Zeovit discussion thread!

[hybridazn]

I'm getting ready to start Zeovit on my tank here soon. I thought I would start a thread to see what others are using zeovit wise and success stories (and obviously pictures lol).

I'm starting with a old school Zeovit reactor,
Zeovit stones
Zeofood
Zeobak
Zeostart
Coral snow

After I get going is there anything else I should look into possibly dosing? My tank is a 180 gallon sps heavy with some acans and blastos.

My starter pack lol

And a recent FTS

I'm currently in a reboot after a few hiccups so I feel it will he easier to try zeovit with mostly frags as opposed to full blown colonies.

So everyone running Zeovit! Let's here some stories and see some pictures!

 

[hybridazn]

Anyone?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I got no experience, but maybe one of the #reefsquad or our #SPSexperts can help.

 

[Elder1945]

Following! I plan on starting ZeoVit on my new tank.

 

[jsker]

I have used the snow and the filter media(rock) and it has work well.

 

[Anirban]

Welcome to the world of zeolites and zeovits. I was using zeovits and still like a lot of their products. The only issue you don't know whats in the bottle...lol. They have some really nice products like the pohls extra, sponge power etc. You are much experienced reefer than me but I will say go realy slow with those stones as they combined with low nutrient, carbon and strong light can really be a lethal combo if not taken well care off.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Anirban, hit the nail on the head. I will forwarn you that the ROX carbon is going to be too agressive in conjunction with the zeolites. Make sure you accurately measure you true volume of water in your system and then make sure you match that number in gph of flow out of the reactor. Then for the first 6-8 weeks your reactor needs to cycle on for 3 hours and then off for 3 hours. Anymore flow than that, and all your corals will be toast. If you don't follow the 3 on 3 off, your corals will be toast.

I'm still using the zeolites and reactor but I have since stopped using nearly all zeovit products. My experience is my money is best spent on additives from other companies, ones that tell me what they put in the bottle. My experience with their equipment and warranty service has been nothing short disgraceful. So I buy their zeolite stones and activated carbon and that's it now.

I guess my biggest question for you would be why are you wanting to switch to it? Switching over an existing system to zeovit isn't a very graceful process. It takes 6 months to a year. Lots of uglies happen in that time. Zeovit forum is full of people fighting brown slime and cyano for a reason.

One thing they clearly didn't tell you is a ZeoFood is an outdated product that they don't even use anymore. So many things are so wrong with the way that KZ operates... they make great T5 bulbs though!

 

[ksfulk]

Just based on what you have in the photo, I can say that whatever amount of carbon is recommended, use 1/2 that amount or perhaps a 1/3. Rox is really aggressive, and while others have said its caused detriment to their system, I've been using it at 1/3-1/2 recommended dosage and havent see any issues. I used to run it in a reactor, but since it was plumbed off a manifold, I couldnt get a consistent flow rate. Now its in a bag in the sump that I "squish" (forgive my technical speak there) every day or two when Im pumping the reactor.

I also used the 14 day startup guide, and was told to avoid using the ZeoFood at startup, instead using SpongePower per the recommended instructions. I havent seen anything that would prevent me from suggesting you do otherwise. Everytime I use ZeoFood, I get algae on the glass within hours. I use it maybe once a week now, but I dont know that its needed at this point. My dosing schedule is really basic at this point and while I dont necessarily like that I dont know whats in each bottle, I have numerous SPS, LPS and softies all growing in my tank without issue from the system. I dose only Start, Bak and SpongePower as perscribed, and change my carbon monthly and my stones every 5-6 weeks. Ive found its really easy to tell when your stones are reaching the end of life, as you get more algae on the glass, and with increased frequency.

 

[Ldogg]

I am planning on running ZeoVit on my new system as well. I was trying to see if there was much difference between ZeoVit and NeoZeo from Brightwell. They seem to have similar components but the ZeoVit system seemed to be more popular. I watched at a couple BRS videos on setting up a ZeoVit system and a few other videos as well and it seems pretty straight forward once you determine your dosing. I know some people have issues with having to dose your tank daily but most people spend a few minutes each day feeding fish so whats another couple minutes. I did run across an auto zeolite shaker which looked pretty slick. I want to run an in sump version like the vertex reactor you have but the auto reactor might be useful if you go on vacation. That was my only concern, since you have to pump the reactor every day, where brightwell says a couple times a week. it would be interesting to hear peoples experience with that portion of the system.

 

[Anirban]

I was using a lot of their product line. I still can swear by sponge power, zeobak, Pohls extra and zeozym. They all worked great for me. But you play blind. Their carbon is better when you use it with zeovit as its bit milder than the rox. I never used the full zeovit with all those small dosing as I dont wish to walk on the thin line of ULNS and I wish to have more colours. My corals were happy and colourful all the time but I had some cyano issues when I was shifting but it went away.

 

[Rakie]

Time for another round of "Rakie's Unpopular Opinions"


I don't like Zeovit. Here's why;

- Given time most Zeovit tanks pale
- To keep from paling corals, you must buy 50 little blue bottles
- Those blue bottles mostly replenish stuff that is done via ANY other product, Water Changes, or just plain having nutrients in the system
- When things go wrong for zeovit tanks they go wrong and people sometimes can't get it back on track


Q: So why do i think these things, and why do I believe they're connected to nutrients?

A: Oceanic currents push arctic nutrient rich cold water up through the southern, western, and eastern end of Australia (Aussie is a good example here) -- As the arctic ocean mixes with the warmer waters in the Tasmanian Sea.

Look at this --

See the numerous gyre's in the Tasmanian sea (bottom right quadrant)? That's the subtropical water, which is comprised of warmer aussie water mixing with polar water, this super nutrient rich water pushes up through the eastern GBR and New Zealand, in the Tasmanian Sea.

Those gyres are strong northern flows from the GBR (by way of equatorial Peruvian currents, also fed by the Antarctic currents) being pushed back by the same nutrient rich southern polar waters. Causing a strong gyre washing up against the southern GBR until the central area.

So basically, I'm saying the GBR is pounded by nutrient at astounding levels.

Q: But wait, why do we always hear the GBR has the lowest nutrients in the ocean if all that stuff is washing up there?

A: Because of two reasons;
1) How tests work -- Nutrient tests accurately determine the excess nutrients in the water -- meaning the nutrients which are not in use. A tank with literally zero nutrients will kill all corals. A fully stalked tank testing at "zero nutrients" does NOT have zero nutrients, because you're feeding fish which are excreting ammonia, and creating nitrite and nitrate, plus po4 by way of food/poop. So while you have no testable nutrients, you do have nutrients in your system.

2) The GBR itself is the largest biological filtration system on the planet. It literally sucks almost every single micron of marine snow (Food/Plankton/Poop/Death/Rot -- basically every source of organics in the ocean) out of the water. That's why the testable amount is so low, and that's why the water is so clear.

To reiterate #2 ---- This is how you should see the GBR itself

Q: But wait, how do the northern area's of western australians GBR get nutrients then? There's reefs there too !

A: There are reefs there too, and they get it nearly the same way. Southern Arctic waters run easterly, and near south america run up Peru towards the equator, there water from Northern South America meets, and the tides collide and push west at the/ near the equator. Those nutrient rich waters push north from southern america until the equator, in which it traverses the warm equatorial line towards Australia, meeting, meeting with other deep sea water moving south along the outside eastern Philippines region.



Q: So, what you're saying is --

A: Yes. Deep water = has a lot of nutrient, as nutrients settle they will settle into deeper waters. Ever see one of those deep sea documentaries? Notice how halfway down (before the bottom) there's a TON of marine snow? like, more than any other area you could see?

There's what I'm talking about. That's the good stuff.



Q: Should I buy marine snow?

A: Just don't use ULNS system, dose some kno3, or just leave it be.
A 2: Ever notice how the majority of TOTM from RC to R2R and everything in between either 1) Have a good amount of nutrients (5+ no3/ .03+ po4) OR dose a ton of little bottles?

Almost none of them EVER run ULNS and don't have a medicine cabinet full of fixer uppers.

 

[hybridazn]

Anirban, hit the nail on the head. I will forwarn you that the ROX carbon is going to be too agressive in conjunction with the zeolites. Make sure you accurately measure you true volume of water in your system and then make sure you match that number in gph of flow out of the reactor. Then for the first 6-8 weeks your reactor needs to cycle on for 3 hours and then off for 3 hours. Anymore flow than that, and all your corals will be toast. If you don't follow the 3 on 3 off, your corals will be toast.

I'm still using the zeolites and reactor but I have since stopped using nearly all zeovit products. My experience is my money is best spent on additives from other companies, ones that tell me what they put in the bottle. My experience with their equipment and warranty service has been nothing short disgraceful. So I buy their zeolite stones and activated carbon and that's it now.

I guess my biggest question for you would be why are you wanting to switch to it? Switching over an existing system to zeovit isn't a very graceful process. It takes 6 months to a year. Lots of uglies happen in that time. Zeovit forum is full of people fighting brown slime and cyano for a reason.

One thing they clearly didn't tell you is a ZeoFood is an outdated product that they don't even use anymore. So many things are so wrong with the way that KZ operates... they make great T5 bulbs though!

My thoughts on switching were mostly because I've seen a lot of very successful tanks running zeo and with my tank being a almost start over now would be the best time to do so if I were going to do it. I've been running rox carbon for a good while but when I start up zeo I will most definitely cut back on the amount that I put in the reactor.

As for zeofood, I was told that is one of the big 4 I'll hold off on that and use sponge power in the early stages.

Is there anything else I should be doing? I'm still waiting in my alk to drop, it's steadily dropping slowly.

 

[hybridazn]

Time for another round of "Rakie's Unpopular Opinions"


I don't like Zeovit. Here's why;

- Given time most Zeovit tanks pale
- To keep from paling corals, you must buy 50 little blue bottles
- Those blue bottles mostly replenish stuff that is done via ANY other product, Water Changes, or just plain having nutrients in the system
- When things go wrong for zeovit tanks they go wrong and people sometimes can't get it back on track


Q: So why do i think these things, and why do I believe they're connected to nutrients?

A: Oceanic currents push arctic nutrient rich cold water up through the southern, western, and eastern end of Australia (Aussie is a good example here) -- As the arctic ocean mixes with the warmer waters in the Tasmanian Sea.

Look at this --

See the numerous gyre's in the Tasmanian sea (bottom right quadrant)? That's the subtropical water, which is comprised of warmer aussie water mixing with polar water, this super nutrient rich water pushes up through the eastern GBR and New Zealand, in the Tasmanian Sea.

Those gyres are strong southern flows from the GBR (by way of equatorial Peruvian currents, also fed by the Antarctic currents) being pushed back (that forms the gyre) by the same nutrient rich southern waters. Causing a strong gyre washing up against the southern GBR until the central area.

So basically, I'm saying the GBR is pounded by nutrient at astounding levels.

Q: But wait, why do we always hear the GBR has the lowest nutrients in the ocean if all that stuff is washing up there?

A: Because of two reasons;
1) How tests work -- Nutrient tests accurately determine the excess nutrients in the water -- meaning the nutrients which are not in use. A tank with literally zero nutrients will kill all corals. A fully stalked tank testing at "zero nutrients" does NOT have zero nutrients, because you're feeding fish which are excreting ammonia, and creating nitrite and nitrate, plus po4 by way of food/poop. So while you have no testable nutrients, you do have nutrients in your system.

2) The GBR itself is the largest biological filtration system on the planet. It literally sucks almost every single micron of marine snow (Food/Plankton/Poop/Death/Rot -- basically every source of organics in the ocean) out of the water. That's why the testable amount is so low, and that's why the water is so clear.

To reiterate #2 ---- This is how you should see the GBR itself

Thanks for the reply, I asked the question about paling sps and the answer I got was because the users who are experiencing this paling is because they are dosing zeospur heavily. Have you heard the same or have you seen most zeo tanks just simply pale out over time regardless of dosing?

 

[Tphill]

I've been running the zeovit system since about July 2014 on my 120 gallon tank. It was a new tank set-up. I did a regular cycle with ammonia then added the zeovit system. I probably rushed it, but I had corals in the tank within the first couple months, and they did great. The system was fine for me, the daily dosing I enjoyed. Only reason I stopped enjoying was I added the wrong coral at some point, and once I noticed one of my corals was having an issue, within 2 weeks all were dead. I pretty much stopped caring for the tank at that point, which was about 6-7 months ago, until this weekend. The fish, somehow, are still alive. I cleaned everything, and have restarted the zeovit system.

I've also ordered an ATS to replace the zeovit system.

 

[hybridazn]

I've been running the zeovit system since about July 2014 on my 120 gallon tank. It was a new tank set-up. I did a regular cycle with ammonia then added the zeovit system. I probably rushed it, but I had corals in the tank within the first couple months, and they did great. The system was fine for me, the daily dosing I enjoyed. Only reason I stopped enjoying was I added the wrong coral at some point, and once I noticed one of my corals was having an issue, within 2 weeks all were dead. I pretty much stopped caring for the tank at that point, which was about 6-7 months ago, until this weekend. The fish, somehow, are still alive. I cleaned everything, and have restarted the zeovit system.

I've also ordered an ATS.

Could you share your dosing regimen you were doing in the beginning and how you started? Have any pics you would like to share?

 

[.AcroKiller.]

Time for another round of "Rakie's Unpopular Opinions"


I don't like Zeovit. Here's why;

- Given time most Zeovit tanks pale
- To keep from paling corals, you must buy 50 little blue bottles
- Those blue bottles mostly replenish stuff that is done via ANY other product, Water Changes, or just plain having nutrients in the system
- When things go wrong for zeovit tanks they go wrong and people sometimes can't get it back on track


Q: So why do i think these things, and why do I believe they're connected to nutrients?

A: Oceanic currents push arctic nutrient rich cold water up through the southern, western, and eastern end of Australia (Aussie is a good example here) -- As the arctic ocean mixes with the warmer waters in the Tasmanian Sea.

Look at this --

See the numerous gyre's in the Tasmanian sea (bottom right quadrant)? That's the subtropical water, which is comprised of warmer aussie water mixing with polar water, this super nutrient rich water pushes up through the eastern GBR and New Zealand, in the Tasmanian Sea.

Those gyres are strong southern flows from the GBR (by way of equatorial Peruvian currents, also fed by the Antarctic currents) being pushed back (that forms the gyre) by the same nutrient rich southern waters. Causing a strong gyre washing up against the southern GBR until the central area.

So basically, I'm saying the GBR is pounded by nutrient at astounding levels.

Q: But wait, why do we always hear the GBR has the lowest nutrients in the ocean if all that stuff is washing up there?

A: Because of two reasons;
1) How tests work -- Nutrient tests accurately determine the excess nutrients in the water -- meaning the nutrients which are not in use. A tank with literally zero nutrients will kill all corals. A fully stalked tank testing at "zero nutrients" does NOT have zero nutrients, because you're feeding fish which are excreting ammonia, and creating nitrite and nitrate, plus po4 by way of food/poop. So while you have no testable nutrients, you do have nutrients in your system.

2) The GBR itself is the largest biological filtration system on the planet. It literally sucks almost every single micron of marine snow (Food/Plankton/Poop/Death/Rot -- basically every source of organics in the ocean) out of the water. That's why the testable amount is so low, and that's why the water is so clear.

To reiterate #2 ---- This is how you should see the GBR itself

Not true. Not all zeovit tanks pale. It is up to you to controls this with the amount of rocks and flow used and I interval of change. Most pale zeovit tank you see is due to control zooxanthellae reduction with zeospur2.

You don't need all the color additives I do use them all but you do not need them to maintain a colorful reef. You can do so with just the main 4.

Anything can go wrong with any tank zeovit or not if the person taking care of it is not responsible. Maintaining a zeovit tank is no different that maintaining any other tank.

If you are getting algae or cyano from using zeofood then there's another issues inside the tank. Zeofood is a great product to use but using it lightly. Thomas Phol still uses zeofood in his tanks.

I had a lot of trouble at the begging stages because I didn't listen to people and tried to go with what the bottle says which is a big no no. Always start at less than half of the recommended amount and adjust from there.

 

[Tphill]

I started with the zeofood, but was told by the zeovit forum to switch to sponge power, so I did. I just dosed zeobac, zeostart,and sponge power for a long time. As the corals started growing, I'd notice a color wasn't what I thought it should be, so I'd buy a little blue bottle for that. Then another something wasn't what it should be, so another little blue bottle. Before long, I've got a cabinet full of little blue bottles, and a list with 13 different substances to dose daily. Like I said, I enjoyed it then because I could see the changes within a couple weeks in the corals. Now, not planning on having as many corals.

I use the rox carbon, at about 1/2 the recommended amount.

 

[Rakie]

Thanks for the reply, I asked the question about paling sps and the answer I got was because the users who are experiencing this paling is because they are dosing zeospur heavily. Have you heard the same or have you seen most zeo tanks just simply pale out over time regardless of dosing?

I see a lot of people deciding "Eh, I don't need bottle X, Y or Z -- I'll just use bottle A, B" and then things start paling. OR, the opposite, in which people say "Man, this stuff is magic, I need bottle A - Z" and they start over dosing, which can causing browning, paling, everything becoming green, tissue necrosis, and a wipe out of the Zeovit magical color fairies that live in the rock work.

Zeovit encourages you to strip nutrients out of the water, then they sell them back to you, or have you double down on trace elements to make up for the lacking nutrients.

The system can of course be fine -- But I don't think it's half of what it's talked up to be.

Not true. Not all zeovit tanks pale. It is up to you to controls this with the amount of rocks and flow used and I interval of change. Most pale zeovit tank you see is due to control zooxanthellae reduction with zeospur2.

You don't need all the color additives I do use them all but you do not need them to maintain a colorful reef. You can do so with just the main 4.

Anything can go wrong with any tank zeovit or not if the person taking care of it is not responsible. Maintaining a zeovit tank is no different that maintaining any other tank.

If you are getting algae or cyano from using zeofood then there's another issues inside the tank. Zeofood is a great product to use but using it lightly. Thomas Phol still uses zeofood in his tanks.

I had a lot of trouble at the begging stages because I didn't listen to people and tried to go with what the bottle says which is a big no no. Always start at less than half of the recommended amount and adjust from there.

Were on the same page -- It just usually doesn't go that way, as you see my reply above -- A lot of people go off the system, decide to dose more, or dose the bare essentials (or eventually stop them) and start getting issues.

I know things can always go wrong in the hobby, it's the nature of the beast. I've kept reefs since 2004, and never had dinos until last month -- it's an inevitability that something can/will go wrong.

Although anecdotal, what I can say is this; When people post up those "OMG HALP TANK DYING" threads, and it's a Zeovit system -- The ship sinks, the great majority of the time. Whether that be the hubris of the users is not always clear, depending on upon the clarity / honesty given by the reefer.

Although typically, I don't see many people keep long term Zeovit tanks without a plethora of little bottles, or mismanagement on the users part.

 

[erk]

I'm a cheap person, but like the concept behind Zeovit, i.e. nurturing a large bacteria population. So I went with the Brightwell zeolites and use a 2nd hand Vertex reactor I found at my LFS.

Instead of zeobak, I dose microbacter 7 because its cheap. Instead of the zeo branded carbon source, I dose the cheapest vodka I can find. Instead of all those supplements, I feed a lot and dose a single supplement with amino acids and micro nutrients. I've recently halted dosing the supplement to see how the corals react. Been a week with no issues so far, but I'm considering going back to dosing it.

The main issue I encountered in the beginning was feeding. I wasn't feeding enough. The bacteria will strip every available nutrient from the tank. This in turn results in less bacteria and that leads to starving corals. I no longer use filter socks or carbon so I can keep as much bacteria in the water column for consumption by corals and filter feeding organisms. Even with running my skimmer 24/7, the water column has plenty detritus and I always see my green chromis picking food out of the water column.

This system has worked so well for me that I've actually had a small oyster grow on my rockwork. It grew in a dark spot of the rockwork out of view. I started with all dry rock, so I have no idea where it came from. I do know it has flourished in my tank and is the size of approximately a nickel or quarter. I also have a ton of filter feeding type organisms thru out the system.

 

[hybridazn]

I see a lot of people deciding "Eh, I don't need bottle X, Y or Z -- I'll just use bottle A, B" and then things start paling. OR, the opposite, in which people say "Man, this stuff is magic, I need bottle A - Z" and they start over dosing, which can causing browning, paling, everything becoming green, tissue necrosis, and a wipe out of the Zeovit magical color fairies that live in the rock work.

Zeovit encourages you to strip nutrients out of the water, then they sell them back to you, or have you double down on trace elements to make up for the lacking nutrients.

The system can of course be fine -- But I don't think it's half of what it's talked up to be.




Were on the same page -- It just usually doesn't go that way, as you see my reply above -- A lot of people go off the system, decide to dose more, or dose the bare essentials (or eventually stop them) and start getting issues.

I know things can always go wrong in the hobby, it's the nature of the beast. I've kept reefs since 2004, and never had dinos until last month -- it's an inevitability that something can/will go wrong.

Although anecdotal, what I can say is this; When people post up those "OMG HALP TANK DYING" threads, and it's a Zeovit system -- The ship sinks, the great majority of the time. Whether that be the hubris of the users is not always clear, depending on upon the clarity / honesty given by the reefer.

Although typically, I don't see many people keep long term Zeovit tanks without a plethora of little bottles, or mismanagement on the users part.

I totally agree with you on these points, people tend to start dosing incorrectly and that always leads to bad things. I'm not sure this is enough to convince me to not run zeovit just for the simple fact that this could be said about anything we dose in our tanks. Be it 2 part, nopox, etc. I feel as long as I keep my due diligence on this it could help my tank in the long run.

It was honestly between running gfo or starting zeovit to continue with the tank. In the end I feel like zeovit will benefit me more in the long run as opposed to running gfo. Gfo and the stones both do a great job of nutrient absorption and ultimately somrthi g would need dosed to help replenish that.

Still, I would LOVE to see some pics of members tanks who run/ran zeovit.