Walker's 35g - Home of the Great Zeo Experiment

[markalot]

Glad to hear the FWE worked. I lost an acro due to the toxins and will have to wait a few weeks for everything to color back up. Trick is to keep on top of them and treat multiple times IMO. They go into the rocks and sand and I swear will come out a few days later and then die when hit with light causing a few waves of increased toxin.

[Walker]

Another interesting point with the TDS meter - the API tap water filter actually has lower TDS (2TDS!) than the used RODI. I have ordered new filters and will be basically rebuilding the used one from scratch. Bit of a pain but it still saves a bit of money. I did use the first batch of filtered water from the used RODI for a water change (before testing the TDS - serves me right!) and I notice immediately that algae started sprouting in various areas. I have switched back to the tap water filter until the RODI is put back together.

 

As far as Flatworm Exit, it looks like it knocked back the population but I see maybe 10% of the worms still running around. I will do a follow-up, stronger treatment Monday and do the same routine (change and increase carbon) to hopefully knock them out for good.

[Bogan]

This is possibly one of the best tank journals I have read. You have done a fantastic job of documenting your experiments and had had some amazing results. I am very interested in trying your zeo dosing - where did you get the deal on the additives?

 

We have more or less the same size setup, and my washed out colours have been bugging me for months. Your method may be the answer to my problems. I'm interested in finding out how much and how often you are feeding. I'm making my own frozen food right now and going to step up the feeding in the new year to hopefully bring back some colour whilst dosing MB7 and vodka with GFO and heavy skimming for export.

 

Would love to see it sometime. If you frag your deep blue Cali tort, make sure you give me a shout : )

[Kauai]

 

 

such an awesome picture

[Eisernes]

I like your tank journal. Easy read.

 

Have you considered using the KZ flatworm stop? People swear by it. I think it even adds a little extra go go juice for the corals. Mix it with a little coral snow. In fact if you mix the other stuff you are adding with coral snow it will make it all work even better. All hail the blue bottles.

[Walker]

I have done another dose of Flatworm Exit, 5 days after the first dose. This time I used 1.5x the recommended dose. I did do a 12% water change and increased carbon as usual. Unfortunately, I think the remainder of the worms I see are either not flatworms at all, or they are pretty resistant to it. Worse yet, I`ve encountered some adverse effects in dosing FWE.

 

Most of my corals took the abuse like champs, but my green slimer has browned out considerably. I hope that it recovers soon. Worse though, I think I nuked most of my tank`s population of cerith snails. My CUC consists of trochus and ceriths, and I found the trochus make a beeline for the waterline when the FWE hit the water. The ceriths, on the other hand, flipped over shellshocked. I hope that they recover but it looks like so far only two have made it. I may need to restock my CUC soon.

[markalot]

Ceriths always recovered for me, just really drunk for 12 hours or so.

 

The browning would be the flatworm toxin, IMO, so you are getting a kill.

[Walker]

This is possibly one of the best tank journals I have read. You have done a fantastic job of documenting your experiments and had had some amazing results. I am very interested in trying your zeo dosing - where did you get the deal on the additives? We have more or less the same size setup, and my washed out colours have been bugging me for months. Your method may be the answer to my problems. I'm interested in finding out how much and how often you are feeding. I'm making my own frozen food right now and going to step up the feeding in the new year to hopefully bring back some colour whilst dosing MB7 and vodka with GFO and heavy skimming for export. Would love to see it sometime. If you frag your deep blue Cali tort, make sure you give me a shout : )

Thank you for the praise. J&L Aquatics in Burnaby is my LFS of choice. They usually have a Zeovit/Korallen Zucht sale in the fall (20% I think), which is when I picked up all my additives. My feeding is pretty straightforward - I feed 2x a day. First feed is 1/4-1/6 cube of mysis, 6 drops of oyster feast, a couple of pinches of cyclop-eeze and NLS 0.5mm pellets. 2nd feed is a few pinches of NLS 0.5mm and 1.0 mm pellets, larger pellets primarily for the yellow watchman.

 

I have tried making my own frozen food but I found it's easier for me to just cut up my mysis ahead of time and mix it up less than a minute before feeding. I usually cut 2 weeks worth of mysis and store them in those weekly medicine containers.

 

Interestingly enough, I do use MB7 as well as carbon dose, 16mL of vinegar per day + 1 capful of MB7 every week. I was thinking of using vodka but I've read that it can encourage cyano.

 

As far as a Zeo schedule goes, I would totally recommend contacting NanoTopia - she's my go-to person for asking about Zeo. Better yet, she's local as well. I would also say you should read her tank threads. Her attention to detail is fantastic. But since you asked, here's my schedule:

Sun - 1 mL Xtra, 1 drop AAHC

Mon - 2 drops Coral Vitalizer

Tues - 20 drops Sponge Power, 1 drop AAHC

Wed - 1 mL Xtra

Thurs - 2 drops Coral Vitalizer, 1 drop AAHC

Fri - 1 drop AAHC

Sat - skip day

 

I'll want to grow out the Cali tort more, but sure .

 

I like your tank journal. Easy read.

 

Have you considered using the KZ flatworm stop? People swear by it. I think it even adds a little extra go go juice for the corals. Mix it with a little coral snow. In fact if you mix the other stuff you are adding with coral snow it will make it all work even better. All hail the blue bottles.

Thank you . I've thought about using FW Stop and Coral Snow but I wanted to limit the amount of Zeo additives I'm using at one time, to keep track of the effects better. Once the tank is happy again I'll think of using Coral Snow.

 

Ceriths always recovered for me, just really drunk for 12 hours or so.

 

The browning would be the flatworm toxin, IMO, so you are getting a kill.

Hope so, I like my ceriths. I'll see if they're up and about tomorrow. The hermits and nassarius haven't gone into a feeding frenzy on the dizzy snails so I'm hopeful they'll survive.

[Walker]

Looks like out of the 10 or so ceriths in the tank, 3 survived. The other ones are still belly-up. Still no bristleworm or hermit scavenging though, so I'll leave them in in the faint hope that they will slowly wake up. After a couple of days though, I don't think they will...

[Walker]

More proof that the ceriths kicked the bucket - bacterial bloom now in progress.

[Roshan8768]

Ouch... ride it out man. Like everything else in this hobby balance is hard to achieve... my tank looked as good as ever before it started going through a rough patch. I'm sure you'll have everything back to normal soon. GL

[Walker]

The bloom disappeared within a few hours. Strange. It seems like when something dies in my aquarium I get that bloom and then it gets skimmed out.

 

Year-end report is fairly good otherwise. Everything is doing well, and the frags laying around the front of the display should be going to the LFS fairly soon. I have seen a considerable number of baby ceriths traipsing about the rockwork so I will hold off on restocking the ceriths and waiting to see how the babies turn out. I am tempted to get a wrasse and risking a jumper, but we'll see.

 

The fishies all say hi and welcome 2014!

 

The Red Diablo encrusting nicely. Only a couple of weeks in and already having nice growth.

 

My now-massive Bird of Paradise colony:

 

Excellent growth on the pink prostata:

 

Cali tort branching well at the top. I can't make it branch lower, dangit.

 

Frag of the Cali tort. Note it's mostly light green with blue growth tips. I think this is because it's a little lower with less flow.

 

Green birdsnest very well recovered from the haircut I gave it a couple months ago. I should trim it again as the adjacent torch has taken to stinging the nearest branches.

 

I'm surprised at how slowly this yellow tort is growing, but it is branching nicely now. I think my water is a little high in iron, so there's a very marked green tint to the skin.

 

I've grown this duncan from a wee 2-headed frag. I intend to grow it out to massive proportions, as it's my favourite LPS.

 

And lastly, a full pic of my crocea, which is still happy and kicking well over a year after I got it.

 

 

One more: my source of endless frustration, my Red Planet. I got it for free as a tiny stub of a frag a year ago. It has encrusted and encrusted but has never bothered to send up any vertical growth. Of course, it is being hit full-blast by the MP10 so maybe it is biding its time. Maybe.

 

 

 

[Bogan]

It's looking in incredible, the growth is just amazing. I can't get over the coralline. It's so thick!

 

I hope you e got your flatworm issues under control. Are you going to add a wrasse?

 

I've got a bit of a trick question for you. If you could only dose one of the KZ products that you have, what would you dose and why?

 

Happy new year mate.

[Walker]

It's looking in incredible, the growth is just amazing. I can't get over the coralline. It's so thick!

 

I hope you e got your flatworm issues under control. Are you going to add a wrasse?

 

I've got a bit of a trick question for you. If you could only dose one of the KZ products that you have, what would you dose and why?

 

Happy new year mate.

 

Happy new year to you too!

 

The coralline is now so thick in areas it flakes off in large chunks . I'm not sure if I'm adding a wrasse yet as I don't have the resources to quarantine one. I've read that Halichoeres don't do well in QT so it's a toss up. I might risk it (my yellow watchman was in QT for 1 week only as it wasn't faring well) but we'll see.

 

If I'd dose only one, it would probably be Pohl's Xtra. It has a little bit of everything I think, and the best all-round supplement. I've also had really good results with Sponge Power, but Xtra's the best I think.

 

 

New Year FTS!

 

 

 

[Bogan]

Pohl's Xtra seems to fair as one of the additives that people see the most amount of results with.

 

Inspired by your findings, I'd like to do a combination of Pohl's Xtra and Coral vitalizer. I may substitute the CV for this stuff:

 

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/product-info.php?product_ID=bw-coa060

 

or this:

 

http://www.reefsolution.com/catalog/aquarium-additives-saltwater-aquavitro-aquavitro-fuel-350ml-p-1819.html

[Walker]

Pohl's Xtra seems to fair as one of the additives that people see the most amount of results with.

 

Inspired by your findings, I'd like to do a combination of Pohl's Xtra and Coral vitalizer. I may substitute the CV for this stuff:

 

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/product-info.php?product_ID=bw-coa060

 

or this:

 

http://www.reefsolution.com/catalog/aquarium-additives-saltwater-aquavitro-aquavitro-fuel-350ml-p-1819.html

 

I would go with Coral Vitalizer. I have tried Fuel from March-October last year and while it did have an effect, it was nowhere close to the effect the KZ stuff had. If you do try Brightwell's stuff, log it in your thread - I'd be interested to know how it works. I still have a bottle of Zooplanktos-M and that didn't seem to do anything at all. I think CoralAmino would be equivalent to my dosing of Zeo AAHC.

[Bogan]

I'm trying to score some second had Xtra & Vitalizer at the moment. I'll use the CoralAmino instead of the AAHC like you said. I'll keep you posted.

[BRADYBUNCH7]

Did this tank is great! Are you gonna attempt zeovit when it gets more estblished?

[Walker]

New experiment: after reading an article on coral food, I am going to try Reef Roids at 1/2 strength for coral feeding.

 

Did this tank is great! Are you gonna attempt zeovit when it gets more estblished?

Thank you. Unfortunately, all of my stuff is HOB and I am out of space to hang more reactors. If I do a rebuild I will seriously consider a full Zeo setup.

[Walker]

Reef Roids seem to have taken my system "over the top" as algae have started creeping up again. I'll have to cut the feeding lower.

 

In other news, I will probably be doing a fairly big upgrade in the next few months or so . I'm starting to look for a reef ready 75 or 90 and will hopefully be starting up an SPS dominant "large" reef! I'll create a new thread when I start the build. In the meantime, I will keep the 35 going until the actual tank transfer happens.

[Walker]

One of my original trochus snails, RIP.

 

 

Saw his empty shell this morning and fished it out. I was wondering why algae was suddenly very happy and my skimmer was busier than usual. This snail has been with me since I started the tank July 2012. Sad to see an original member go, but his progeny remains .

[wow.such.chris]

How do you feel about your coralline covered back?

 

Mine is painted black and I'm just starting to see pink stuff. Originally I wanted a back like yours but now after seeing some matured tanks will pristine backs and overflows im not so sure. Plus I dont know if I jive with the maintenence of keeping it off the front/side glass once it gets to an overwhelming point.

[Walker]

How do you feel about your coralline covered back?

 

Mine is painted black and I'm just starting to see pink stuff. Originally I wanted a back like yours but now after seeing some matured tanks will pristine backs and overflows im not so sure. Plus I dont know if I jive with the maintenence of keeping it off the front/side glass once it gets to an overwhelming point.

I'm fairly happy with the coralline. I feel that it makes it less sterile. I know some people like it neatly black (or blue) but that depends on your vision of the tank. Also, for me it became impractical once the coralline started taking off.

 

If you do want it clean just keep in mind it takes a bit of doing to keep the coralline off, especially on overflows. For some reason acrylic and plastic/ABS attracts coralline like crazy.

[BattleAthletics]

Awesome that you are still keeping a very detailed thread! I hope mine gets there someday!

[wow.such.chris]

I'm fairly happy with the coralline. I feel that it makes it less sterile. I know some people like it neatly black (or blue) but that depends on your vision of the tank. Also, for me it became impractical once the coralline started taking off.

 

If you do want it clean just keep in mind it takes a bit of doing to keep the coralline off, especially on overflows. For some reason acrylic and plastic/ABS attracts coralline like crazy.

 

It does. And then I try and remove it with a razor blade and scratch the crap out of the plastic further making attachment points for coralline... herp. derp. I think Ill just let it go, it does look really pretty in your tank