Zeovit question

[1stNoel]

I'm converting my tank from Red Sea with a refugium to Zeovit with no refugium. Main reason is that I wasn't happy with the polyp extension on my corals, and the colors never seemed to match what I was buying at the store. To be fair, I'm a newbie and the RC program had to deal with my beginner mistakes, but even when the tank was at its best...it always left me with that "this can look better" feeling.

I stopped dosing Red Sea cold turkey and let the tank sit for several weeks (but still dosed KH & Ca). I also had a huge cyano bloom in my refugium (it was growing more of that than chaeto, which caused a nasty odor), so I took that out. And to make matters worse, I added about 150 lbs of rock to my tank...but it sat out for 2 weeks before I could put it in...which caused a huge NO3 & PO4 spike.

I then started the ZEOvit program. I'm currently on Week 4, and although I'm getting a nice neon pop to my corals...there are many that are starting to look very pale. NO3 & PO4 have not yet dropped, so I'm looking for advice:

1. Are the pale colors "normal", and should I just be patient and eventually they'll get better...along with the NO3 & PO4?
2. Can I use something else in the meantime to get the NO3 & PO4 down (like NOPOX & Phosphate-E)?

Tank parameters:
Mg = 1320
Ca = 420
KH = 8.7 (had a spike when I put it in the rocks...they're man-made); typically around 7.3-7.6.
K+ = 430
SG = 1.025
Temp = 78 F
NO3 = 64+ (was at 8 before the spike)
PO4 = .160 (was at .050 before the spike)
10% weekly water change
60% of the zeolites in place (as recommended for the first interval); dosing ZEObak, food, and start per instructions. Still dosing Red Sea Reef Energy A & B.

Here are some pics of the affected corals (many look ghostly pale or have blotches of white...don't it doesn't look like STN to me).

1st picture: Setosa...very cool color, but starting to look patchy.
2nd picture: Green Birdsnest...same as above
3rd picture: Zoas...color is popping, but all zoas in my tank have shrunk in size and do not look happy
4th picture: Monti Cap...it still has a slight orange tint to it, but it is deathly pale.
5th picture: Euphyllia...all of them in my tank are fully open, but have a ghostly pale look to them.

Any advice is appreciated...

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

The corals pictured are in various states of bleaching. If possible, I'd do a large water change and run some carbon in a reactor. It's kind of a tough one, obviously something happened, most likely from the rock you added that has really stressed out the corals. Typically a Zeo tank will have more pastel looking colors in the SPS, but with those only. The Zoas and LPS shouldn't look like that. Did you change anything recently with your lighting?

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I find that lighting plays the largest roles in the colorization of my corals and when I ran zeovit I was constantly fighting small little problems and pale colors were one of them.

Zeovit is expert only IMO; you let your alk spike like that when you have established SPS colonies and you're gonna be in a world of hurt. Also, if your no3 spiked that high then there is alot going on in your tank that you're unaware of. I personally feel like you're wasting your money going with zeovit.

Take the monthly savings by ditching zeo, invest in great lights and just do simple water changes while keeping nutrients in the tank and your colors will look fantastic.

 

[jda]

I agree that Zeo is expert only and should only be attempted by a small few who are specifically looking to get from 95% to 99% and are willing to work twice as hard.

This is not science and I don't really want to start a war, but I have noticed thread after thread of low vs high nutrients and what makes for best color and growth and have noticed a pattern. Low nutrient tanks that thrive are usually lit with an abundance of T5s and MH and keep their N and P near NSW parameters - this does not seem as sustainable for folks using panels. All of the great ZEO tanks from Europe are nearly all T5 and MH. The old school tanks are like this - MH, VHO and T5 and low nutrients. This works for me still, although I just use Berlin. Most good LED tanks have higher nutrients, but still not high. If you are a LED user, I might suggest that you follow what others are having success with and get your N down to 5-10 and P about .01-.03 and stop the ZEO Stuff since the goal here is to strip the water even further. I would not even worry about any additives until your N and P are down.

If you added dry/dead rock or rock from an abused tank, you could be fighting P for years. If your spike was due to organic die off from real live rock, then it could be fast like a month, or so.

 

[David Cher]

KH for zeovit needs to be around 7 - 7.5 above that you will problems and it needs to be stable. i am keeping mine at 6.4

 

[RMS18]

Check out the zeovit forum. Plenty of help and support with learning how to use this awesome (imo) system. I'll personally never go back to gfo. Multiple ways to succeed in this hobby find what works for you.

 

[Reefltx]

What type of lighting?
It may be too much.

 

[David Cher]

did you leave your reactor running 24x7? have you tried to run 3 hours and stop 3 hours and run 3 hours ? when you stop the reactor flow , the zeolite should not be exposed to air.

 

[zsuzsu]

you have shocked the system , as dc above said 3hrs on 3hrs off with your zeo reactor. also the amount and flow rate through your zeolites area key factor running zeovit program. irun a zeo reef and a red sea carbon dosing system. ime both work but red sea system is far easier and more straight forward and easier to be succesful. good luck... zsu