ZEOvit/200G Build Journal - 34G Solana

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Going to need a lot of help!

I posted this over at the ZEOvit.com forum but I think the more help I can get the better. This is something I am worried to start but am also excited.

The main reasoning to start ZEO is my love for fish and feeding them but also wanting nice corals My fear is because the tank is doing ok without ZEO and I have heard some horror stories about starting up...although I think most of those people rushed or did it all wrong.

I have bought a start up ZEOvit package with reactor, rocks and the three basics. I am not even close to ready to start yet though.

I have been doing research but need some help to get going. Here are the tank details that I posted as per ZEOvit.com

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.)

150G

2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.)

140G approx.

3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique

Dosing two part and have lime water in my auto top off (Going to start the Balling Method most likely though)

4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.)

Yes, 3 months, Opti-Phos renewable media

5. Are you using Ozone

No, not anymore, stopped about 4-5 months ago

6. Are you using UV

No

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

ATI Bubblemaster 200, I believe rated up to 250G?

8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels

PO4- 0 ppm
NO3- 10-15 ppm

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

Ca- 380-400
Alk- 11 (too high I know to start ZEO)
Mg- 1200 (working on raising it)

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

Refugium with chaeto

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

Dual 400Watt MH, 14K, brand new bulbs
2x80 watt T5 14,000K daylight
2x24 watt T5 Actinics

12. What corals do you keep

SPS dominated, some leathers, mushrooms, couple of LPS...very much a mixed reef. Also photosynthetic gorgonians and a few sponges.

13. Tissue color (light or dark)

Medium? Depends on the coral...great, very bright color from sps like digitata, monti caps and Milli's. Not as great color from most acros (higher nutrients) and dark color in some like Bali Green Slimers. Very bright coloration in softies and LPS.

14. How long has the tank been running

3 years BUT it has gone through many, many changes and moves. The LR is all very old but many corals have only been around about 3-4 months.

All in all I would say this current set up (the way it is now equipment and stocking wise) is 8 months old.

15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system

I have many, many fish and feed them a lot! My fish will always come first and corals are more decoration for me...having said that, I want pretty decorations! I have been told that with my heavy bio-load and feeding, I should consider ZEO. After reading about it, I love the idea and control you gain.

Short term, I am looking to simply lower nitrates. Long term, I am looking for stability, growth and color.

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

Two part for alk, calcium. I also just started dosing Mg to get levels up.

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

100 lbs. max. All anywhere from 2-8 years old. Most I would say is about 2-3 years old though.

18. Any present problems

Little bit of ich on my hippo tang. Not the best color in my photosynthetic gorgonians anymore.

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

No algae at all. Lost some color in my acros once the nitrates got above 5 but obviously know the reason for this

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

Salifert mostly. My calcium kit though is Nutrafin and my Mg test is Elos.

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

None...haven't started yet. Too scared!

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

Temp. 79.5-80.5
Sg. 1.026

23. Which salt brand do you use

Tropic Marin but I have to change because my store is no longer carrying it. I am going to switch to Reefers Best once I start ZEO.



Will get some current tank pics going soon.

Right now the "rocks" are soaking in RO/DI and I will most likely remove my refugium tomorrow and install the ZEO reactor.

[Jason McK]

GSP, Gross water volume and Net should not be the same. Net would take into account the Rock and sand displacement

J

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Jason McK

GSP, Gross water volume and Net should not be the same. Net would take into account the Rock and sand displacement

J

Actually I was confused about that. I will update that once I figure it out...

I have about 100lbs. LR and a .5-1" sand bed throughout the display. Any ideas?

[Johnny Reefer]

Hi GSP,

Fellow Zeoviter here. I just started it 7 weeks ago on both my FOWLR and Reef. So far, so good.

I notice your net and gross water volumes are the same, yet you have Live Rock. FWIW, when I set my current system up I made a point of determining how much water the Live Rock displaced in the display. 178lbs of Bali and 58lbs of Fiji (total 236lbs) displaced 16 gallons. Of course this is variable to others, depending on the density of their rock. Just thought I'd mention it. Your 100lbs would displace somewhere in the ballpark of 7 gallons giving you a net of 143 gallons. Not a big difference. Again...for what it's worth.

I like your answer on the coral colouration question. Medium? Haha, I think I said the same thing. I'm not sure what they mean by light vs. dark. To me vibrant vs. dull would make more sense. I'm going to ask them about this next time I post an update.

Good luck and cheers,

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Actually I was confused about that. I will update that once I figure it out...

I have about 100lbs. LR and a .5-1" sand bed throughout the display. Any ideas?

I don't recall if I took my SB into account. Anyway, see my last post re: the rock displacement.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Hey thanks Johnny! I think to be safe, I will go with 140G net. I would prefer to slightly be under than over.

Glad its going well for you so far. I am hoping to have the same success!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

FWIW, here is a pre-ZEO picture of the tank. The tank is a room divider and makes picture taking very tough for me as light on the other side interferes. I took this one at night which helps a bit, otherwise the windows in the other room glare through the tank. I am no good with the camera and this pic looks like the exposure is a little off. I am trying to get better though!

I know the tank is not even close to as brilliant as some of the ZEO tanks I see but thats why I am starting!

I will also take some pics of individual corals to document growth and coloration but I will warn you now, I have nothing rare or special in my tank! Just the usual suspects!



EDIT: The reason for the black bars is that my stand/canopy are still not done and UGLY! LOL

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

One thing ZEO doesn't ask that maybe useful is fish load/list. I guess they don't really care as it doesn't directly impact ZEO but of course the nutrients caused by the fish matter

I will post it anyways...

6" Naso Tang
7" Hippo Tang
4" Yellow Tang
5.5" Blue Spotted Rabbitfish
3" Mandarin
2" Pair of Clowns
6- 3" Scissor Gobies
9- 1.5-2" Blue Chromis
2" Fang Blenny
2" Cleaner Wrasse

Thats 24 fish! Definitely about the max I can go

Feed 3-6 times a day. Mostly pellets. Every two days I feed Mysis soaked in Tropic Marin vitamins and garlic. Nori daily for the tangs and rabbit. Only tang that does not eat nori is the Naso. He nibbles if the pieces are free floating but otherwise he doesn't care for nori.

The mandarin is hard to feed with all the tangs being so aggressive. He seems to know to wait in the corner though and I will target feed him. I am debating finding him a home in a much less "aggressive" tank but so far haven't made up my mind. I really like him and he is eating very well.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

So Jason has helped me a bit over the phone today (Thanks Jason!) and this is the other advice I have received over at the ZEO forum:

Wecome GSP, yea, the window-dressing that the corals provide are a lot of fun Read & download the ZEOvit Guide as it's contains info on the components used in ZEOvit. You're correct in not starting ZEOvit method until all parmeters are inline, including K+[potassium] as you'll need a KZ Kalium test kit & if low[< 380ppm] dose K-Balance Strong@0.5ml/25g net 3-4x's/day daily. Allow the alk. to gradually drop into range[mid-7's] over the next 10-14 days. The recommended guideline parameters are as follows:

Ca 380-420
Mg 1200-1350
dKH 6.5-8.0
K+ ~ 380ppm
salinity 33-35ppt.

With ZEOvit, P04-removers are not needed & counter-productive to the bacterial guilds that process these nutrients. It's best to pull this offline when you eventually begin ZEOvit. For your reef, I suggest the following:

1) place 1 1/4 Cup of well rinsed/soaked activated carbon in a filter bag, passively in your sump. Knead this carbon bag daily & replace monthly.

2) place 1.25ltrs[1 1/4 bags zeolites] in a zeo-rx. with the flow rate of 100-125gph.[~30 seconds to fill a one gal container from the zeo-rx pump] Cycle the rx. on & off at 3hr. intervals, being sure the stones remain submerged when the rx. is off. Clean the zeolites 2x's/day daily with 10-15 reps of the plunger each time while the rx. is on. Initially, the zeolites are exchanged at 4wks. thereafter, the time frame is 6-8wks. Always use 10-20% 'old' stones to seed the new.

3) dose 5 drops Bak & Food7 daily for the 1st 2wks. then dose these 2x's/wk, near the rx. when it's on. ZeoBak can be refrigerated.

4) dose 0.5ml Start2 2x's/day daily near the rx. Dose these basics immediately after tumbling the stones for the best effect.

5) optional: dose 3 drops CV[coral vitalizer]daily into the display for coral nourishment. Later, after zeolite exchange[s] other supplements can gradually be added.

Be sure to post at your 1st exchange, as some dosing adjustments maybe necessary. Bob

Basically what Jason had already advised and the way I am going to approach this. Slowly.

So first off I think is getting all params in check. I have a feeling it could be a week or so until I get the ZEO reactor going as my ALK is way too high. I have stopped with the kalk (for many reasons) and this should help. I was going to stop with kalk in my top off regardless because lately I have just heard of way too many tanks being wiped out due to overdosing!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Actually here is a shot of the stand/canopy (some of it anyways). What I am still working on is the canopy filling/painting and a stand addition. The stand addition is for a storage area and also a small counter top/table beside the tank. The tank divides the kitchen and living area.

The addition as you can see needs to be topped with plywood and then either tiled or painted. The plan was to use the glass tile you see there in the picture but we have since decided to just use sealed and painted MDF to match the rest of the stand and keep things simple.

I think the glass tile would have gone very well with the tank and our modern furniture but it was also quite expensive.