HELP! Why is Zeovit NOT WORKING FOR ME (GOING ON 2 YEARS)

[theschubinator]

Hello,

I've been running Zeovit for the past 2 years with the hopes I would start to see colorful SPS corals and amazing growth. Basically all I've seen is money coming out of my pocket. Yes, it has resulted in 0 reading for PO4; however, my Nitrates have shown absolutely zero effect.

I just sent in a Triton NOC test as well to verify my results. They can be seen here: https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/n-doc/11152 .


Tank Parameters:

120 Gallons of Tank Water
ZeoStart: 1ml/day via automatic doser .... just bumped this up to 2ml/day this month JUST to try something different
Zeobak: 3x/week at 5 drops each time .... bumped this up to 7 drops the past couple months ... again just to try something different.
Coral Vitalizer: 2x/week 10 drops each time
ZeoFood: 2x/week 5 drops each time ... actually stopped this all together for about 3 months at one point which no effect one way or another
SpongePower: 3x/week 5 drops each time ... was recommended to do this instead of ZeoFood while nutrients were still high (but again, no effect one way or another

Carbon: 1 cup/exchanged each month
Zeolites: 1 bag ... however, for a couple months I experimented with using 2 bags (and of course, nutrients didn't go up or down).

I have kept the flow through the Zeovit reactor right at 100G/hour. However, in the last couple months I've also experemented with raising and lower this rate as well (but again, Nitrates stay at 17 and PO4 right at 0).


Also have battled small cyano blooms the entire 2 years using Zeovite. So a year ago I also started:

Zeozym: 1 spoon full/week with each water change.
A-Balance: 1ml/week right after each water change.
CyanoClean: 3x/week 10 drops each .... for the past 6 months I upped this to 10 drops 5 times a week (as again, no matter how little or much I dose it shows no effect on cyano ... its always still just present.


Finally, for the past 3 months now, in addition to the Zeovit I added back on my algae scrubber that I used BEFORE Zeovit and despite it growing hair algae like crazy I have seen no change in Nitrate up/down.
For the past 3 months I also upped my water change for 10G to 20G each week - but again, no change.

I've even went to the point of feeding my fish only 1x every other day...and once I went 4 days without feeding at all. In that amount of time my Nitrates did drop 1 point ... but I've never seen in lower than 12 (usually between 15-17).

I also ripped all sand out of the tank and have gone bottomless for the past year to help keep things clean.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm at the end of my rope and unless there is something I haven't tried I'm pretty sure I'm going to be pulling out of this hobby. I excepted with time and patience I would start to see this amazing colorful, fast growing coral reef...and instead I've just wasted thousands of dollars :-(.

[jacky]

In the sump, is there any possibility of leaching NO3 from other materials such as mechanical filtration or white cotton? (Can you enumerate anything in the sump as a picture?)

Let's check the reactor flow rate again to make sure it is correct (use a small container, collect the reactor outlet for 30 seconds, volume x120, so that you can get the actual flow level)

If all is well, let's clean the skimmer's collection cup and make it wet for a while and try to see.

It looks blue from the picture, and from the color of coralline algae, it seems that it should be better (slightly more nutritious), in terms of personal taste.

[jacky]

In addition, the appearance of coral tissue looks mostly deep and thick. If the PO4 level is low and good, the coral tissue should look light. Do you have the opportunity to test PO4 again with advanced level instruments to ensure its actual level

In the dosing plan, you can consider adding Zeo CoralSnow, the amount of discount can help reduce nutrition, but it is still necessary to find the source of NO3

[theschubinator]

Yea I just took this picture this morning. I have Hybrid lights and until 10AM only the blues are on. Whites start ramping up at 10AM :-).

As far as my sump goes, its pretty clean. I fully cleaned it out about 6 months ago when I transitioned it to a frag tank to grow out zoas. I have an urchin in there to cleanup any algae that might grow due to the AI Prime for the Zoa frags. Otherwise, I have filter socks that get changed out 3x a week.

As far as the skimmer I've gone the route of running "dry" as well as "wet". The cup usually needs empty 1x a week, and I fully clean it every couple months.

As far as flow, I've checked this rate on numerous occasions with the method you mentioned above.

This is what makes this so frustrating. I've spent SO much time and money, reading and studying and have just not been happy with the results at all :-(.

But thanks for your input! It is appreciated.

[theschubinator]

Yea, actually I forgot to mention that I used CoralSnow for about a year (just finished up that bottle and decided not to invest in it again). As far as testing goes, I have the Hanna Checker and it has read 0 consistently for months...as well as the Triton test I linked to above also states PO4 is at 0.

[jacky]

Can you take a picture, let us see all the equipment and materials in the sump


PO4 is 0, usually coral tissue should be gradually lightened rather than deep, which is different from the actual appearance of the current coral. Another possibility is that there may be too much trace elements or the light spectrum is too blue and unbalanced.

In the appearance of corals, the expansion of coral polyps does not seem to be truly open, and coral polyps appear to be tightly closed.

[jacky]

Sometimes we measure the nutrition level from the instrument, although it shows 0, but from your picture, I see Cyano signs, it is indeed possible, so I will say that the nutrition is not low, try Zeo CoralSnow+Zeo Bac mixture (2:1/Snow:Bac)x7 days.

[Gwilday]

Sorry to jump in - but if you have genuine 0 po4 how are you intending to reduce your no3?

you need po4 to reduce no3. I don’t see how you can avoid it unfortunately

[G.Alexander]

Can you please tell us something more about the rocks you have used (age / material / ect.) and also about the fish stocking level ?

Have you had those NO3 issues since the beginning or has this started while you run ZeoVit ?

Weird is that even you add the algae scrubber NO3 stayed the same as algae are usually very effective in reducing NO3.

Do your SPS corals are growing well expanding their polyps ?

G.Alexander

[jacky]

I clicked on the picture again. In the picture, on the right side of the main display system, there is a black square and a round object that can be rotated. What is it, can you describe it?

[theschubinator]

I clicked on the picture again. In the picture, on the right side of the main display system, there is a black square and a round object that can be rotated. What is it, can you describe it?

Its just a glass cleaner. The round piece is the magnet for one of those flipper magnify glasses. It fell off the other day, and just haven't taken the top to retrieve it.

[theschubinator]

Can you please tell us something more about the rocks you have used (age / material / ect.) and also about the fish stocking level ?

Have you had those NO3 issues since the beginning or has this started while you run ZeoVit ?

Weird is that even you add the algae scrubber NO3 stayed the same as algae are usually very effective in reducing NO3.

Do your SPS corals are growing well expanding their polyps ?

G.Alexander

As far has, have I always had this issue. I'm honestly not sure. I "thought" my Nitrates were 3 for a good year ... at least that is what the NYOS Nitrate test always told me. It was this Christmas when I got the Hanna Checker and realized those tests have been off ever since. So I purchased the Red Sea Nitrate to figure out if NYOS or HANA was off. Red Sea confirmed the accuracy of the HANNA as well as the Triton test I just got back. I've always had minor problems with algae growing...so my guess is it would always been a problem.

Live Stock: I have a Tang, FoxFace, Regal AngelFish, 3 Chromis, 1 Anthias, and a ButterFly Fish. I also have a 36 Gallon piped into the same system and in that system that has 11 clownFish and 20ish BTAs. I make my own fish food with a mixture of salmon, shrimp, and reefRoids. I feed the ClownFish one cube of food 1x/day and the main tank gets a chunk that is about 2 cubs in size 1x/day

I had a time for of about 3 months where ithought things were starting to grow ... but in the 2 years of trying to grow SPS, the only thing that has really taken off is a couple Millis. At BEST my best corals doubled in size from a frag in 2 years...and some haven't grown at all.

[theschubinator]

Sorry to jump in - but if you have genuine 0 po4 how are you intending to reduce your no3?

you need po4 to reduce no3. I don’t see how you can avoid it unfortunately

I actually tried dosing some BrightWell's PO4 to the tank to see if it would have a balancing effect on the system. No matter how much I dosed it always stabilized back to 0 PO4 and NO3 of 17. I only tried this for a couple weeks and it def. had a negative effect on the corals (lost a couple corals...including a HOMEWRECKER! b/c of this)

[jacky]

I would suggest that you remove the glass cleaner, it looks weird, I'm not sure if it is the cause of everything, but it's worth a try. (If you say me, I will try to do this). At the same time, replace the water and refresh it in a balanced manner.

[NZ-Nick]

Evening all.

I saw this post a few days back and was going say you require some form of phosphate to the bacteria to consume the nitrates.
But hey someone bet me too it and reading on to what’s been posted has been very interesting.

Back to basics.
nitrogen cycle

lets test for ammonia, and nitrites, nitrates
stored water, rodi outlet, and when you make up some new salt.


chip a little bit of your rock work off and soak over night and test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
(Some artificial rock do use a form of ammonia in the resins)

Question.
What are you using to remove or control your phosphates ??
All foods have phosphates in them, reason of question.
( salmon is this cold smoked or brined= nitrites and nitrates through the process)

Can not find anything on brightwell web site regarding adding phosphates,only removing.
I have never used there products, and was interested in the ingredients they use.
I have use seachem and aqavitro with no ill effect when I was adding phosphates back into tank years ago.

a reaction to something with in your system ??

regards
nz-nick