ZeoVit users poll

[Jason McK]

Please only vote if you are currently using Zeo.

Select all options that apply

[Pan]

I use some of the additives...but not the reactor as of yet. Does that count?

[Tom R]

Hi Jason

I have been on to the ZEOvit system since November 2006

I initially started with the basic four on a tank that had been up and running for 4 years.

I have added the use of:

Amino Acids
Coral Vitalizer
Potassium Iodide Fluoride
Coral Snow
ZEOspur2

I currently have the healthiest, best colour and growth that I have ever experienced while keeping SPS corals.

Tom R

[Jason McK]

I guess I should add what I'm useing
4 Basics
AAHC
CV
Coral Snow
B-Balance
Potassium Iodide
Xtra

[Jason McK]

Tom is Coral Smow mew LOL

Sorry couldn't resist

J

[Chowder]

Tried Sponge Power for a while but stopped .

[marie]

Tom is Coral Smow mew LOL

Sorry couldn't resist

J

You should of quoted him because now your post makes no sense :razz:

[Tom R]

LOL

Sorry its either fat fingers or being a recent graduate of the HUNT & PECK TYPING SCHOOL that causes Smow. What can I say.

Tom R

Tom is Coral Smow mew LOL

Sorry couldn't resist

J

[mr_alberta]

I use:

The 4 basics:
Zeolites, Zeobac, ZeoStart, ZeoFood

I also use
LPS Amino Acids, Coral Snow, Coral Vitalizer, Sponge Power

So far I like the system. The water is very clear and my LPS seem to be reacting well to the system.

[dsaundry]

Only use the Coral Snow at this time..Can't vote..No Catagory....:sad:

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I started, but then stopped....mostly due to laziness *shame*...

But I will be starting again; I have the four basic components, and also K-Balance Strong and Coral Snow (the last two I've yet to use....).

I used it initially for about a month and a half, and didn't see any noticeable decrease in the algae film that seems to glaze my glass every few days or so. That was disappointing, so I marked "Jury is still out" on that account. Oddly, some of LPS starting responding amazingly to it...which was surprising. I guessing it was the mulm.

[Jason McK]

No shame in that.

I found a great routine for my dosing schedule.
In the Morning I go down to the tank
Dose
0.6ml Start2
Pump Reactor
Add 12ml Xtra
Add 12Ml B-Balance
add 12 drops Potassium Iodine
Every 3 days add 6ml Coral Snow
Check CA Reactor PH
Evening while feeding fish
Add 7 drops AAHC
Add 7 drops CV
every 3 days add 6 drops Bac
every 3 days add 3 drops Food7

It's a hard routine to get into but it allows me to also spend more time with the tank.

I have found adjusting your Start2 dosage will greatly improve you film algae build up.

J

[kwirky]

I worked zeovit dosing into my wake-up routine. I'm NOT a morning person so as soon as my alarm goes off I get up and zombie-shuffle over to the tank (it's in the same room) and start dosing the zeovit.

45g display + 30g sump (aprox 70 gallons considering rock displacement)

I dose the two part (calcium in tank, alk in overflow) 20mL each.
I dose 2 drops zeofood, zeobac each (zombie-shuffle to the fridge in the basement for the zeobac and CV)
I dose 0.4mL zeostart
I dose 3 drops amino acid concentrate, 3 drops Coral vitalizer

all the zeo products go straight into the tank. My remora skimmer doesn't remove jack anyways and it's now offline because of it.

By the time I'm done all the zombie-shuffling I'm mostly alert and the rest of my morning routine goes by quickly. Works better than the morning shower :D

I've dosed zeospur a total of 4 times in the past 2 months aproximately. it's STRONG stuff and I only use it when needed and when I know the corals are in tip top health. I've dosed it 25-50% the recommended ammount because the tank's only a few months old and I'm not confident it's healthy enough for a full dose.

[Delphinus]

I have found adjusting your Start2 dosage will greatly improve you film algae build up.

Sorry - increasing Start2 or decreasing?

....

FWIW, here's my routine. I was doing more but I've cut back on non-essentials because I started having a few weird issues go on in the tank.

(100g of water in this particular system)

Morning:
- Dose 0.25-0.30 ("0.3 ish" minus whatever for the little air bubble in the syringe) Start2, direct into reactor
- Pump reactor 15 times
- Was dosing Coral Snow but stopped a few weeks ago.

Evening:
- Dose another 0.25-0.30 Start2 (direct into reactor)
- Dose 4 drops Zeobak (direct into reactor)
- Dose 4 drops Zeofood (direct into reactor)
- Pump reactor 15 times
- Was dosing 4 drops Sponge Power, 4 drops Coral Vitalizer, 4 drops SPS amino acids, 4 drops LPS amino acids, into display tank. Stopped about a month ago though, cyano started taking over.

I guess it's true what they say about older tanks though because it's weird but I started getting film algae worse after starting Zeo than I did before. Decided that since this is an older tank (6 years), that I shouldn't be so focused on tweaking with it though, instead will just continue on with basic 4 for now, and will resume focus on more Zeovit once again when I have a new setup running.

[digital-audiophile]

Tony,

When you say directly into the reactor, do you mean you take the lid off and put the drops right onto the zeolites? Or are you dosing in the water at the point of the pump on the reactor?

[Delphinus]

Sorry - "directly into the reactor pump intake" would be a "more better" accurate way of saying it. :lol: . I can't take credit for this idea, I'll assume it's an Albertism idea. Saw it at Gold Aquariums anyhow, that's where I got the idea. Put a standpipe on the pump intake with a T below the waterline, but the standpipe part comes out of the waterline. So water enters the reactor from the submerged end, but anything you drop into the standpipe has nowhere to go but inside the reactor.

[digital-audiophile]

Cool! I never even thought of that... I just drop my basic three on the waterline above the reactor pump, but this would work a lot better. :)

[albert_dao]

Sorry - "directly into the reactor pump intake" would be a "more better" accurate way of saying it. :lol:

Yup, I'm gonna try to get it incorporated into reactors as a standard feature right soon here.

[Jason McK]

Sorry - increasing Start2 or decreasing?

....

FWIW, here's my routine. I was doing more but I've cut back on non-essentials because I started having a few weird issues go on in the tank.

(100g of water in this particular system)

Morning:
- Dose 0.25-0.30 ("0.3 ish" minus whatever for the little air bubble in the syringe) Start2, direct into reactor
- Pump reactor 15 times
- Was dosing Coral Snow but stopped a few weeks ago.

Evening:
- Dose another 0.25-0.30 Start2 (direct into reactor)
- Dose 4 drops Zeobak (direct into reactor)
- Dose 4 drops Zeofood (direct into reactor)
- Pump reactor 15 times
- Was dosing 4 drops Sponge Power, 4 drops Coral Vitalizer, 4 drops SPS amino acids, 4 drops LPS amino acids, into display tank. Stopped about a month ago though, cyano started taking over.

I guess it's true what they say about older tanks though because it's weird but I started getting film algae worse after starting Zeo than I did before. Decided that since this is an older tank (6 years), that I shouldn't be so focused on tweaking with it though, instead will just continue on with basic 4 for now, and will resume focus on more Zeovit once again when I have a new setup running.

Decreasing Start2 will help. I then have slowly raised it back up. I also break my daily dosage into 2 0.6ml in the morning and 0.6ml in the evening

How often are you dosing ZeoBac and ZeoFood?

J

[Tyson]

I have been useing Zeovit for the past year with great results, just took everything down and sold the live stock so i could move at the end of June and then i can start the new 120+ project, most likely with zeo.

[digital-audiophile]

I ended my cyano problems but green film algae is the bane of my existence. I have modified my basic four and additives so many times over the past few months since starting and I just cannot kick it. I use RO/DI w/ 0TDS, reefers best salt and the slew of zeo products and I just cannot get rid of it.

[Delphinus]

Decreasing Start2 will help. I then have slowly raised it back up. I also break my daily dosage into 2 0.6ml in the morning and 0.6ml in the evening

How often are you dosing ZeoBac and ZeoFood?


Once per day, at night, 4 drops each. The guide says I should be using a full ml of start2 for my volume, but I've cut that back to about 0.6-0.7 per day, but broken in 2 - 0.3ish morning, 0.3ish evening. Is it safe to cut it back further? 0.3ml is already a very miniscule amount, going smaller is possible but more like doing drops, I would think..

@Albert - neat. :)

[Jason McK]

No I think you at the lower limit.

How often are you needing to clean the glass?

J

[Delphinus]

I'd say about once per week but I have to use a razor blade, the magfloat doesn't cut through the stuff that's there. The magfloat will keep it clean if I do it every day, every 2-3 days at the longest. After that there is stuff that won't come off without the razor blade.

[Jason McK]

I struggled with algea on the glass for a lone time. I'd still say I have about the same amount as if I wasn't on Zeo. I clean with a Mag float about every 7 days.

I'm convinced it's a side effect of Zeo that passes over time.
Are you running any phosphate remover like Rowaphos?

Personally (and I'm not expert) I would return to the Zeoguide spec for the 4 basic Zeo products.
Run like that untill the next rock change and monitor the phosphate and nitrate levels closely.

I have found there is quite a battle for the available nutrient in the Zeo System. The biggest issue is ensureing that the ZeoBak is the winner. The addition of CV, Spur2, AAHC, Sponge power and others, Make more nutrients available for other bactirias or Algaes. this is the main reason you do not want to start the addition of these ellements too soon. (despite what many people say on Zeovit.com)
This is my opinion only but through the last 2 1/2 years I have found controlling the additional ellements can resolve a lot of problems once you are running a low nutrient system

J

[untamed]

Clean glass every 7 days! Nice. I have to clean mine every 2-3 days. I find that the longer I delay the cleaning, the more algae is "freed up" to float around the water column.

If I delay too long, I have to clean two days in a row because the algae just re-settles on the glas' following the first cleaning.

[untamed]

I've been dosing sponge power, and vitalizer for a few months. I'm not continuing with the vitalizer. I'll continue with sponge power for now, but I don't like dosing something when I don't know what it is....so I'll likely stop this eventually also.

That's it for my participation in Zeovit at the moment.

[Tyson]

hey guys i read that an over dosing of k-balance can leed to algae growth in our tanks.

[bv_reefer]

i don't believe i'll be going into the actual zeo system, but my plan is to use trace elements, sea water complex, coral snow, and pohls extra. so far i'm very satisfied with trace elements, i've never had this much polyp extension than what i have now, i also noticed it brought out the greens in my sps.

[chevyjaxon]

I just started using zeostart 2 only to help reduce nitrates i really dont know how to properly dose it i put a quarter capful in 2 times a day i cannot find any information on this product so im not sure what im adding but for 50 bux a bottle it better be good its been 4 days since i started using it and i see no drop in nitrates can anybody tell me for sure just what im adding to my tank??

[chevyjaxon]

btw you guys talk about this stuff like its rocket science you do just add it to the sump right?

[Jason McK]

I just started using zeostart 2 only to help reduce nitrates i really dont know how to properly dose it i put a quarter capful in 2 times a day i cannot find any information on this product so im not sure what im adding but for 50 bux a bottle it better be good its been 4 days since i started using it and i see no drop in nitrates can anybody tell me for sure just what im adding to my tank??

Just adding ZeoStart2 to your tank will do nothing but increase algae growth. The exact opposite of what you want.
ZeoStart2 is a food for ZeoBac.

ZeoLith, ZeoBac, ZeoFood7, and ZeoStart are the basic 4 components of the Zeo system. They work together and will do nothing as individuals.
Zeovit does have several components that can help lower nitrates Like ZeoLife
But ZeoStart2 I'm afraid will not help you

J

[WhoPoopWrasse]

I just started using zeostart 2 only to help reduce nitrates i really dont know how to properly dose it i put a quarter capful in 2 times a day i cannot find any information on this product so im not sure what im adding but for 50 bux a bottle it better be good its been 4 days since i started using it and i see no drop in nitrates can anybody tell me for sure just what im adding to my tank??

I don't think you can use just the start. You need to use the bak and food also. The dosage for the start is 2 ml per 250g actual water, but you have to start slower than that. If you want to start dosing you should visit the zeo site and ask either g. Alexander or aged salt.