Aubrey’s Acros

[Reefdom]

Thought I would start a thread to log and track my zeo journey.

Tank is s a year old, 300l gross (230 net) DD 900 reef tank.

is primarily acropora with some LPS and algae haha.

I’ve been reefing 2.5 years and have learnt a lot my my dad and his 1000g SPS heavy tank.

I have carbon dosed from the beginning with supplementation until now being kalkwasser via a stirrer. I have reached a point now where I am adding balling to keep up with calcium and carbonate consumption.

i use 3.5 litres of Siporax in my sump along with 1kg of maxspect bio spheres which are similar to marine pure.
100 micron filter socks are changed twice a week, more often if I do a blow off of rocks and sand.

ive decided to use zeo products after expensive research and I understand and agree with most of their logic.

At present i use

zeobak full dose 2x a week
biomate full-size 2x a week
sponge power half dose every other day
coral vitaliser 1 drop 3 times a week

nothing else.
i will be introducing iodine by tropic Marin as I already have a bottle. This is lugols iodine and is dosed daily. Icp showed very low iodine

i have zeofood Plus, aahc, aa LPS that are not being used.

I hope to introduce them soon but not sure on the best way to do so.


1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - 290 Litres
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - 230 litres
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique - Kalkwasser and Balling Light
4. Are you using a PO4 reactor - no, never have
5. Are you using Ozone - no, never have
6. Are you using UV - no, never have
7. What skimmer are you using - Deltec 600i (rated for 200 litres -600 litres)
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels - Po4 0.02, no3 0.2)
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels - 8, 440, 1350
10. What filtration method do you use - Filter socks and Zeostart
11. Type of light - 8x39w ATI Sunpower Dimmable
12. What corals do you keep - Acropora with some LPS (Goniopora, Lobophylia, Micromussa, Euphyllia)
13. Tissue color - mid.
14. How long has the tank been running - 1 year
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system - involved method, keep in tune with tank.
16. Any supplemental dosing - Sponge Power, zeobak, biomate, coral vitalizer, Iodine
17. Live rock - started with dry rock (marco rock), roughly 15kg
18. Any present problems - a little cyano on sand. Brown buildup on rocks over the course of the day. Small amount of algae
19. Problem description - ony above. Corals are looking well and encrusting, good PE
20. What test kit do you use Salifert for all other than p04 (Hanna ULR)
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals zeobak & biomate 1 drop 2x a week, sponge power 1 drop 3x a week, Tropic Marin Iod 1 drop twice a week.
22. Other water parameters and water stability - 35ppt, 26 degrees C
23. Which salt brand do you use - Tropic Marin Pro Reef

[Reefdom]

[Reefdom]

Zeo reactor has been ordered along with some stones so i will be starting full zeovit on my 1 year old SPS dominated tank in the next few days. I am very nervous as things are progressing well but also excited.

Time will tell if it was the right decision.

[Reefdom]

My Kalkwasser reactor has been lowered to a minimal level as Zeovit recommends not using it at all. I would prefer to keep it running for now so have lowered it to 1ml/minute.

Alk and calcium are 8.3 and 430 so this should allow the levels to slowly fall to more natural seawater levels. Once there i have Balling Salts to begin maintaining calcium and carbonates.

[Reefdom]

Current consumption is 0.4 dkh/day so I have set my doser do cover 0.3 and allow alk to falls slowly to 7.5.

i have tested my feedpump for the zeo reactor and it is 120litres an hour. Which is fine to start as I will be using a half dose of zeolite which is 250ml

i am just waiting for the reactor to be delivered

[Reefdom]

Kalkwasser has been removed for two reasons.

1) I believe the precipitant (calcium Phosphate) is settling on the sandbed and allowing cyano to access the bound phosphate by lowering PH under its localised mat.
2) Zeovit program advises against kalkwasser, partially for the above reason.

I have switched to balling light. It will take a week or so to dial in the dosing as the higher ph from kalk, calcium precipitating and continuous drip mean it is difficult to gauge consumption and match it via balling.

I have used an online kalk dosing calculator and set my balling dose slightly under and will test daily..

At the moment i am running:

alk - 7.5 (7.3 - 7.8)
calcium - 415
Mag - 1350
Nitrate - 0.2
phosphate - 0 (this may rise as then is no longer kalkwasser to precipitate it out)

Zeo start 3 0.1ml over 2 doses
zeobak every other day with coral snow to target cyano
bio mate - every other day to help clean tank
sponge power - 1 drop 3x a week (this is half dose)
Coral vitalizer - 2 drops 2x a week (this is the minimum dose)

I have my zeolites but still waiting for the reactor to be delivered.

A 15% WC was performed today with Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. Alk measures at 8 and calcium 450 which is higher than i would like but it is hard to find a salt with lower alk and calcium.

I cleaned my sump in the sections that house the skimmer and siporax. The siporax was also shaken to loosen detritus before it was siphoned out.

I may wait until next weekend to set up the zeo reactor to allow time to dial in the balling dose and the tank to settle a little.

The only other thing running on the tank is a co2 scrubber to help keep my ph up as i have a busy house.









1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - 290 Litres
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - 230 litres
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique - Balling Light
4. Are you using a PO4 reactor - no, never have
5. Are you using Ozone - no, never have
6. Are you using UV - no, never have
7. What skimmer are you using - Deltec 600i (rated for 200 litres -600 litres) setting 5
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels - Po4 0.00, no3 0.2)
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels - 7.5, 440, 1350
10. What filtration method do you use - Filter socks and Zeostart3
11. Type of light - 8x39w ATI Sunpower Dimmable (2x blue plus, 2x coral plus, 1x purple, aquablue special, giessman actinic blue & ATI Actinic
12. What corals do you keep - Acropora with some LPS (Goniopora, Lobophylia, Micromussa, Euphyllia)
13. Tissue color - mid.
14. How long has the tank been running - 1 year
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system - involved method, keep in tune with tank. I like to do something with the tank daily
16. Any supplemental dosing - Sponge Power, zeobak, biomate, coral vitalizer, Iodine
17. Live rock - started with dry rock (marco rock), roughly 15kg
18. Any present problems - a little cyano on sand. Brown buildup on rocks over the course of the day. Small amount of algae
19. Problem description - ony above. Corals are looking well and encrusting, good PE
20. What test kit do you use Salifert for all other than p04 (Hanna ULR)
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals zeobak & biomate 2 drop 2x a week, sponge power 1 drop 3x a week, Tropic Marin Iod 1 drop twice a week.
22. Other water parameters and water stability - 35ppt, 26 degrees C
23. Which salt brand do you use - Tropic Marin Pro Reef

[Reefdom]

The reactor has arrived. It’s nit fancy or expensive, in fact, it is rather cheap. This is due to limited funds and a desire to see if i really like Zeovit before spending more on an expensive reactor. It seems that for the cost, the item is reasonable.

flow was tested with the reactor empty and is 100 litres per hour with the pump in its lowest speed. I did not have to use a flow valve. I have 250ml of zeolite soaking in RO water. This is about half of the recommended dose. These will be added n the morning when I dose zeobak and zeostart.

I have set up my dosing line above my pump intake so the zeostart drops not the intake. It is also easy to dose zeobak here as well.

The timer for the pump is set for 3hrs on and 3 hrs off.

Siporax is still in place and will remain for the first 5 days of Zeovit. I will then make a decision on whether to remove or leave it another week.

I think I have dialled in my carbonate dose now. A test tomorrow morning will hopefully confirm this. I should then be able to see corals response by changes in consumption.

i am both nervous and excited. I have a fair amount of acropora frags and do nit want to lose any of them. This is why I have taken a very slow approach to the start. Nutrients are already low so I hope there will be minimal shock to corals.

[Reefdom]

Zeoites are in, reactor is on. 250ml and 100l/hr.

Parameters at the time of starting are:

Alk - 7.7 (still dialing in the dose)
Calcium - 435
Magnesium - 1320
Potassium - 410
Nitrate - 0.2
Phosphate - Undetectable (Hanna ULR)

Dosing:
Zeobak - 2 drops daily
Zeostart - 0.1ml split over 2 doses
Biomate - 2 drops 2x a week
Sponge Power -1 drop 4 times a week
Coral Vitalizer - 2 drops 2x a week

Currently using 48ml Fauna Marin Carbonate
Feeding 2.5 cubes of rinsed frozen split over morning and evening

[Reefdom]

[Reefdom]

5 days in and things are doing ok.

Cyano appears to be clearing up and so is algae.

I am currently dosing just zeobak, biomate, sponge power.

nutrients were undetectable and have remained the same.

Corals PE has reduced slightly, but colours have remained.

feeding if CV has been increased from 2 drops 2x a week to 2 drops 4 times a week to help corals adapt to a lower nutrient levels.

consumption has remained constant. LPS such as goniopora are fine, acans and lobophyllia may be starting to struggle. I am adding a small pellet feeding during the day so if no improvement by next weekend I will consider dosing half the recommended amino acid LPS dose, 2x a week to see if there is an effect.

If cyano and algae remain at minimal levels I will start adding iodine.

Zeolite is still 3hrs on 3hrs off.

[Reefdom]

A visit to my local fish shop ended with a new fish, a very pretty Anampses Neoguinaicus. I have been on the lookout for one of these for a while and fortunately one turned up.

[Reefdom]

This weekend post water change test results.

Alk - 7.5 - now stable and hasn't moved all week.
Calcium - 450
Magnesium - 1320
Potassium 400
Nitrate - 1
Phosphate - 0.02

This is due to heavy feeding to help my new wrasse and existing leopard wrasse adapt and also to try and get them to take more of a variety of foods.

10 days in and i have now switched the reactor to 24/7 on. I have not changed zeostart dosage and will not unless nitrate continues to rise over the next two weeks due to heavier feeding. I am still running 1/2 the suggested media @ 100lph flow rate. I willkeep it like this for another 5 weeks when i will change the media.

I have started dosing Iodine as well as previous ICP said it was zero.

[Reefdom]

Although I have some cyano, the corals are doing great so I will address the cyano carefully to not upset the corals.

the new wrasse is settling in fine.

i also picked up a few new pieces yesterday

[Reefdom]

This weeks numbers are:

KH - 7.2. It continues to drop every time i add more so i will adjust the doser now.
Calcium - 445
Nitrate 2.5 - this has risen, perhaps due t heavy feeding to help resuce a starving fish. She passed unfortunately
Phosphate - 1ppb (0.00)

corals look great includng 3 new pieces i acquired.

I have done well this week, keeping my hands out of the tank and i think the corals appreciated it.

I cleaned my skimmer today and it is now working better than ever. Perhaps this is the cause for the increase in cyano. We shall see if the situation improves.

[Reefdom]