Too aggressive with Zeolites - the result

[Myka]

So this is what happens when you slam your tank with Zeolites (a very aggressive phosphate and nitrate reducer) and shock your corals. The 0.8 liters of Zeolites have been in my sump running passively in a bag in a low flow area since Nov 14 (my dog's bday aw), so exactly 2 weeks. I'm going to go ahead and pull the Zeolites. I am getting really close to losing a few of my brain corals. When the corals have recovered I will see into reintroducing a decreased amount of Zeolites in a reactor with controlled low flow, and slowly work up from there.

Here are some comparative photos of the corals in their prime, and then today.

Favia in its prime:




Favia today:




Symphyllia in its prime:




Symphyllia today:




Lobophyllia in its prime:




Lobophyllia today:




Trachyphyllia in its prime:




Trachyphyllia today:

[Dez]

Mindy,

My Trachyphyllia looks exactly the same - all shriveled (like a man's anatomy in cold water). However, it is a new addition and the first couple of days it was all puffy and nice like your before picture. I have the same coloured one as you. I have been on the zeovit system for one month now with 2 liters of zeolites in a reactor. Every single other coral is doing phenomenal though. I have hammers and frogspawns and candy corals and a flower pot in terms of lps and a bunch of sps. You think it's the zeolites that did it? Maybe it's the brain/acan family that doesn't like it. How are your other lps corals? Thanks in advance.

Desmond

[Myka]

Hi Desmond, yes I believe this is the result of using too many Zeolites in too high of flow which has caused the nutrients to get sucked out way too fast, and shocked the LPS. My issues have been discussed quite thoroughly for the last two weeks on the Zeovit forums. The SPS look better than ever. Other affected corals are Duncan and Acans. Ime, LPS enjoy some nutrients in the water. I have heard of other people with these troubles when first introducing Zeolites to the tank. There are lots of people that do keep LPS in Zeovit tanks though, but I do worry that any newly introduced LPS may suffer from the pristine conditions sicne most suppliers don't have pristine tanks.

[megs_clark]

Aw thats to bad. I love love love your pink Lobophyllia. The color is amazing, or was amazing. Will it regain all its color and heal up? It sounds like its pritty easy to overdose when using the zeolite stuff. I hope it all recovers :O)

[Delphinus]

That's interesting, and I'm very sorry to hear of this. It's a mixed blessings sort of bag though because I was worried it could also have been your filefish, so I'm sort of relieved to hear it's likely not him, but yet, it doesn't change the fact that the corals are distressed. So I wonder what the trick is with LPS especially now at this given point. To suspend zeo at this point likely solves nothing, perhaps the answer lies in a severe reduction of the zeolites and additives, ie., perhaps down to 20-25% of the recommended amounts/volumes for your given volume ??

Hope you figure it out. And sorry for your LPS too there Des. FWIW when I ran zeovit, my LPS never really reacted like this, although at the time, I had a CBB who enjoyed nibbling on things like Acan's .. I was never able to keep too many things because of that anyhow. If memory servers, I had candycane (both green and pink) and Euphyllia.

[naesco]

Myka just looking at the coral before your zeolite problem.
Why did you bother going the zeolite program.
Your corals looked great!

[Zoaelite]

Ya wow that first favia is amazing Myka! I have never run a zeo reactor and my LPS seem to do fairly well, you might stress the coral out by stopping all together though. Hope everything comes back for you.

[shrimpchips]

Myka, have you tried larger water changes/more frequent?

I went through a phase where I did very few/no WCs for about 8 weeks - nutrients were near zero, and SPS colour/growth were great, but the LPS didn't open as much. Kicked up the WCs to 20% a week, and now everything is nice and puffy.

[d-crazy]

This is my first time on here!!! not quite shure how it works yet.Moving to Kamloops from Vernon, going to be taking down and re-setting up my 40 gallon cube.

In regards to the thread, would the high levels of phosphates/nitrates that you wer originally trying to remove not be the cause of your corals demise? and you are just seeing the result later on, and then eventually they will heal up wen the levels of phos/nitr are removed? Its not like the levels suddenly dropped over night right? how long had you had the corals for, last water change??
Darin.

[Myka]

Thanks for all the condolences guys! I think the corals are still savable, which is why I'm calling it quits at this point because I think a few more days and it will be at the point of no return.

In regards to Darin's question (welcome to the board btw!!), my phosphate and nitrate were both undetectable using Salifert and Elos kits before the introduction of the Zeolites. I didn't check phosphate with a D-D kit beforehand though, so I'm not sure what the actual level was. The Zeovit system is designed with SPS in mind mainly, and is to produce an ultra low nutrient system for incredible SPS coloration. The system is actually quite remarkable.

Thanks for your comment Naesco (and everyone else who remarked about the nice corals). My LPS were all doing very well before going to the full Zeo system. I used Coral Vitalizer and Sponge Power for about 6 months before starting to get further into the Zeovit system. The LPS responded very well to these additives. I wanted to start using the full Zeovit system as my SPS had decent color, but not SHEZAM!! So I am attempting to get better coloration via Zeovit by lowering nitrate and phosphate to "near zero", which is much lower than Salifert or Elos kits can detect.

For those asking about the corals' future...I believe they are still savable at this point provided I can figure out how to reduce their stress without creating more in the process! I have put up some new questions regarding this to the Zeovit forums, so hopefully I will have an answer. I think either removing or reducing the amount of the Zeolites should do the trick.

As far as the rest of the Zeovit additives go in regards to Delphinus' question about adjusting dosing... I have increased dosing of Coral Vitalizer, Xtra, and Sponge Power in hopes to provide the LPS with enough food to recover. I have suspended dosing of Bak, and have stopped kneading the Zeolites and carbon twice daily in hopes of slowing down the nutrient export. Although I continue to dose Start to feed the existing bacteria.

I have been doing 12% weekly water changes, and have started to watch my calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium closer with daily dosings. SPS growth is exploding since the addition of the Zeolites even though some colonies have browned a bit, and some colonies have really increased color.

I really didn't realise the scope of the effects of the Zeolites. I under estimated them. I figured I would post this to warn others to be careful.