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#2
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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#3
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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#4
02-06-2011, 03:04 PM
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Quote:
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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#5
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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#6
02-09-2011, 07:25 PM
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any updates on the azoo guide release date?
thanks Quote:
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#7
02-09-2011, 11:59 PM
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There are still a few details that we are sorting out. The manual is done so to speak but we are adding a few more details and food recepies from other hobbiests in the USA that have had amazing success with keeping nps tanks.
Have you seen Mikes tank in the Jan issue of advanced aquarist magazine? http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/1/aquarium His tank is definately what anyone keeping nps corals should aspire have!
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#8
02-11-2011, 02:36 AM
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Now its time for the drain.
Again as I needed the plumbing to be as tight to the tank as possible I needed a specialty 90. As you can see in the pic above this is not a standard 90. This 90 has one side that is a female slip fitting and one side that is a male slip fitting. The advantage of this is that the fitting can be just a bit tighter to the tank. As you can see in the picture, the drain line is sticking out just under 4" off the back of the tank but I would like it to be closer so its time for some mods. A few seconds and a cop saw sure made quick work of that one. A word of warning though, you have to go crazy slow if you are going to try this as the plumbing piece wont touch the guide plate (on my saw anyways). And now the pumbing for the drain and for the return line both stick off the back of the tank about 3.25" I could have actually made the 3/4" line go tighter against the tank but I knew the limiting factor would the the 1.5" line and had done some quick math to estimate that the closes I could get this line to the tank was 3.25" so its nice to see that they both worked out to the same length although I suppose I should really have done the 1.5" line first 
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#9
02-11-2011, 04:08 AM
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I didnt snap any pics of the process here as it was just some basic plumbing, but here is a pic of the back of the tank with the plumbing complete
Not entirely sure who had the brilliant idea to put the 3/4" bulkhead right above the 1.5" bulkhead and so close but a 45 degree elbow took care of it quite nicely. I did install a double union ball valve on the 3/4" like so that we could controll the flow to the tank from inside the stand. I didnt get a pic of this either, but I am sure it will follow in some later pics. And as we were using a double union ball valve, we needed to come in closer to the stand which is wy I put in a dog leg right after the 45 degree elbow in the pic. Now its time for the fun mods! One of the main reasons for the tank upgrade was so that we could add a fridge to this setup. Previously when we made the food mash it would only stay good for 2 days at room temp and then it would have to be changed. We have been changing the food every 2 days for what feels like an eternity and both Trina and myself have had enough! Long ago I had planned to install the frigde in the upper part of my stair well and run the likes down to the tank. This would mean tat you either saw the lines on the wall (not what I want) or I would have to take the drywall off and feed the lines through the wall to the tank (again more work than I care to do). So when we chose this tank we got a nice stand from perfecto that would easily house a fridge. Now for the complication... Before we could fill the tank we had to get the fridge installed as the foor on the front of the stand was decent enough, but not big enough to put a fridge in from the front. It just so happened that I had a small bar fridge left over from university that would do the job quite nicely. So we put the fridge in from the back of the stand, elevated the fridge so the door would open and pushed it against the wall. I didnt get a pic of this, but no matter how you positioned the fridge in the stand, when you open the fridge door it hits the door frame for the stand. It does open, but not enough to get easy access into the fridge. So if it is not going to be easy to get into the fridge, chances are it just wont happen as often as it should. So Shaun stopped by and we did some brain storming and came up with a great idea! And here it is: This is a pic of of the top hinge for the fridge door We decided to remove it. And instead of leaving it on the top right side, we relocated it to the bottom right side of the door So now if you are thinking about it I bet you have realized that there are 2 bottom hinges to the door and no top hinges, and you would be correct. Thats the beauty part! Now the front door sits on the 2 bottom hinges and the magnets hold the door firmly shut and in place. When you want to open the door you just pull the top towards you And lift the door off the hinges to remove it from the fridge entirely. So while you are in there the door is a bit beyond completely wide open.... but as you only have to go into the fridge once a week to change the food mash mixture I am sure it will be fine. Here is a pic of the fridge under the stand. Once we modded the door, there was no need to raise the fridge so that the door would swing open. Next up, time to drill the fridge to to run the lines in for the dosing pumps! Last edited by PFoster; 02-11-2011 at 04:13 AM.
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#10
02-11-2011, 04:41 AM
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For layout, the dosing pump would have to go on top of the fridge. I had originally been thinking of having the dosing pump in the fridge, but I want the extra space and flexability afforded by having the dosing pump outside.
Plus for this type of fridge, its the freezer that actually cools down the rest of the fridge. So if the dosing pump was very high up it might frees the liquids inside of the actual pumps... Time to measure twice and cut once! I got out the square and made my marks on the top of the fridge where the line would be going through for the dosing pumps. This too a few min and bit of sketching things out on paper as I wanted the dosing pump the be dead square about the fridge and I wanted the lines to be able to into the fridge perfectly straight. To make sure the holes were perfectly lines up I punched the holes... yes with a scribe.... but still. First the holes were drilled at 1/8" Then the were drilled out larger And a pic from inside the fridge If you are going to try this yourself I think it is worth mentioning that the holes for the lines that we drilled were just slightly smaller that the diameter of the tube. Not by enough to pinch the line, but by just enough that Trina had to work at it for a while and twist the lines as they went in to get them to fit. A decent interference fit should mean that you have zero air movement between the fridge and the lines. You will always have some temp lost due to the lines coming out of the fridge being cold and transmitting the cold to the outside, but it will be minimal. Here are the lines installed through the top of the fridge. And now finally with the fridge done we can install it under the tank and start to transfer the livestock over and fill the new tank!
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Hybrid Mode
