Any zeo heads here
- Thread starter rockman
- Start date
i am an ex-zeo head...
not zeovit but ultralith...pretty much the same deal.
it is too fussy to my liking, it's really hard to keep it in the "sweet spot"
My biggest challenge was keeping the dkH between 6-8. You dial everything in good and colors look good, growth explodes and your alk starts going down of course. Than I would up the Ca Alk dosage to compensate and as soon as I barely went over 8, everything looked like crap and stuff would RTN. I would finally correct it and get everything dialed in again just to start the viscious cycle all over again.
This viscious cycle continued for about 8 months and i finally gave up last weekend when i lost a few of my favorite acros because my alk went over 8. Some people do well with it, there is no denying you can get awesome colors if you are able to keep things dialed in, but i am going to switch to another method that doesnt require me to test my water every day to prevent underdosage of this and overdosage of that...
not zeovit but ultralith...pretty much the same deal.
it is too fussy to my liking, it's really hard to keep it in the "sweet spot"
My biggest challenge was keeping the dkH between 6-8. You dial everything in good and colors look good, growth explodes and your alk starts going down of course. Than I would up the Ca Alk dosage to compensate and as soon as I barely went over 8, everything looked like crap and stuff would RTN. I would finally correct it and get everything dialed in again just to start the viscious cycle all over again.
This viscious cycle continued for about 8 months and i finally gave up last weekend when i lost a few of my favorite acros because my alk went over 8. Some people do well with it, there is no denying you can get awesome colors if you are able to keep things dialed in, but i am going to switch to another method that doesnt require me to test my water every day to prevent underdosage of this and overdosage of that...
the salt mix i use mixes to the right params...it's Calcium and Alk Dosing that is the tricky part...not much room for error...
as your calcium/alk demand goes up, you have to adjust your dosing...but bump it up too high and stuff dies on you...
and that's another thing you have to be careful about, every week they have some new product to push on you it's gotten out of control. "Use our salt, carbon, lights, bacteria, food, amino acids, Potassium, rocks, blah blah blah, and that should help you with your problem until our next product comes out next week"
as your calcium/alk demand goes up, you have to adjust your dosing...but bump it up too high and stuff dies on you...
and that's another thing you have to be careful about, every week they have some new product to push on you it's gotten out of control. "Use our salt, carbon, lights, bacteria, food, amino acids, Potassium, rocks, blah blah blah, and that should help you with your problem until our next product comes out next week"
Last edited:
- Location
- Marine Park
I didn't use zeo because of the abundance of products. Zeo has you strip every last thing out of the water and then add it all back in, one product at a time. Ultralith was more appealing to me since it comes in "Starter packages" that contain everything you need to get going. It only has four products to use but you really only need three. I was happy with it overall and didn't have the problems that Wes did. I stopped using it since I switched to an LPS dominant tank.
mshur uses zeo and has for some time with outstanding results. As Wes mentioned you can't have your alk wonder around but that applies zeo or not. SPS IME do not like wandering alk. Make sure you are spot on if using 2 part, test at least twice a week to make sure you're not over or under or get yourself a GOOD calcium reactor.
mshur uses zeo and has for some time with outstanding results. As Wes mentioned you can't have your alk wonder around but that applies zeo or not. SPS IME do not like wandering alk. Make sure you are spot on if using 2 part, test at least twice a week to make sure you're not over or under or get yourself a GOOD calcium reactor.
Fred Ultralith is becoming just as bad, new products get added to address problems it's not that simple 4 product system anymore. IT appears to be following Zeovit footsteps. "If you are one of the people w/ brown algae problems we now have a new product blah blah blah"
my alk wasn't unstable, but as stuff grows your demand goes up. with a very small window, it's hard to keep it dialed in. It's normally not a life or death situation if your alk happens to increase/decrease by 0.5 dkH. With a zeolith system, it can be.
I loved it when everything was dialed in, but hated it when things were not going well. There is too much trial and error involved in it still with things that cannot be measured, like bacterial populations. Too much bacteria will stunt your growth and your alk shoots up w/ normal dosing and BAM rtn event, too little bac and you get algal blooms...
I got sick of playing chemistry set.
my alk wasn't unstable, but as stuff grows your demand goes up. with a very small window, it's hard to keep it dialed in. It's normally not a life or death situation if your alk happens to increase/decrease by 0.5 dkH. With a zeolith system, it can be.
I loved it when everything was dialed in, but hated it when things were not going well. There is too much trial and error involved in it still with things that cannot be measured, like bacterial populations. Too much bacteria will stunt your growth and your alk shoots up w/ normal dosing and BAM rtn event, too little bac and you get algal blooms...
I got sick of playing chemistry set.
Last edited:
- Location
- Marine Park
Pshht
You do need to closely watch your system but then again any successful sps system is going to have really stable parameters. The only way to do that is to constantly test your water (one of the reasons why I went to an lps system
)
I really liked the system and if I were to go back to sps I would use it again if only for the first year the tank was setup.
You do need to closely watch your system but then again any successful sps system is going to have really stable parameters. The only way to do that is to constantly test your water (one of the reasons why I went to an lps system
)I really liked the system and if I were to go back to sps I would use it again if only for the first year the tank was setup.
Pshht
You do need to closely watch your system but then again any successful sps system is going to have really stable parameters. The only way to do that is to constantly test your water (one of the reasons why I went to an lps system
I really liked the system and if I were to go back to sps I would use it again if only for the first year the tank was setup.
Fred, I like you but you are barking up the wrong tree here, lol. I had to test water every day, you can't sit there and tell me every successful sps keeper does a complete water param check every single day. I was checking alk every day for the last 2 months. Most people have room to wait a while before they have to make adjustments, i.e.
Non-Zeo User
"Wow i have been getting really good growth, my alk is only 8, i should bump it up a tick soon."
Zeo User:
"Wow i have been getting really good growth, crap now i have to fiddle with my dosage again and test every single day for the next month so i don't kill everything."
There is a HUGE difference, with a window that small you are fiddling alot it's alot easier to keep things stable when you don't have to worry about stuff dying if your alk lowers 1 point over time because of increased growth.
Try keeping a tank where everything is growing great and you are right on holding at 7 dkH one night. The next day you get home from work and a tort is RTN'ing and alk is at 8.1? WTF? why did it jump up like that i've been dosing the same amount for months? (keep in mind this was a slow increase over the course of dripping for 24 hours, not a spike) Oh crap, in attempt to lower phosphates, i increased my bacteria dosage a drop "STILL UNDER RECOMMENDED AMOUNT!!!!" and growth came to a screetching halt overnight and nothing used up the 2-part.
I pulled the plug and turned off the 2-part doser...alk stayed rock solid for 4 days, meaning zero growth!
FWIW, the first several months or "Stage 1" as zeo heads call it was pretty easy, it got more picky as time went on.
Last edited:
one thing i will say as advice, sorry im still a bit bitter lol
I would go with Zeovit instead of Ultralith. Zeovit has a forum full of people to help you along the way. Ultralith you get nothing, some guy in germany that did not speak very good english who may or may not answer your email a few weeks later after your corals are dead. IT was all trial and error with Ultralith. My experience may have been more positive if I had people to help me.
I would go with Zeovit instead of Ultralith. Zeovit has a forum full of people to help you along the way. Ultralith you get nothing, some guy in germany that did not speak very good english who may or may not answer your email a few weeks later after your corals are dead. IT was all trial and error with Ultralith. My experience may have been more positive if I had people to help me.
Last edited:
I did like Fred suggests in using it for a startup. It's a great way to get things going. Like Wes, I got sick of playing Alk roulett. It gets costly and time consuming. Four months ago I stopped using the full blown zeo system. I followed advice from other sps keepers here and added a remote DSB, started dosing GFO and Two Part. I now get color and growth I could only dream of with zeo for pennies on the dollar. I still continue to use 3 zeo products: CV, AA and Start2 for carbon dosing.Yes, RB salt makes it easier to keep up your parms if you want to pay 90 bucks a bucket. The system does work. If you insist on using it: read, read and read some more. Ask lots of questions and open up your wallet...
- Location
- Long Island, New York
Any one try any other of there products in a non zeo system ? Experiences with them ? Recomendations.....
- Location
- Great Neck
I've got a full blown Zeo system and I have no problems w/ Alk swings. Ca & Alk is dosed using 2-part on a doser. My daily Alk and Ca is metered every 1/2 hour, 24 hours a day for a total of 48 dosings.
I can't neither comment of the ease or difficulty of the Ultalith method nor can I elaborate on any similarities to Zeovit.
The trick to running a Zeovit system is to start slow. I've got all the additives as well. IMO, the additives alone are woth trying, especially Coral Snow, Coral Vitailizer, Amino Acids, Sponge Power and Pohl's Xtra. Start low, at 1/2 dosages.
Diatom blooms are common on Zeovit systems, and possibly on Ultralith. When this happens, cut dosing additives and increase Chaeto density, Gracilliara or a similar macroalgae in a lit & cycled refugium to soak up the excess nutrients.
FWIW, my Alk is ~9 to 9.5 dKh, tested on an Elos kit. My SPS coloration is great and growth is unprecedented.
It's not very intuitive, but requires research and understanding of what's happening and how to manipulate trends in a reef.
I can't neither comment of the ease or difficulty of the Ultalith method nor can I elaborate on any similarities to Zeovit.
The trick to running a Zeovit system is to start slow. I've got all the additives as well. IMO, the additives alone are woth trying, especially Coral Snow, Coral Vitailizer, Amino Acids, Sponge Power and Pohl's Xtra. Start low, at 1/2 dosages.
Diatom blooms are common on Zeovit systems, and possibly on Ultralith. When this happens, cut dosing additives and increase Chaeto density, Gracilliara or a similar macroalgae in a lit & cycled refugium to soak up the excess nutrients.
FWIW, my Alk is ~9 to 9.5 dKh, tested on an Elos kit. My SPS coloration is great and growth is unprecedented.
It's not very intuitive, but requires research and understanding of what's happening and how to manipulate trends in a reef.
Last edited:
- Location
- Long Island, New York
Ed,
Dont they recomend that your dKh be 7ish ? Im reading a lot about the zeovit system and am debating on trying it out.
Dont they recomend that your dKh be 7ish ? Im reading a lot about the zeovit system and am debating on trying it out.
- Location
- poughquag, ny
how about the cheapest method to obtain same thing and just vodka dose, once all levels are down add amino's. same basic thing and a cheap bottle of vodka will cost you $20
- Location
- Great Neck
7 to 8 dKh is recommended for a Zeovit system. At a higher alkalinity, others have reported polyp contraction (out of water-type of appearance) and in some cases, STN.
My system started at ~8 dHk. My alk had slowly drifted towards the 9 range over the course of the past few months without issues. An anomoly at best, or possibly a wrong alk test results?
My corals are thriving with the exception of an issue with my Purple Monster. It's a low-light acro, but mine doesn't seem to tolerate any low, direct light. I've got mine hidden under a rock overhang, in a shade, quietly doing it's thing for some time now.
My system started at ~8 dHk. My alk had slowly drifted towards the 9 range over the course of the past few months without issues. An anomoly at best, or possibly a wrong alk test results?
My corals are thriving with the exception of an issue with my Purple Monster. It's a low-light acro, but mine doesn't seem to tolerate any low, direct light. I've got mine hidden under a rock overhang, in a shade, quietly doing it's thing for some time now.
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
