BeefOrChicken's_Zenith System3 - 25g Mixed Reef

[beefORchicken]

BeefOrChicken's_Zenith System3 - 25g Mixed Reef

We are two brothers who run a 25g mixed reef together. Here's our go at our tank journal.

Info:
start date: Nov 2009
25g sumpless, skimmerless, lidless - sitting inside an old zenith tv
filtration: ac50 (running a single mangrove with led fixture and algae scrubber),
ac70 (running rubble and algae scrubber plus holds in and outputs from fluval 304),
fluval 304 (running rubble, ceramic rings, carbon and GFO)
flow: mp10
lighting: viper 150w mh, 2x 15w t-8 actinics, 2x 6.5w blue LEDs
100w heater
Dosing/ato: 2part, diy using aqua lifters

Stocking:
40lbs LR, 30lbs sand
2 clowns, 1 domino damsel, 1 mandarin
mix of zoas, acros, sun, brain, monti..etc

Here are some pics (though i wish i had a better camera...)
if you want to know more about the set-up just ask
- mike & justin

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0557.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0547.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0594.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0562.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0548.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0601.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0546.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0617.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0596.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0583.jpg

[Beanz]

That's a pretty sweet tank guys. I am interested in what you are doing for dosing for this little tank it says "diy using aqua lifters" but i would love to see what you are doing with them and what you are dosing.

[beefORchicken]

That's a pretty sweet tank guys. I am interested in what you are doing for dosing for this little tank it says "diy using aqua lifters" but i would love to see what you are doing with them and what you are dosing.

Thanks! we currently use b-ionic 2 part, we have 2 milk jugs that have airline tubing that run on two aqualifter pumps on a timer. the dosers go off about 8 times a day for one minute. it does an awesome job keeping our alk and calcium just right and also keeps our water level perfect.
we also manually dose, when needed/desired, magnesium, iodine, and iron

[Aquaria]

Iv seen this tank in person and I can say the pics don't do it justice absolutely stunning job

[gobytron]

I love these old tv tube retrofits...

[fishytime]

That does look really good, guys......I would never wanna change the channel:biggrin:

[STANKYfish]

You two have done a very good job of this tank :biggrin:

[beefORchicken]

Iv seen this tank in person and I can say the pics don't do it justice absolutely stunning job

you're right, i'm hoping to get some nicer pictures soon:biggrin:

thanks everyone!

[beefORchicken]

I have no idea if anyone has made or taken 3d photos of their tank so i thought i'd give it a go. You'll need to have a pair of anaglyph glasses to view it (those red and blue kind)

anyways, enjoy!

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/3d%20photos/IMAG0002_r.jpg

[beefORchicken]

i thought id give a quick update on the tank. we've finally reached optimal params with nitrates and phosphates staying at a steady 0. we're pretty happy since we dont run a skimmer, so this is big for us.
on a different note we bought a few magnifying glasses (loupes) for fun, and of course started using it to take a look at our tank up close. to take it a step further we put the loupes up to the lens' of our phones and point and shoot to snap some macro shots. heres a look at our results with spending $5 to go macro.

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0682.jpg Birdsnest

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0641.jpg Yellow paly

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0638.jpg Clove

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/100_0745.jpg Nassarious

we'd love to get other pics but the loupes have to be really close to their objects to be in focus so no other sps macros for now...

[beefORchicken]

in case anyone is curious in the loupes we use, we got em on ebay. this is probably the cheapest way to get macro shots (all you need is a camera with a small lens since the loupe lens is small, simply place the loupe directly over the camera lens and have the object directly in front of the loupe) Hey you can't go wrong with $5 :wink:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/20X-10X-30X-Triplet-Magnifier-Jeweler-Jewelry-Eye-Loupe-/360291535657?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e30c8b29#ht_912wt_932

[Leah]

Beautiful...so nicely done.

[beefORchicken]

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0328e.jpg
this one is with some coloured plastic as a filter

[beefORchicken]

Here are some more iridescent shots. These were taken by having just blue Leds on and using different coloured plastics over the camera lens to filter out most of the blue.

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/above.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/torch.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/fts.jpg

[beefORchicken]

We thought we would share some new pics of our tank after our recent win of potm. Enjoy! :mrgreen:

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/patrick1.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/lava.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0338.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0254.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0200.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0193.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/acro.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/201203031459_188.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0343.jpg
the last pic we used a diffraction grating lens (looks like those paper 3d lenses) it shows off the colour spectrum, to some degree. Very cool in person.

[beefORchicken]

We just recently found out that our pair of clowns laid eggs inside our torch. I quickly snapped some pics to show the progression of their development. They haven't hatched yet but I predict any night now.
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0346.jpg
Here is daddy at day 1
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0352.jpg
Giving a cleaning - very cool to see them take care of the eggs
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0361.jpg
Daddy with the eggs at day 7 - you can just see their eyes

[subman]

Wow amazing pictures! Good luck with the babies.

[beefORchicken]

Wow amazing pictures! Good luck with the babies.
Thanks! i wish we had better cameras, these were all taken with cell phones. I'm not really sure if the babies will survive. I don't have the space to start up a 10g and live food to raise the young. I'd like to, but maybe later, the pair will probably continuously lay eggs from now on.

[beefORchicken]

So our first batch of clown eggs hatched a few days ago. I didn't think that any would survive but i did see one baby clown 3 days after hatching. So maybe there is a slim possibility that a fish might survive. Our system is skimmerless so maybe there is something in the water that the little guys can feed on.
Just last night the clowns spawned again, so basically 4-5 days after the first batch hatched. Of course this time there are many more eggs. I am really curious to see if we will have something survive eventually (if they keep laying eggs at this rate).

[beefORchicken]

we added a new fish to our tank, a tailspot blenny. He's been a great addition, he currently eats film algae on the glass, and more importantly he eats annoying macro algae including derbesia.
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0475.jpg
Here's a view from space command:
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0448.jpg

[beefORchicken]

We have had no moonlight on this tank for a long time now and with no way to see the tank at night my bro and i decided to diy one. we put together two light fixtures to go on either side of the tank. they are hidden inside the tv chambers, we used one white, one blue, and 5 uv leds per side. they run at around .25w total (all 14 leds). we decided to try out uv leds in the fixture for fun and after seeing what kind of pop they had we needed to balance everything out, so there are 2 knobs to control 2 channels, one channel is the white and blue, the other is the uv channel. this way we can see things pop whenever we want by cranking up one channel while being able to do night viewing by turning up the white blue channel. at night we have the moonlight very very dim.

with many new led fixtures on the market featuring uv we wanted to see for ourselves what they looked like. i'd have to say that uv is INSANE. things that didn't pop under actinic now do, and things that popped like crazy under actinic pretty much look lame in comparison to the kind of pop under uv:eek: one problem is that its really hard to photograph, so you'll have to take my word for it :biggrin:

moonlight fixture
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0471.jpg

2 channel moonlight controller
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0472.jpg

cotton candy chalice under direct uv
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0464.jpg

[beefORchicken]

when you have a sumpless nano, space is limited, really limited. we've been fragging corals here and there and i hate frag racks. so with some space inside my ac70 filter we fit a piece of egg crate and diy-ed an led fixture. the 'frag filter' can hold about 4-5 small frags, which is perfect for the size of the tank. the led fixture has 1 blue and 1 white led running at 2w total. we'll probably be selling frags soon once we see good results! :mrgreen:
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0474.jpghttp://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0469.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0470.jpg

[beefORchicken]

added a chromis


Some pics with a DIY viewing tube (deep-see:mrgreen:)

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0499.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/Untitled.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0535-1.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/IMAG0531-1.jpg

[subman]

Very cool pics!!! Let's see the tube

[beefORchicken]

Very cool pics!!! Let's see the tube

its a 6 inch pvc tube with a magnifying glass glued to the end

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/tube.jpg

[subman]

Very creative and I love the pics very cool effect!

[scherzo]

Great idea! I was looking for something like this!

I'm heading to the dollar store tomorrow..

its a 6 inch pvc tube with a magnifying glass glued to the end

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/tube.jpg

[beefORchicken]

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/dw.jpg

[fishoholic]

its a 6 inch pvc tube with a magnifying glass glued to the end



Very cool idea, I love the pic's it takes. Kinda like looking into a crystal ball.

[beefORchicken]

we haven't posted in a while so i thought we'd update the thread. we added some new fish to the tank which are doing great. also switched the mh bulb to an ebay one and i'd have to say it looks great so far, corals definitely love it!
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0757_zps1ded8253.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0760_zpsb6d21370.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0801_zpsfd4f0fa9.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0794_zps74469ae9.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0786_zps06dc7f1b.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0766_zpsea917c70.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0102_zps91f3d600.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0051_zps16299298.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0777_zps8a6908d4.jpg

[Whiston]

This is such an awesome tank.
Good work on making it successful for such a large period of time.

[beefORchicken]

Here are some recent pics, no edits were done. The top down shots were done using my diy 'deep see' viewing tube. Enjoy

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0055_zps963aca39.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0061_zpsa78abe3a.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0080_zpse70468ef.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0059_zps9485f37b.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0063_zpsa7a6fb9d.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0068_zps3a19dd48.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0069_zpse2a8fb4a.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0070_zpsa78453b3.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0058_zps1cb60b04.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0066_zps80b16d11.jpg

[beefORchicken]

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0053_zps4da182cb.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0039_zps9c423602.jpghttp://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0066_zps5dc82a58.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0070_zps66627c17.jpg

[beefORchicken]

Here's a video i just made, shows the whole thing in action. I'll make some more videos in the future, hopefully a timelapse one day:mrgreen:
Enjoy!!
http://youtu.be/GzaiBX2sXgc

[BlueTang<3]

Great pictures you got some awesome stuff in there

[Reef Pilot]

That's a very nicely done video. Thanks for sharing. And you gave me some ideas, too...

[beefORchicken]

Great pictures you got some awesome stuff in there

thanks!

That's a very nicely done video. Thanks for sharing. And you gave me some ideas, too...

thanks, it's my first crack at making a video i'm already thinking of what i want to do next! and when your ideas formalize, share'em, sharing is caring:lol:

[beefORchicken]

will be replacing the t8 actinics with these:
2x 420nm
2x 6500k
They are 10w each but will be running on 5w drivers. They will add to the existing 2 blue ones.
pics :biggrin: (these are just rigged up to test)
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0077_DxO_zpsdf888983.jpg (http://s880.photobucket.com/user/beefORchicken/media/DSC_0077_DxO_zpsdf888983.jpg.html)
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0060_DxO_zps11cb3387.jpg (http://s880.photobucket.com/user/beefORchicken/media/DSC_0060_DxO_zps11cb3387.jpg.html)
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0094_DxO_zpsa8113364.jpg (http://s880.photobucket.com/user/beefORchicken/media/DSC_0094_DxO_zpsa8113364.jpg.html)
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_0119_DxO_zpsdc5c88da.jpg (http://s880.photobucket.com/user/beefORchicken/media/DSC_0119_DxO_zpsdc5c88da.jpg.html)

[beefORchicken]

these have been running a few weeks now and they really blend well with the halide, reducing shadows.
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/a_00012_DxO_zpsf3aaaed9.jpg (http://s880.photobucket.com/user/beefORchicken/media/a_00012_DxO_zpsf3aaaed9.jpg.html)

white & blues on:
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/beefORchicken/DSC_00022_DxO_zps57edd388.jpg (http://s880.photobucket.com/user/beefORchicken/media/DSC_00022_DxO_zps57edd388.jpg.html)