Craig's Tank Journal

[craigwmiller]

Hey All! (Long-time aquarist, first time poster

I've started up a 68 gallon reef and here will be my journal/discussion.

Equipment:

Custom tank from Marine Aquaria (36" x 18" x 24")
25 gallon sump (26" x 14" x 16")

2x AI Vega Color w/ new controller
2x Eheim Jager 100W
Mag-Drive 7
Vertex IN-180 Skimmer
VorTech MP40w
Tunze 6025 Powerhead
Tunze 5017 ATO
TLF KW300 Reactor with Kalk, attached to ATO
ZEOvit 3L Reactor
BRS 1.1ML/min dosing pump, for ZEOStart
ReefKeeper V2


Photos and more details and updates to come!

Cheers,
Craig

[craigwmiller]

Here are some images after the setup:

[cuz]

nice work!! Very clean looking setup!!

[magikof7]

Beautiful tank and very clean set up!
looking forward to seeing it grow.

[waynemah]

Tagging along!

[craigwmiller]

Okay so I did the ZEOvit 14-day cycle process, and am very impressed. Today is Day 18 (the system was started Dec 16th).

The tank went through a massive diatom bloom from day 6 through 13, with the snails added on days 11 & 14 cleaning up the loose/lingering growth by yesterday (day 17).

The middle shelf-like rock and the small one (front-right) in the sand were the only 'live' rocks (total 8 lbs). All the rest was dry white marco rock.


I started adding livestock at day 10 (as per the instructions), with one small clown. Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate have always been nearly unmeasurable (small ammonia spike to around 0.50 on day 5-7, which all but went away on day 8+. Livestock additions will continue, slowly, just to be safe & humane (or the aquatic equivalent term)... But what I have added is doing great, and the corals I've transferred from one of my other tanks are showing better extensions and more brilliant color (Vega's, fair enough) than their previous established homes.

[craigwmiller]

Here are my ZEOvit dosages (first 14-days, and normal thereafter):
(good to have this documented somewhere also for when I want to reference it )

...My actual system volumn calculation is roughly 75 gallons of water.

1 Litre package of ZEOvit media (replacement schedule yet to be determined)


14-day cycle:

Day 1:
ZEOStart3 - 30mL
ZEOFood7 - 9mL
ZEOBak - 15mL

Day 2-3:
nothing

Day 4-14:
ZEOStart3 - 0.3mL, twice daily
ZEOFood7 - 6 drops
ZEOBak - 3 drops


Normal Schedule*

ZEOStart3 - 0.3mL, twice daily
ZEOFood7 - 6 drops, twice per week (Monday & Friday)
ZEOBak - 3 drops, twice per week (Monday & Friday)


*These dosages are subject to change as tank parameters require, and I will update the thread as I change.

[Edmonton newbie]

lookin good

[Doug]

[kien]

it looks like you've got everything well at hand here. Carry on :-)