NanoTopia's ZEOvit 80L [ ]

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Stunning. Hopefully my pink milli will do the same very soon!

Today (April 3) marks the 1 year anniversary since I showed the growth sequence of a A.millepora. This millepora came back from pretty much "dead" as it was ravaged by AEFW and overuse of biopellets. After correcting the biopellet issue and considerable dips on the corals, this coral sat idol for months. Thinking it would surely die, I looked one day (April 3 2013) and saw this, new beginnings...

 

 

 

 

By the end of May 2013 I knew this coral was serious about becoming something better...

 

 

 

Exactly one year later, it followed through with it's promise and became a small colony...

 

 

 

Happy birthday Mr. A. millepora

[Arkayology]

That mille is awesome! Such awesome growth.

[AJ_Tsin]

My rebuild is littered with little frags, I hope things grow out like that Mille.

Awesome awesome.

[ALexpsycho]

Great!

[Polarcollision]

That hardware rack is the universal balance to every precise and clean tank built you've ever done. I like it. :-)

 

Also, every time I see a post Tron makes I assume it's you with his new blue bottle icon.

 

Great growth on the mille. This is why timeline images are great - the grow so slow it's easy to perceive they don't grow at all. Clearly not the case

[Jstn]

Even the first month of growth is really impressive.

[AJ_Tsin]

Curious, how do zoas LPS and that starfish fare in your system with Zeovit? In my old build after I converted to ZeoVit I had a harder time with Zoas and LPS. However I also bought my ATI fixture near the same time and could never really tell if it was too much light or the water was too clean.

[Mr. Microscope]

Awesome growth shots on that milli! What a beautiful piece.

 

Congrats on the new sump! Did you build it?

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Christine, Premium Aquatics has kz on clearance, kz T5's for 12-15 dollars US, zeolife 15.99.

 

Looks like I'll be swapping bulbs early!

[NanoTopia]

That mille is awesome! Such awesome growth.

Thanks, it really is a comeback story, I almost threw this coral in the garbage but I made it my mission to heal this coral and make it grow again. Learned a few things in the process about corals, especially how they can be very resilient.

 

My rebuild is littered with little frags, I hope things grow out like that Mille.

 

Awesome awesome.

Thanks, patients and stability, once corals start to grow it is so rewarding. I am sure you will have the same success.

 

Great!

 

That hardware rack is the universal balance to every precise and clean tank built you've ever done. I like it. :-)

 

Also, every time I see a post Tron makes I assume it's you with his new blue bottle icon.

 

Great growth on the mille. This is why timeline images are great - the grow so slow it's easy to perceive they don't grow at all. Clearly not the case

LOL, yes Tron's new avatar makes me look twice to see if it's my post. Thanks for the complements Deborah

 

Even the first month of growth is really impressive.

Ya, it was back when I was still running LED's, which is further proof LED's can grow corals, well we all know that but it's still worth mentioning

 

Curious, how do zoas LPS and that starfish fare in your system with Zeovit? In my old build after I converted to ZeoVit I had a harder time with Zoas and LPS. However I also bought my ATI fixture near the same time and could never really tell if it was too much light or the water was too clean.

I had a red starfish but I lost him, I don't think it was the Zeovit that killed him however, I have had a tuxedo urchin in the tank for a year and he is doing quite well. Zoa's and LPS do great in Zeovit tanks, I have a few of each and they are doing pretty well. I find as long as enough POM (particulate foods) are fed, they love the ULNS. Over use of ZeoStart3 (carbon dosing) can cause issues with LPS, I use less than the recommend amount, I find it works better.

 

Awesome growth shots on that milli! What a beautiful piece. Congrats on the new sump! Did you build it?

Thanks I ordered the tank (custom) 20x20x12 and then put acrylic baffles in, nothing fancy just more room for equipment. It is working out well.

 

Christine, Premium Aquatics has kz on clearance, kz T5's for 12-15 dollars US, zeolife 15.99.

 

Looks like I'll be swapping bulbs early!

I saw that but shipping and duty at the boarder makes it full price for me, I just buy it all local. It's a good deal for you though, stock up!

[AJ_Tsin]

I had a red starfish but I lost him, I don't think it was the Zeovit that killed him however, I have had a tuxedo urchin in the tank for a year and he is doing quite well. Zoa's and LPS do great in Zeovit tanks, I have a few of each and they are doing pretty well. I find as long as enough POM (particulate foods) are fed, they love the ULNS. Over use of ZeoStart3 (carbon dosing) can cause issues with LPS, I use less than the recommend amount, I find it works better.

Thanks for the response. Good to know. I love zoanthids but haven't really bought any for this new build yet.

[metrokat]

Hey you. I've been MIA for a bit but I have news. I might be able to get my hands on a Red Sea Refractometer as early as next week.

[NanoTopia]

Thanks for the response. Good to know. I love zoanthids but haven't really bought any for this new build yet.

Your welcome

 

Hey you. I've been MIA for a bit but I have news. I might be able to get my hands on a Red Sea Refractometer as early as next week.

That's great Kat, love to hear how you like it

[AJ_Tsin]

Read through the first half of this thread, plan on doing the rest later tonight or tomorrow.

Curious for someone who doses Zeovit, do you see a major benefit to the doser? I assume you are dosing Ca, Alk, Mg, and diluted Zeostart?

I have considered a doser for a long time but figured since I am adding drops of something in daily from the blue bottles and shaking the reactor, manually adding 7ml of two part/mg and 0.4ml of ZeoStart a couple times daily isn't much different or added time. Is it a big improvement in stability? I have the benefit of a fairly fail safe (knock on wood) gravity fed ATO so the doser would only be used for Trace elements and ZeoStart in my case.

Basically I am rebuilding the same setup with some tweaks here and there, but I feel like soon I will run into that I want to upgrade something wall, likely will add a 15g plumbed in frag tank in the basement but the next piece of fancy equipment I would look to is a Doser.

EDIT: Not sure if you mind questions like this in your thread or not, if you don't want to muck things up here feel free to respond via PM or in my build thread. I just generally assume questions like this help other people, or at least other zeoheads.

[metrokat]

That's great Kat, love to hear how you like it

I was talking up a storm to my LFS, they had no idea about it. Red Sea Max East Coast sales rep told me my store would have it next week but the store itself had no idea beyond it's cool like Vertex maybe. It's not cheap either.

[NanoTopia]

Read through the first half of this thread, plan on doing the rest later tonight or tomorrow.

 

Curious for someone who doses Zeovit, do you see a major benefit to the doser? I assume you are dosing Ca, Alk, Mg, and diluted Zeostart?

 

I have considered a doser for a long time but figured since I am adding drops of something in daily from the blue bottles and shaking the reactor, manually adding 7ml of two part/mg and 0.4ml of ZeoStart a couple times daily isn't much different or added time. Is it a big improvement in stability? I have the benefit of a fairly fail safe (knock on wood) gravity fed ATO so the doser would only be used for Trace elements and ZeoStart in my case.

 

Basically I am rebuilding the same setup with some tweaks here and there, but I feel like soon I will run into that I want to upgrade something wall, likely will add a 15g plumbed in frag tank in the basement but the next piece of fancy equipment I would look to is a Doser.

 

EDIT: Not sure if you mind questions like this in your thread or not, if you don't want to muck things up here feel free to respond via PM or in my build thread. I just generally assume questions like this help other people, or at least other zeoheads.

 

Thanks for following

 

I could not live without my doser, and you are right, this is what I dose.

 

I am a big believer in stability, having the doser keeps the basics in check and stable so I can focus on other aspects of the tank. When it comes to Zeobak, dosing twice a day, and ALK/Ca 6 times a day each, it would be physically impossible for me to do this manually. Besides I am old and my memory is failing, LOL.

 

Stability = Less stress on corals... Automation = Less stress on me

 

The GHL doser is a good piece of equipment and a worthy investment for a reef tank, especially a Zeovit tank. Another good doser would be the Vertex Libra (stepper one), more accurate but it only comes with 3 pumps.

[AJ_Tsin]

I now run GAC in the Zeo-reactor (mesh bag).

 

No bio-pellets, only Zeovit.

 

Do you still do this? Currently I have my GAC in a mesh bag after filter floss in a small 4x4 "media rack type section of my sump where overflow pours into.

 

Never thought of running it in the reactor with the ZeoLites.

[NanoTopia]

Do you still do this? Currently I have my GAC in a mesh bag after filter floss in a small 4x4 "media rack type section of my sump where overflow pours into.

 

Never thought of running it in the reactor with the ZeoLites.

I am no longer doing this, I just run it passively in the sump. The reason is I place the small Zeolites in a mesh bag in the reactor so they don't plug up the holes at the bottom, having the carbon in there made it too crowded. Usually you would run less carbon and change it out more frequently if your running it in the reactor.

[AJ_Tsin]

I am no longer doing this, I just run it passively in the sump. The reason is I place the small Zeolites in a mesh bag in the reactor so they don't plug up the holes at the bottom, having the carbon in there made it too crowded. Usually you would run less carbon and change it out more frequently if your running it in the reactor.

Cool. Thanks. I modded my vertex reactor with craft mesh to keep the small stones in but some still get though. Works for me for now. I run the carbon fairly passively however I don't really knead the bag every few days. Do people still do this?

 

Thanks for the quick responses. Good to have someone around here that knows more than most about ZeoVit in a Nano. Generally I know my stuff when it comes to running an ULNS reef but minor things have changed in past 2-3 years in terms of techniques and nuances.

[NanoTopia]

Cool. Thanks. I modded my vertex reactor with craft mesh to keep the small stones in but some still get though. Works for me for now. I run the carbon fairly passively however I don't really knead the bag every few days. Do people still do this?

 

Thanks for the quick responses. Good to have someone around here that knows more than most about ZeoVit in a Nano. Generally I know my stuff when it comes to running an ULNS reef but minor things have changed in past 2-3 years in terms of techniques and nuances.

 

Your welcome. Generally kneading carbon is a bad idea, not sure where that originated from but it was intended as a way to prevent channeling in the carbon mass. Larger amounts of carbon, like >1L, can form channels if it is left untouched for a long time, a light shake once a week should prevent that from happening. Kneading carbon generates carbon fines that are released into the tank, some believe this is a contributor to HLLE in fish. Regardless, you don't want to be tumbling or grinding carbon up in the tank, however you run it. In the reactor is fine as long as it isn't tumbling. In a bag passively is also good, I give mine a light shake once a week to release any detritus that has accumulated within it.

[NanoTopia]

Cali Tort, one of my favourite corals, distinctive green body, deep blue corallite, green polyp. I actually think it's nicer than the Oregon tort and a better grower.

 

[JR!]

Cali Tort, one of my favourite corals, distinctive green body, deep blue corallite, green polyp. I actually think it's nicer than the Oregon tort and a better grower.

 

what a beatiful coral. would love to have some of that

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Would probably turn brown in my tank.

[BattleAthletics]

When did you get the cali tort? Have you seen bread urbaneks cali tort? It's huge!

[NanoTopia]

When did you get the cali tort? Have you seen bread urbaneks cali tort? It's huge!

This is a frag off my colony, not as big as Urbaneks though. I got it about 2 years ago from an LFS in my area. I will probably make 2 more frags in a month off the colony, it's taking up too much room in my tank as it's growing more out than up.

 

Would probably turn brown in my tank.

Not at all Tron, this coral is actually easy to keep and stays blue even if nutrients rise a little.