Reef Discussion

MichaelBinns

Member
Jan 20, 2013
438
159
Melbourne
so what did you end up dosing in the end ant? ive been thinking about dosing something lately and was looking into the zeo lps amino acids, interested to know why you are so against it when @MTG said it doesnt cause crashes?
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
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Gold Coast
so what did you end up dosing in the end ant? ive been thinking about dosing something lately and was looking into the zeo lps amino acids, interested to know why you are so against it when @MTG said it doesnt cause crashes?
Not many supps will cause a crash on its own it's usually other factors, as long as it's dosed accordingly and to a schedule (essentially what makes zeo and neo zeo methods so successful)
In reality if your tank doesn't need it don't add it. If your want to experiment start slow and with very small dosages.

The zeo aa has a hint of vinegar so in turn it will also be a carbon based food source meaning you will have to adjust your carbon dosing accordingly to not be overdosing (that is if you are currently dosing some form of carbon based food source like Brightwell fuel or zeo start or food)
 

MichaelBinns

Member
Jan 20, 2013
438
159
Melbourne
Not many supps will cause a crash on its own it's usually other factors, as long as it's dosed accordingly and to a schedule (essentially what makes zeo and neo zeo methods so successful)
In reality if your tank doesn't need it don't add it. If your want to experiment start slow and with very small dosages.

The zeo aa has a hint of vinegar so in turn it will also be a carbon based food source meaning you will have to adjust your carbon dosing accordingly to not be overdosing (that is if you are currently dosing some form of carbon based food source like Brightwell fuel or zeo start or food)
i currently dose absoloutly nothing, just regular water changes, and carbon in a bag... but want to see what results i can get with a products, not to hijack ants thread can you imbox me some suggestions please?
 

hoangii

Member
Feb 2, 2013
158
64
Footscray
Interesting thread all.

I'm kinda new here and also to the hobby so still learning.

I have been using the brightwell macrovore for nearly 2 months now and I have felt that it has helped my lps alot. At the moment I have 6 hammers, an elegant coral and a few rocks of the zoas and have seen that the polyp extensions especially on the lps has been tremendous.

Before that I was dosing red sea reef energy A & B and extensions were good but the brightwell macrovore were better.

I bought the product at lifestyle aquarium in deer park and I was given a little sample to test out before committing to buy and was overly happy with it. It's easy to dose and doesn't take long too. This is the only product that I use to dose my tank btw. I'm just only doing my regular water changes.

Happy reeling :)
20130519_095320.jpg
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
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Gold Coast
i currently dose absoloutly nothing, just regular water changes, and carbon in a bag... but want to see what results i can get with a products, not to hijack ants thread can you imbox me some suggestions please?
For lps you don't really need to dose anything just the core elements and keep the water quality decent the only zeo product that I found gave any results with lps was lps amino and coral vitiliser, the results were minimal tho zeo and neo zeo (Brightwells version) are more suitable for sps tanks, the best thing you can do is get a regular feeding and maintenance schedule to improve colouration (of lps)
 

aussieant32

Team Leader
Feb 19, 2012
3,337
914
Sutherland, Australia
@MichaelBinns I am not against the zeo aa, I am already dosing and comfortable with 100% reef safe aa, so I don't want to change. As for the other zeo items my main concern is that everyone seems to have a different story on zeo, one person stops using one product their tank is covered in algea, even when they tried another product that is apparently the same thing, the algea would not go away until the zeo was used again. Some people stop using it and have no problem, the way this tank has gone I will have a problem.

I just wanted to see what could be used for some decent results apart from zeo, unfortunatley like most threads about suppliments it gets dominated by zeovit advocates and users. I am sure zeovit is great, it is just not the product I want to go with.
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
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Gold Coast
all a part of the joys of reefing. the bright well products are virtually the same stuff just a different brand on the bottle (i was told this from users that worked at bright well)

the biggest problem with dosing anything is regime. it needs to be done accurately and consistently as soon as the tank adapts to a certain maintenance and dosing schedule you cant just stop the schedule without issues,

if you have cyano issues try zeo coral snow (its not a coral food its an anti acidic)

i think one of the main problems people have is that alot of brands have the same names for things EG coral snow, Amino Acids, but they are actually different products with very vastly different ingredients, there are a few brands of coral snow that are coral food supplements so often people assume that zeo coral snow is also a food what it is not (zeo coral snows often used for combating cyano bacteria)

essentially neo zeo and zeo just gets you into the habit of a regular dosing schedule what in turn gives you better stability. its not untill you start playing with some of the products that strip zoox that the subject gets touchy,

id base brightwell and zeo into 4 main areas
-core elements (calc alk mg potas etc) <----- this is just the basics
- not so common elements (macro elements) <---- shouldnt be any issues
-coral foods (zeo food coral vit etc) <---- no real issues aslong as you can skim it out
- carbon dosing (used to get to a ULNS removal of po4 and no3) <--- can also be dangerous
-elements used to strip zoox and extreme coloration (often the pastel effect you see on sps off the top of my head its called SPUR?) <-- this is the dangerous one
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
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so basicall the first 3 are the ones to look at ways of supplimenting in general?
the first 3 are the ones you are thinking of using what shoudnt pose any issues, have a read of all the documention out there to get your head around it all.
 

aussieant32

Team Leader
Feb 19, 2012
3,337
914
Sutherland, Australia
so, you are saying the top 3, well 2nd and third I guess cause my changes keep the first in line, can be added and if for any reason I need to stop dosing for a week or 2 etc I wont come home to a tank thats covered in algeas etc?
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
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Gold Coast
so, you are saying the top 3, well 2nd and third I guess cause my changes keep the first in line, can be added and if for any reason I need to stop dosing for a week or 2 etc I wont come home to a tank thats covered in algeas etc?
Correct, most of those you don't even have to dose daily you can do weekly dosing, some products do have a dual purpose tho so you need to research them all, Eg lps amino is also light carbon dosing (vinegar) meaning if you erratically dose you could cause a algae bloom,
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
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Gold Coast
Is carbon dosing the same as running carbon? Like can you stop running carbon with any drama?
Carbon dosing isn't related to actual carbon, carbon removes metals and other elements from the water (also increases water clarity and removes water stain) carbon dosing is essentially just feeding bacteria what feeds on nitrate phosphate etc (boosting the natural way of the reef) carbon dosing shouldn't really just be stopped but you can work it down to nothing then stop dosing, (another method to carbon dosing is using bio pellets)
 

aussieant32

Team Leader
Feb 19, 2012
3,337
914
Sutherland, Australia
ok, I ask as I was running carbon in a reactor then stopped, tank has gone cloudy as f%%k and sand started going brown, have started running it again, maybe a coincidence
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
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Gold Coast
ok, I ask as I was running carbon in a reactor then stopped, tank has gone cloudy as f%%k and sand started going brown, have started running it again, maybe a coincidence
Very interesting!! What carbon did you use? I've never had issues and I use heaps and iregliary