Finally got through this entire thread. Very informative. I tried this system on my new upgrade (125 gal.) for the first 2 1/2 months, but had to quit using it. I followed the 14 day start up guide and then the regular user guide to a tee. I only used the "Basic 4" during this time period. About 2 weeks into this system, I noticed what I thought was diatoms, no problem, I thought it would resolve itself in a few weeks. It did. However, a golden brown substance reappeared within a few days after I thought I was through with the diatom period. I started to think this stuff was something other than diatoms. I sought help on the Zeovit forum, submitted photos when requested, but no one on this forum was able to help me. It was suggested that I cut back on the amount of Zeostart I was dosing, I did. Brown stuff still on sand bed. It was suggested that I should stop dosing all together for a few days. I did. The brown substance seemed to dissipate a little but as soon as I began dosing again, it (brown stuff) reappeared. It was suggested that I should try using Coral Snow and Biomate together, I did. I continued to dose the Snow and biomate for approximately 3 weeks. The brown substance was still on my sand bed and would seem to come back with a vengeance after cleaning the sand bed during water change. To be honest, I received very little help from the Zeovit forum, specifically, the "more experienced" members. Most suggestions came from posters with maybe a month more experience than I had with this system. Since I could not determine what this substance actually was, I decided to stop dosing any Zeovit products and began running GFO. Almost immediately, the brown substance subsided and my sand bed was clear again. I really wanted to be successful using this system. I believed in it, researched it while I was waiting to start up my new tank. I would really like to try again. However, I'm afraid to because my tank is doing well right now and don't want to disrupt what is working.
As I read through this post, I heard the argument as to whether it is necessary, other tanks doing just as well without using the full Zeovit system etc.. Unless I missed it, I did not hear an argument as to what, if any, are the advantages to using the Zeovit sytem. As I previously stated, I would like to try my hand at this system again at some point, but feel that there is simply not enough help/advise out there. I'm not really sure if this is my rant or just my 2 cents. Sorry for the long winded post.
Hey, sorry to hear about the ISsues. and I understand your frustration, but systems like Zeovit, or in general bacterioplankton systems, are alot more hands on and require alot of fine tuning and observing and .... which is different for each system. There is just so much experience and observations to share, the rest lies in the hand of the user ... with GFO, you add it to a reactor, make sure its moving, and forget about it, if corals pale out, you use less. that is not the case with Zoevit, when you have more than 10 variables at all times, flow of reactor, amount of stones, start3, bak, biomate, GAC, CS, ZZ, and so on. and as result trouble shooting from outside is much much harder.
for example, Cyano bacteria ... its a bacteria. in Zeovit, we add additives, to grow bacteria, but get disappointed when the photosynthesis bacteria Cyano grows ! well to me thats not a fail, that just means bacteria are taking up nutrients, now you have to shift the balance away from cyano, and towards Zeobak bacteria ... make the environment more appealing to Zeobak ...
now let me ask you something, you say you really want to make Zeovit work for you, why is that ? your answer to this question, will also be your answer as to why Zeovit can accomplish more
with Zeovit, reaching the balance is not that easy, and maintaining it even harder to accomplish. again, cause of the variables, but this exact "problem" is why the system can accomplish more !
perhaps after 2.5 months the system and the sand fully cycled ? maybe you were dealing with dino which Start3 could feed ? [remember, the bad dino, is the same algae that keeps our corals alive], maybe too much feeding ? could be alot of different reasons.
but at the end, if your current method is working, keep it the same, one of the most important steps in keeping a nice reef tank, is to feel good about it, then you will be motivated to do more
when you feel like you have topped the growth and coloration with current GFO method, then look into Zeovit again ... it can possible take your reef to the next level.
