coral Snow and 6 drops CyanoClean daily for 10 days, otherwise your dosing regimen is fine.

G.Alexander

[ChaoticReefer]

Just a little update:

I just got a Salifert Potassium test kit for a first time. My potassium level came out to be 440 ppm.

[G.Alexander]

This is more than enough so additional dosing is not necessary, the level will also not cause any issues. As the other main water parameters are elevated also I would recommend you to cross check salinity with a different, accurate meter to see if the salinity elevated also.

G.Alexander

[ChaoticReefer]

Hmmm...Just got ZEOzym. At first i was wondering if Zeolite and Coral snow were same thing but just in different forms. Now...I have to add ZEOzym to that list. Am I keep buying same thing but in a different form?

[G.Alexander]

Both product have completely different ingredients and their effects are also different. ZeoZym as the name says does contain enzymes which do split off nutrients to get the removes while improving the biology while Coral Snow is more of a “liquid filtration material” which does absorb substances which are skimmed out.

ZeoZym can be used optional but is not a component which is one of the systems main products.

G.Alexander