Chris' 50G SPS and Zoanthid Dominated Reef.. NEW PICS NOV 15th

[delo978]

Originally Posted by chris88

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?

That's all I have ever used for the last 2 years and have never had an issue... I have 3 tanks and one is a 1.2gallon pico so that's the most finicky.

[pscott99]

What a colourfull tank. I love the variety and beauty of it. When and what do you feed. I would like to know what you think makes your zoa's so happy and grow so healthy. Do you see them retract after feeding certain things. Understanding that your parameters, water and lighting are so good are you feeding anything that you feel really makes a difference ? You have amazing growth. Inspiring !!

[chris88]

Originally Posted by pscott99

What a colourfull tank. I love the variety and beauty of it. When and what do you feed. I would like to know what you think makes your zoa's so happy and grow so healthy. Do you see them retract after feeding certain things. Understanding that your parameters, water and lighting are so good are you feeding anything that you feel really makes a difference ? You have amazing growth. Inspiring !!

Hounestly, I have been keeping zoanthids and palys for about 6 years now and i have never in my life seen a zoanthid eat anything. I do notice palys eating when small pellets fall on them and i have feed the large red palys in my tank on occasion. I feed the fish mostly NLS pellets and a green veggie flake. About every second day I will add a very small pinch of coral frenzy into the display tank to feed the sps corals and I guess some of the zoas and palys might absorb some of it. zoanthids in my tank literally grow daily I barely have any rock left uncovered. I think decent water quality and lighting helps but also mounting them in area where they are likely to spread and not touching them helps a lot. I also find mounting them on smooth rock or something that allows them to spread like lava because they bud off of each other.

[chris88]

Thank you to all of the other comments. I have been trying to reduce the number of colonies i have and just let some of them grow into large mature colonies. I saw a tank a while back called "stag forest" and it had 2 or 3 massive acros filling a 100g tank and it looked amazing.

[phi delt reefer]

Originally Posted by chris88

Thank you to all of the other comments. I have been trying to reduce the number of colonies i have and just let some of them grow into large mature colonies. I saw a tank a while back called "stag forest" and it had 2 or 3 massive acros filling a 100g tank and it looked amazing.

you should keep an acro of every color.

so your best green , best blue, etc. Vary the texture as well.

Tank looks amazing man - well done - I hope my tank looks half as good as yours in the near future.

Can you tell us your exact feeding regime (food and quanity?)

[badAZZlars]

Wow beautiful tank. The colors and coral placement is perfect.

[chris88]

Originally Posted by phi delt reefer

you should keep an acro of every color.

so your best green , best blue, etc. Vary the texture as well.

Tank looks amazing man - well done - I hope my tank looks half as good as yours in the near future.

Can you tell us your exact feeding regime (food and quanity?)

I feed once or twice a day a mix of pellets and veggies flakes. It’s hard to tell in the picture but there are 13 fish in the tank so i am bit overstocked. It could be all of their crap that helps with the sps and zoanthid growth rates.

I use to spot feed the sps corals rotifers and coral frenzy once a week. Now I am a bit lazier and I only feed the corals a small pinch of coral frenzy directly into the display tank every second day. Also every second day i add two drops of KZ coral vitalizer.

I do not do water changes unless something goes wrong in my tank such as corals looking stressed or pale, etc. In the year that the tank has been set up in its new location I might have changed out 20g of water lol. I do have a good skimmer and I use filter floss to mechanically remove dirtrius which I stir up in the display with a turkey baster once or twice a week. I have tried both tap and RO water and I notice no difference with either. If you have any more question feel free to ask i enjoy it.

[Nebthet]

God I love this tank... I can't wait to see even more pics. Wish you had a macro lense for close up shots of all your sps.

[phi delt reefer]

Originally Posted by chris88

I feed once or twice a day a mix of pellets and veggies flakes. It’s hard to tell in the picture but there are 13 fish in the tank so i am bit overstocked. It could be all of their crap that helps with the sps and zoanthid growth rates.

I use to spot feed the sps corals rotifers and coral frenzy once a week. Now I am a bit lazier and I only feed the corals a small pinch of coral frenzy directly into the display tank every second day. Also every second day i add two drops of KZ coral vitalizer.

I do not do water changes unless something goes wrong in my tank such as corals looking stressed or pale, etc. In the year that the tank has been set up in its new location I might have changed out 20g of water lol. I do have a good skimmer and I use filter floss to mechanically remove dirtrius which I stir up in the display with a turkey baster once or twice a week. I have tried both tap and RO water and I notice no difference with either. If you have any more question feel free to ask i enjoy it.

I'm going to have a lot of fish in my little tank but i figure my heavily over-rated skimmer + lots of flow will keep all the crap in the water column for the corals to take advantage of. Going to have 5 shrimp and about 10 fish. I work from home two days a week so i think i'll squeeze in a couple water changes weekly just in case.