what is zeovit?

[barnett8]

What is zeovit? Just the general, all over WHAT IS IT?

[broadwave]

this should answer all of your questions......

http://captiveoceans.com/pdfs/ZEOgui...%20English.pdf

[BeanAnimal]

It is a system of tank husandry that relies on dosing several different solutions and following a different methodology to achieve what some feel is a healthy tank with superior growth and water clarity. There are plenty of arguements for and against the system.... most of the time the debates get more than a little heated. You can find some very infomrative forums on the subject if you look around.

[broadwave]

The more I think about it, I should have had a more informative answer than "read this..."

Since I've "tried" the ZeoVit method, I'll give you an overview and some of my observations as well as clearly just my opinion.

just as BeanAnimal had suggested, it is a way of tank husbandry that tries to get your reef environment to 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates while promoting beneficial bacteria to propagate in your tank. By reducing the the amount of nutrients in your tank, the ZEOVit method claims that SPS corals will need less zooanthellae to prtect them and therefore will become less brown and more colorful.

There is a board that is very informative if my explanation needs more clarification http://www.zeovit.com

initially, there is what ZeoVit calls "the Basic 4" which consists of...

ZeoBAK-
a Planktonic bacteria that provide corals with nutrients

ZeoFOOD7-
ZEOfood increases bacterial growth that supplies corals with all necessary elements

ZeoSTART2-
ZEOstart accelerates the cycling process and aids in the reduction of nutrients in your tank

ZeoMedia -
ZEOvit consists of three different sized untreated and all natural Zeoliths that will safely remove nitrate and phosphate from the aquarium

There are also allot of other additives that are part of the ZeoVit method that are recommended but not nessesary.

The PDF link that I added above will go into dosing recommendations etc... of these "Basic 4" and other additives.


ZeoVit "Highly recommends" that you use Their Salt Mix and Their Carbon which are very expensive, and they claim that you will get better results....


That's kind of the basics on this system, now on to my observations and My Opinion ...

I did not see any significant improvements on my water quality as my regular husbandry did not change. What I did see was that I lost ALL of my SPS corals to RTN and my softies / LPS corals did not open as well as they had prior to ZEOvit. Keep in mind I followed their directions to the "T". Also, my tank did not look as good as it did prior to ZEOvit and still looks like %^&# as it will take some time to recover.

AS long as you utilize efficient heavy skimming, change carbon weekly, weekly water changes and maintain your tank as you normally would ( I'm very meticulous about husbandry ) there is no reason you shouldn't see the same results in your reef.

[Flint&Eric]

if you're looking for real info head over to their site. it's for advanced reefers, many try and fail as water params must be stable and at NSW. a drop or raise in alk can can take many corals with it.

it allows you to get extremely low nutrient...much more so than can usually be achieved by normal husbandry, it also allows the manipulation of colors through the dosing of certain solutions.

[hahnmeister]

The thing is, I bet many of those solutions are just common chemicals that we wouldnt consider putting in our tank normally... kind of like how you can use Prestone driveway heat to buffer calcium because it is calcium chloride.

For instance... if you want to increase bacterial plankton in the tank, as well as drop nutrients... you can just dose ethanol/everclear/vodka.

Or, some other 'trace element' mixtures have iron, iodine, potassium, etc.... well... you can just buy pure potassium, potassium iodide/potassium chloride, and gee... like I cant find something with iron in it...

I admire the level of chemistry that the Korallen Zucht Zeovit, Prodobio, and Fauna-Marin Ultralith... but I dont think its so much that what they sell you is anything too exotic, just that they went and figured out the chemistry of how to improve a captive system and they arent required to list the exact chemicals used on the bottle.

For instance... the rocks that Zeovit uses in a reactor... they arent 100% unique... lets just put it that way.

[Serioussnaps]

Originally posted by Flint&Eric
if you're looking for real info head over to their site. it's for advanced reefers, many try and fail as water params must be stable and at NSW. a drop or raise in alk can can take many corals with it.

it allows you to get extremely low nutrient...much more so than can usually be achieved by normal husbandry, it also allows the manipulation of colors through the dosing of certain solutions.

Really? I thought it was training wheels for those that couldn't do it the "right" way!






















I say this very jokingly!

[barnett8]

Originally posted by Flint&Eric
a drop or raise in alk can can take many corals with it.

Can somebody elaborate on this, does this system cause more fluctuations, what if I were to go away for like... a month? (my tanks have been fine fending for themselves for a month.)

Can parts of this system be used induvidually, or do they HAVE to work together (like one won't work without the other)?

And also, is this system worth it if you have the time?

[pora]

zeovit is a concept way of thinking

more like jaubert plenium ,the plenium dont make that big difference but its a great idea how its all come together..

[Flint&Eric]

Originally posted by hahnmeister
The thing is, I bet many of those solutions are just common chemicals that we wouldnt consider putting in our tank normally.

betting and knowing are very different things

[hahnmeister]

Right... so for much of this stuff, its just the fact that they know what chemicals to dose, how often, etc. Really no more complicated than say... dosing/supplimenting calcium, but just other chemicals. Of course, then there are some more biological solutions... cultured bacteria strains that prodobio and the rest seem to be big on. I shouldnt lump these into the same group as the others. I think the basic assumption with many captive reefs is that they tend to have some dominant strains of bacteria which dominate after a while, and in the long run, putting these bacteria back into the tank can help the cycles in the tank alot.

As to how important these bacteria are might be up for debate though. I mean... there are plenty of attractive tanks out there that dont use these systems.

[Flint&Eric]

we have tests for calcium, and levels to compare against NSW. i dont know about you but i have no idea how much organic and iorganic carbon is in our tank

zeovit has found a system that works, and can be shared by many users of the system. individually the components arent that special, but together it's pretty damn incredible if you ask me. also they are far from simple household items. AA, CV, Spur2, etc are not anything close to sugar water as many believe.

jmo.

[ouuduy]

expensive stuff is what it is !

[MetalReef9]

zeovit is the magical galaxy where everything for the aquarium is free!!

[magnoliarichj]

expense is a relative term. 10 bucks a week to manage a 100 gallon tank. not bad in my eyes.

[reefkoi]

I think it's a "system" that has proven itself.
There are a lot of other systems that have proven themselves as well.
Thing is most people want instant results and they try everything and they overdose or don't give a system time to function and then they bad mouth that method and eventually leave the hobby.
I really feel this is why the Germans and a lot of european hobbyists have such nice tanks..................In America we have a different mentality and we need instant results or we move onto something else.
I love it here so don't take it like I'm an American basher (far from it) but this is what I am seeing anyway. I don't see too many German online reef sites complaining about all the stupid stuff I see on here.
C

[GreshamH]

With higher amounts of reefers, comes higher amounts of complaining Chris More reefers = more problems. Stuff is far cheaper here as well, especially livestock. I'd say if Americans had to purchase like the Euros did, they'd be stepping up their game rather quickly.

[GreshamH]

While not Europe, Australia has huge import fees on livestock. $1,200 just for the paperwork on a import MO shipment. In Europe a single peppermint shrimp can fetch $40us.

[Shaneo]

Originally posted by GreshamH
While not Europe, Australia has huge import fees on livestock. $1,200 just for the paperwork on a import MO shipment. In Europe a single peppermint shrimp can fetch $40us.

where did you get that figure on Aussie import fees ?

[seflreefer]

I have a friend who has a 1500+ gallon reef with all the bells and whistles and he tried Zeovit following the first few months that the aquarium was in motion so to speak. While loading the system with as many sps corals that would fit, it seemed as though the corals were glowing in the dark. And what I mean by this is that they were achieving colors brighter than anything that I have ever seen in the U.S. For the next few months everything went according to plan with the system. Then all of a sudden things were changing and the corals began to whither and die. Now whether this was in fact caused by the zeovit, or the fact that the system was new and it was loaded relatively quickly, I am not the one to say. But following a large loss of specimens as well as money, my friend took the zeovit system off line. It has been quite awhile since I have seen the tank, or talked to him about it, but I dont think he is using the zeovit any longer, or has plans to in the future. I believe that he is going to do things the old fashioned way with husbandry and patience. As an earlier reply to this post suggests, we live in an instant gratification society and people sometimes look for the quick fix. But in this hobby, IMHO, I believe that it is those who use tried and true approaches, over the long haul are the ones who will be most successful. Here is his system posted on the zeovit site:http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9159.

[hahnmeister]

The changes that a Zeo type system include are many fold. Some of the parts act just like dosing ethanol (vodka method) in that you are providing a carbon/food source for bacteria which then consume excess nutrients in the water/reactor. These bacterial-plankton act as food. However, it is my belief that ethanol alone is not a sustainable approach. By having the bacteria in the water column all the time, you can have problems with fish. Also, what happens when/if your tank just plain 'runs out' of nutrients? I have dosed ethanol to the point where my chaeto turns white and dies because of no nutrients left in the system... something that often happens with Zeo/Ultralith. Also, unless you are constantly doing sand trading and introducing new liverock, one bacteria strain can dominate, and if its to the point where the other strains die off... well... what happens when you need them? Also, once you are done 'stripping' a system with ethanol, no more bacterial-plankton! So now you need to dose some bacteria, or at least some sort of nutrients besides just carbon to continue feeding the corals... hey... thats what ZeoBac and those other couple additives of the 'basic 4' are, you know?

I can see where taking the system offline could be dangerous though. I think that if you stop dosing, you should remove the reactor as well right away, or you will continue nutrient reduction with the 'rocks', yet you wont be adding any food. So you could end up 'starving' corals all together.

Esp if its a well established tank... many can achieve their own level of 'Zeo' on their own, you know? The bacteria are in balance, able to keep up with the fish load, etc... so nutrient reduction is being done by a well established system anyways (ever notice how after 9-12 months, or as time goes on, unless your fish load is high, your skimmate production starts going down?), and the Zeo is just taking the levels down even further.

[Carnavor180]

yep expensive, and controversial, but no more controversail than a algae turf scrubber.

[JCTewks]

Originally posted by Carnavor180
yep expensive, and controversial, but no more controversail than a algae turf scrubber.

Man, you are on an ATS kick...I see you are back under a new name trying to sell your ATS's again