High phosphates using zeovit

[lilbitreefer]

Zeovit has been running about 2 months thanks giving time frame.

 

[marvelousone]

What are you dosing and how much. Zeovit uses bacteria to remove po4. your levels might be off. With zeovit you don't use anything but zeovit. being only 2 months you are just now starting the ugly stages.

 

[jwshiver]

I have used zeozyme and coral snow trying to bring phosphates down and it doesn't seem to be working.

I have been running Zeovit for three years. ZeoZyme and Coral Snow are not what brings down No3 and PO4. ZeoStart is the carbon source for bringing down NO3 and PO4 along with a good skimmer for the export method. Are you using ZeoStart and if so how much are you dosing.

 

[lilbitreefer]

Tank is 120g, probably 130 total volume. I am dosing 5 drops zeoback (M/Th), 1 ml zeostart (daily), 5 drops zeofood (m/th), 1/2 tsp zeozyme weekly (when I remmeber) 5 ml coral snow (Saturday). I was doing the zeovit nano power pack from BRS but quit last week thinkg that might be the cause. Corals loved it until P04 got too high.

The coral snow by zeovit specifically says on the bottle that it removes P04 and is not coral food, so I'm a bit confused.

 

[lilbitreefer]

I do use the BRS Rox carbon and I read somehwere that it is not good to use that with zeovit. Could I just reduce the water flow it is in a reactor.

 

[lilbitreefer]

What is the ugly stage?

 

[marvelousone]

Tank is 120g, probably 130 total volume. I am dosing 5 drops zeoback (M/Th), 1 ml zeostart (daily), 5 drops zeofood (m/th), 1/2 tsp zeozyme weekly (when I remmeber) 5 ml coral snow (Saturday). I was doing the zeovit nano power pack from BRS but quit last week thinkg that might be the cause. Corals loved it until P04 got too high.

The coral snow by zeovit specifically says on the bottle that it removes P04 and is not coral food, so I'm a bit confused.

I would dose zeobac 5 drops 3 times a week. As you know that is the bacteria to remove po4. The zeostart are you dosing 1ml at once or .5ml twice a day. zeofood is fine. I would stop zeozyme. For what reason are you dosing it. Coral snow is used to remove the yellow in water. It helps break stuff down for your skimmer to remove.So it helps remove po4 that way. Put a dose of zeobac in the coral snow when you dose it. I would not stop zeovit if you have the time. You do have to be patience with zeovit. Matter fact patience with reef tanks period lol. The ugly stages is when you get gha, slime algea. Hopefully you don't go through it. I went through it and everyone I have talked to has went through it. Some worst then others. I don't know about that carbon. If it is a real strong carbon it might remove more what needs to be removed. you could reduce flow.

 

[jwshiver]

Tank is 120g, probably 130 total volume. I am dosing 5 drops zeoback (M/Th), 1 ml zeostart (daily), 5 drops zeofood (m/th), 1/2 tsp zeozyme weekly (when I remmeber) 5 ml coral snow (Saturday). I was doing the zeovit nano power pack from BRS but quit last week thinkg that might be the cause. Corals loved it until P04 got too high.

The coral snow by zeovit specifically says on the bottle that it removes P04 and is not coral food, so I'm a bit confused.

I'm not seeing that on the label;
Coral Snow • Liquid filter media, secondary biological facilitator for elements. • Neutralizes undesirable acids and solution for e.g. slime algae and Cyanobacteria (mixed with CyanoClean). • Aids in eliminating inhibitors, caused by fresh imported or harmed corals. • After loosing corals Coral Snow does help to stabilize biology.

My understanding is that Coral Snow is a flocculant.

Personally I would recommend not using the Zeofood or any other amino acids or additives for a few weeks and see if it helps. It could be contributing to your problem. I haven't used it in over two years. I may have missed it in the previous comments but how often are you feeding your fish and what are you feeding them?

1 ml of ZeoStart should be more than enough to drop your NO3 and PO4 to zero. YOU DO NOT WANT ZERO! I'm dosing 0.06 per day on a mature 120 gallon and struggle to keep both detectable. Sometimes I don't dose for a day or two to help keep the readings detectable.

I'm wondering if your export method is aggressive enough. Just curious, how often do you need to clean your skimmer cup? How often do you change out your Zeovit stones? As a side note based on personal anecdotal experience I highly recommend soaking your stones in RODI water for a week and change the water daily or your Selenium, Barium and Silicon levels will go through the roof.

 

[lilbitreefer]

My syringe is not small enough to do 0.5 ml BID. I am looking at ordering smaller syringes though. Right now I have a 30 mL syringe that I dose with. It's easy to push and so far I have not over dosed yet. I pull up what I need for the month and dose it from there. I like to pull up what I need for the month that way I am more likley to remember and be inclined to do it if it is already drawn up and waiting for me.

I feed a pintch of PE mysis (2mm) daily maybe 10-15 peices if that. On the days I feed corals I will do about 1 tsp of frozen mysis (half for corals half for fish), and PE pellets just enough so they don't go after my corals when I feed them. I feed corals 1.5 tsp of reef roids/week, I then split that up between 2-3 times a week. I really hope I don't go through another ugly stage this tank is almost 3 years old and has been ugly for a year and a half already.

I was using the amino acids becasue I got a few corals from someone who was shutting his tank down d/t cyano, the corals looked really sad, and injured. The amino said it aids in coral healing, hence why I was dosing it. Now they just seem to be getting worse. STN I am posting a picture of one.

I have it connected to a avast skimmer locker, it takes about 2-3 weeks to fill it up half way. I think I need to adjust the skimmer som as I seems I do not have a lot of skimmate coming out but the cone gets really dark and gunky in less than a week.

I replaced the first bag aof zeolite at the 4 week mark and plan to do the next change at the 6 week mark.

Oh and I was using coral snow plus not regualr coral snow, the website says it removes phosphates. I was using zeozyme cause description says it aided in backtial growth and last bottle of bacteria I had was just barely expired.
https://www.korallen-zucht.de/en/Salt-Water-Aquarium-Care/Problem-solving/Coral-Snow-Plus.html

 

[marvelousone]

I understand the tank has been up and running for three years and you convert it to zeovit.

 

[marvelousone]

Are you on the Zeovit forum.

 

[lilbitreefer]

yeah but but not really.

 

[jwshiver]

This is what I get in 3 days.

 

[lilbitreefer]

I have not really gotten into that one and I have not gotten much feed back when I tried it out when I first started my tank.

 

[lilbitreefer]

This is what I get in 3 days.

Yeah um I am not putting out enough, it looks like that but I am not getting that amount. I will empty out my locker and then make a mark for every day so I can estimate how much I am puttingout.

 

[lilbitreefer]

Do you use an co2 scrubber?

 

[jwshiver]

I would still recommend eliminating feeding anything other than the fish for a while. Make sure you are rinsing the PE Mysis first. They are phosphate bombs.I triple rinse mine in a small solo cup with RODI before feeding. Maybe consider switching to LRS or Rod's for awhile.

 

[jwshiver]

Do you use an co2 scrubber?

Yes

 

[lilbitreefer]

How do you have it set up? I am looking into getting a solenoid and setting up a scrubber. My ph is really weird. swingin up and down, and I think that might be my problem as well. The wrentches are when I did a H20 change.

 

[lilbitreefer]

If you got a DIY forum or know of a good source let me know.