JDM Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 ok i am not trying to start another long winded thread on the contents of zeovit, this thread is being started to talk to local people who use or have used the zeovit products, not the other products that are similar, i want to discuss the genuine zeovit system. all are welcome if you questions are on topic and will be in a friendly mannor. i am sure there are quite a few people on here that have no idea what the system is used for and how to use it (notice i did not say how it works, as this has been one of the factors in piror threads that has ended up going no where) i have been using zeovit for the last 3 months or so, i have been sticking strictly to the advice given to me by zeovitnz (you are very welcome to talk about the products zeovitnz, as i beleve you have experance that will benifit us all) i am not using the reccomended reactor, i am using a DIY ehiem filter cannister with a open top and a tray with a stick attached to it, with a ehiem 400lph pump pushing the water through. i decided to use this system to reduce po4 and no3 as well as the other benfits that come as far as feeding corals etc, i started the zeovit system just as i added my first sps, i started becouse i want to add more sps to my tank and would like to give them the water quality the need to do well. i am currently using the basic 4, zeolite rock, zeofood, zeobac, zeostart. my first of many questions is, i have a low po4 reading (0.00-0.03) but i have a no3 reading of approx 40 ppm (its darker than 20 but lighter than 50) i dose 4 drops of zeofood and 2ml of zeostart daily and 2 drops of zeobac twice weekly, i have a 400ltr tank, i have been dosing this way for nearly 2 months having only missed 3 daily doses. what can i do to lower my no3 reading? i was hoping it will get lower with time but i would like it to get lower sooner rather than later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Wow that seems like a heckuva lot of zeostart, my 200 litre only gets 3 drops daily, however I guess more could be used during the initial nutrient reduction phase. Are you cycling your reactor on 3 hours, off 3 hours? Like you, when my tank was in the initial phase, for a while not much seemed to be happening. Then I started cycling it on 3 off 3 and brought those nutrients right down. Don't ask me why but it's what Zeovit recommend in the first phase and it did do the trick. BTW that is quite a clever idea using the cannister like that, if you can I would like to see a pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bychineva Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 im currently dosing 3ml of zeostart..3 drops of zeobac and zeofood...used it for 2 weeks...and the i placed a plastic container with holes on the side and a hole on the top for the return from the chiller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted September 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 i will post a pic of the DIY reactor when i get home later tonight, it isnt the best and i will be making more mods to it when my larger ehiem cannister arrives this week some time. i should come clean and say that zeovitnz said to use the 2ml zeostart daily for the first 2 weeks and then 4 drops after that, i did that but then increased it again 2 months ago on his recomendation, maybe cut down? i will put the reactor on a timer tonight and see what differance that makes. wasp, do you shake the media daily? i have not been doing this as much as i should :roll: hence the design change to the reactor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 zeovitnz sent me a colourful brochure on all the zeovit products (apprently just converted to english just recently!) it's a very good brochure as it explains why you would use each of these products in one or two paragraphs. i can probably answer some of your questions (if zeovitnz does not see this post prior) from info in the brochure when i get home tonight. i might even scan the pages and post here (I don't see this as being a problem as it's essentially marketing for them? ) I'll have a look to see if they have an online English version yet. For 1,000 litres I was dosing 6 drops of zeobac and 6 of zeofood twice a week. Did not use zeostart - I think because the tank was established already for sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Well if he said 2 mls, then 2 mls. Personally I think you should increase the bac and zeofood, the zeofood is quite powerful at assisting bacteria to reduce nutrients. Yes I shake the rocks daily, the amount of mulm that comes off I think it is quite important to do it every day. It makes room for new bacterial growth, while making other bacteria available for skimming or feeding corals. Bychineva, just wonder if sudden temperature changes from your chiller may affect the bacteria, however that is something you will be able to asess when it happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Here's the zeovit guide in English incase you have not read (Acrobat Reader required): http://korallen-zucht.de/fileadmin/user ... nglish.pdf See page 12 for zeostart. 2ml's per 100 gallons (450 odd litres) Just realised that the above PDF has pretty much the same information as the brochure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted September 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 thanks chimera, i have the brochure as well, its a good read but im more interested in the experance of people here. i guess i will have to make sure i shake the media daily, makes sense and the bacterria needs the zeolite as a place to do its thing so shaking the media will therefore allow new bacterria to do it thing and allow the old bacterria to be skimmed or consuimed. i get it now :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Another thought, you did not mention if you have changed the rocks regularly, this is important especially during the nutrient reduction phase, best to change them every 6 weeks. Also, you would benefit by increasing the amount of bac you are dosing, this from the guide:- "B) Amount to be used in tanks with high nutrient load and in tanks using ZEOvit for the first time (already stocked): During the start of the ZEOvit system: Dose 1 drop per 25 gallons net water volume daily over a period of 2 weeks. Subsequently, dose 1 drop per 25 gallons net water volume two to three times weekly until the change of ZEOvit. After the first exchange of ZEOvit: Every other day 1 drop per 25 gallons net water volume over a period of two weeks. Subsequently, dose 1 drop per 25 gallons net water volume two to three times weekly." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEOvitANZ Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 You should be using 0.2 of a ml. If you dose too much ZeoStart2 the bacteria will change their nourishment to ZeoStart2 as it is much more available than NO3 and your NO3 level will not go down. Dosing more ZeoStart2 would not bring down NO3. hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 looks like i missed the . :oops: it will be .2ml from now on :roll: i am due for some new zeolite now, have changed it once, zeovitnz expect a pm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Well a . in the wrong place can make quite a difference! :lol: Be interesting to see how it goes now, please do keep us updated. Course it's going to take more than a few days, like they say on TV, "good things take time" :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 yep thats reef tamks totally sumed up in one statement, good things take time. im sure i will notice the differance in a month as the no3 starts to drop. just think of all the poos my anemonie will do after eating its most expensive meal yesterday. :-? ill take a pic of that reactor and post it for you wasp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 im too lasy to take the reactor out tonigh so i can get a decent shot. top down with water cascading over the top of the chamber can just make out the power head that is running it, connected via a short peice of tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 cool. doesn't look like you have a heap of room to move the media up/down though? or is it just a deceiving top down shot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 it is deceiving, but i agree there is not enough room, i also want to run my carbon on the top which is not possiable with the room that there is, i will be getting a larger cannister this week which will have plenty of room for the carbon as well. i should say that although i set this up it was not my idea, ben is to be credited for thinking outside the squre and coming up with the plan for this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 sweet. i sold (well, swapped for corals) my grotech reactor recently it was a mutha had a heap of room. not difficult to DIY though will do that next time around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted November 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 **update** I took in the advice I received, I have the zeo reactor on 3hrs off 3hrs, and I shake the media daily and im using .2ml zeostart, all other dosing unchanged. NITRATES still 50!!!!! I am now at the point where I will be thinking of other options to keep the nitrate down, in fact it was around 15 when I started with zeovit, so on that basis it will be over 60 by Xmas :lol: I will be buying a big drum of salt next time im up in Auckland, to do a large water change to reduce nitrates (following info in the sticky) then I will be looking at adding a nitrate filter, be it a sulphur or bacteria one. Im sure it must be something im not doing or doing wrong but I really can’t think what.... I have reduced feeding for over a month, to the point where my fish had become visibly skinny (I have since gone back to my original feeding program as of Sunday) I have done 3x25% water changes + my normal 10% weekly. I started using zeovit in an attempt to have a low nutrient tank, so why has it not worked? Im thinking of increasing the amount of zeolite to provide more surface area for bacteria to colonise, I currently run 1 bag at a time, looking for thoughts on that? Is zeostart the carbon source for the bacteria? What would adding vodka as well do? Positive or negative? I don’t want to give up on zeovit but if I cant get it to control my nitrates, I will get something that dose..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 I would not recommend increasing the zeovit rock. There are greater minds at this type of thing at zeovit.com, howabout signing in there and asking about it? You will have to give all the details about your tank, and they should be able to sort it. But agreed, you've given it a fair shot & it's not working, something needs to change but I'm sure they can tell you what it is. Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with using a nitrate reactor, but give zeovit .com a shot first you may save some money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 A sulphur reactor will reduce nitrate effectively. However, I would recommend UV as a good option for reducing nitrate and phosphate (so long as the skimmer can handle the increase in output), it also eliminates the need to run carbon, controls parasites (if that's an issue) etc. My philosophy is when you're trying to reduce nutrients, is focus on getting stuff out of the system. People often look for things to dump into the water to solve these problems, which just adds to the nutrient pool. (not to say it won't work, but I think it's better to increase the efficiency of the existing processing) Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted November 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Thanks wasp and layton, i have posted a new thread on zeovit.com, we will see how that goes. i must say i really like the idea of a sulphur denitrator, in comparsion zeovit seems like a bit of "black magic" so that is the parth i will go down if i cant sort the zeovit out. layton, i have a deltec ts1250 skimmer, do you think this will handle the extra output caused by using uv? what size uv unit would i need for a 400ltr system? chime in on the thread on zeovit .com if you like wasp, would be good to get some kiwi influnce in the thread.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 i must say i really like the idea of a sulphur denitrator, in comparsion zeovit seems like a bit of "black magic" so that is the parth i will go down if i cant sort the zeovit out. I'd say the opposite myself. A sulfur denitrator is a DSB in disguise (with slightly different dynamics). But basically it provides an environment for SRB (sulfur reducing bacteria) which happen to be bacteria which also reduce nitrate, and are also the ones responsible for the black patches which form in DSB's (iron (and other metal) sulphide deposits). As such it has some traits of DSB's too, like heavy metal and phosphate accumulation. But personally, i'm not a fan of methods which rely on bacteria to process waste, and increase the bacterial populations. I prefer methods which remove, rather than process. I would favor UV over sulfur reactor. layton, i have a deltec ts1250 skimmer, do you think this will handle the extra output caused by using uv? what size uv unit would i need for a 400ltr system? Depends how often you want to empty the skimmer collection cup. I've just had my UV turned off for 3 weeks, and turned it on again this week. I've got a AP902 (around 800L tank volume), without UV it fills the collection cup every 2 or 3 days. With UV, it fills the collection cup every day. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/my-obs ... 16491.html If you're buying a UV i'd get 40 Watt min. Decent size, and allows for future upgrading. Make sure it has a HO quartz bulb. The bigger the better. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmatix Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 I think you should just harden up and do some decent size h20 changes, or move away from from that dirty high N03 waikato water :lol: Good luck bro im sure youll sort it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 I found Zeovit did nothing to reduce my nitrates and phosphates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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