New to ZEOvit...checking progress.

[air_run]

Greetings,

I am new to ZEOvit. I started my aquarium about 4 months ago with the KZ 14 day cycle and I want to make sure I'm on the right track.

Current livestock is about (250) assorted snails, (30) hermits, (6) Pincushion Urchins, (2) Yellow-tail Chromis, a Flameback Angelfish and (10) SPS coral frags. I added coral frags on week 3 with no losses to date but, even though I have seen some growth on some all seem to be very light/pale. I have no PE during the day (less a Purple Stylo) and about half show pretty decent PE after lights out. Half are easy SPS while other half are Acros. Information on my aquarium/regimen below.

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

300g/1136L

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

250g/946L

3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique

No. Just 10% weekly water changes.

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

Yes. 54w AquaUltraviolet UV

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

Royal Exclusiv Bubble King Deluxe 200 Internal (184g - 396g)

8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels

P04: 0.04 ppm, N03: 2.7 ppm

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

Ca: 439 ppm, Alk: 6.9 dKH, Mag: 1380 ppm

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

Non-lit cryptic refugium with 50lbs live rock, filter socks

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

(x2) ATI 8x39w LED/T5 Powermodules
LED's: 7am - 10pm All blues to 30% with 2 hour ramp up/down
T5s: (3) ATI Blue Plus, (2) KZ Coral NG, (1) ATI Aquablue Special, (1) KZ Fiji Purple, (1) ATI Actinic
First 4 bulbs 9a - 9p with 30min Ramp up/down Second 4 bulbs 11a - 6p with 1 hr ramp up/down

12. What corals do you keep

SPS

13. Tissue color (light or dark)

Light

14. How long has the tank been running

Started cycle on 5-6-23. Almost 4 months.

15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system

For exceptional growth, color and health for SPS corals.

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

Not at this time. Just 10% weekly water changes with a 7 stage RODI system with 0 TDS on stage 6 and 7.

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

50lbs KP Aquatics live rock. Cured before start of cycle. Added day one of cycle. 50lbs Dry Cornerstone Rock

18. Any present problems

Just light brown film algae on glass/flow pumps every two days, very pale SPS and no polyp extension during the day.
Half have decent or visible polyp extension when lights off though.

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

Five weeks ago I had major long brown hair algae for a month but, as of one week ago it has gone away with manual removal and cutting back on Zeovit Basics a few weeks ago as
I believe I was excessively overdosing them.

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

All Hanna. All reagents up to date. Phosphate ULR/Phosphorus ULR, Alkalinity dKH, Nitrate HR, Marine ph/pHep, Calcium Checker ppm,
Magnesium Checker ppm, Hanna Checktemp 1, Hanna Salinity Pen Tester/Hanna H196822 Digital Refractometer for Seawater and
Tropic Marin High Precision Hydrometer and a Hanna Marine Monitor for pH, temp and salinity.

I do not currently test for nor do I have a potassium test kit.

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

ZEOvit: 2000ml in a KZ ZEOvit Reactor S running off a manifold 225gph (I only use large stones, not small ones)
ZEObak: 10 drops once a week after water change
ZEOStart3: 1ml daily
Sponge Power: 10 drops 3 times a week (M-W-F)
KZ Carbon: 1L in active flow filter exchanged monthly
Coral Snow: 10ml weekly after water change
ZEOzym: 3/4 tsp weekly after water change

Just started one week ago:
Coral Vitalizer: 3 drops daily after lights out
KZ Amino Acid: 3 drops daily after lights out

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

Salinity: 35ppt, Temp: 76.5F -79.5F, pH: 7.9 - 8.3

23. Which salt brand do you use

Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt Mix

Thanks,

Aaron

[G.Alexander]

Hello Aaron and welcome to ZeoVit.com !

First of all let me tell you that your system is really young and the biology is not really solid at the moment, in this phase the system is still improving and corals coral colors are not ideal which is normal. This will change over the time.

UV is not compatible to the system so I would recommend you to switch it off, some with O3.

Basically your dosing regimen is fine even if you use a smaller quantity of the ZeoVit material at the moment. The material is a mixture of different zeolites so it would be necessary to additional use the smaller pieces also. If this is impossible with your reactor you can put the smaller material in a mash bag placing it on the top of the reactor.

I am missing the potassium level of your system, please get a test kit for this elements and check the level regular. It should be ~ 380 mg.

The carbon quantity you use is also to high, reduce it to 50% as you use it in a reactor and replace it every 3 weeks.

Continue dosing as follows:

ZeoBac – 10 drops daily for 10 days, than 10 drops 2 x week
ZeoStart – 0.5 ml 2 x daily (morning / evening)
SpongePower – 10 drops every other day
CoralSnow – 10 ml once per week
ZeoZym – 1 spoon once per week

If you like to you can continue to dose AminoAcid and CoralVitalizter at this low quantity but at the moment it should not be necessary.

The algae film every 2 days is some kind of normal, it might be additional a biofilm which is a good sign so no worry as long as it does not get worse.

The more corals you add to your system the more Ca and KH processing will take place so over a longer period you have to use a additional method to keep them solid within the recommended ranges.

G.Alexander

[jacky]

Hello air_run Welcome to ZeoVit.com. I have read the detailed information about your tank. The dosage of zeolite materials and basic products is slightly different from the conventional standard. Then I mainly give you advice from your question. Let us get the potassium test kit and release the actual measurement results. K+ ~380g, also keep in mind, increase levels slowly and not quickly.

[NZ-Nick]

Welcome.

Hey, you seem to have a very long photo (light) period. This alone could be inhibiting corals growth.

Generally 8-10 hour total light period is all that’s needed. This could be something to look into.

regards
NickB

[air_run]

Thank you for the feedback everyone!

G.Alexander I will remove UV and reduce carbon as the change out will be next week. I can use smaller bits of ZEOvit media as I have the KZ reactor. It was just falling through the holes and making a mess.

jacky I will get a Potassium test kit asap. Any particular brand you recommend of good quality?

NZ-Nick I was just following the same schedule as Krzysztof Tryc. I see maybe that is probably a little aggressive for my aquarium currently as it is still in its infancy and stocking is very low. Maybe it will help with the less formation of surface algae and brown film as well. Thank you for the suggestion.

[jacky]

I have used Salifert and RedSea brands and I think they are good. Your tank is still very young, as G. suggested, carefully start/adjust from the "basic" of each item.

[air_run]

jacky G.Alexander Finally got the Potassium test kit. My current potassium level is 392pm. Should I stay the course? I am currently adding corals so I will monitor main levels and and start dosing major elements when I start to see water changes not keeping up.

[G.Alexander]

The level is fine, no need for any changes at the moment if corals are dong fine.

G.Alexander