New Tank first time running zeovit

[emiller08]

This is my first time running zeovit, the net water volume of my tank is 150 gallons (120 display, 30 in sump) and it has been running for 20 days now. At this point I have not added any coral just tree small fish (a damsel and two chromis). Only about 10 percent of the rock I used was live cultured with bacteria beforehand, the rest was dry rock as well as dry sand. I have been dosing Zeo bak, zeo start, zeo food, and sponge power as recommend for a new tank from a tread on this forum. Nitrate is still a bit high, I figured this is due to using so much dry rock. I have an RODI unite but having a difficult time getting it to operate properly so I filled my tank with RO drinking water initially, this gave me a high phosphate level. I started to notice specks of dark brown almost black algae with small air bubbles growing on the substrate and rocks, I have turned off the lights now to impede the growth until I can lower the phosphate levels. What would be the best way to lower phosphate in a zeovit system? Will keeping the lights off effect the bacteria growth?

[jacky]

Don’t know if your initial Zeo basal dose is correct, #7 in this link

https://forum.zeovit.com/forum/gener...nformation-faq

Keep this recommended dose from day 14. Biology is not very stable, there is no live rock, which prolongs the time of biological health, add a few snails to help, and start to use KZ carbon to keep the equipment running (lighting). The first zeolite material is retained for the first 4 weeks, after which 50% of the material (old) is replaced, each time the Zeo Bac material is replaced for 10 days, and the flow rate of the zeolite reactor is checked. It is recommended to stop Zeo Food temporarily and use Zeo SpongPower. Carefully check the water parameters as much as possible to maintain the NSW level, to maintain a weekly change of 10% of the water.

[jacky]

https://forum.zeovit.com/forum/gener...bout-your-tank

Please fill in the questions in this link as much as possible for us, so that we will know more about your tank.

It is worth noting that, as you described (dry rock, dry sand, and 10% bacterially cultured material), what is the actual level of phosphate, and is the level high? If you can, I would suggest you to use some fresh and high-quality service live rock, which is better.

[emiller08]

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter -150 gallons (120 gallon display / 30 gallons in sump)
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter
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 , just started to dose Brightwell Aquatics Phosphate-E to remove phosphate already in system.
5. Are you using Ozone - No
6. Are you using UV - No
7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume) - Red Sea 600 (heavy bio load rated 150Gallons)
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels - PO4 over 0.90 (measuring with Hanna Phosphate ULR) / NO3 = 20
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels - Ca=486 , Alk=9.4, no Mg test yet
10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.) only filter socks and skimmer
11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.) - 3 AI Prime at 40 watts, blue channels set highest, new lights. Adding 2 orphek OR3 blue plus 1 day plus
12. What corals do you keep - none yet
13. Tissue color (light or dark) - none
14. How long has the tank been running - 21 days
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system - to keep low nutrients and run a mixed reef tank with lots of sps
16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.) - Zeo bak, Zeo start, Zeo food, spong power followed the 14 starting doses
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.) - 10% of rock used, 3 months old
18. Any present problems - developing dark brown algae with small air bubbles on sand and rocks
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.) Red sea marine care/ Hanna- Phosphate ULR , Calcium, Alkalinity
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals. ZEOvit 1 liter and 400 grams, ZEObak 6 drops 3 times a week, ZEOfood 2 drops 3 times a week, ZEOstart 0.6 twice daily, spong power 6 drops every other day
22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.) salinity 34 ppt, temp 77-78F, PH 8.2, Ammonia 0.2
23. Which salt brand do you use - Instant ocean reef crystals to start, switched to tropic marine

I followed the 14 day dosing schedule and running KZ carbon. How should I be dosing now that the 14 days have passed but levels are still unstable? I have not done any water changes yet as I was waiting for week 4.

[jacky]

Thank you for the more information. Phosphate seems to be high, and there seems to be other reasons, such as wet rocks. What is Net water volume? (Deduct rocks, sand, pipes, etc.), it is recommended to balance the lighting, and keep the lighting time 10hr, biology is still very young. Two weeks after the first replacement of the zeolite material, 10% of the water was changed every week.

[emiller08]

Net water volume is 129 gallons

[jacky]

Quantity of zeolite material: 1.25 liters
The maximum continuous flow through the zeolite material reactor is about 500 liters (using a small container, the collection outlet is 30 seconds, the volume is x120, so that the actual continuous flow level can be obtained)

KZ carbon quantity: 0.5 liters
Passive flight with mesh bag, replaced every 30 days

Zeo Bac 5 drops, 2-3 times a week
Zeo Start 0.5ml, x2 times a day
Zeo SpongePower 5 drops every other day

The basic water parameters are too high, start from the salinity check to see if they are at the correct level, try to keep the basic water parameters at the NSW level
Kh 6.5~7.5
Ca 400~420
Mg 1250~1300
K+~380g

Too much blue light does not seem to help better, and more white spectrum lighting is recommended to help this process. Biology is still young, it is recommended to temporarily stop adding fish. You can try adding some snails to help clean the algae.

So are you still using another adsorbent to reduce phosphate?

[emiller08]

okay I will increase the white spectrum on the LED lights

Yes, I have dosed the Brightwell Aquatics Phosphate remover for two days now,
Phosphate was still over 0.90 today, will test again tomorrow.

[jacky]

Keep the recommended dosage of #7, and the amount of material flow is correct. If the phosphate decreases, gradually reduce the adsorbent to 0 and should not rise again. This is a comfortable way for biological health. Additional BioMate is another good option. (Let’s take a look at the nutritional level, I don’t know if the phosphate continues to be leached)

[G.Alexander]

The actual PO4 level of 0.9 mg is really a massive concentrations and it will be a very long process to get this under control. What is your feeling where the high concentration is coming from ? At the moment I would also not recommend to add additional fish or corals.

G.Alexander

[emiller08]

Okay I will try BioMate as well

My assumption is that the phosphate was introduced in the water I used to fill the tank initially, I used purified drinking water at the time because my RODI unit was not operating properly.
The RODI unit is working now.

[G.Alexander]

If this is the case the PO4 level should start to drop soon but I fear there is something more leaching PO4 like rocks / sand etc.

As long as there are not corals in the system using some kind of PO4 absorber temporary might be helpful, if the PO4 level does increase again after you remove the absorber the PO4 is coming from rocks or sand for sure.

G.Alexander

[emiller08]

Should I continue to does the same after the first zeolite media change?

Zeo Bac 5 drops, 2-3 times a week
Zeo Start 0.5ml, x2 times a day
Zeo SpongePower 5 drops every other day

Or do I dose more frequently?

[G.Alexander]

After each ZeoVit exchange dose ZeoBac daily for 10 days, otherwise 2 x weekly. The rest of the dosage does not need to be changed after the material exchange.

G.Alexander

[emiller08]

how long after the first zeolite media change is the first water change?