Auto-dosing ZEOstart - a question

[instantsquid]

Hi everyone,

I've been using the basic ZEO system for a few months now. I have been using a dosing pump to add ZEOstart twice daily - I had been led to understand that if I diluted it with RO by a factor of 10, this would not be a problem. I'm adding 1.6ml of ZEOstart, so with my "mixture" I have been adding 16ml per day.

However I've noticed that the mixture seems to seperate after mixing - with a white stringy substance appearing over time. I've ended up having to shake the mixture every day prior to dosing - which kind of defeats the object of automatically adding it!

I'm happy to go back to manual dosing if that's what it takes - I'm just curious to know if I got the wrong end of the stick about diluting the ZEOstart.

Thanks in advance,

Ian Jones

[G.Alexander]

Hi Ian, I would always recommend sterile water from the pharmacy to dilute the products if necessary. Looks like a accumulation of bacteria contained in the RO water ?

I also clean the container which holds the zeostart from time to time with cooking water.

G.Alexander

[instantsquid]

Ah, that's a very good point, Alexander.

It does surprise me somewhat - but it makes sense too.

So it's not necessarily a bad idea? I just need to obtain some distilled water and keep the container air-tight, with the occasional good clean-out. Sounds like a plan! Thanks very much.

- Ian

[instantsquid]

What occurred to me later, was that the ZEOstart itself is actually cloudy - I don't think it's meant to be!

Sure enough, I looked at my new bottle and that is clear. So should I bin the cloudy bottle and start afresh?

[Aged Salt]

Hi Ian, ZS2 should never be cloudy..so bin she goes. Always use a separate syringe for each product where necessary to prevent cross- contaimination, being careful not to submerge the dropper/syringe into the system's water. Bob

[instantsquid]

That's pretty much what I thought. Thanks for the speedy confirmation.

Good job I've got a new one ready to go!

[EternalAquarium]

Would a 20:1 ration be too diluted for Start3?

Say example 170ml to 3.4L of pharmacy sterile water?

[sps_muc]

Hi,

The ratio depends on what your dosing pump is able to dose or how fine you can tune it...

I use 2:1 meaning 20ml of clean water and 10 ml of Start3.
Then I (let) dose 2ml in the morning and the evening.
The real output of my dosing pump is 0,8 per 1 ml.
So I get 0,8 x 4 = 3,2ml / 3 = 1,06ml Start3

Kind regards
Georg

[EternalAquarium]

I'd like to use 170ml of ZEOStart3 to 3.4L of water giving me 20:1 ratio. I'm just curious if this is too diluted?

I would dose 2ml (which is actually .1ml) of ZEOStart3 every 2 hours to get 1.2ml total ZEOStart3 over a 24 hour period for a 270G NET water system.

Is this correct? more concerned about the amount I would like to dilute.

Thanks!

[uttran1986]

can someone help !
i accidently mixed zeostart3 with Hot RO water for auto dosing
is going to be a Problem?
thanks in advance

[G.Alexander]

No worry it should not cause a problem.

G.Alexander

[uttran1986]

Thank you
G Alexander

[tommymansur86]

I’m having a problem dosing it as well. I tried to be as sterile as possible when mixing the 20:1 ratio of distilled water:zeostart2. As the solution sat under my tank, a white precipitate formed at the bottom of the dosing container. If I mix it, everything will turn cloudy, but will settle at the bottom again eventually. If anyone can help, it would be much appreciated

[G.Alexander]

Hi Tommy



This should usually not happen, might there be any issue with the plastic bottle you use, is it food grade ?

You can also try to boil the RO water you use to dilute ZeoStart, after it has cooled down again. Also fill up the container you use with boiling water completely to get it sterile before adding the mixture.

G.Alexander

[tommymansur86]

Yeah, it’s a glass mason jar that I converted to a dosing container. I boiled everything before to sterilize all of it. I don’t know what it is. It doesn’t seem to be a bacteria because it’s more of a solid. I threw away that entire mixture and made another and the same thing happened again. Thank you for your reply!