Good to know. That makes me feel better about it...Both you and Tony have used it in a ZEO tank and apparently not had problems.

Perhaps I will give it a shot tomorrow.

Don't forget the "before" photos :biggrin:

+ 1

Here are some before photos. I will have to take an actual FTS though later.

This is the worst of it. Down in one dark corner of the tank. Nothing but sand down there and actually a decent amount of flow:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA022.jpg

I seem to be getting less in areas under the most light. You can see the coral coloration is getting better and better:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA019.jpg

This spot is pretty bad too and you can see the gorgonian in the background is being covered in cyano. It doesn't extend its polyps much anymore since starting ZEO :(

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA023.jpg

This guy seems to like the camera :)

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA016.jpg

Nice Polyp extension...This coral always was very "bushy" and full of PE but now its really taken off:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA031.jpg

The Long tentacle plate is looking better than ever. Very nice polyp extension and it seems to be eating more than it used to. This was taken after lights out the other night:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA002.jpg

A shot of some of the guys....

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA015.jpg

I see what you mean about the corals looking great, at least there's that.

If you do it, your water will turn yellow for the first half hour or so, it will be so bad you'll immediately question "WHAT HAVE I DONE" - persevere through that, it's normal and it WILL clear up in an hour or so (you should also take out your carbon for a day or so and then put in new carbon afterwards, and probably replace that carbon after a few days). Your skimmer WILL go completely nucking futs, you'll have to turn it off for at least a day and when you start up it will have to be adjusted right down. The stuff does skim out quickly though, you can ramp your skimmer back up to normal after a day.

It does drop O2 levels in your tank, so if your skimmer is in sump my suggestion is just take the collection cup off and let the bubbles stay on. At least that should mitigate it.

In ten times of using the stuff, about 2 or maybe 3 times I used it, my ritteri spawned the next day. Whether that's a response to the chemical, a response to the diminished O2, or complete coincidence, I can't say. Just a FWIW.

I don't think it's great to run it, but I have no hesitation about running a treatment if cyano gets bad. It's just a pain because of all the extra things you have to do to clean it up afterwards but a week afterward you should be looking at pristinely white sand and the cyano ought to remain gone.

slime remover
 

i would not hesitate to use red slime remover in your case..... but the pictures look great untill i saw ur goragania ... mine is all closed up now too ... gonna start red slime treatment today

Thanks for the advice/comments. I think I will give it a shot but for now maybe try the coral snow thing. Couldn't hurt. And if that doesn't work, then I will resort to Red Slimer Remover. The reason being, my skimmer is so sensitive to changes. Its a GREAT skimmer but just so finicky. I think I would prefer to try something from the actual ZEO line for now to fix this mess.

One of the things I am confused about too though is why its mostly growing in the dimmer area? I thought it liked light?

All of the things that are going on in your tank ie: great polyp extension, your plate taking more food, the gorgonian etc. are hallmarks of a Zeo tank and the low nutrient environment that it produces. Looks good! :biggrin: I'm sure that the cyano will disappear as the nutrient sink in the tank is used up... It will be interesting to see how something like the gorgonian, which seemingly did very well in the high nutrent environment, will fare with less nutrients available in the water column.

Yeah I guess really, I am seeing more good than bad. Its certainly been nice to already have nitrates drop to below 5 even though I have been feeding more than I was. My Naso and Yellow tang were getting skinny because I cut back feeding when nitrates started to rise. Now they look good again and nitrates are down. The reason I started ZEO was to be able to feed my overstocked tank lots but still keep nitrates down and corals looking good. I have to say its been a success then based on that. The only downside is the cyano and it is bothering me but should be temporary. Or at least I will make sure its temporary ;)

:lol: Yup, having lots of large fish in a tank almost requires you to do have a system for reducing nitrates. Specially since most fish seems to be soooo hungry all the time :razz: But really, this is the worst it can be really... it can only go up from here over the next few months, and I'm thinking it will blow us away either way... even if it is at the expense of a gorgonian or two.

Yeah I have to admit I am pretty impressed already with how the sps are looking and I can only imagine how nice they will be once I actually start using other products...this is with ONLY the basics. Not even coral snow yet which I hear really makes the corals happy. If things keep up this way too, these small colonies will be quite large in a relatively short time because I have certainly noticed more growth over the past few weeks. At least very nice new tips and new branches.

Again I don't know how much of it is ZEO and how much would have happened anyways but I am confident that ZEO has helped a lot. Even that horn coral I posted earlier is now green again! It was so dull and beige until starting ZEO.

Hopefully the gorgonians make it. The yellow seem to be loving the ZEO but that purple one, not so much. Although I noticed PE again this morning.

So as I mentioned before I am setting up the new tank in February. Most of the equipment will be the same but I will take lots of pics of the build this time. Starting with the stand. My brother and I are building it this weekend. Just a regular overbuilt 2x4 frame, plywood and a laminate finish. Hopefully we can find the super gloss white (or maybe black) laminate we are looking for.

The other option is to tile the stand. I have a few ideas in mind for that but we'll see what the cost would be. I found the 1" sq. tiles I like (they are meant for a kitchen backsplash) but they are $23 a square foot...not too cost friendly.

I guess I will modify the thread title a bit ;)


Here are the tank equipment specs:


Tank: Custom 72"x30"x22"
1/2" side panels
3/4" bottom
Center Overflow drilled for herbie overflow and return line
Eurobraced

Sump: 72" 120G (my current display)

Lighting: Dual 400 watt MH with Lumenbright reflectors
Either 14k or 20k...not sure yet. Bulb suggestions are welcome.

Flow: Tunze Wavebox
2 x Modded Koralia 4's (over 2200 GPH each)
800 GPH return line


I will be still running ZEO but haven't decided if I should get a bigger reactor or not yet.

The tank stand is going to be as sleek and "modern" as possible to match the rest of the condo. Just a very, very basic gloss white "cube" for the tank to sit on. The doors will be panels that slide (like Lastlight's stand :D ) so they are basically not very noticeable when closed hopefully.

No canopy. I am going to hang the lights from the ceiling, about 20" off the water surface which is ideal for the Lumenbright reflectors and should give ideal PAR and not cause heat issues. The thing is, they may not look right because the ceiling is 14' tall...kind of long cables :( Might look into other options.

Other than that...not much. That is all the equipment for now. Once the cost of all this dissipates a bit, I will be switching from annoying two part dosing to the Balling method. Just can't spend $500 on a new dosing pump right away :D

This project HAS to be up and running by the first week in March when our place is being used for a fashion photo shoot. So relatively fast.

I was hoping to move livestock over very slowly but since the display tank now is going to be the sump, I have to do it quickly...probably going to fill the new tank with new sand and some rock I have cycling and half new water. Do the plumbing and whatnot without the sump in place (its VERY simple). Let the new tank sit and do its thing for a week or two and when it is stable and testing the same as the current display, start moving stuff over. Set up the old tank as the sump and hopefully everything lives!

I have lots and lots of people offering to help so I think the actual day I transfer everything over and finish the plumbing will go fine.

Hmmm...that got long! Work is quite boring today :D I usually work from home but had to go into the studio for a few days. Its very weird not being home with my tank!

You know youve got it bad when you suffer separation anxiety going to work for a few hours.:mrgreen:

I'm sure if you buy it a nice SPS coral it will forgive you

Honestly it really has been weird. I haven't seen my tank for about 7 hours. I keep thinking bad things are happening...even though I know its fine.

I bet my fish are ****ed though. They usually eat 4-5 meals a day :D

It would but then I have to deal with an angry PERSON. I promised the girl that I would not be adding more sps until after the tank switch. She is worried that after just starting ZEO and then moving tanks, I may loose some stuff and there is no point in adding more now. I agree. I just wouldn't have much self control if I didn't have her telling me not to do it :D

Having said that, I am on the look out for small frags.

Good to hear that you noticed PE again, maybe it was just a bit too much of a shock to have to work for it's food unstead of absorbing it from the water:smile: Glad to hear it's recovering, and good luck with the new tank... I'll be tagging along :mrgreen:

There really wasn't too much PE from it but at least some. I removed the cyano from it manually. If it doesn't improve in the next few weeks though, I will most likely sell the gorgonian. Its much to beautiful (and healthy) to have it die off in my tank. Its such a nice purple and not all that common I don't think for photosynthetic gorgonians. We'll see how it goes.

I will take some pics of it tomorrow.

Awesome, I've been heavily interested in gorgonians (and sponges for that matter) since I found out that there are colorful (and not) photosynthetic species. Just curious... are there any zoas or other soft corals in the tank?

Yes actually. None look to good except a yellow leather that looks better after starting ZEO.

I have zoo's which look OK but not as colorful as before. I have a purple leather which has lost some size. A few yellow gorgonians that have gone brown (although this was kind of starting before ZEO). I have some mushrooms that are very small and shriveled up.

I think due to the lack of nutrients and in a relatively short time, the softies will take longer to adjust. Its a bit of a payoff but as long as they do not die, I will keep them. If they start to go downhill more, I will sell them.

I also have a nice orange sponge that is NOT liking the ZEO at all. Actually is deteriorating fast. I will have to keep my eye on it.

... well your stony corals look great which gets the hard part out of the way.

The other corals just need to adjust.

I just read this about the cyano and it was me that told you if you use red slime remover you can kiss the purple ribbon gorg goodbye!!

red slime and chemiclean are similiar and when I used it I lost the PRG faster than my car speeds from 0-60, well not really but it was gone the next day melted anyhow if you're going to try this maybe lemme hold onto to the PRG and the other purple gorg until your water is good again or alternatively lemme buy the purple gorg off you. On a side note the other yellow one will survive forsure.

Why didn't you and christie try sugar?

I had good experiences with this and all cyano was gone in 3 days....

does sugar have any adverse effects with zeo?

anyhow lemme know if you are gonna use the bacterial way to rid cyano as I'll make sure the gorgs survive in my tank!!

That's really odd Tang Daddy, I'm sorry that running cyano remover seemed to impact your gorgs like that. On the flip side from your experience is that I have probably easily around 12 gorgonian species (in some cases 2-3 different individuals of the same species) represented including purple ribbon, bippinnate plume and purple plume and none have ever shown an adverse reaction to any cyano treatment I've ever done. In fact they tended to respond positively because cyano will eventually stifle and suffocate them.

Two things to keep in mind with gorgonians, one, they are subject to bacterial and fungal infections just like anything else; two, they do shed quite frequently. I have some that shed more than once per week. Others maybe around 2-4 weeks. This can last anywhere from 1 day to a week, and during this time they can look pretty rough if you don't realize this is what's going on.

Anyhow they definitely don't appreciate cyano on them, shedding can sometimes get it off on its own, but it's better if we can take a turkey baster and blow it off if you notice it starting to stick to them.

Just my $0.02.

Also FWIW when I ran Zeo I didn't notice any negative reaction on the part of my gorgonians. In fact overall, running Zeo should benefit them because the low nutrient environment will afford you more feeding opportunities which makes a HUGE difference with gorgs.

GSP, are you feeding your tank Cyclops or anything like that, for the benefit of the gorgs?

Have you been dosing with the coral snow? When I started dosing with it, the little bit of red slime I had started reseeding.

What is the Koralia 4 mod that you are using?


Nevermind got it. I take you used the sure flow mod . It apparently fits directly in place of the original prop and shaft.

Chris

I have no idea about the sugar thing. I heard it works though...just don't know about with ZEO. I am not using any chemicals yet to deal with the cyano but I do, I will talk to you about the gorgonians.


Thats pretty much what I figured. I am happy about the sps so far and as long as the softies hang in there for now, then I am going to leave things as they are. I haven't started feeding the corals yet and I think once I do that, they will be fine.

Not yet. I was waiting for nutrients to drop a bit since I have such a high bioload as is. I am going to start soon though. That should make a difference.

This is the first thing I am going to try before anything else. I am going to J&L today to get the coral snow. Hopefully this will work.

Just simply using the Sureflow Mod designed for the Maxijets. You have to take the actual prop from the original Koralia apart and use the magnet from the Sureflow Mod kit one along with the white propeller.

Many people seem to of had problems with them spinning the wrong way but mine work fine. Once in a while they will go the wrong way (only at start up) but then its just a matter of unplugging it and plugging it back in. So you couldn't use them on a wavemaker or anything but they rock with the mod. Much better than the maxijets with that mod, IMO.

Yup but you have to change the magnet too :)

Thanks . I found it shortly after I posted .

Took some pictures before lights on this morning.

Its interesting how this coral has almost none of its usual color (its the blueish purple acro in previous posts). I figured it was because of the flash but even when I look at it without a flash, its hard to see any blue or purple...its just kind of a dull brown like this.

I have watched this coral carefully and the long polyps that extend from the tips (not extended in the pic below) are almost always on schedule...they extend right at 12 with lights out and retract by 6am. These were taken at about 10 am and you can see it has all other polyps extended still but not the big ones on the tips. Do these polyps have a name???

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA035.jpg

I rarely get a good picture of my Yellow Tang even though he is so friendly and stays still. So here:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA041.jpg

And the Naso posing infront of some dirty glass :)

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/AAA039.jpg

The new tank being lite with ONLY two 400 watt Metal Halides, and no actinic lighting, people on RC are suggesting 20K (which I was thinking anyways) and using either Radium or XM. Seems more people are saying XM but I think thats just because they are cheaper? I haven't seen Radiums here in town either.

Apparently though, the PFO ballast I am using overdrives bulbs and the Radiums are good because they are good at 430 watts. Which is why people use them with HQI ballasts I guess?

Also people are saying the XM's are certainly bluer. Apparently the Radiums are a more whitish blue while the XM's are a more deep blue.

Anyone have another opinion?

People have been telling me PAR and growth will be fine from either one but for some reason, it worries me. I guess the other upside to 20K is that less algae is likely to grow under them.

Big polyps on acros are called axial polyps.

I need to get back to this thread later in the evening. We have some myths to dispel, :D

^^So why haven't all these myths been dispelled yet???

has to think them up first :)

I am just curious because I went back and read most of the thread and can't really find much that I think may be myth...

I thought maybe some of the cyano stuff recently but couldn't be that since people are simply posting experiences they actually have encountered. Thought maybe my lighting comments but again, it all comes from actual experiences, not just ideas or myths...

C'mon! You have us all wondering! ;)

On another note, I started the Coral Snow today for cyano, so we'll see how that goes.

I am also going to need a 3L reactor according to the ZEOvit.com guys. I PM'd one of the main guys there and he says a 1.5L reactor is just way too undersized for my new Net Water Volume. I mentioned keeping a filter bag of ZEO passively in the sump as well but apparently it won't quite do the same thing. He did say if I can't upgrade it may work but just not nearly as effective.

So I am going to see if I can sell the 1.5L for a decent price and then buy a 3L. If I can't sell it for what I want, then I will try it out and see how it goes.

Right now though, I need to slow down on spending! New tank, stand, pendants, bulbs, ZEO reactor, expensive fish, ect, ect. Its adding up to well over $2000 the past month and a half :(

Disappointed...someone claims to be coming back to "dispel" all these myths and then never shows?

;)


Anyways, started coral snow two days ago and not much cyano left. Just a tiny bit in one spot but it looks to be going away too. This stuff is pretty awesome. Coral polyp extension was pretty crazy while dosing it too :D

You dosing coral snow at the start?

No I never did. So I think coral snow should be used from the beginning to control or prevent cyano.

I am really amazed at how quickly its taken care of the huge outbreak. Literally two doses and its 80% gone. I would say another day or two and no more cyano.


Much better solution in my opinion than red slime remover or especially lights out for a few days.

The guys over on the zeovit forum mentioned using zeozyme rather than coral snow at startup ... i havn't used either :) I used coral snow before i had a full zeo system though, worked nicely.