Vodka and Zeoback?

[E.intheC]

Does anyone use a combination of vodka and zeoback? I know lots use the vodka/mb7 combination, but I'd rather use the Zeoback.

[Allmost]

Originally Posted by E.intheC

Does anyone use a combination of vodka and zeoback? I know lots use the vodka/mb7 combination, but I'd rather use the Zeoback.

why not Zeobak and zeostart2 ?

zeostart is basically vodka and some other carbon sources (mix of vineger, vodka, sugar ) although hey dont say it, but from the smell you can tell.

from my understanding, Vodka dosing will over time pull towards monoculture meaning one bacteria will take over, which isnt desirable, on the other hand, Zeostart2 having multiple carbon sources, it would promote growth of multiple different cultures and ... .

I tried to work out the cost, and zeostart2 and vodka cost the same, as you use ALOT less of the zeostart2

downside : u cant take a sip of it after u dose your tank :P lol

[E.intheC]

Lol. Cost and availability are the reasons why really. Zeostart 2 is $$ I bet you're right about having to use so much more vodka that the costs get closer, but...

I'd like to try and use only the carbon source (either vodka or zeostart2) and Zeoback though.

[Allmost]

I started dosing zoestart2 and zeobak about 2 months ago, and I can only say good things about it. SPS corals doing much better, no3 and po4 reduced, more life in the fuge and everywhere else int he tank and in general everything is better, (could be due to other reasons too) lol

I now dose sponge power as well, ohh and it seeded my DSB within a month ! my last DSB took 6 months to show any movement :P lol

although I would have to say I'm still new so .... I would wait for advice from more experienced reefers.

[E.intheC]

Thanks for you're input, allmost. Glad to hear it's going well for you!

I've definitely done my research on the methods, and would prefer to go without the zeovit stones/reactor right now. I'm also looking to see if anyone uses the vodka / zeo combination

[Crowed]

Do anyone knows how many drops of ZeoBak is 1ml? maybe 10 drops?? Is there any information about bacteria in the bottle, exact strains, concentration?

[Allmost]

Originally Posted by Crowed

Do anyone knows how many drops of ZeoBak is 1ml? maybe 10 drops?? Is there any information about bacteria in the bottle, exact strains, concentration?

Zeo will not give ANY info out lol, only thing is that they say it should be refrigerated at all times. so must be something live ?

I have tried alot lol, no luck

zeovit is like a religion, u gotta have faith :P hahaha

zeobak, I dose 1 drop per 25G
1ml of zeostart is about 5 drops. which is for each 25G as well.


I personally do not like the zeo rocks, they work, infact, they work too well, but if you decide to go out of it, you will run into Issues as your tanks ability to remove no3 is lowered.

[E.intheC]

Allmost, did you use them before? (The Zeolite rocks that is)

Crowed, go to zeovit.com. It's a forum for those ppl who are interested in zeovit. Lots of knowledge over there

[Allmost]

Nope, I have bought everything and it is just sitting in front of my tank :P lol

the only reason why I havent put the rocks in yet,

but I have 2 DSBs at 6" each ! and my no3 is at max 0.2 ppm, so decided to leave it for now lol cause I know if I add the rocks, the DSB will starve to death.

a friend of mine used them though, for about 1 year and decided to take it out, and had some no3 spikes, but after adjusting the vodka dosing, the no3 went down in about 2 weeks ! still not something Id like to risk right now

if I decide to use it, I will remove my DSB and make my Fuge a second frag tank :P lol

[liz62]

Originally Posted by Crowed

Do anyone knows how many drops of ZeoBak is 1ml? maybe 10 drops?? Is there any information about bacteria in the bottle, exact strains, concentration?

I dose 0.3 ml of Bac which equals 7 drops

[E.intheC]

Originally Posted by Allmost

Nope, I have bought everything and it is just sitting in front of my tank :P lol

the only reason why I havent put the rocks in yet,

but I have 2 DSBs at 6" each ! and my no3 is at max 0.2 ppm, so decided to leave it for now lol cause I know if I add the rocks, the DSB will starve to death.

a friend of mine used them though, for about 1 year and decided to take it out, and had some no3 spikes, but after adjusting the vodka dosing, the no3 went down in about 2 weeks ! still not something Id like to risk right now

if I decide to use it, I will remove my DSB and make my Fuge a second frag tank :P lol

I've heard you pretty much have to remove the DSB and take the fuge off line if you use the Zeovit rocks.

[liz62]

Originally Posted by E.intheC

I've heard you pretty much have to remove the DSB and take the fuge off line if you use the Zeovit rocks.

This is basically true as you will not be able to supply it with the nutrients it needs - nothing would survive ie/cheato -it would starve.
FYI: I now keep my zeovit reactor where my fuge was.

[E.intheC]

liz, thanks for the reply. How do you like your octo cone?

[liz62]

I love it!

[Crowed]

KZ products are a little too expensive for my taste, so i mix carbon on my own. I also dose bacteria 1 or 2xmonth, so i hoped that maybe someone has information about zeobak bacteria strains and density.. it seems that they cannot put so large concentration in t bottle to justify the cost. I mean, for the price of 10ml of zeobak i can buy 250ml or even 500ml of filter bacteria from many companies on the market. Personaly i use Seachem for now, but i start to dose bacteria less than two month ago and i just trying to find some way to equalize it with zeobak and regime of zeovit users. (its easier to learn on other people mistakes: )

[ReefTeacher]

I have used both prodibio and zeobak. The zeobak is so concentrated that you only need drops per day. Over the course of a year, there is NOT a big price difference between the two....but initially zeo has a larger outlay. Since I have used these on very different tanks in very different places I would not really hazzard a comparison. But I think I might start buying a few more zeo products and phase out my prodibio tank to see what happens.

[Crowed]

Originally Posted by Allmost

Zeo will not give ANY info out lol, only thing is that they say it should be refrigerated at all times. so must be something live ?

I have tried alot lol, no luck

zeovit is like a religion, u gotta have faith :P hahaha

zeobak, I dose 1 drop per 25G
1ml of zeostart is about 5 drops. which is for each 25G as well.


I personally do not like the zeo rocks, they work, infact, they work too well, but if you decide to go out of it, you will run into Issues as your tanks ability to remove no3 is lowered.

Thanks.
-It seems that US companies put much more information on products than EU, i dnt know is that because of different laws, bigger competition or something else (at least, ime with traces, etc., which again is not as great as it isnt cheap to send goods across the ocean).

Did your friend move all stones at once? Maybe you can avoid No3 spikes if you move stones slower, third by third or smtg, and slow down the flow, etc??

[Crowed]

Originally Posted by ReefTeacher

I have used both prodibio and zeobak. The zeobak is so concentrated that you only need drops per day. Over the course of a year, there is NOT a big price difference between the two....but initially zeo has a larger outlay. Since I have used these on very different tanks in very different places I would not really hazzard a comparison. But I think I might start buying a few more zeo products and phase out my prodibio tank to see what happens.

I didnt mean to use Prodibio, Fauna Marin, and other 'carbon dosing' comp. I am thinking about 'standard' filter bacteria for marine or even fresh water tanks. Same strain is same strain, no? Nitrosomonas, nitrobacter, etc.. In that case, as far as i can see, there is BIG difference in price, isn it???

[Crowed]

When some non-carbon dosing comp. say on label to use 10ml for each 100L a month or something, that is similiar to 1 drop per day + you get 25-50xbigger bottle than zeobak for the same price..

[philbo32]

Originally Posted by Crowed

I didnt mean to use Prodibio, Fauna Marin, and other 'carbon dosing' comp. I am thinking about 'standard' filter bacteria for marine or even fresh water tanks. Same strain is same strain, no? Nitrosomonas, nitrobacter, etc.. In that case, as far as i can see, there is BIG difference in price, isn it???

Nitrosomonas and nitrobacter are a genus of bacteria, definitely not a strain. Are you talking about a bacterial genus, bacterial species or a strain of a species? There is a small number of bacterial species but a large number of different strains within a species. Concentrations of bacterial cells and the bacterial strains will differ between products.

[Crowed]

Originally Posted by philbo32

Nitrosomonas and nitrobacter are a genus of bacteria, definitely not a strain. Are you talking about a bacterial genus, bacterial species or a strain of a species? There is a small number of bacterial species but a large number of different strains within a species. Concentrations of bacterial cells and the bacterial strains will differ between products.

I dnt know a lot about bacteria, that isnt my branch at all. Im just wonder if there is some way to figure what is in zeobak and then use substitution for it. Is there any easy/inexpensive way to see what bacteria is in zeobak? Can it really be so much difference for us between different strains??

[E.intheC]

crowed, I think it'd be pretty tough to actually figure out what's in the Zeobak. It would take a lot of money and a lab to get those results.

I just like the Zeobak b/c it's much more concentrated. I'd rather dose a few drops of something than a few ml's of MB7, but that's just my personal preference.