ReeferMadness99

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Love your tank.. Iam gonna be setting up a 75 rimless and was thinking of the AI now iam sold. Quick question i hear the zeo method is very expensive do u find this to be true?

Here's the thing with Zeovit. I started using Zeo about 5 years ago. In the beginning, there was lots or arguing, controversy, debating about it. 5 years later, its the best thing I did and here's why:

1. Price. The Zeo Method will cost you a little more in the beginning phases. I would say for the first 4 months. Its not crazy expensive, but to start off, you may need like $300. After your system starts to run low nutrient and is stable, the key is stable (probably 4-6 months), then you decrease the amount of product volume you use by a lot.

The other thing about price is, there are certain trade offs that I have found substituted the cost. For example, I used to run 2 reactors for Phosban and Carbon. Some people even run a denitrator. All of those are unnecessary.

2. Low Nutrient. There is arguably no better method for Ultra Low Nutrients than some sort of bacterial filtration system like Fauna Marin, Biopellets, or Zeovit. These methods keep the water in your system virtually nutrient free.

3. Natural Habitat. With Zeovit, you create a much more natural habitat for your reef. One of the biggest puzzles in the Reef hobby is how to simulate the natural reef which is abundant in tons and tons of food, but has continuously pristine water with no dissolved nutrients. That is very difficult to replicate in a closed system. Normal Aquariums, you feed and feed, and then run lots of equipment to reduce the nutrients that build up. Zeovit takes the opposite way. You strip the water clean of everything, and then you feed only what is necessary maintaining the purity of the water.

4. Coloration. I have seen many many really nice systems that use traditional methods, deep sand beds, etc... There are many successful tanks with beautiful coloration to the corals. But the nicest ones I've seen, have been Zeovit. Also, people who use zeovit properly, can attain the beautiful colors more easily as I've seen more successful zeovit tanks in percentage terms.

Before anyone jumps into Zeovit, I highly recommend they research. Read read read. That is the key. You must understand what you are actually doing to the system and the ecology of the aquarium. Then, you will begin to experiment with the different foods & additives to create a nice balance.
 

ReeferMadness99

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beautiful tank.....looks like you'll need to start trimming soon enough.

When your tank gets that full do you find yourself able to get acquisitions? I think what makes it so interesting when starting a tank and the first few months is getting corals, watching them grow, adding here there but I've never had a full grown tank.

Does it get boring at that stage where your main focus is maintenance? Most people finish stocking within a year or two as far as fish and most on here you can see almost full of coral and letting things grow out.

It never gets boring! One reason is because with Zeovit, I can actually play around with the colors of the coral. For example, I started dosing B-Balance, and my staghorn that had brown polyps and bright blue body, turned into neon green polyps and aqua colored body.

Also, you start to get more into fine tuning. You trade off corals that aren't "exquisite" and start to acquire nicer and nicer ones. And then one day, you decide to get a bigger tank and start all over again! Its a hobby, you can continue to make the most of it!
 

Jim

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Peekskill, N.Y.
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Very nice tank. The colors look great. I see that you want to upgrade to a 300DD. I'm a year into my 300 and the colors are starting to come around. Do you plan on doing the Zeovit in the 300? I have done some research on Zeo but was wondering if it would be worth the cost.
 

ReeferMadness99

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Very nice tank. The colors look great. I see that you want to upgrade to a 300DD. I'm a year into my 300 and the colors are starting to come around. Do you plan on doing the Zeovit in the 300? I have done some research on Zeo but was wondering if it would be worth the cost.

Oh yes absolutely, I wouldn't go any other way. It takes a little time to learn the Zeo system, but everyone I've introduced to the system has no regrets. The cost isn't terrible after the initial 4 months.
 

ReeferMadness99

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Any pictures of the rock work before adding corals?

This was the very beginning when I only used 2 AI units to cycle the system. Since then, I added a few more "levels" of cliffs in the front of the tank.

IMG_0056.jpg


IMG_0040.jpg
 

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