refugium or zeovit?

[cugly]

IMHO, Zeo is expensive but is right in the wheelhouse of people who love tinkering with their tanks. I can't attest to its effectiveness, but I have seen some amazing tanks running it. On the other hand, refugiums can work as proven by numerout TOM awards and be pretty hands off except for occasional harvesting. Maybe some who were less thrilled by having to constantly measure and dump something in the tank would appreciate the low maintenance requirements.

Personally neither seems the perfect answer to me. I've chosen to add a carbon source with a dosing pump and feed the tank very heavily. A little GFO finishes the job. The method is cheap, mostly hands off, and frees me up to do other maintenance or even go on a vacation.

I do have a volleyball sized hunk of cheato tumbling in a fuge, but it's not growing much so I don't think it's doing much for nutrient reduction. It's more of a pod house. I think I will soon remove it so I can ditch the light and use the space for something else.

Thanx for your input John..u have a pic of your tank..

 

[cugly]

Sure this was taken a couple days ago after I hung my light. This is two weeks in with Carbon. I do not however have a heavy bioload as you can see.

Nice thank you sir.

And here is the torch after one week of vinegar.

Nice torch

 

[Allmost]

Zeovit is not for every one,

if you can not do the daily dosing, and daily inspection of corals and other creatures, and adjust dosing based on observations, then its not right for you right now.

sure you can set up dosing pumps, but you also need a pair of eyes to observe the changes and make changes on the dosing as needed, so not really a hand off thing, Id go with pellets in this case.

Zeovit will take your reef and reefing experience to next level though.

 

[cugly]

Zeovit is not for every one,

if you can not do the daily dosing, and daily inspection of corals and other creatures, and adjust dosing based on observations, then its not right for you right now.

sure you can set up dosing pumps, but you also need a pair of eyes to observe the changes and make changes on the dosing as needed, so not really a hand off thing, Id go with pellets in this case.

Zeovit will take your reef and reefing experience to next level though.

I can do the daily stuff its just when I go on vacation is what concerns me..I love to spend time on my tank even if its maintenance..thanks again

 

[Allmost]

I can do the daily stuff its just when I go on vacation is what concerns me..I love to spend time on my tank even if its maintenance..thanks again

ok well vacation for a couple of weeks ,you can use dosing pumps for that.

after the first couple of months pass, then the system would mature, and less dosing is necessary ... so you can get away with just dosing the carbon source using a dosing pump or a friend to dose it once a day for you.

as for expense ... of course its extra cost, but you will be able to get away with lower water changes, and no po4 remover ! so you save on those.
for a 100Gallon system, you will use 30ml of Zeostart3, 10-15 ml bak, and about the same amount of Sponge power PER MONTH. plus carbon and zeolith exchange every month

so you can calculate the yearly cost from that.

that is the bottom line ... the least amount of supplements, you can also use other additives later on which add to the cost.

HTH,

 

[cugly]

ok well vacation for a couple of weeks ,you can use dosing pumps for that.

after the first couple of months pass, then the system would mature, and less dosing is necessary ... so you can get away with just dosing the carbon source using a dosing pump or a friend to dose it once a day for you.

as for expense ... of course its extra cost, but you will be able to get away with lower water changes, and no po4 remover ! so you save on those.
for a 100Gallon system, you will use 30ml of Zeostart3, 10-15 ml bak, and about the same amount of Sponge power PER MONTH. plus carbon and zeolith exchange every month

so you can calculate the yearly cost from that.

that is the bottom line ... the least amount of supplements, you can also use other additives later on which add to the cost.

HTH,

Does the additives expire or can I get the bigger bottles .

 

[Allmost]

they usually have a 2 year shelf life.

try to calculate the amount you need for a year and go based on that.

some additives, like Zeosupre 2, Ive been using the same bottel for almost 5 years now lol expired in 2010. but still good. as long as no perecipitation.

 

[cugly]

they usually have a 2 year shelf life.

try to calculate the amount you need for a year and go based on that.

some additives, like Zeosupre 2, Ive been using the same bottel for almost 5 years now lol expired in 2010. but still good. as long as no perecipitation.

Cool thanx I will do that..

 

[reefgeezer]

Thanx for your input John..u have a pic of your tank..

My tank is now waiting for the frags to start appearing. I've been experimenting for about two years. Just about everything is DIY so it's not the prettiest but here ya' go. Sorry for the photo quality. My phone camera sucks.