New ZEOVIT Reef

[miareefer]

Hi
Ive been off the radar for a while and thought id let you guys know whats been happening . I moved house a week ago so i had to pull the 140 gallon reef down and we retired a 75 gallon reef and a 75 gallon refugium that ran off the main tank due to the fact i cant be bothered anymore with the constant maintenance involved with maintaining 3 tanks and also the phytoplankton and rotifers. It was all becoming to much and i wasnt enjoying it anymore because the time i should of been spending sitting back and looking at my treasures was spent just maintaining them

So i set off with a very clear objective to have one tank but have the best tank possible. So i removed 90% of my soft corals and about 75% of my LPS corals with the vision to go all out SPS. I traded at least 50 good frags with a LFS and kept what i couldnt bear to lose .
I did away with the sandbed alltogether Yep no sandbed no more ive put my rock on homemade racks to keep it off the bottom and plumbed up my return from the sump to run along the back of the bottom of the tank to push all the rubbish to the front for easy removal.
When i loaded the tank up with my rock i had a big bonus i finally caught the quietest Mantis known to man he was in my main tank for at least 3 years undetected he would love to eat my hermits and shrimps and i pulled out every rock on at least 3 occasions .What a mongrel so happy to get him .
Heres some pics

[miareefer]

Well i had no idea how much rock i had till i put in one tank infact i couldnt put it all in i had to put some in another tank that i had a few frags and fish in that i intended to give away .
Is this to much rock ? it looks kinda cool but i cant see many places for the stags to grow. I like the bloated tank look but will it really work?
Of all the corals in the tank only the LARGE ELEGANCE and the Blue SQUAMOSA are staying the rest will be finding new homes

[miareefer]

For those of you that have noticed ive got the tank viewable from just the front ill never ever have a tank viewable from two sides again that was way to much work to maintain ive cut my glass cleaning down by half allready ;)
So to finalize my upgrade ive decided to invest in the ZEOVIT method as the base for my filtration .
Zeovit works on the principle of a nutrient poor system.... Zeolith rock form the base of the system where water flows through the rock and is colonized by a special bacteria that consumes nitrate and phosphates . you add the bacteria at the start of utilizing the system and it multiplies and keeps parametres in check you change out the media every 10 to 12 weeks and you give it a shake every day to prevent channeling in the rock.
This is a very basic rundown on it part of the system involves running carbon 24_7 and ZEOVIT big bonus is that it strips the water of all nutrients so that corals cannot consume from the water and they begin to rely on there Zooxanthelene to give them there energy so they brighten up because the relationship changes .In a traditional reef setup there is always nutrients present and corals tend to take advantage and take what they need from the water this system prevents that from happening .
I did a lot off research on this and there is a LOT of Zeovit tanks running in Germany some of the best tanks ive ever seen are running this system the colours of there SPS has to be seen to be believed .

[miareefer]

http://www.elegancereef.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=106

Here my fave link on Zeovit system pics ime sure some of you have seen alexander helping out on RC with the zeovit thread on there hes been a big help with sharing the knowledge on his expeirence .He is so modest as well he didnt post a pic of his setup someone else did for him .

[miareefer]

Sorry about all my spelling mistakes guys ive thrown this whole thread up in my lunch break
I also shouldnt of described zeovit method so briefly theres a few more points that i havent mentioned that i should off if anyone wants a point cleared up let me know and ill try and clear it up the best i can currently ime on day 5 of 14 of the break in period and ime not planning on adding SPS for a few months at least .
Mia

[miareefer]

BUMP^BUMP^BUMP^
Anyone willing to give a opinion on my amount of liverock in my new setup its in reference to post#2 where ive outlayed a few pics to current rock bioload ..

Thanks to anyone willing to evaluate my situation ...In reality considering ive been reefing for 5 years i know for a fact that surely ime not overdoing it in regard to bioload i know that my system when i loaded it with fresh natural seawater took 150 gallons on top of all that rock so its got to be close to a 50_50 ratio of rock to water.
Mia

[mr9iron]

I think that it looks pretty darn good. I've had the huge "rock walls" in every tank that I have ever owned. Lotsa live rock equals lotsa filtration. I've never heard of this Zevoit method before. I've been taking a break from the hobby for awhile, but my intrest is back full fledge. Just ask the wife.

[Ninong]

Mia,

Good luck with your new system.

I have seen the various zeovit threads on the German boards before but they seemed more like infomercials to me. The zeovit method requires the daily addition of several different proprietary supplements plus the periodic addition of others. They are adding for virtually everything known to man without regard to your individual water parameters. It is highly unlikely than any of the German hobbyists are using NSW like you are. I just wonder how they can state that it is essential that you dose something like iodine daily if they have no idea what your iodine levels are or the bioload of your tank? Besides daily iodine additions, they require daily iron additions and even daily fluorine additions. They also require the addition of a liquid clarifier initially and the periodic addition of a general purpose trace element supplement. Oh, I almost forgot, daily does of amino acids, too. All of these products are proprietary and sold by the zeovit manufacturer.

In addition to the above, you are expected to monitor and dose for strontium, magnesium, calcium and alkalinity. They have products that will help you accomplish your goals in this area, too.

http://www.korallen-zucht.de/index.php?id=21

Keep us posted on your results. The photographs that I have seen online are truly spectacular but I wonder whether these results can't be achieved without all those additives? Here is an internationally known hobbyist with a very colorful SPS dominated reef tank who never doses iodine: http://www.underseadiscovery.com/home.htm