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Chris' 50G SPS and Zoanthid Dominated Reef.. NEW PICS NOV 15th
I decided that I needed my own tank journal thread so I can post everything to do with my system in one area. Over time I will post pictures and updates on my system and the approach I use to reef keeping. I also will answer any questions about my system or any other question about the hobby in general. First some spec about my tank.
TANK – 50G 36X18X18 SUMP – 20G SKIMMER – BUBBLE MAGUS 150 LIGHTING – AQUATICLIFE 6 BULB T5HO WITH 4X1W LEDS BULB LINE UP: KZ CORAL LIGHT KZ NEW GEN KZ SUPERBLUE KZ FIJI PURPLE KZ SUPERBLUE KZ NEW GEN WATER MOVEMENT – 1X HYDOR K3 AND 1X HYDOR K1 + RETURN PUMP (APRROX 500GPH) WATER PARAMETERS NITRATES – 0 PPM PHOSPHATES – 0PPM CALCIUM 440PPM ALK 8.5DKH MAG (UNKNOWN) PH 8.2 |
Here is link to a write up about tank before the crash 3 months ago. It was done for aquaticlife’s basically talking about my feelings towards their lighting system and a bio on my tank.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...ogId=538589979 |
Here is a link to my thread where I reviewed the KZ T5HO bulbs. The thread has pictures of my tank from before the crash and some info on my old system.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=63770 |
After the tank crash, which was caused by moving the tank to its new location I went through a few rescapes. When the tank crashed I lost every sps coral except one. I lost a few lps and a couple of my large zoanthid colonies receded. In the pictures below you will notice that all expect one of the sps are newer, but most of the other corals are the same. Here are some pictures of the progression. Keep in mind I use a camera phone and do not edit the photos so it does not do my tank or corals justice.
BEFORE THE CRASH http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010016.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010018.jpg A MONTH OR SO AFTER THE CRASH http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010040.jpg CURRENT AQUASCAPE (the rock in the top left with green palys is on hold for a friend and will not be there permanently) http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010082.jpg It was brutal to lose all of my old sps, especially that large monti cap in the center. I grew that from a frag and I lost all of it after the crash. Comments questions are welcome. |
nice tank:)
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Sorry to hear about the crash, it truly does suck to lose SPS colonies let alone ones you've grown from frags. The tank looks great, I like the way its aquascaped and the large rocks covered with zoos. A great mix of corals in there :biggrin:
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Thanks, The zoanthids will completly cover the rocks in a few months. They thinned out a lot after the crash.
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Wonderful looking tank, always nice to see large grown in zoa colonies!
Levi |
I wanted to post a few more pictures of some of the corals and inhabitants in my tank. Again, please keep in mind that I use a camera phone and I do not edit the pictures at all. The colors and tank looks much nicer in person.
I do not have this coral anymore, it didn’t survive the crash http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...12010002-1.jpg Red zoanthid colony, fast growing and spreads over everything it touches. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010006.jpg Red paly and green zoanthid colony http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010010.jpg Pink and green zoanthid colony http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010064.jpg Red paly’s with an isolated green button polyp http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010066.jpg Blue tipped purple stag. It was a rescue a few months back so it colors up more each day http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010084.jpg I tried to take an actinic pic with the camera phone. I don’t think it turned out very well. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010090.jpg A rescued acro which was light brown when I got it a month or so back, it becomes greener each day http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010093.jpg I think this picture turned out decent and it is my favourite part of my new aquascape http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010099.jpg Some more zoanthids http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010095.jpg Full tank shot. Colors are improving by the day, I accidentally let my alk go to high when I was carbon dosing and I made a few corals pale out. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010102.jpg |
Great mixed reef you've got there! Very diverse and colourful. I like that rift it looks cool!
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Thanks, it is not fun trying to rescape with the corals in the tank i must have knocked the corals over a hundred times.
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LOVE the new look to the tank...sometimes out of a disaster you can end up with something really nice....and you did! LOVE the colony below your acro in the "favorite part of the new scape" pic...with the yellow skirts..that looks like a nice paly?
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i think it's a zonthid colony and the centers are really nice which are not really shown in that pic. It almost has the ring look of a hornet zoanthid. It is just starting to spread now so in a month or two it will take over that rock.
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I have never tried this before but I was bored one night and I put the negative function on in the camera phone and tried to snap a few pictures. The pictures are not edited and I think they look really cool.
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010072.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010075.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010076.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010079.jpg |
I just wanted to stir the pot a bit and say that i only use tap water for my reef. Is there anyone else who does use tap water with success or has tried it and it didn't work?
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I just wanted to say that Chris's tank does truly look better in real life(I've seen it). It is truly the cleanest tank I have ever seen and the corals are all incredibally colored.
As for the tap water thing I have always only used tap water in Edmonton and Fort McMurray and never had problems with anything. My corals have always loved it. I vouch for tap water as well. Then again does the ocean use RO/DI water? Just kidding :) |
The ocean doesn't use an RO/DI but then again its trillions of times larger than our little ecosystems. What sort of TDS do you get out of tap water from Fort Mac Chris, I say if you are having success with it keep it as it is.
That being said Calgary's TDS and ravenous appetite for chlorine means I will keep adding the RO/DI to my tank. Levi |
I don't have a tds meter and i have looked all over for the municipalities web-site where they would post info on the water but i can't find it anywheres. I would use ro water if it were free or more convenient but my problem isn't to high of nutrients its to low. I am just curious if anyone else uses tap water or had a bad experiance with it.
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I have been running leduc tap water since last winter sometime, I was aerating and salivating in carbon/phosban in an acuaclear for the first while but that got donated to the gf so now its just straight tap. I would not call it failure but probably from how much time I used to work on the road i have a few problems. Increased water changes lately = slightly increased look.
I keep debating the RO/DI upgrade but its a wee bit behind in the spending list right now. Sps are growing slowly and not brown but not coloured yet but I'm still trying to get them figured out. lps are growing and have OK colour. Just curious since we have similar sized tanks but yours it taller. is that aquatic life fixture much brighter than the nova i got off of you? I think some of my sps are to close but have not ruled out other factors yet. |
I like the aquaticlife fixture but in all hounesty i dont think its much if any at all brigther. It was almost double the price so i was expecting big things but i was let down buy the Par output. The one plus side i find over the nova extreme is that it has 4x1watt LEDS for nightime viewing and it has a built in digital timer. I have the same growth rates in sps with both fixtures. I did find a bit more color when i changed to KZ bulbs over the aqua science bulbs but i still would use aqua science bulbs in the future.
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Although, I think he started using RO/DI sometime this year, but up until then it was all tap water. Not sure why John decided to start using RO since he was having such great success with tap water. |
wow that tank is pretty nice and over time those sps corals really colored up for him.
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Nice looking tank Chris! Now if only my Zoas would grow like yours.
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I find starting them from small colonies and allowing them to touch live rock to spread on helps. It takes a long time to grow 2 polpys into 100, but it doesnt take much time at all to grow 30 into 100. I don't feed them directly but when i feed coral frenzy and rotifers to my sps i am sure they might absorb a little. Thanks for the compliment.
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I can grow SPS quite well, but these dang little polyps frustrate the heck out of me! Kinda like the time I tried to start up a planted freshwater tank...struggled with that for 2 years before I tossed in the towel! :p I have been thinking that I should break the frag plugs down and let the polyps touch the live rock instead of having to grow over the edge of the frag plugs...mostly thinking it will look stupid to see the frag plugs under the Zoas later! LMAO
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I have started a few colonies from frag disk and i just toss some epoxy on the bottom and mount them to a flat rock. I find stability and not moving them helps a lot to increase their growth. I also tried a planted fresh water tank and i was not successful either. I didnt run co2 which i think i a must for a planted tank.
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those negative pics look really cool!
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I was using tap water for about 10 or so months on that tank, and then someone sugguested that RODI would further improve on the water quality. I think its better to use it, my tap water was 142-145. with RO its 000 but your tank looks pretty awesome, even after a crash. So if its working for you, let it be. |
Wow great photos! You've got a Bangandolufsen tank going on there.
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+1....great photos mang! |
Chris' 50G SPS and Zoanthid Dominated Reef ... new pics oct 23rd
whats a Bangandolufsen tank lol?
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Starting to get a hang of this camera!
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2530.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2423.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2431.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2477.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2485.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2487.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2488.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2490.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2499.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2501.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2507.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2521.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2529.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2402.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2407.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2482.jpg |
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wow i just realized that there were no fish in that pic. I actually hate that they hide alot of the time. I have the following fish in there:
yellow tang 4 stripe damsel yellow tail damsel blue devil damsel cinnamon clown x2 blue/green chromis zebra barred goby x3 |
Great looking set-up :) Won't be long before you have to add/change water flow.
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Looking good! Nice n clean.
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Very nice,
How do you keep it as clean as it appears. It is spotless! Front, back and sides! WOW! |
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