Upon recommendation from LFS, I started using the ZEOvit System to export nutrients instead of using Vodka dosing which was not successful for my system. Like Vodka dosing, this method is based on cultivating beneficial bacteria which will consume the nutrients in your system so you can maintain a low nutrient system. Here are the following I am using to start:

The Plan

Base System

• ZEOvit – Replace 1 cup every 6-12 weeks and stir daily
• ZEObak – add 1 drop – Wed & Sun
• ZEOfood7 – add 1 drop – Wed & Sun
• ZEOstart2 – add 0.2 ml/day
• Weekly water changes (2-3 gal) using Tropic Marine Pro Reef Crystals Salt
• Replace Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) every 30 days

NOTE: Dosages are based on 25 gallon total system.

Additional Supplements
The following were chosen based on my tank needs and will be started when nutrients stabilize at target levels:

• K-Balance Strong (0.1 ml/day as needed to maintain K at 380-400 ppm)
• Coral Snow (1 ml 3 x week) — Bind TOS
• Amino Acids Concentrated – add 1 drop Wed & Sun
• ZEOspur2 – add 1 ml – 12-21 days — Enhance colors by releasing zooxanthellate
• Pohl’s Xtra Concentrate (1.0 ml/day) — Improve health and color
• Potassium Iodide Fluoride Concentrated (1 drop/day) — Enhances Blue SPS Color
• B-Balance Concentrate (1.0 ml/day) — Enhances Red SPS Color

NOTE: Dosages are based on 25 gallon total system.

Initially, I am not using the main part of the system, ZEOvit, as I did not know I should until further research was completed into the ZEOvit System. I need to find a reactor which can be stirred daily as the ZEOvit reactor is not available as a hang on reactor which I need for my nano. I will continue the other parts to the system knowing my results may or may not be negatively impacted.

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of ZEOvit in marine environment. It is proposed to bind ammonia which prevents it from cycling through to nitrates. There are arguments it is not affective in binding ammonia in the marine environment. Instead it is argued ZEOvit is only good as another growth medium for bacteria and not needed in marine environment. Many say that it is not true and use antidotal evidence from observations of their coral health when using ZEOvit. I hope to test this by starting without ZEOvit.

Goals

The following are goals to determine success of the ZEOvit System:

• Reduce Nitrate levels near zero
• Reduce Phosphate levels 0.01 ppm or lower without use of GFO
• Improve Coral health and colors

Hypothesis

The Zeolite binds with ammonia thus reducing available ammonia to cycle to nitrates. The Zeolites also form medium for nitrate and phosphate reducing bacterium to grow with additional supplementation of the base system (ZEObak, ZEOstart2, ZEOfood7) which then reduces free form nitrate and phosphate levels in water column. The bacterium then is exported through skimming and coral uptake.

Observations and Information

• 04/17/2009 — Began using the base system minus ZEOvit while looking for hang-on ZEOvit reactor for my nano.
• 04/17/2009 — Not using ZEOspur2 until nutrients at target levels for three reasons: go slow, not stress corals too much with new additives, and identify what is impacting coral and tank health
• 04/17/2009 — Started phasing out Vodka dosing by reversing the process. Reducing amount dosed per day each week by 0.5ml day.
• 04/17/2009 — Will continue using GFO and Reactor until the method takes hold and then slowly phase out GFO and Reactor.
• 04/17/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.09 ppm. Changed GFO.
• 04/23/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.05 ppm. Changed GFO.
• 04/27/2009 — Nitrates 35.2 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 04/27/2009 — Not seeing results I expected right away. Will be patient but not decreasing Vodka anymore until start seeing decrease in Nitrates. The Phosphate reduction is due to GFO use but seeing it last longer.
• 04/27/2009 — Still not using the ZEOvit portion of system but not totally sold on its need and can not find a hang-on-back reactor I want to use. Read about some in development which would be nice to use.
• 04/29/2009 — Phosphates 0.01 ppm.
• 05/02/2009 @ 7:44a — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.06 ppm.
• 05/02/2009 — Stirred GFO as was caked.
• 05/02/2009 @ 3:08p — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.01 ppm.
• 05/03/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.02 ppm.
• 05/04/2009 — Noticed a bacterial bloom on glass. Reduced Vodka dosing from 2.5 ml/day to 2.0 ml/day as my phase out process for this method.
• 05/05/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.05 ppm. Changed GFO.
• 05/06/2009 — Gave up looking for a hang-on ZEOvit reactor or any type of ZEOvit reactor which would work on my nano. Going to use a TLF Media Reactor with a large pump. For daily stir, will open up the flow for a few minutes and then return to low flow. Will have it cycle three hours on and then three hours off.
• 05/08/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.08 ppm. Not sure why spike in phosphates as GFO reactor appears to have good flow. May be the ON Prime Reef Frozen cube been spot feeding my LPS for last couple days.
• 05/08/2009 — The more I have been reading about ZEOvit system and benefits of ZEOvit reactor over at ZEOvit.com, the more I am being sold the argument ammonia does not bind well in marine environment is not entirely true. Once I have my TLF Reactor modified to accommodate my tank setup, I will be testing this part of the system.
• 05/08/2009 — Officially stopped Vodka dosing in transition to ZEOvit system.
• 05/09/2009 — Nitrates 35.2 ppm, Phosphates 0.05 ppm.
• 05/09/2009 — Began using ZEOvit Reactor and ZEOvit medium as explained on 5/06.
• 05/10/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 05/12/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.02 ppm.
• 05/15/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.04 ppm, ELOS Phosphates Test Kit 0.00 ppm.
• 05/15/2009 — Changed RO/DI filters (10 micron, 5 micron, and 0.6 micron along with DI). Membrane only 6 months old.
• 05/15/2009 — Increased ZEOstart2 to 0.3 ml/day.
• 05/21/2009 — Nitrates 35.2 ppm, Phosphates 0.05 ppm.
• 05/21/2009 — Observations: I am seeing great polyp extension from the corals especially the plate corals with their colors coming back and a lot of new growth. The ORA Red Planet has the largest polyp extension, starting to get it’s red color back, with slight green coming back at the base. My tenuous acro which I thought was blue tipped is turning to a great raspberry color with good polyp extension. My Green Birds Nest Coral has dramatically improved its polyp extension and coloring. Its base is turning darker and not looking so wash out. Wish I had a camera lens which could capture the details and the colors I am seeing with my eyes.

  During the daily shaking of the ZEOvit reactor, I am getting nice mulm which is being released and the coral seem to love shown by them extending their polyps more.

  With all of these good indicators, I am struggling to get the nutrients exported. I am purposely not changing the GFO as frequently in anticipation of phasing it out. I need to be more patient.

• 05/21/2009 — Exported some hair algae from the LR.
• 05/24/2009 — Nitrates 44.0 ppm, Phosphates 0.04 ppm (Hanna Meter) and 0.00 ppm (ELOS kit).
• 05/25/2009 — Completed a 50% water change to drop Nitrates. Started using Reef Crystals as suspect Tropic Marine Pro for contributing to phosphates.
• 05/27/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 05/27/2009 — Increased ZEOstart2 to 0.35 ml/day.
• 05/31/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 05/31/2009 — Completed 25% water change and changed carbon.
• 05/31/2009 — Increased ZEOstart2 to 0.40 ml/day.
• 06/07/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.04 ppm.
• 06/07/2009 — Completed 10% water.
• 06/07/2009 — Increased ZEOstart2 to 0.45 ml/day.
• 06/14/2009 — Nitrates 35.2 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 06/14/2009 — Completed 10% water.
• 06/14/2009 — Changed ZEOvit (1/2 L total volume with 10% old included). Will follow 7 day post change protocol (Daily Dosage ZEOstart2, ZEObak, and ZEOfood7)
• 06/14/2009 — Increased ZEOstart2 to 0.50 ml/day (1/2 am and 1/2 pm).
• 06/14/2009 — OBSERVATIONS: Great growth and colors in all corals. Still being patient waiting on nutrients to come inline.
• 06/17/2009 — Nitrates 35.2 ppm, Phosphates 0.02 ppm.
• 06/17/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 06/17/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.02 ppm.
• 06/19/2009 — Completed 20% water daily for last four days to drive down Nitrates.
• 06/19/2009 — Nitrates 17.6 ppm, Phosphates 0.07 ppm (Used Tropic Marine Pro so reason spike in PO4).
• 06/21/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.02 ppm.
• 06/27/2009 — Changed Media in Carbon Reactor.
• 06/27/2009 — Decreased ZEOstart2 to 0.25 ml/day and took GFO Reactor offline.
• 06/28/2009 — Seeing bacteria bloom, therefor, pausing ZEObak and ZEOfood7 dosing for a week.
• 06/28/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.05 ppm.
• 06/28/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 07/02/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.02 ppm.
• 07/02/2009 — OBSERVATIONS: Once I started using the ZEOvit rocks, I started seeing an increased usage of alkalinity and calcium dosing which kept increasing. I am now dosing 60 ml/day for each and started using Drew’s Peristaltic Dosing Pumps to evenly dose six times a day. I am seeing significant coral growth and assume reason I am seeing increased usage of alkalinity and calcium dosing.

  I finally took my GFO reactor offline this last week and don’t think it was doing much as I had not changed media in awhile and I had to chip it out as it was caked.

  Phosphates have dropped to a good level and nitrates are not increasing past 26.4 ppm. I am stumped to why nitrates are staying at that level and not increasing or decreasing. I will again attempt using water changes to decrease and will confirm if leaching from some other source if raises again to 26.4 ppm shortly after decreasing numbers from water changes.

• 07/05/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 07/05/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 07/09/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 07/09/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 07/13/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 07/17/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 07/18/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 07/19/2009 — Changed GAC in Media Reactor.
• 07/27/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.05 ppm.
• 07/29/2009 — Installed Euro Reef Nano Skimmer.
• 08/02/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.07 ppm.
• 08/02/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 08/09/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm.
• 08/09/2009 — Completed 20% water change.
• 08/16/2009 — Nitrates 26.4 ppm, Phosphates 0.01 ppm.
• 08/16/2009 — Completed 20% water change. NOTE: Stopped recording weekly water changes at this point.
• 08/16/2009 — OBSERVATIONS: Coral colors and growth are good for SPS. The LPS corals are struggling a bit and blame on my husbandry practices trying to drive nitrates down by limiting food. Hair algae out of control and now seeing red slime algae. Both were not issues prior to starting system.

  Can not wait for the nutrients to start going down and not sure if the low phosphates is due to the algae growth consuming it. Everything else checks out ok: skimming, parameters, RODI, feeding habits, and light schedule. Starting to be more difficult being patient waiting for nutrients to be undetectable with reliable tests as I past three months using this system.

• 11/14/2009 — Nitrates 17.6 ppm, Phosphates 0.04 ppm.
• 11/15/2009 — OBSERVATIONS: It has been awhile since I updated this post as not much has changed as the way of ZEOvit besides a major bacteria bloom which continues and caused me to stop the system for a couple weeks and recently restarting this week. So far, the ZEOvit system is helping maintain my nutrients at same level without having them increase so I know it is working.

  Based on my observations and comparing to tanks not using ZEOvit system, I have not been sold entirely this carbon dosing system is better than any others and question if ULNS is really that important or beneficial to corals but instead LNS as described here. I have sustained STN and RTN in my tank and question if it is my husbandry or the ZEOvit system. There has been a new product brought to market which I am going to try, NP Biopellets. I have been reading on a major online forum about the NP Biopellets as an alternate to carbon based dosing and will be try supplementing this in place of ZEOvit, ZEOstart, and ZEOfood7 to drive down nutrients to undetectable levels without the bacterial bloom side affects and STN/RTN events as I have experienced during the time I have been using the ZEOvit system.

  As indicated previously, I have not happy how things have been going with my coral health due to the increased nutrient load going on for months, the sudden RTN/STN events, and then the bacterial bloom caused by the carbon based dosing from the ZEOvit system, I contemplated, did some serious homework, and made some major changes to my tank. I removed 10 lbs of rock bringing it down to 15 lbs to improve circulation in the tank and then also removed the sand bed going bare-bottom to remove a potential source of Nitrates. Time will tell if these changes have any impact driving the nutrients down to undetectable levels and improving my coral’s health with ability to increase feeding without worrying about nutrient management as my system will handle what I add to it.

  It has been a long road without an end in sight.

• 11/23/2009 — Nitrates 17.6 ppm, Phosphates 0.09 ppm. Disappointed with ZEOvit System not driving down nutrients on its own as nitrates and phosphates are near same level as they were when started system back in April and still have not reached any of the goals, added refugium and chaetomorpha as another means to export nutrients in addition to the major changes I made going bare-bottom and removing live rock. The ZEOvit System has not lived up to expectations I have had for it and from what I have read on other forums, I am curious what the success rate is for the ZEOvit System driving down nutrients.
• 11/23/2009 — Added N/P Reducing Pellet Reactor and began phasing out ZEOvit Reactor.
• 12/05/2009 — Nitrates 17.6 ppm, Phosphates 0.06 ppm.
• 12/12/2009 — Nitrates 17.6 ppm, Phosphates 0.04 ppm.
• 12/20/2009 — Nitrates 17.6 ppm, Phosphates did not measure.
• 12/27/2009 — Skimmer mesh wheel broke and skimmer stopped being used while waiting on new mesh wheel to be delivered.
• 12/30/2009 — Nitrates 17.6 ppm, Phosphates 0.03 ppm.
• 01/03/2010 — Removed ZEOvit Reactor and stopped dosing basics to determine impact N/P Reducing Pellet reactor having on tank chemistry versus observations had when using ZEOvit system.

Using Lamotte Nitrate test kit and Low Level Phosphate Hanna Photometer (accuracy ±0.04 mg/L, ±4% of reading) unless otherwise noted.

Conclusions

Though I never reached my goals, I was some what satisfied with the results of basic system and have seen many other larger systems achieve their goals to limit nutrients to near undetectable levels. I did not achieve my goals in my nano tank. Based on this, I decided to try another carbon based system which is new to the hobby, N/P Reducing Pellets, and may try other new promising technologies as they become available to the hobby. Once the patent for the Algae Turf Scrubbers expires this year, I am sure we will see some companies come to market with systems based on this proven technology used in large scale sewage treatment systems. Time will tell when I will be happy with a nutrient export system which is perfect for my system to achieve the desired low nutrient levels.

DISCLAIMER: Your results may very as each system is very different from another. For my tank parameters and environment, this was my observations and conclusion. This was not a controlled experiment so there is a potential for a very large margin of error. I would like to see some good scientific experiments on the subject.

References

Alexander, G. “General information / explanation to the ZeoVit system.” ZEOvit. 06 August 2007. http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10354. Accessed 07 May 2009.

“General Guide for the ZEOvit System.” korallen-zucht.de. Version 1.03. http://www.korallen-zucht.de/files/zeoguide_english_1_03.pdf. Accessed 18 April 2009.

Hessen, Dag O., Thomas R. Anderson. “Excess carbon in aquatic organisms and ecosystems: Physiological, ecological, and evolutionary implications.” Limnol. Oceanogr., 53(4), 2008, 1685–1696. American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc. http://www.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_53/issue_4/1685.pdf. Accessed 10 May 2009.

Holmes-Farley, Randy. “Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium.” Reefkeeping Magazine. September 2006. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php. Accessed 12 May 2009.

Kallmeyer, Jens. “Zeolite Filters. A Discussion of What Zeolites Are and How They Function.” Wet Web Media. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/…/Zeolite_Filters.htm. Accessed 07 May 2009.

“ULNS Is Not Really L and Far From UL.” Grumpy Old Reefer. 28 October 2009. http://grumpyreefer.net/…./. Accessed 15 November 2009.

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