G.Alexander

Regarding the described iron leaching from the material I like to annotate that I have talked to nearly hundred people, running their tanks with this method. Not one of them has reported the growth of algae. Here is a easy example why I do not believe that the material brings iron to the tank. In my tank a have 4 Acropora and 1 Pocilopora they are bright yellow. If I add 20 drops iron concentrate to my tank, they change their color to green. I have never noticed that any of these corals become green if I change the material or mixed it up in the filter. Only if I add to much iron, I can notice the color change from yellow to green. I think there must be a further problem because of the algae. The analysis posted is 2 years old. In the meantime, I know Korallen-Zucht.de has switched to other zeolite. G.Alexander

My test results with Fiji water (same equipment as I use for my tank now): Refractometer: 38 ppt Aerometer (Tropic Marin): 1,023 – 25 degrees Regarding to the salinity table form Meulengracht - Madsen (1977) 1,025 at 25 degrees is equivalent to 36,5 ppt. Take a look at the following document: http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/JRD/OCCAM/POSTERS/EGS00a.pdf The salinity in Fiji is around 35 ppt. Ca, Mg, KH and salinity are very important with the Zeovit method. G.Alexander

Pies, thanks, as may things there is no logical explanation for the salinity. I did a lot of testing with it so I always can tell you my experience. But beware of the readings. For example I own 4 different aerometer, each of them show other readings. If you test your salinity with the refractometer, you should only use the ppm chart. I also can not guaranty that my salinity is really 33 ppt, it is just the reading of my refrctometer. Convert it with one of the tables, the refractometer and the aerometer do not fix I mention salinity, because Mg in your tank is higher than in the synthetic salt mixes. This is normally, if you do not add it separate, a evidence to higher salinity. You should check. I also take a brand carbon for many years without any problem. One day anything has changed to the carbon causing the problems. I also do not have the technical equipment to do such tests. I switched to a as good known other brand. If you like to bring down you KH just switch off or reduce the CO2 for some days. If this causes a problem to your Ca you can use a little ! bit of Ca chloride to stabilize. 8 is the maximum, try to stabilize KH between 7 and 8, but this is not your problem. Running a PO4 absorber together with the method seems to cause problems. Why ? I do not know, these are practical results. You should use 1 liter Zeovit for 400 liter tank water. This is recommend for the net water quantity of your system. I estimate your net system water quantity around 650 liters. Less is more ? The right quantity is the best What about your skimmer ? It should export much more black form than before. I also would recommend you to use Zeostart constant, but not daily. 5 ml 2 – 3 times a week should be OK. G.Alexander

What I have noticed that you all run higher salinity than I do. I come to the end that high salinity in my tank causes problems like Pies described. I check salinity in two different ways: 1. Refractometer: 33 ppt 2. Areometer / Tropic Marin 1,0205 Salinity changes should be done very slow (some weeks) In the time you change salinity you should always keep a eye on Ca and Mg. It is very important to keep Ca around 420 mg and KH around 7, not lower und not much higher. Pies, what about your carbon ? Do you run it in a passive water flow in the sump ? That is the way to do. In the other way it will absorb to many elements to fast. This also can cause stress. I am sure I do not know the carbon you are running. In the past I have used bad carbon for only 12 hours, in the next 24 hours I lost two of my colonies. I changed the carbon and the problem has gone. All my corals where affected with loosing color, it took some weeks to come back. Please check if the carbon can be a problem. I take a look at your homepage. Very nice tank, but in my opinion your SPS do not look like low nutrients as your tests telling. Are you further running a PO4 absorber ? You should remove it as soon as possible if you do so. KH is a little bit to high, but this should not cause the problems. All other parameters, if your tests show the right results are fine, I run my tank with Mg around 1350 mg. Are you further adding trace elements to your tank ? That should be stopped if you do so. I would do a 10 % water change once, for the further times 5 % per week. Reduce the Zeovit to 1,5 liters, because I saw that you have a lot of rock in your tank. If I started with Zeovit I also noticed that the SPS lost a little bit of color. 3 weeks later the tissue lighted up and the SPS colored up in the next weeks. Hope we can find the problem. G.Alexander

Hi, my name is Alexander, I was born an live in Germany. Please be patient with my English, it is not perfect, I know. I found some threads about the Zeovit products in the board. I use this method since September 2001 in my nearly 100 % SPS tank. The result of the method is impressing. The method is working fine, it is easy to apply and the components are not to cost intensive. I am a little bit confused why some people always try to explain that this method is the same thing like dosing vodka, sugar or some other stuff like the Aqualight products (ZeoBioBac). Dosing carbon (Vodka) to boost bacteria maybe helps to bring down PO4 and NO3. There are some reefers in Germany running this method with success, other tanks crashed. I have heard from some reefers using this method in their tanks stocked with delicate SPS corals. They had no success. The corals lost their tissue beginning at the top, also loosing their colors. I have not tested this method. I also did some tests with sugar some years ago. Everybody telling that it really works is not genuine. Adding sugar to the tank will boost the growth of bacteria, especially red or brown slime. The other product named in this thread (ZeoBioBac) is from a German company named Aqualight Feige. This company is specialized in freshwater which is totally different from seawater. They also offer zeolite, bacteria and a food source for the bacteria. The keynote is the same as the Zeovit system, but the ingredients are totally different. First of all it is more than important to use a zeolite which is capable for seawater. To find this products it is very important to know what to find. There are hundred different zeolites available each one with his own attributes. The Aqualight zeolite, I tested 2 years ago, caused tissue lost from the base, also the lost of color in most of my SPS. I also did tests in the beginning with the bacteria from Aqualight. Dosing them in the recommended quantity shows no effect. The quantities needed are absolutely improvident and to cost intensive for me. Maybe the bacteria of the Korallen-zucht products and the bacteria of Aqualight contain some equal bacteria but the concentration seems to be very different. The last point is the food source for bacteria. Both products (Aqualight and Korallen-Zucht) contain acetic acid. To find it out we do not have to be chemicals. I also used the Aqualight product 2 years ago. I lost some fish 2 hours after adding the recommended quantity. Zeofood does not contain iron to fell PO4 ! To understand how the Zeovit method works it is necessary to consider that SPS can use nutrients as a food source. This will boost the growth of zooxanthellae. Corals can use the waste products of the algae as one of some other food sources. The corals will become dark like chocolate. If the zoox density is high, the natural color of the corals is superpose and we can not see the real coloration. In a nutrient poor environment SPS are not necessary to use the same quantity of nutrients as food source. They need other elements to kept alive. These elements are contained in the Zeofood and in some other products sold by Korallen-Zucht. All the elements contained in this products are not theoretically mixed. They did copious tests for many years in their own tanks containing also very delicate corals. Visit their homepage, there are a lot of pictures proofing that the system works great. They also run a shop, I only can recommend visiting them if you do your next trip to Europe. It is also necessary to bring good coloration to the SPS with PO4 absorbers and trace elements, but the look of the colors and the tissue is very different. If the Zeovit method is used correctly, you can not differ if the corals is located in a tank or in the sea. Constant water change, strong skimming and a good light source provided to the Zeovit method is not a secret to increase coloration and this is practiced with a lot of methods. I do not want to denigrate other ways, but these are my practical, personal experiences. Hope this brings some clarity. Alexander