Pies

Steve - My advice. Look REAL hard. What dosage you adding? How many liters of Zeovit you using? How many litres you think your tank is? Gutted. Pies

Added 7 drops Zeobak & 7 drops Zeofood. Another coral death. I have 2 pieces of an green plating Acropora frags. It has been fine growing and encrusting well, today 1 of the 2 frags is 90% bleeched or RTNd, hard to tell. The other frag looks fine. This coral was fine yesterday, and this has only happened today, perhapps even since 5pm today! So yes it does sound like RTN based on the speed of the damage. I am a little concerned. Why? Well in the past 12 monts the only coral I have lost is an Elegance coral (common death read Boruneman). This coral has been doing well and for a difficult to keep coral I have been very happy with its progress. Since the introduction of Zeovit I have lost 2 corals. I have made a decision that if a 3rd dies, I am doing water changes and dumping the product, aalling it a complete 'disaster' and writing it off. So far I am less than impressed. Steve? Nick? Alois? Brendon? What say ye? Pies

Day 4. Dosed 3ml Zeostart, 7 drops Zeofood & 7 drops of Zeobak. My green montipora capricornis has almost died! It was a frag I got from Alois and was badly damaged and bleeched when I recieved it, about the size of 2 50c pieces. Since introduction into my tank its been fine and doing well, it went brown, then green and re-grew over the bleeched and dead parts. Got home today and it was 99 receded with only a few small specs of life. This is a BAD sign, I quickly fraged the coral and have 2 pieces on either side of the tank. Will see how it goes. My brown and pink capricornis are doing fine, as is EVERYTHING else. So a bit odd, I have only lost 2 corals in my tank so this is a concern. Not sure if its related to the Zeovit or not, but it is strange. Will keep an update posted. Pies *edited* Thanks Reef

Added 7 drops of Zeobak & 7 drops of Zeofood. Did not add any Zeostart today on Brendons instruction. He has suggested running 3ml every 2nd day for 12 more days. So I will do this. Zeostart is designed more to help new tanks but since my tank is over 12 months old and a little more mature I can use less. I am more than happy to 'under dose'. I gave the tank glass a good clean today with a razor blade. I find I need to do this every month. I get little green bits that sometimes get missed with the maganet, and also little corline algae grows in hard to reach spots. I also gave my 'combs' a good clean, which is a chore that needs to be done every 2-3 months. I replaced my carbon (about a 5 ounce glass), which I do every 2 weeks-ish. I am also using filter wool at the moment, which I change every 2 days. I tend to run filter wool for a week or so every month. Skimmer looks to be skimming normally. Everything else looks normal. I should have new bulbs in the halides within the next few weeks. I hope that it is these that are giving me my algae problems. I know I said pics but not much to show and I have run out of time... Day 3 - No changes Pies

Steve. A picture speaks a thousand words. I have a feeling that your $12 reactor may end up better than my $200.00 dollar growtech jobbie. Pics of my setup tonight.

Brendon - I agree with everything you say, but I am not exceeding the 2000 litres and hr by much if at all. There were 2 reasons I didn't buy the pump with the unit. 1. I only use Ehiem pumps (quality and standardisation). 2. I have the ability to use gravity, which ultimatly is better as it reduces my power bill and a little noise and heat. I will say I am 'happy' with it now, but I still think its a very poor design. Easy access is one thing, but a 'pop off lid' is insane, at the very least it should have a couple of clips or wing-nut fasten downs. It wasn't water pressure that made mine leek, it was that it must have been knocked, breaking the seal. Only a little, and was just dripping out, slowly... Reef is right about about running it in a sump, this would be much safer, I just don't have the room. If only I could go back and redesign the whole thing again from scratch! Maybee i'll setup a 2nd sump? Brendon - A question about the reactor. Using the supplied pump, or any pump rated at 2000 litres an hr. If the reacor is half full, won't this slow the action of the pump? If the reactor is completely full, won't this slow it even more? Reef - There is absoulty no doubt the low nitrate = good colour in the SPS corals. This is how so many TOTM look so good. HEAVY skimming, HEAVY lighting, low fish loads (low feeding), sps only (mostly), carbon, HEAVY water flow. All designed to minimise phosphate, nitrate and DOM. I think the 'Cisco' mod will make the reactor work just fine. I will also be running my carbon bag in this reactor (I have a 2nd seperator plate made). I will replave the carbon every week when cleaning the Zeolite. Anyway, lets hope day 3 is better, cause day 2 has sucked. Pies

Day 2. Added 7ml of Zeostart, 7 drops of Zeofood & 7 drops of Zeobak. Also I have cleaned the skimmer cup. I ususally do this once a week, but will try and do it twice per week for as long as interest holds. I tested Phosphates with both Hagen & Salifert. 0. I have NEVER had a reading for phosphates. I having been using Salifert phosphate killer since about day 1. Freshwater is added via RODI. Nitrates. Less than 5 on Salifert. Definitaly present and if I had to guess I would say 2, but less than 5 is safter as the colour change tests can be a little off. Observations - After 1 day, no change! NickS - I agree with you, its a slow process and many not seing any changes until well after 6 months. I have a lot of rock in my tank, and a lot of sand so I expect it will take quite some time for the Zeovit to kick into life. Tanks with no sand and little rock can see results much faster. I have had excellent coral growth and polyp extension without the use of Zeovit, so I am looking for it as an improvement to colour and to help clense the tank of algae etc. I also want to feed the tank much heaver than I do. I intend on keeping my fish stocking levels low. I'll keep the updates going. Reef - Don't worry I have millions of photos for comparison! DISASTER! Came home today to find about 10-15L of water on the carpet. Reason? That STUPID Growtech reactor. It now gets my 'worst buy' sticker and comes completely un-reccomended, stay well clear. My friend 'Cisco' in .au is also using Zeovit (from Brendon) and we are doing it in tandom, kind of. He has been forced to modify his. Here is a pic of what he has resorted too. Cisco is an engineer, I am going to look at having something similar made for me. Pic - I have modified mine by changing the o-ring fitting, and attaching a bracket similar to the once pictured, however mine is a little more 'ghetto'. Pies

Zeovit. Been lots of debate on many boards around the world regarding this product, much speculation. I was not going to use Zeovit but my good friend JetSkiSteve saw a tank with Zeovit and was VERY impressed. Steve is a hard sell and it was his impression of a tank running the system that has led me towards the use of it myself. To be completely clear on this point, I am talking about Zeovit, Z E O V I T. There are other systems, and I have no way of knowing if they are better or worse, but to remake my point I am using Zeovit. Enter Brendon (ZEOVITNZ). Brendon sells and uses the Zeovit system. Brendon is an very nice guy, easy to deal with, friendly and very well knowledgable. I brought some frags from Brendon (prior to deciding to use Zeovit) and was very happy with our transaction. Brendon has moved to a much smaller tank, and he sent me a few Acro frags, including a metellic green and several blues. Small frags but destined for much bigger things. All have survived and are doing well. After seval conversations and lots of reading I decided to go ahead and try Zeovit for myself. I purchased the system about 2 months ago, but have needed to organise some other things first. (yes Brendon its been in the fridge). So what did I get? 4 kg of Zeolite (the rocklike media, enough for 6 months), ZeoBak, Zeofood & Zeostart. Basically the liquid bacterria and food that grow on the zeolite media. I won't reveal the cost, you can discuss pricing with Brendon directly. I did feel it was a little expensive but whats not with this hobby. I also purchased a Growtech reactor (reccomended by Zeovit system). I will post some photos another day but I will go on record and say that I do NOT like this piece of equipment. Although it works perfectly, and is designed to let water flow UP through the reactor, not down, it has a MAJOR design floor. The lid seals with an o-ring and nothing else. It sits (snugly) on the top. To much pressure or a knock and the lid could come off! LEAKS! Arghhhh! If you can run this unti 'in sump' then that would be fine, I however can-not do this. Thus I find this unit VERY SCAREY. I also have some other gripes with it, but won't go into it. I have done some DIY (minor) to it to make it better. I also have a system to make the lid stay on no matter what, but this thing could be better. So I have the media in the reactor (2kg) and water has been ciruclating through it. I am using gravity to feed the reactor, which saves me another pump, and gravity always works... This is working well. The Zeovit system using the above liquid and media in proportion to the tank size (larger systems require more). I have setteled on 700 litres. Not I suspect thats being a little light, but I would rather under dose than over dose. So tonight I added 7ml of Zeostart, 7 drops of Zeobak & 7 drops of Zeofood. I am doing this 'by the book' and 100% as per Zeovit & Brendons advice. The goal is to reduce phosphates and nitrates to 0. Zeovit is supposed to remove these from the system, ridding the sandbed and live rock of any trace of these. This is why I have decided to use the Zeovit system. If I have problems or don't like it or can no longer afford it, I will know that I can stop using it and it will have at least removed lots of latent phosphates and nitrates from the system, which is always good. I will keep you all apprised of my progress. Comments welcome. Pies

Brendon, How much ZeoGlow do you need for a 900 litre tank? Pies

Lionfish sure are beautiful. I have seen hundreds whilst diving in various locations. Lionfish is my number 1 MUST HAVE fish. However as everyone knows they are not on the allowed list and did appear on the 'old' banned list. They do NOT appear on the noxious/pest lists. So should be no problem owning one, just finding one is the trick. MAF rules surrounding marine fish and inverts are stupid or idiotic even. I would love to see some pics of the lionfish, their age and other relivent info. ALSO if anyone had lionfish for sale or gift please don't hesitate to contact me, I have I home for it and promise to keep my mouth shut! Now back to the tuskfish...

I use NSW so don't really care about the contents of the tank anyway...

Same pic different size? AWESOME looking tank nick. MORE MORE MORE!

In my experance its very hard to get photos without the use of the flash. Its impossilbe to get good photos without increasing the apature past 4.0. I also find it hard to get a pic that looking right in colour without manual setting of the white ballance. Using a Tripod is VERY important for many photos, its hard enough with the fish moving, impossilbe when you are both moving. Having the tank lit and room dark is good. Different cameras have flashes in different places, so experiment with the position and angle. Photoshop or similar is a MUST to produce decent photos. Clean glass is a must. Also its hard to take photos and angles through the glass, so its best to be at a right angle with the glass. Using Macro will increase the change of getting a close-up photo looking good, but reduces the focus point and makes it harder to get the whole subject in focus (increased apature is required). FNZAS are very short on disk space, hence no photos section. If you check out the SALTWATER forum you can see plenty of photos of all our tanks their though. Good luck Pies

While I am in the middle of setting up my 2nd reef tank, I am also trying to tidy up some of my existing tank and plumbing. A lot of this is long over due, and I want to get it all sorted before I go to Fiji for 2 weeks in a month or so. What I have discovered is 19mm BLACK plastic tube from any garden centre or Mitre 10. I brought a roll of this pipe for $15.00 for 20M! Life time supply! Now I use a bit of 20mm plumbing about the tank and have found this 'new' 19mm to be perfect. Elbows and Ts are about $2ea and easily available. Also taps for about $7. I am using this piping to fill my tank from the sump, to plumb in the new tank, and in a few other places. The advantages I have seen are that its BLACK, which means no light in there, which means its stays cleaner than the CLEAR PVC I was using. Also because its far more ridgid it doesn't get flattened like the PVC pipe tends too. Although pressure piping is the ULTIMATE for sure, its expensive, espeically for temp setups or changing setups like mine. Also the slip bayonet for 20mm are only $5.00 and fit into Ehiem 1060/62 pumps, which makes attaching it easy. It also slips over the outside of 15mm pressure piping very snugly, and with a dremal and cable tidy you can make a sure fire never slip fit. After chaning mine today I have noticed that my return pump is firing through HEAPS more water. My pipes were prolly a little gunked, and there were a few places where the PVC had flattened a little, none of this is a problem now! Very happy with the way this has gone and reccomended to anyone doing what I am doing. Pies

Its just not that easy! Besides be my luck that if I opened up the combs I would just end up with all my fish in there! Stupid fish.

The top of my standpipe 'combs' are level with the top of the tank... So no can do. I only see 3 options: 1. Break off some of the teeth for the overflow, thus creating a big enough hole for it to escape (or worse, for other fish to join him!) 2. Break down the whole tank and start again (I am keen, Jane is not) 3. Leave him there

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... icle_id=76 Interesting read - DSB, MUD, low stocking, lots of rock, lots of water flow (he should have brought some STREAMS!).

After all this time he turned up, ALIVE!!! He is in the overflow in the right hand side of the tank. He is also staying there as I have NO SHOW whatsoever of getting him out... Well not ideal but good to know its stall alive!!! YAY

What is the price on the Tuskfish? They sure are great looking fish. I know they eat shrimps (have seen the eat shrimps in the wild) but not sure how they go with corals? If I ever do a 'aggressive' tank that would be a must have fish, sharing with a lionfish, trigger and grouper or similar. AWESOME! Thanks for keeping you eyes out for the Powder Blue, Christchurch usually have them (Petworld). BTW someone told me that a car was driven though Petworlds shop, is this true? PieMan

I agree with Reef, Steve you do massive water changes, have a massive skimmer and have a light fish load so its all good for you tank. Reef however has so many fish in his tank I am surprised the larger ones have enough room to turn around! I am trying to do the same thing. Good skimming, light fish load, light feeding, regular water changes (10% once a month minimum). Pies

Everyone has different opnions of the DSB makeup. I am using 2 different grades of crushed coral sand. Best check on RC though as I am far from an expert. Good luck with it though be a GREAT project! Pies

hahahahahahahha I should have been a detective

I have 10mbs circut at home but I don't see how that helps... Poor nick will still have to send them... However here is a pic of NickS's tank: Looking good nick lets see some more (good photo Steve! how about some new ones of yours too!). Layton how about some new pics of your tank! Anyone else out there? PICS! PieMan

Its important that you keep in mind that a DSB means DSB. This is where Steve & I went wrong. The rule of thumb seams to be less then 2 inches or more than 8 inches. Anything that falls between, as Layton sais is a 'dirt trap' and will do more harm than good. I run a DSB in my sump, my nitrates are 0 (no vodka, Sugar, Zeovit or anything else) and you do get dfferent types of critters in there. The biggest problem with a DSB is really that they do become a trap for disolved metals (the same as live rock). So if your going to use a product like Zeovit then this stops being a problem. However if you are going to use Zeovit it rids the tanks of Nitrates anyway so not really any need for the DSB so it becomes moot. I don't agree with Layton that the DSB will crash in a few years, many people on RC running 8 year old DSBs with no ill effects. I think the DSB is one of those things thats in and out of vogue. If you are going to use one, use it in a remote sump, not the display. But I suspect you can get just as good a result without one. There is little to no maintenance on the DSB so not really an issue (I do NOTHING to mine), but it is something else that can go wrong, and probably is not adding a great deal of benifit to the tank. So yes I am using one, and yes I would use one again. However mine is in a remote sump, and I am more interested in it from a biological divertity point of view than anything else. If I was setting up a tank from scratch would I use another one? I would, but I have no claims of effectiveness but I can't imagine it hurting. Pies

Reef. That is a shameless ripoff mate. You just cut and pasted the whole post... The picture is not even yours its out of someone elses tank!!!