Zeovit

[Zedar]

Sail Man I hate to hear that.

For what its worth. I dosed a bottle and a half of KCL and so have many others with no ill effects. How much and how often did you dose?

On the other hand ..A sandbed is loaded with nasties. When you removed it, did any of the gunk get into the water column?

 

[sailfintang]

Yes gunk got into the water I siphoned it out but still not stirring up the sand was nearly impossible. I had to remove rock and other stuff. The K Cl was not a problem i think, was dripping it most of the time. Adding anywhere from 2-6 tablespoons through a 15 hour period once in the morning once at night.

 

[sailfintang]

In case you are all wondering here is the death count:

Male and femal Anthias

Sixline warasse

Diamond Goby

2 Clams (croecea/maxima)

Acro bleached

Blueberry staghorn rtn

orgeon tort rtn

ora green slimer bleached

still have more that could go. I am thinking the replacing of the sand bed is the culprit here. I would advise against this for others and just wait out the sand bed rather than change it.

 

[Husky_1]

Sailfin,
Man, the saga continues. I am really sorry to hear about your additional losses.

Have you checked your Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate levels?

 

[jennmac415]

So very sorry to hear of all your losses! I have been thinking about switching out my sandbed. I think I just decided NOT to do it...I had no idea it could cause such trouble. This tank has only been up since August..would it still cause this trouble?

Again sorry!

 

[PSam]

That's awful, sorry to hear. I've been slowly removing sand bed with every water change over the past 2 or 3 months because I'm afraid something like that would happen - now I'm definitely not going any faster.

I hope you don't have any addtl. losses - good luck getting back on track.

 

[madadi]

how long should i wait till i can start shaking the zeovit media? i just put it in a reactor. i would think that enough bacteria should colonize it first right? thanks

 

[sailfintang]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12375849#post12375849 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madadi
how long should i wait till i can start shaking the zeovit media? i just put it in a reactor. i would think that enough bacteria should colonize it first right? thanks

You want to shak/stir the media once mulm or debris accumulates on it, probably once a week I would think.

 

[Kolognekoral]

Actually, the Zeovit stones should be shaken/agitated 2x daily, if possible, to release the mulm/biofilm. With other media I do not know.

 

[Kolognekoral]

Sailfin,, this really hurts to hear of your losses. I experienced this during my last rebuild, when I changed over to Zeovit. I am convinced the problem was the release of nutrients from the sand. I should have done this more slowly as to minimize changes in the water. I did not read higher readings in nitrate, rather in PO4, which I believe was bound to the aragonite sand due to using a 2-part calcium method. I have now gone over to using my reaktor again and am much happier. PO4 has gone down and stabilized, but that doesn't bring back the P. xanthometapon, A. leucosternon, various Anthias, etc.

One thing I have learned over the years, an easy/hard lesson, and that is to keep conditions as close to NSW as possible and stable. This precludes any big changes in the tank. As I am maintaining a very low nutrient system, I need to monitor parameters weekly, such as NO3 (1mgl), PO4 (0.01mgl), K+ (390mgl), Ca (430mgl), Mg (1300mgl) and salinity (1.024 @ 26°C/79°F). My prefered levels are in parenthesis. Note that there are some nutrients. A no nutrient level is just as bad, if not worse.

Once a tank is stabile for a few weeks, I maintain minimal dosing of various supplements, plus 5-10% weekly water changes with a balanced salt. Currently, I consider only 2 salts balanced enough; Reefers Best (Korallen Zucht) and Coralife. Both are very close to NSW. These salts minimize the necessity to dose potassium.

I realize you probalby know all of this, but I though I should just reiterate for others and to sort of put it all together.

 

[Zedar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12376416#post12376416 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kolognekoral


Note that there are some nutrients. A no nutrient level is just as bad, if not worse.

This is the balancing act I haven't quite mastered. Earlier in this thread I posted pics of my tank. I had washed out corals. I started dosing the following

120 gallon water volume
zeovit AA's @ 4 drops a day.
seachem iodide @ 5ml a day. (they recommend 5ml per 50 gallons every other day.)
brightwell's Iron @ 5ml a day. (they recommend 5ml per 50 gallons every other day.)

I also feed the fish more and feed the corals a few times a week at night with zooplanton from brightwells.

well now i have a brown slime algae growing on the overflow. I removed it and it was back in less then a week.

Looks like I need to lower something. The AA's? the Iron? everything?

I tried increasing the carbon source but thats just making the water cloudy.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12376416#post12376416 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kolognekoral

Once a tank is stabile for a few weeks, I maintain minimal dosing of various supplements, plus 5-10% weekly water changes with a balanced salt. Currently, I consider only 2 salts balanced enough; Reefers Best (Korallen Zucht) and Coralife. Both are very close to NSW. These salts minimize the necessity to dose potassium.

I'm using seachem. Other then boron, I thought they were close to NSW?

 

[Husky_1]

Zedar, looks like you found a good balance. Going from suggestions from other forums, I would suggest people wait to start the AA, iodide and FE dosing until they have reached a stable ULNS system.

Could brown slime be from too much Vinegar, based on Glassboxs' finding?

 

[Zedar]

What finding?

 

[sailfintang]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12376763#post12376763 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Husky_1
Could brown slime be from too much Vinegar, based on Glassboxs' finding?

I had jsut said F*** it the last few days and started pumping in 20-30 ml of the v/s/v because there is not much else to die just 2 fish left and a few remaing corals that may or may not be able to come back anyhow.

I have noticed a brown stringy slime growing in my tank as well I thought it was the lgae dying but I am not sure its lookes like brown streamers through the tank. Is this the same thing you got Zedar? I am just wondering cause i have scrubbed it off and sucked it out but it keeps returning. I though it was just po4 leech but now I am not so sure?

 

[Kolognekoral]

Zedar,

other than the boron level, which is unnatural, this salt contain a higher calcium and magnesium level, while the potassium is low. If one learns to deal with this, then fine, but i prefer to use a salt that stays closer to my desired parameters, which this salt doesn't. Also, the ammonia in test was a bit high, although one can regard this as a type of dosing!

I do not supplement iron, rather supplement with potassium-iodine-fluor, which seems to cover my needs. My water naturally contains iron, calcium and magnesium and I do not completely demineralize, as I have the luxury of not having PO4 or NO3 in the water. Fingers crossed that this stays so! Long live the Rhein.

Slime algaes, or cyanobacteria, are often supported by aminos and trace elements. Try reducing a bit to see what happens. A trick I learned with Zeo is 1ml Coral Snow to 1 drop Zeobak pro 100l/25gals tank water. For some reason, this seems to eliminate many micro 'algaes'.

 

[glassbox-design]

IME, Vinegar caused slime bacterial growth (white), not brown slime algae. That is likely due to nutrients.


Sailfin,

To be honest I have no idea what's going on in your system. You've made a lot of drastic changes. I know you are upset about your losses, but for the sake of your fish, just take a deep breathe and step back to let things stabilize. No reason to risk those remaining fish and coral.

 

[Zedar]

sail,

No its not stringy. It grows almost like hair algae, only brown and greasy looking.

Kolognekoral,

Thanks for the heads up on the salt.

glassbox-design,

Yeah thats what im thinking. Im going to reduce everything in half.

 

[Husky_1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12376855#post12376855 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zedar
What finding?

A previous reply he mentioned that he was seeing a correlation between "slime" algae and Vinegar, I took this to mean brown/red slime. Since then he has already clarified stating that it was white slime.
Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Canarygirl]

other than the boron level, which is unnatural, this salt contain a higher calcium and magnesium level, while the potassium is low.

KologneKoral, I have a different experience with Seachem Reef Salt. I have been using it for 6+ months.

For me (and others I have read), the K+ in SCRS is 380, the Ca is 400, and it is actually the magnesium that is low in this salt. I forget what the Mg level is but I have Mg crystals in my CaRx so that helps.

The description you give of the higher ca and mg level sounds like a different salt...is it possible that you are confusing the SCRS with another salt such as Coralife or Reef Crystals?

 

[sailfintang]

I will try and post a picture of the algae later tonight so you can see if its similar to yours Zedar.