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#1
02-05-2011, 03:42 PM
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Azoox Tank Re-Build
I am not sure if we should call this a tank build as its really a tank re-build.
We have been running a 24g Non-Photosynthetic tank for about 2 years now and have learned an absolute tonne! But in this learning we have hit a few stumbling blocks that warrant a tank rebuilt. The old tank is a 24g Current USA Solana with the following equipment: Sapphire skimmer Sapphire reactor for carbon and phosban MP10's for flow Ozone generator Reef Brite 24" 50/50 Reef Brite Mini Mag Moonlight And a dosing pumps for feeding. Here is a pic: As for lighting, this tank is an NPS tank so it does not require any lighting for the corals to grow but you do want some light so that you can see the corals of course. We tried quite a huge variety of LED lights for this tank and in the end our favourite light was the Reef Brite LED strip so after going through several other lights we settled on a single 24" 50/50 strip and a moonlight. Before I get into the rebuild I will touch on why we are rebuilding the tank. With the existing system and the level of dedication we were able to give to the tank there were some great points but also some limitation to the old setup. First off was the skimmer. While the Sapphire skimmer work really well, we found that the foam impeller + the heavy bio load on the system meant that the foam impeller kept getting clogged. When the foam was clogged skimmer production decrease but every time you cleaned it fully you also lost some foam and so the foam need replacing periodcally. Ultimately what this meant was that for a tank that requires constant feeding, this skimmer probably was not the best skimmer. A needlewheel style skimmer that was HOB would have been better but as you can see in the pic if we had put a HOB skimmer on this tank we would not have been able to adjust the heat in the house  If we were to do it all over again I would use a skimmer rated to a MUCH larger tank. Water changes. As the sump for my main display has been in the basement for so long, I am very spoiled. While it is good to do weekly water changes on every tank, it is very important to do weekly water changes on an NPS tank. Azoox tanks require constant feeding and excellent water quality, two things that just do not go hand in hand. When Trina or myself missed weekly water changes you could definately see it in the corals. On my main system I have it plumbed so that I just turn a ball valve and the sump empties to a drain in the floor. For the 24g though we had to empty 2 buckets of water from the tank into a bucket then carry the buckets of water up to the next storey to dump it out. All the new water had to be brought up a full floor too from the basement. Kudos to you if you are ok with doing this weekly but both Trina and myself will admit that it did not happen as often as it should. Place to hide equipment. The cardiff is a fantastic looking tank and stand and it matches our display tank so we really liked it. But as the wood that goes around it is one solid piece there is nowhere to hide any equipment. We were thinking of putting a fridge in the stairwell to the left of the tank on a shelf that could onlt be reached from the second floor. In this fridge we would keep the foods chilled so that we could just refill the food container once a week for feeding as opposed to having to refill the food container every couple days. The feeding lines coming from the fridge we had planned to run through the wall and have them come out of the drywall and directly into the tank. Tank Size. Well thats obvious. Bigger is better. Enough said. So to sum it up these were the 3 main reason or rather excuses for a tank rebuild. Water Quality Cleanlyness of the tank setup Size. 
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#3
02-05-2011, 04:13 PM
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Unfortunately for you I am in Ottawa, sorry.
Good quality livestock is absolutely critical for keeping an Azoox tank. A couple pointers is I may. Only buy nps corals that are in excellent health. This varies a bit depending on the species. For example if a gorg arrives in and a tip has a bit of damage just cu it off and it should be ok. But dont buy it if there is no polyp extention. This could be a water quality issue at that store but then you have at ask yourself how well it is being cared for by the store. Damaged gorgs MAY come back, but its a long and tough rode to bring them back to full health. Dendronephthya that are damaged are very difficult to bring back. Its possible, but I highly recomend against it especially for someone just getting into nps corals Try to buy your nps corals when they first arrive into the store. Very few stores and very few distributors had tanks setup specifically for azoox corals. So a coral that has been sitting in the stores tank or a distributor then the stores tank for weeks is probably well on the way to starving to death. Getting them to feed again can be tricky. Most stores do not bring in azoox corals which will actually work in your favor. Find a local store (or an online store that you can trust) that has excellent water quality. Its always easy to tell who they are as their water should always be crystal clear and algae free. Ask them if they can special order the piece in that you are looking for. Be aware though that if you special order a dendronephthya or gorgonia species the store often does not have any control over the color that arrives so if you dont take the piece not only will you loose your deposit but they may never order another one for you. I would definately tie your azoox tank into the 200g you are build there btw! That exactly what this thread is about actually. I am adding my azoox tank onto my main system which is a 144g half cylinder display, total volume 500g with sumps, fuge and cryptic zone. The large system will help maintain excellent water quality and the azoox tank will feed all your corals in the big system.
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#5
02-05-2011, 04:36 PM
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I have actually been working closely with hobbiests in Germany, Canada and in the US to write an azoox feeding guide actually. We just released a final draft actually on Canreef here and a few other forums for last min feed back.
All the dry foods, amino acids, vitamins etc that I feed are from Fauna Marin: Sea Fan Min F Clam Energizer LPS Food Zoa Food Min D Ultra Pac MinS Frozen foods: Shrimp roe rotifers cyclopeeze Mysis I feed quite the arsenal of foods but there is a huge variety of corals in the tank. Do you keep any nps corals don.ald?
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#6
02-05-2011, 04:37 PM
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Success with the 24g.
Obviously with this setup there have been some corals that have done very well and some that have not done as well due to the limitation of the system. Dendrophyllia and Tubastrea; As expected these were very easy to care for. We have several pieces in the tank some at the top and some at the bottom. The pieces at the top definately get fed more often as they are easier to feed. We feed these regularily with the FM LPS food and for any pieces that we have recently purchased we soak the food overnight in the Energizer. We did find that a few of the species that we purchased were a bit more picky than others for feeding. We rescued a Dendrophyllia that was in crazy rough shape it is well on the road to recovery but still to the day sometime it just doesnt want to open. But if you put some of the energizer on the pellets, feed a couple to the tank and next thing you know its open and ready for food! We recently purchased a Tubastraea micranthus (Black Sun Coral) from Fish Tails and it had some damage from shipping but we managed to get it eating in 2 days so I am positive it will fully recover. Balanophyllia; Very interesting piece! I had ready that these pieces tend to only open at night and its partially true. There are three in our tank, 2 in partial light and one in full darkness. The 2 in partial light will only open during feeding time if the light is on. When they do eat you can easily feed each polyp 8-10 pellets. The one is full shade is open 24/7 and rarely if ever gets directly fed via pellets so it must be catching some of the fine particle food in the tank as its been well over a year now and it is a very healthy coral! Archohelia Rediviva This piece is one of the very few corals that naturally is healthy and pure white at the same time. We have 3 of these in the tank as both Trina and I liked this coral so much. 2 pieces are pure white with a hint of purple where the polyps extend and the other piece is a purple base with clear/white polyps. For feeding these primarily eat part of the food mash that we prepare and dose to the tank hourly. Occasionally we feed them some of the pellets as well, but not regularily. The pics above were taken in a coral bed before they were added to the azoox tank so the polyps were not open, sorry. Diodogorgia nodulifera We have had excellent success with this piece, probably better that any of the nps gorgonia sp. I do feel though that at least in part this is due to the condition that the pieces arrived in. As they ony have a short trip here from the caribbean, when we got these pieces they were in amazing health. We have had 2 piece for about a year now and both are doing well. One piece is near the bottom and is in strong laminar flow and is definately the healthier of the 2. The other piece is closer to the top, and directly under the Reef Brite. If the water parameters are not bang on this piece will not open and has developed a light film of algae on the surface several times. This film need to be cleaned up and the water quality improved or it just wont open and feed. We will certainly be addressing this in the new tank. Gorgonia sp. Dont try to rescue piece. If a piece isnt doing well at the store just leave it be. Trust me, while they can be brought back its a long and hard road. I am not sure if any of these will make the tank trasfer as I am pretty sure I will be inclined to get some nicely shapped, healthy, large pieces for the new tank Dendronephthya sp We had excellent success with these species right up until the summer. Then during the summer we were gone for 10 days, then back for a couple weeks then gone for 30 days then back then gone... and expecting our tank sitters to replace the food for the dosing pumps every 2 days was just too much to expect for this long of a period of time. Again this issue is something that will be addressed with the new setup by putting a bar fridge under the tank. Prior to then we had 4 Dendrophyllia that were doing very well and since then 2 of them have come back and are a decent size again. The pieces that have come back were as down to 1-2 inches and now each of them are 5-6 inches. These feed exclusively off of the mash that we prepare and feed via the dosing pumps. So to address these issues and still be lazy and not have to carry water up and down the stairs there was really only one choice, connect the new tank into the main system. Water quality would then be maintained with a MR6 skimmer which is more than up to the task. Already run carbon and phosban on the main system so thats covered. Instead of running ozone on both tank and having to run 2 controllers now I can just run one large unit on my main system. Water parameters are already being controlled via the balling method. And the new stand will allow me to put a bar fridge right under the tank in which I can keep a good supply of food chilled and ready to feed to the tank at all times. This system is ideal as the dosing pumps will supply a high food concentration into the azoox tank, the low flow rate going through the azoox tank will supply a low food concentration to all of the corals in the main system, and the main system will provide a continual supply of prestine water into the azoox tank. Its truely a win win situation.
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#7
02-05-2011, 04:38 PM
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great advice thanks, i had been thinking the same thing that it would be best to have stuff special ordered to cut down on the amount of handling and different waters it has to stay in.
i am moving soon so my 200 and zoa tank have been taken down and sold once home ill be rebuilding the zoa tank into a cube myself but bigger and badder and will be building a decent frag tank off of that.this will take up most of my time in the near future but down the road id like to do a non photsynthetic tank. ive been reading lots on them and watching alot of videos and bigger is def better if i had one ideally id have a fish room with another tank in the back just for water and id have all my equipment and reactors in there plus a large skimmer.also like you mention water changes are a super must and so id also have a change water plumbed in for fast and frequent water changes.
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#8
02-06-2011, 03:04 PM
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interested in your auto feed. how often will you mix the foods etc. how long will the food last in your fridge and autofeed setup?
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#9
02-06-2011, 11:06 PM
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Quote:
I mix my food mash together once a week and keep it in the fridge. The mash should stay good in the fridge for up to 10 days but I make only enough mash just to last 7 days. With the fridge below the tank in the new setup I will only have to prepare the food once a week and put it in the bar fridge so it will be way less work. If you are looking to target feed with a syringe you will want to use the Ultra Pac as it turns the food into a gelatinous state. You will find though that the Pac wont keep it a gel for a full week though, it breaks down a bit faster. Now as for how long the food lasts in the dosing pump setup, thats part of why I am doing the rebuild. The old setup had the dosing pump next to the tank with no fridge so the food is sitting out at room temp. Here the mash of dry foods will stay good for about 2 days but MUST be chaged every 2 days. You can make your food mash though, dilute it with some RO water and freeze it in cubes. Then just pop the cubes in a few times a day. I tried this a fewtimes but IMO the continual feeding from the dosing pump is a better option. If you dont have a dosing pump this would be an excellent choice. As for the frozen foods, I thaw them and feed them the same day obviously.
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#10
02-06-2011, 11:08 PM
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