Do not let the rocks get to exhausted...

[gqjeff]

Ok to make a long story short.. I wasn't able to get my 2 liters of new zeos in on time.. I had one bag but the other was a couple weeks out because of customs and me not being on the ball in the first place. No fault of any dealers or anything.. I do not have this problem now as I will always have 4 bags of zeos on hand. Well The zeos had to go 8 weeks instead of the 6 weeks.. I am actually going to change these out at 4 weeks this time and then probably get back to 6 week changeout. Well to get back to it.. At 8 weeks the zeos were totally exhausted.. About week 6 NO3 and PO4 started to show up again with salifert tests. The corals took on a browner color and didn't pop like thay had before. Well needless to say I got the new rocks and soaked them overnight in RO/DI.. I changed them out and kept the same doses of start, bak, food and aahc.. I had gotten KI Fl, and Fe but didn't use them because of the color change in the corals.. Didn't want to shock them to bad because they had started to brown a little.. Well as I said I changed the stones and kept the other doses the same.. 4 days after the new stones were added I tested again and neither were detectable with salifert test kits.. Thats means these stones stripped the water fast of the excess po4 and no3. I noticed on the 5th day some tissue loss on a couple brownouts I got 4 weeks ago.. They had started to show great growth and color change. I looked today 6 days after changing and 1 colony still has tissue loss going on and the other has seemed to slow down. I used super glue gel and tried to hopefully stop the stn from the colonies.. I have been talking to Bob AKA aged salt about this over the last day or so.. All I can think of and Bob seems to concur that the new zeos stripped the nutrients back out so fast the brownouts didn't have to to acclimate. When I put the brownouts in the zeo stones were already at 4 weeks and started to get exhuaste.. I guess what I am trying to say is make sure you do not let your stones get exhausted. I feel if I would have been on the ball and got these changed out at 4-6 weeks none of this would have happened.. If I loss these 2 corals these will be my first losses with the zeovit system. I think this was a good learning experience for me overall. I hope this helps others stay on top on the stones and do not let them become to exhausted. Bob also mentioned to me his only losses with zoe were a couple brownouts aswell... Happy reefkeeping peeps...

Peace, jeff

[invincible569]

Thanks for the heads up Jeff!

[Aged Salt]

As I mentioned to Jeff, observe the stones also as they will appear more brown in coloration at exhaustion. I'd recommend if this ever happened to Jeff in the future again at 8wks, to exchange only 50% of the zeolites[remember, one is also exchanging the carbon] for 2wks. then add the remainder 50% until the first 50% is at 6wks, then exchange 100% as usual. Bob

[gqjeff]

Bob, that is a great idea about only changing 50% of the stones.. It will never happen to me again hehehe I will always be on top of it now... I am changing the carbon at 4 week intervals using 2 cups..

[mshur]

bob,
if u change only 50% of old stonse,how would u know if u changing other 50% of old once...?u know ,what i mean?)))

mike

[Aged Salt]

Mike, as an example, if one has to extend the zeolites in a nutrient-poor tank[as Jeff's, where nutrients begin to test +] where 2 ltrs are normally used, toss these out[except for a few for seeding] & replace with 1ltr new zeolites. 2 wks. later add another 1ltr. zeolites to the 2wk old 1ltr. zeolites bringing you up to the normal 2ltrs that one normally uses. In this way, nutrients are not suddenly reduced. Bob

[wasp]

What's this soaking stones in RO overnight? Are we supposed to do that?

[scottw]

What's this soaking stones in RO overnight? Are we supposed to do that?

Its not a MUST... But its a good thing to do, gets all the dust off, and its just good practice.. So NO you dont have to, it will not make them work any different, but I do this will my reactor media as well as my rock for ZEO. Just good practice, thats all.

[Aged Salt]

Hi Alastair, I believe Alexander does this procedure to clean the stones of loose sediments & contaminants. I just rinse them well with RODI water in a collander prior to use w/o any apparent problems Bob

[wasp]

Thanks.

[mshur]

thankx,,,bob

next time i will follow up on ur advice)))alwast something new)))))

mike

[gqjeff]

Yea Bob why couldn't I have thought of that?

Peace and again TY, Jeff

[Aged Salt]

We're all learning the curve Thnx. Jeff for sharing your experience. Bob

[gqjeff]

No Problem.. I hope this lesson can save someone any problem down the road.

Peace all, Jeff

[Todd March]

Spooky post, Jeff, as it's EXACTLY what I have been through...


My ZEOvit stones went for 8 weeks, and my corals turned brown (though I could never detect any P04, and N03 has remained at .5ppm for months). I changed them almost two weeks ago, thinking things would improve...

Instead I have had my first loses with ZEO, and my colors are still gone. I have lost two wild caught colonies that were actually coloring up day by day all through late December and January... My once intense Superman blue A. hoeksemai is now solid Hersey bar BROWN except for it's top most tip which is navy blue...

Some new corals I just got are doing well, so all is not lost. I recently bought an expensive Tyree LE Monti frag ("Idaho Grape"), and it RTN'd overnight; it was small and was shipped via FedEx, so...

From now on, I am like Jeff, stones will be changed at 4-6 weeks!

Since my tank has a low load so far (1/10th of what if might someday have) I can't imagine how small of a bio-load a tank would have to have to get the 12 week maximum the Guide states for ZEOvit...?!