i occasionally look in zeovit forum, as far as the ease or difficulty of reefing whether traditional or something off the beaten path, the zeovit method is the method i prefer as it works for me, most folks feel that it is too expensive cause you need zeo this or zeo that... well ime it isnt any more expensive than any other method it is just different. it is no magic bullet and their instructions are only guidelines .everybodys reef will be different ie i run 2 zeo reefs and both are quite diffrent from each other, the two things you need in this hobby whether traditional methods or zeovit, are patience and diligence they cannot be bought and combined they are priceless. good luck.... zsu
STN: I'm In desperate need of advanced help.
- Thread starter malx
- Start date
you need to be carefull with iron, if you are doing your water changes there is no need to supplement.
i disagree about losing the zeo stuff , but im with him on the lighting. there are myths in this hobby about not enough light and or too much or too little flow. ie ihave brilliantly colored acros getting less than 100 par and acans gettin acro flow . for me the more i turn my lights back the better things go ... to a point. and for flow... if my fish are pinned to the glass i turn the flow down a bit..... zsu
malx
Active member
I'm not dosing iron. I just tested it just in case.
malx
Active member
So everyone,
Here's some new information for you. My porites that appears to have tissue loss shows great PE at night along with a few hours. What do you guys think of corals only showing PE at night? Is there a specific reason why they would only show PE at night vs. During the day?
Here's some new information for you. My porites that appears to have tissue loss shows great PE at night along with a few hours. What do you guys think of corals only showing PE at night? Is there a specific reason why they would only show PE at night vs. During the day?
danrobberg
New member
Do you have coralline algea growth? In my tank I had trouble maintaining sps corals until I had decent coralline algea growth. I also had something go out of whack and almost all my coralline algea died and right around that time I had stn/rtn issues and lost about half of my corals.
malx
Active member
Yes a little bit starting on the overflow and pumps
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Pete_the_Puma
New member
I ran Zeovit for a while, then just switched to biopellets, much easier and less maintenance.
I am willing to bet anything your main problem is the ALK is too high. Most people who run ULNS (either zeovit or biopellets or vodka for carbon dosing to achieve ultra low nutrients) aim for an ALK around 7 ish. I definitely run into trouble if my alk goes over 7.5.
Old school reefers who can tolerate much higher nitrates and phosphates would usually aim for higher ALK in the 8-10 dKH range.
If you are going to stick with the zeo stuff I would slowly lower your ALK to 7 and let things sit for a while, nothing is worse than trying to change a bunch of things at the same time, usually leads to more trouble. You might have also mentioned this in the thread and I speed read through it but check your salt mix, some salt mix as high as 10dKH and then your water changes affect the chemistry significantly.
Best of luck,
Pete
I am willing to bet anything your main problem is the ALK is too high. Most people who run ULNS (either zeovit or biopellets or vodka for carbon dosing to achieve ultra low nutrients) aim for an ALK around 7 ish. I definitely run into trouble if my alk goes over 7.5.
Old school reefers who can tolerate much higher nitrates and phosphates would usually aim for higher ALK in the 8-10 dKH range.
If you are going to stick with the zeo stuff I would slowly lower your ALK to 7 and let things sit for a while, nothing is worse than trying to change a bunch of things at the same time, usually leads to more trouble. You might have also mentioned this in the thread and I speed read through it but check your salt mix, some salt mix as high as 10dKH and then your water changes affect the chemistry significantly.
Best of luck,
Pete
malx
Active member
Thanks Pete. My alk is 9. I shut off my calc reactor and I am going to let the tank naturally drop to 7, once it does, I am going to try to turn the reactor back on and keep
It at 7. Thanks for the tip.
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malx
Active member
Hi, All.
Also might want to know that I tested my phosphates again with my Hanna checker and they are 0. I'm going to go with that number as I did the test very carefully and its been cross checked with ATI.
At this point, I'm going to let the tank sit for another few weeks with the reactor off until the Alk goes from 9 to 7. Once it goes to 7, I'm going to dial it in to maintain 7. Also, I will be adding two more fish and some inverts in the next few weeks so hopefully that helps put some more natural organic matter in the water. The more I think about it, the more my problem has to be related to...
1: Not enough nutrients in the water.
2: Thinking that adding food in the water will help.
3: Thinking that adding dosing in the water will help.
I think the best advice, is to just wait, let things level off, maybe I'm one of those systems that just needs more time than usual!
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure that my "becoming-a-woman" lady Cinnamon Clownfish does not kill her husband as well as my Fireball Angel.
Cheers,
Joey
Also might want to know that I tested my phosphates again with my Hanna checker and they are 0. I'm going to go with that number as I did the test very carefully and its been cross checked with ATI.
At this point, I'm going to let the tank sit for another few weeks with the reactor off until the Alk goes from 9 to 7. Once it goes to 7, I'm going to dial it in to maintain 7. Also, I will be adding two more fish and some inverts in the next few weeks so hopefully that helps put some more natural organic matter in the water. The more I think about it, the more my problem has to be related to...
1: Not enough nutrients in the water.
2: Thinking that adding food in the water will help.
3: Thinking that adding dosing in the water will help.
I think the best advice, is to just wait, let things level off, maybe I'm one of those systems that just needs more time than usual!
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure that my "becoming-a-woman" lady Cinnamon Clownfish does not kill her husband as well as my Fireball Angel.
Cheers,
Joey
if your po4 is zero and your alk is at 9 your are just burning your coral. I would lower your alk to around 7 if you are going to run the ulns. I just have a hard time believing your po4 is that low with all that feeding you are doing. I would turn your light intensity down until you get down to 7dkh. Btw changing a bunch of things at once won't ever let you know what the real problem was either.
+1 to the alk. I raised mine to increase growth....... 8 to 11 alk did not work for me. I ran 7.8 for over a year. Increased to 9.5 and All my sps crashed, once they started to go, there was no saving them. They looked exactly like yours. I do still have all my lps and softies.
i used to run at 7 dkh, i do in my 130 and everything is stable, however in my 60 gal cube the smaller reef is not stable running 7 dkh so i raised it to 8 and my ph swings and stn trouble ceased. i think in my case even with all the toys i still could not prevent ph and alk swings on the smallish zeo reef.
malx
Active member
worse than the ph swings were the alk swings, my tank eats alkalinity therefor i would go to work, come home and alk could swing low to 6 easily, so raising it 1 point was pretty radical on a daily basis, too stressfull for sps and for me also. as stated before raising to 8 dkh was magic for the small reef. i just did it slowly. now i can maintain my alk with kalkwasser but i only use 1tsp/gal mix, otherwise my alk climbs too high. good luck... zsu
malx
Active member
My alk does not swing that much but what was your PH swing? Mine goes from 8.3 to 8.1
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ADVRESOURCE
New member
That's not bad for PH swings.
Did you get the Triton test results back? Things for certain:
1. Alk swings kill SPS
2. Too much light too soon kills SPS. I have 6 hydra 52's with acclimation set to 73% reduction. Have maximum intensity for 4 hours with 4 hour ramp up and 2 hour ramp down. Keep blue's on for extra 2 hours of max and ramp down to 25% in 1.5 hours and off by midnight. I ramp up starting at 8am. Ramp down all but blues at 4:30pm. Blues ramp down at 6:30 to 25% at 8pm and off at midnight.
3. Feed coral coral food. Reef plankton. Reef Chili, Fuel or other amino's. Don't overskim. Try dry skimming.
4. Get good to extreme water flow - I think you do with the MP40's. I have 2 MP40's and 2 gyre 150's.
5. Don't put your hands inside the tank. Soap, chemicals, will kill SPS for sure.
6. No glass cleaner other than RO/DI.
7. My ALK is 11.5 CA is 450 and MG is 1400 PH swings from 8.1 to 8.26 over the course of the day.
8. I test ALK, CA and MG Mon, Wed, Fri and salinity. Ph continuously monitored, temp continuously monitored. Ni, P, tested every other week. Mine are at 0.
9. Do test piece of coral and no more until stable.
10. Good luck!
Did you get the Triton test results back? Things for certain:
1. Alk swings kill SPS
2. Too much light too soon kills SPS. I have 6 hydra 52's with acclimation set to 73% reduction. Have maximum intensity for 4 hours with 4 hour ramp up and 2 hour ramp down. Keep blue's on for extra 2 hours of max and ramp down to 25% in 1.5 hours and off by midnight. I ramp up starting at 8am. Ramp down all but blues at 4:30pm. Blues ramp down at 6:30 to 25% at 8pm and off at midnight.
3. Feed coral coral food. Reef plankton. Reef Chili, Fuel or other amino's. Don't overskim. Try dry skimming.
4. Get good to extreme water flow - I think you do with the MP40's. I have 2 MP40's and 2 gyre 150's.
5. Don't put your hands inside the tank. Soap, chemicals, will kill SPS for sure.
6. No glass cleaner other than RO/DI.
7. My ALK is 11.5 CA is 450 and MG is 1400 PH swings from 8.1 to 8.26 over the course of the day.
8. I test ALK, CA and MG Mon, Wed, Fri and salinity. Ph continuously monitored, temp continuously monitored. Ni, P, tested every other week. Mine are at 0.
9. Do test piece of coral and no more until stable.
10. Good luck!
ADVRESOURCE
New member
When dosing ALK, go sloooow. BRS calculator is way, way to fast a ramp rate.
slavetonet
New member
Can you show me your FTS?
Here's my take of things that is certain.
1) Alk swing doesn't kill sps.
2) There's no too much light for aquarium - even if it is 1000 par - even if you light your tank for 12 hours.
3) Definitely feed corals with either organic or inorganic nutrients.
4) Get plenty of flow
5) Spray glass cleaner all the time on my tank to clean glass.
6) Keep it just above NSW level for safety factor.
7) Need more trace elements that your NSW to support corals health.
