ZEOvit dosing - getting started on an established system

[stevenp]

I was hoping some ZEOvit users in the club could share their first hand experiences on starting this program on an established system.

I've heard the suggested dosages listed in the manual are too aggressive and can cause STN, and to start much slower (~20% recommended started dosage) to avoid this. I've also heard it's advisable to run only the ZEOlites for a while with no other additives.

How did you start? And what kind of problems (if any) did you experience along the way?

 

[JeremyR]

I started the elos tank (about 75 gallons) with about 20% of a bag of the zeolite. For dosing I did 1 drop of bak & 1 drop of food on sunday & weds. I add 3 drops of vitalizer & .15 ml of start & .5 ml of extra every day. Even at this low dose there has been an algae reduction and significant color shift. After about 3.5 weeks I went to 2 drops on the food and .2ml start, but I"ve gone back to 1 drop as all 3 times I added 2 drops the next day 2 frags had some base stn. That hasn't happened since and those frags seem fine now. I'm still adding .2ml of the start and will probably increase a bit again on that. I haven't shut off the fuge yet, I have been watching the chaeto out of curiosity to see if it starts shutting down.. I'm not worried about nutrient dump from that like some people discuss, chaeto doesn't melt like caleurpa and I don't have all that much of it anyways.

I don't intend to ramp up to the full dose on the basic 4, I like the colors where they are now and don't really want to go much farther.. I don't like the pastel look that some people push for.

 

[stevenp]

Jeremy, are you running the zeolits on a timer as the manual suggests (3hrs on/3hrs off)?

 

[Dave McReeferson]

I started our tank on the system per the manual suggestions with no negative impact. I did not do the on/off cycle, and I ran my flow through at the minimum rate listed for my system.

 

[JeremyR]

Initially I didn't, but I do run it on a timer now.

 

[JeremyR]

Dave, I think your system was newer/cleaner than ours when you started. Ours has been up a couple of years.. the coral growth & color was always great but there were some algae issues on the sand and the skimmer wasn't working at it's best for awhile. I'm pretty sure that if I had gone into the full dose there would have been problems for us.

 

[Jahn]

Jeremey, do you feel it is having a positive effect on that tank ( compared to usual care?

 

[JeremyR]

The regulars have noticed the color shift, and the algae on the sand has really gone down. Now if it can magically get the brown wafer algae to never come back that would be something.. hehe.

 

[Liam]

The regulars have noticed the color shift, and the algae on the sand has really gone down. Now if it can magically get the brown wafer algae to never come back that would be something.. hehe.

i had that lobophora variagata in my 180,nutrient control did not seem to phase it,i was not running zeo on that tank though.
I will be interested to see if you have any luck.