New to zeovit

[Mike Y]

Tell us about your Tank

01-23-2005, 07:09 AM
Tell us about your tank.
Please give us answers to the following questions in order to get more accurate dosing recommendations.

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter 259 us gallons
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter 207 us gallons
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
5. Are you using Ozone no
6. Are you using UV no
7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume) ultra reef uks 200
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels po4 0.1 NO3 11.2
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels hasn’t tested yet
10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.) skimmer and zeovit new tank
11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.) 4 X XR15 pros g6
12. What corals do you keep mixed reef
13. Tissue color (light or dark) no corals yet tank just cycled
14. How long has the tank been running 32 days
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system low nutrients and better coral coloration
16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.)
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.) 100 lbs of aqua forest dry rock
18. Any present problems no
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.) apex trident for ca, alk, Mg and Hannah checkers for no3 and po4
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.) zeostart 2 X 1 ml, 2 liters of zeo rocks in an avast marine reactor, zeobak 8 drops 3 times a week and sponge power every other day 8 drops
22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.) 35ppt, 78 degrees temp
23. Which salt brand do you use aqua forest reef salt

I cycled the tank fishless with dr Tim’s one and only and ammonia chloride

I know there are a lot of questions. Please be as detailed (and honest) as possible and feel free to elaborate on anything else you think may be important.

[G.Alexander]

Hello Mike, lets continue as follows:

1. Use 2 liter zeovit in a Zeo Reactor. Water flow around 210 US gallons continuous flow. Clean the material daily. As 4 weeks have already passed replace 50% of the material now, further exchanges every 6 weeks while replacing 90% of the material keeping ~ 10% of the old material in the reactor.

2. Place 0.8 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 8 drops ZeoBac 2 – 3 x weekly, dose 0.8 ml ZeoStart 2 x daily (morning & evening). Dose those in front of the Zeo reactor pump while it is switched on. Please keep in mind to dose ZeoBac daily for 10 days after every ZeoVit exchange. Additional keep on dosing 8 drops SpongePower every other day for the next 2 – 3 weeks, than reduce the interval to 2 x weekly.

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.

Try to keep basic water parameters 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.

At the moment I would not add additional fish, if algae start to grow add some herbivore like snails etc. If you have a change to add some good quality live rock additional I would recommend to do as this will be helpful for the biology of the system.

This is a start-up dosage which might have to be adjusted later.

G.Alexander

[Mike Y]

Do you this it’s ok to start transferring my corals to this new tank or wait for the No3 and Po4 to be lower ?
I just tested and Po4 is .09 and No3 was 10.1

[NZ-Nick]

I’d try a a couple of basic corals to start, and see how the react, over a few weeks.

then start moving things over slowly if all ok.

it’s a artificial rock ur using to be aware of.

[G.Alexander]

I do see this as Nick, you can try to transfer a robust coral to see how it is doing if basic water parameters are in the recommended ranges but wait with additional fish as the biology of the system is still not really established after 4 weeks.

As you have used just dry rock it will take additional time before the biology of the system is working really well which is important for more delicate corals like Acropora. Because of the dry rock this phase might take up to 6 month.

Do the transfer slowly step by step, this is the most save way.

G.Alexander

[Mike Y]

Should I turn the skimmer off while dosing ?

[G.Alexander]

Just in the case that you have to dose before the skimmer, otherwise you can keep it running.

G.Alexander

[Mike Y]

Every thing seems to be going great po4 this morning was .03 and no3 was at 8 and I am still following your dose instructions above.
when should I start dosing zeofood?

[jacky]

Zeo Food can be kept later, when the nutrients are poor and the coral tissue is light, the appearance of the coral can be fine-tuned.

[Mike Y]

Just an update my po4 is currently at .01 and no3 is at 7.8 staying the course and dosing as list above any changes need to happen on the dosing ?

[jacky]

If 2 weeks have passed since changing the zeolite material,
take 8 drops of ZeoBac 2 – 3 times a week,
2 times a day 0.8 ml ZeoStart (morning and evening) SpongePower 8 drops 2 times a week

[Mike Y]

What my Potassium lvl should be ?

[jacky]

K+~380g, also remember to increase the concentration slowly rather than quickly.

[Mike Y]

I think I right around 390

[jacky]

The range of K+~380-400 is recommended.
K+390 is fine.