Zeovit
- Thread starter sailfintang
- Start date
sailfintang
Member
So then the OD of the v/s/v mix can either be good or bad, like russian roulette. I don't think I will do anything like that. I would rather go slow and steady and increase gradually. The die off will come soon enoughI hope. As for the sand bed I see your point on the po4. If i vaccum the bed to suck out any grime will that aid in removing the po4 any quicker? Or should I just look into replacing large chunks of the sand at each water change?
Canarygirl
New member
Re: the potential OD of carbon source...
When the Zeovit method started it out, it was geared to work much faster than it does now. But lots of people lost corals because of the rapid nutrient reduction. So they revamped the products to make it a much slower, gradual process. Now, "patience is key."
The downside is obvious, that it can take a year to get your nutrients down! I suspect that's how long it would take me if I continued on my present course. However I will be upgrading my tank within a few months and I plan to go BB with it so that should shorten things up (I hope).
When the Zeovit method started it out, it was geared to work much faster than it does now. But lots of people lost corals because of the rapid nutrient reduction. So they revamped the products to make it a much slower, gradual process. Now, "patience is key."
The downside is obvious, that it can take a year to get your nutrients down! I suspect that's how long it would take me if I continued on my present course. However I will be upgrading my tank within a few months and I plan to go BB with it so that should shorten things up (I hope).
madadi
ReefOG
i have a very deep sand bed in my sump. about 8inches deep x 2feet x 2feet. there is a ton of life in it including some medium sized white feather dusters that are multiplying in the top layer. how do i go about removing it? do i just start siphoning it out layer by layer? im scared to release toxins into the water column that might be deep in the sand. any suggestions?
sailfintang
Member
i am up to 1/4 teaspoon, which equates to 1.75 ml.
Sorry my posts dont quote your name Zedar if you mind my asking how do you get it to say the persons name?
sailfintang
Member
No I have not tested teh sand but I read your earlier post and believe I shall try this later tonight. I am sure it has po4 in it. Its been there since the beginning. So it definatly has some nutrients in it for sure. Now did you replace your bed all at once or slowly.
jamesdawson
New member
I have replaced shallow sand beds before. What I did was siphon out 1/4 of the total bed every couple of months and replaced it immediately. 2 months later I did another 1/4 patch. Just draw a little diagram of your tank and scratch off the 1/4s you have replaced so you can keep track.
Worked well for me and since you take out water at the same time I just considered it my weekly water change at that time. In any case, the water at the bottom of the SSB you are removing can be detrimental to the tank so it as to be removed also. Just try not to stir up the rest of the bed and you should be fine. I also replaced my carbon at the same time to allow a little extra buffer against water contamination.
By spreading the replacements out you give plenty of time for the new sand to become "live" so you never really lose anything there.
FWIW,
Claude of Fauna Marin reccomends gradually replacing your rock and sand if they become so loaded up with nutrients that they start leaching PO4 back into your sytem.
Good luck,
James
Worked well for me and since you take out water at the same time I just considered it my weekly water change at that time. In any case, the water at the bottom of the SSB you are removing can be detrimental to the tank so it as to be removed also. Just try not to stir up the rest of the bed and you should be fine. I also replaced my carbon at the same time to allow a little extra buffer against water contamination.
By spreading the replacements out you give plenty of time for the new sand to become "live" so you never really lose anything there.
FWIW,
Claude of Fauna Marin reccomends gradually replacing your rock and sand if they become so loaded up with nutrients that they start leaching PO4 back into your sytem.
Good luck,
James
sailfintang
Member
Thanks for the info but as for replacing the rocks thats impossiblefor me becasue of all the stuff i have attached to them or things that are growing on them.
Will work on the sand bed during the next water change. What can I do witht he old sand then save it for another tank can i just put it in some ro/di water and let the po4 dissipitate?
Will work on the sand bed during the next water change. What can I do witht he old sand then save it for another tank can i just put it in some ro/di water and let the po4 dissipitate?
sailfintang
Member
in light of the v/s/v idea i have decised to dose 5ml now regularly and see if that will spedd the LNS up. i fell I have worked the tank up enough to handle thatt dosage daily.I have not seen any die off in algae or change in the coral so far. the only noticable difference I have seen is less algae has accumulated on the glass of the tank. i can say that i also think some things are finally getting use to the neww 400 watt halides i installed a while back so things should start changing soon enough from me i hope. I will try and get some photos up of the algae area i have so you can all see what i am talking about
miwoodar
Likey the bikey
Who needs patience when you have nads like that? I wish you the very best of luck. You could very well end up in a good place like Zedar did. I really hope you don't end up telling another one of those all too common 'I really should have been more patient' stories. However it turns out, keep us in the loop and take pictures to document the progression!
sailfintang
Member
thanks for the post info Zedar. here are three photos of my tank during the v/s/v to low nutrient stage. please forgive the poor photo skills my camera is like 8 years old and rather than get a better one i buy reef stuff instead. But eventually when i get my tank looking like j prostra's then i will have to get a good camera to show it off/
sailfintang
Member
Here is the third one:
Thats not bad !!! You'll be LNS soon. Seriously that tank is not that dirty.
Keep an eye on your parameters
keep them at:
Ca 380-420
Mg 1200-1350
dKH 6.5-8.0 if you use seachem reef salt then 8.5 is where ya wanna be
K+ ~ 380
salinity 35ppt.
The monti looks pale. or maybe its just the photo.
I"m not a betting man but I would wager a weeks pay that your low on potassium.
I just kept adding KCL ...first I dosed a whole bottle of this in a three day period.
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=777&at=0
Then i watched the reaction for a week. the acros showed a positive reaction within a day. better color.
Monti's are the first to show signs of K deficiency. So Ive used my pink monti as a gauge to determine when Ive dosed enough KCL.
After a week without any signs of improvement from the monti I decided to dose more KCL yesterday. I dosed 3 teaspoons, in 2 smaller doses.
Today Im seeing PE... Something Ive never seen before. And theres definitely an increase in color.
So tonight I dosed another 3 teaspoons. Hope that does it.
Keep an eye on your parameters
keep them at:
Ca 380-420
Mg 1200-1350
dKH 6.5-8.0 if you use seachem reef salt then 8.5 is where ya wanna be
K+ ~ 380
salinity 35ppt.
The monti looks pale. or maybe its just the photo.
I"m not a betting man but I would wager a weeks pay that your low on potassium.
I just kept adding KCL ...first I dosed a whole bottle of this in a three day period.
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=777&at=0
Then i watched the reaction for a week. the acros showed a positive reaction within a day. better color.
Monti's are the first to show signs of K deficiency. So Ive used my pink monti as a gauge to determine when Ive dosed enough KCL.
After a week without any signs of improvement from the monti I decided to dose more KCL yesterday. I dosed 3 teaspoons, in 2 smaller doses.
Today Im seeing PE... Something Ive never seen before. And theres definitely an increase in color.
So tonight I dosed another 3 teaspoons. Hope that does it.
Last edited:
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