Thoughts on zeovit
 

Just wondering how far people here go with the zeovit system, and for those who don't do it at all, how they maintain ULN systems.

I like the idea behind zeovit, or, I should say, I like the zeo tanks that I've seen posted online. Then I go on the zeovit forums and read people's daily dosing schedules and I get dizzy. I'm gone for at least a week out of every month, sometimes more, but even if I never left my house the manual dosing schedules true zeoheads adhere to simply do not mesh with my lifestyle or personality.

So, as an open question, how far do you go with it. And if you don't, how do you keep your tank looking as good as all the zeotanks I keep seeing everywhere?

I like the zeo theory & results as well. But the full system with the reactor does not fit in my current tank or with my lifestyle either. I've gotten fairly good results by dosing some of their products & doing 10% weekly water changes. As well providing as absolutely stable as an environment for the inhabitants as possible. I dose vodka & have for 6-7 months & in the last couple of months have started to use zeo's start3 in combination with the vodka on alternating days & slightly different amounts. based on what my tank has started to show. I try to stay as consistent with alternating supplements & dosing what on different days, but know that with out keeping record on paper, I personaly make some mistakes or forget some stuff. Just dose less than the bottle says & pay attention to the results. Look closely. Here is a link for vodka dosing http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

I've had good results with sps without using zeo. A good skimmer and water changes is all you need

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=45755


*edit* and you'll also need a ton of calcium and alk when all the corals start to grow

I gotta ask why when people ask about zeovit. Yes it has proven to work but I've seen just as nice of tanks with simpler systems.

I've been on the system since day one. I'm slowly weaning the tank off of all of the additives and just sticking with the basic Bak/food and reactor as this is what gets it to ULNS. I haven't seen any change in the colouration of the corals yet. Only time will tell. I'm only weaning it off to save money cause those additives are expensive, not cause I'm not happy with it. The basic zeo system is quite simple. I've seen lots of gorgeous tanks not on zeo as well.

No zeo here. I don't like the fact that they don't list what is actually in the bottles. Aggressive skimming, regular water changes and GFO works for me.

I ran the full system for a couple years, now off of it... Never got the results like others. Trying the KISS method (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID). Now just doing good water changes and running a bit of pellets. Still using Coral Vitalizer and Food7 with the odd dose of Coral Snow.

Its nice to hear that it's not necessary to use the entire system. I like the idea of having the zeolites and the basic stuff, but if you read the zeo forums they make it seem like you're just going to starve your tank if you don't also use thousands of other things as well.

Has anyone been able to automate the dosing of the basic components?

I only use a few of the Zeo products daily (Coral Vit, AA concentrate, Xtra). I dose Bak once per week, but I think my bottle is expired :sad:

I couldn't even imagine how much it would cost to automate dosing of several Zeo components unless you could mix them into a solution.

P.S. I try to run ULNS via Bio pellets but I know my PO4 is higher than it should be. So it's not a full ULNS yet. But you should see the crazy polyp extension I get!

Don't know much about it except that it seems pretty costly & as others have posted, complex to the point of sillyness if you go whole hog. Daily dosing to chain you to your system? I'm not interested in a ULN system anyhow. A marketers dream, get you buying something you think you can't do without. Nice steady income for the producer, and what, no info on the ingredients. Again, a marketers dream, since it's not for human consumption, you pretty well have free rein as to what you put in there since there are no repercussions if you lose your livestock other than perhaps a refund or care package.

Tried zeoVit a couple of years ago (a handful of bottles). Only lasted a few weeks before I concluded that the added chore just wasn't for me. I realize that many people don't find it much of a chore at all, but for me it was. Biopellets and water changes for me.

I use it as best as I can remember to do all the dosing, I'm happy with my tank. Maybe I don't need it, maybe I do. I have better colors than I've ever had, but this is a different system and I do a lot more water changes than previous systems. I'll keep using it, just because..

Hmmm, I am running everything but don't know if Zeovit really helps or not. I do waterchange weekly, GFO, ROX carbon, Bio pellets, for zeovit, I dose: Coral Snow + B-balance + K-balance potassium + amino acid. I just want to achieve the colors that John, lobsterboy, has but seems like i just can't. Nice blue acro in his tank, light blue in my tank. Nice Pink pocci in his tank, light pink in my tank.

I hate this hobby.

Tank envy... I'm pretty sure there's an entry in the psychology handbook for that somewhere.

I have to say, that if that's enough for you, it's probably going to be enough for me...

My tank remains ULNS by doing frequest water changes, gfo, and a bit clump of chaeto in my refugium. I am going to be starting a couple of zeo supplements in the coming weeks (coral vitalizer, xtra special) as I am hoping to increase groth rates and get some better colors out of my sps frags. Overall my tank is progressing really well but i'm hoping that these additions will make it even better.

Tried it, missed shaking the rocks a couple of times/not dosing. Did more harm than good

I like the concept but there are better solutions

I have bin thinking about the Zeo as well,

my phosphate is undetectable with hanna, and are gust locking for some more pop, as some of my blue colors arnt as blue as I knew thy where, and pink and green could use a cick as well

locking at all the zeo out there I did a kind of study about 6 months ago, to determine how much I need and what

I used all the reef central tank of the month tanks that used Zeo (I think it where about 18 tanks)

I wrote down how big there system was, what thy dosed and how much,

this gave me a hole data field of how many drops thy used per gallon, how much of all where higher than the average, and how many where lower.

I have to find it, but if you lock at it I remember that it is interesting to se what everyone sticks to, and what thy leave.

overall I got my numbers based on the 18 average tanks (what thy used and how much) and for my system it came down to lots of $$ a year.

I still don't know if I want to invest in a 1 year try (I think you have to run it at least for a few months before you se the real effect)

it would be interesting, as I think you can only read so much, and everyone dose there own amount, but with the average of so many tanks I think it is the perfect lead.

hi kevin. i think you have to run Zeo far longer then a few months to see results?
could take up to a year...what do others think/

There's a separation that needs to be defined between the Zeovit system and the additives.

The system is not for everyone. It's for tank tech junkies. It does very specific things, but you have to be looking for those very specific things. Don't just adopt a system because it sounds like a ticket to a nice tank.

If you're looking for an ULNS, there are more ways to skin a cat. Zeovit is a little more than that. It's about zeroing out all your variables to give you absolute control over the manipulation of elements, and correspondingly, colors expressed by your corals. In essence, Zeovit turns your corals into a painter's pallet.

If you have already achieved ULNS and are only looking to a little more color, then consider just using the additives. They are easy to use/dose, work fast and force no substantial changes or commitments to your schedule. I can think of many instances people are only using products like Coral Snow and Bio-Mate as a control for rising organics/water clarifying.

I ran Zeo for about 5 years on my 370G tank. It gave me everything that Zeo advocates. I received great support from my LFS and when they didn't know the answers I was handed the phone and spoke directly to the wholesaler (Who had been running Zeo in his home system for a very long time).
It is vital that consistancy is maintained through out the process or you can run into problems.
When I get a reef tank set up again I would continue to use some of the addatives, but may not go with the actual system. just becaue I have become lazy and don't think I would keep up with the dosing

J

Im currently using the zeovit system. So far I have really liked it and I have some great colors. So far I think the microorganism solution has given me the best results though. Every time I dose with it, the skimmer starts to pull way more skimmate out and the tanks colors are incredible. I would recommend there system, it seems to work for me.

I'd say at least half of my frags came from zeo tanks. Generally speaking they don't look as nice in my system but are all thriving and growing. I'd love to try the system but I'm a) scared to, b) too lazy and c) don't want to attempt anything i *know* I can't afford to port over to my new tank which is 4 times the volume.

I've used a few of the additives on and off here and there in the past, I thought there was a noticeable difference in some colors... I'll probably give a few of them another go but as mentioned by others, I'm tooooo lazy for the full system.

Hey Mike xtra special is actually considered to be used when trying to get your colors a little darker.

I've been running my Full zeo tank for 8 months now. Hasn't been perfect but it's still a new tank and I realize it takes time to get ULNS. This is my first time keeping sps in this new setup and I've been pleased with the colors. One thing I'll say is I can take a brown frag and get it to it's true color in less than a week sometimes.

Some misconceptions I see:
It's too expensive!- the basic 4 is cheap compared to all the other additive. Stones can last up to two months and cost of those is cheap. Bak isn't dosed every day and in small amounts, bottle might last someone a year. Start3 is twice a day but it's so little I say you could get a year out of a bottle. I don't even dose food7 right now.

As for the other bottles it's just like any other company selling additives, zeovit just happens to be top notch. You don't have to run them, you can feed more and get good results. The Zeovit system isn't everything they sell it really consists of the basic 4 which isn't that costly. I know changing GFO could get expensive. That said I wouldn't to it on a huge system, if you could drop alot of coin trying out all those bottles.

As for alot of time spent. Two times a day around 1 min of work, I think other things take more time.

I recommend to anyone who wants to start a zeovit system to read the guide off the site.

I think I'm gonna go for it, at least at first. If it turns out that I'm not able to keep up with the maintenance on it, I'll switch to biopellets, but we'll see how it goes. Almost ready to order the actual tank!