wanting to start zeo on a established 200l system

[chr15tann]

hi, i'm looking into going zeo but I am looking for a bit more advice to start up. the system is currently 2 years old and have a few sps which are growing but very slowly but with good colour, a few mushrooms and a few lps
im thinking the slow growth is due to my nitrates being at 50+ phos stable ot around 16ppb.
all other major water parameters are stable and around nsw levels.
if you could give me any advise on to how much zeo to run ect that would be great.
also i dont think i will be able to fit a zeo reactor in my sump, i have got another small redundant reactor i could use but it is not a zeo reactor, would this possibly work if i was to shake the reactor each day or do i just run in a bag? thank you. chris

[G.Alexander]

Hello Chris and welcome to ZeoVit.com !

To give you a starting recommendation it would be necessary to know more details about your system, please post some additional information:

https://forum.zeovit.com/forum/gener...r-tank#post138

Just placing the material in a mash bag is possible but it will decrease the possibility to decrease nutrients effective massive. I would recommend you to use any kind of a reactor which does flow the material active.

Reactors are not really complicated so maybe you will find some ideas in this thread to build your own reactor which does fit in your sump:

https://forum.zeovit.com/forum/equip...iy-zeoreactors

G.Alexander

[chr15tann]

Hi alaxander thank you for your reply heres the water params. thank you, chris
1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter 200L
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter 160L
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique no
4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.) no dosing 2ml of reef essentials liquid phosphate remover
5. Are you using Ozone no
6. Are you using UV no
7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume) Needlewheel Protein Skimmer C3.5 Capability : 100L-300L Pump:SP1000 Pump Power: 8W, 220V 50Hz /110V 60Hz Air Intake : 300L/H Dimensions:120 x 180 x 440mm Cylinder: 4" Water Level :8"-10"

8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels po4 as of today 22ppb with hanna uln phosphorus checker. nitrate 50 with salifert test
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels ca 450 alk 7.5 mg 1395high
10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.) bubble magus automatic filter roller. skimmer, live rock
11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.) evergrow it5060 set to ati blue plus spectrum 135w less than 6 month old
12. What corals do you keep montipora acropora stylo 1 bubble coral few red mushrooms and green star polyp but wanting to go more sps
13. Tissue color (light or dark) deep in colour
14. How long has the tank been running 3 years plus
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system to lower nutrient levels without adding harsh chemicals like liquid phos remover
16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.) dosing 10ml per day of aquaforests components 1 2 and 3 on dosing pump
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.) around 25kg of live rock 3 years old
18. Any present problems slight bit of green algae on back glass but nothing mojor
19. Problem description (tissue loss tips, tissue loss base, diatom bloom, algae, etc.) sps not growing very fast. polyp extension is good. green algae on back glass
20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.) hanna phos checker and salifert for the rest
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.) 0
22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.) mojor parameters are very stable 35ppt sg 26degrees
23. Which salt brand do you use aquaforest

[G.Alexander]

Hello Chris, thank you for the additional information.

First start with the basics products to decrease nutrients:

1. Place 0.4 liter zeovit in a Zeo Reactor. Water flow around 160 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 0.15 liters (150 ml) 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 2 drops ZeoBac daily for the first 2 weeks, flowed by a 2 x weekly dosage of 2 drops each. Dose 0.15 ml ZeoStart 2 x daily (morning & evening). Dose those in front of the Zeo reactor pump while it is switched on.

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.


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

When you start using ZeoVit reduce the dosage of your liquid PO4 remover to 2/3 and than reduce the dosage step by step over a 6 – 8 week period to zero. You can continue to use Aquaforest products as long as they do not contain additional trace elements and are only used to supplement KH, Ca and 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

[chr15tann]

thank you for that. i do have a slight problem with that, the aquaforest 1 2 3 does contain trace elements in each bottle, is this a concern?
ill get ordering the zeo products today to hopefuly set up by thursday. ill get a potassium test also and post the results up for you to see. thank you. chris

[G.Alexander]

The additional trace elements will cause corals to get darker tissue even if nutrients are low which is counterproductive to the system. I would recommend you to stop dosing those elements once you start with ZeoVit and supplement Ca, Mg and KH with pure supplements.

G.Alexander

[chr15tann]

hi, thanks for the reply, so do i not need to be dosing any kind of trace elements at all? or will the weekly water change be enough to keep up with this?
ill look into a different additives that do not contain trace elements and get those ordered, the reactor and zeo kit comes tomorrow so ill get all this setup and keep you up to date so you can see if im heading in the right direction as zeo is all new to me so i havent got much of a idea tbh lol. thank you.

[G.Alexander]

The classical trace elements which are contained in most of the trace element products are added in a balanced way with the regular water changes. Basically the concentration which is needed by the corals is much lower than in systems running under higher nutrient concentrations so this works very well.

G.Alexander

[chr15tann]

Hi. It's all setup. I have just done a potassium test and it is coming in at 360ppm on the salifert test. Is this a exceptable level or do I need to be dosing? Thank you. Chris.

[Reefdom]

It’s not bad, but it could be higher. As nutrient levels reduce it will become more important. Very slowly over an extended period of time (3-4 weeks) you can increase it.

G can confirm this approach.

[G.Alexander]

It’s not bad, but it could be higher. As nutrient levels reduce it will become more important. Very slowly over an extended period of time (3-4 weeks) you can increase it.

G can confirm this approach.

Perfect, I totally agree 👍

If you like to use a korallenzucht supplement K-Balance Strong would be the righ product but just increase the level slowly like recommended on the bottles label.

G.Alexander

[chr15tann]

Great stuff. Thank you both I'll get a bottle ordered and bring it up slowly to the 380 as you suggested.

[Reefdom]

As your nutrients get closer to undetectable you may notice Potassium consumption change to I would suggest testing weekly to get a feel for any changes.

Get a reference solution to make sure your potassium test kit is accurate. My last Salifert was 40ppm out and my current one is 20ppm so a reference solution helps. I use Fauna Marin. It is not expensive.

[chr15tann]

Hi. Thank you I will keep a close eye on it and dose accordingly and I will get a reference solution to test against this or send in a icp. Would you suggest I do anything regarding lighting? I don't want it to be to strong and start bleaching ect the blues are on around 85 percent and the whites around 60 percent with colours at 15. It's a evergrow it2060 it's on these settings around 6 hours per day with a ramp up and ramp down. I set these settings according to brs TV when they tested it out to get the most out of the light for sps. Thank you.

[Reefdom]

I don’t have any experience with leds of any considerable power, sorry. If the corals look ok with that settle, leave it for a bit as nutrients stabilise and then slowly increase the strength or photoperiod.