Myka's 20 gallon Zoa reef (pics Nov 15)
 

Most recent FTS (Nov 10, 2011):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Nov102011.jpg


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Original Post April 29, 2010:

I knew this day would come when I started collecting Zoas and Palys. So here I am putting together a dedicated system for them. I will also move over some of the LPS in my 90 that are cluttering up the sand bed.

The tank is called an Atasuki Trophy. I had a freshwater planted tank in it before, but tore that down a few months back. It is supposed to be 20 gallons, but I've never measured the actual volume. (Note to self: You should do that.) It's pretty cool because the top opening is 24" to accommodate lighting. I made a stand that matches the 90's stand.

I crafted an internal sump/overflow design kind of like an AIO using a MaxiJet 1200 as a return pump. I have a little eggcrate media rack that I still need to install. I will glue a couple little blocks on the sides of the first chamber to set the rack on.

I ordered a Hagen Glo 2x24w T5HO fixture. I'm going to try a Hagen 18,000K and a UVL Super Actinic. The fixture I bought comes with 2 Hagen bulbs included, so I may as well use them (one at a time).

This tank will also serve as a quarantine tank for new SPS since AEFW and red bugs won't infect the LPS and Zoas. :D

For livestock, I'm going to try to catch the Blue Assessor out of the 90, as I think she will look nicer under the strong blue spectrum of the Zoa tank. Not sure what else. Probably some cool nano inverts, and fish.

Water and rock will be in there tomorrow. I have a bunch of live rock that has been cooking for just about a year (I knew I would use it lol), and I will seed it with some rubble from the 90's sump. I will use 10 gallons of water from my 90 after I do a water change tomorrow. I am leaving for work out of province on Sunday so the tank will just circulate. I will be back May long weekend, and will begin to move livestock over.

I'm going to trim the tubing coming off the MaxiJet.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Apr2920102.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Apr2920103.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr292010.jpg

Hey you...this looks good. I've seen these at my LFS...very interesting tanks. There's not a lot of "floor space" on these...are you planning all the items to be mounted to the rock?

Wait...does this mean you have Multi-tank-syndrome? :)

cool lookin little tank Mindy......does this mean we can expect to see you in the ZA thread?:biggrin:

No Mark, just two!! I can't have all these Zoas in with my SPS (can't handle the clutter), plus the quarantine effect...really it is quite a purposeful tank!! ;)

Hahaha!! I probably should have posted in the ZA thread long ago... :redface:

perfect tank for a "bonsai" set up!

Welcome to a sub forum of our addiction, NEW AND IMPROVED EVEN MORE ADDICTING!

Subscribed, very interested to see how this turns out.

Interesting tank shape it'll be cool to see it all set up.

Jon, not sure what I am going to do with my rocks yet. I gotta dig them out of that Rubbermaid that has dust on it.

LOL zoaElite! (Is your name Evan?)

Thanks Laurie! :)

Here are some teaser photo of my Zoas/Palys. Don't mind the cyano in some of the pics...those pics were taken just after Christmas when my tank sitter was overdosing some Zeo additives by accident.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...andIceZoas.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...eSteelZoas.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...hMaulPalys.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Apr3020102.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Apr3020103.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../OxideZoas.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Apr302010.jpg

Wow, those are looking great!! Maybe moving was good for you as those kind of colors are never available in the Okanagan!!

Levi acutally, Devan my brother is also on here.

Great looking tank! Can't wait to see it full.

Oops, sorry! I couldn't quite remember it.

Oh lala! I put water and rock in it! The overflow is running. This is just a teaser post though because I left my camera cord at camp so I can't upload from my camera to my laptop! :doh:

I'm not happy with the overflow...the water level in the tank is too high. I'm going to try a smaller pump since the overflow is only 3 1/2" wide - currently have a MaxiJet 1200 running the overflow. I'm hoping a smaller pump will lower the water level enough. It is currently only about 1/2" from the top of the glass. I would prefer it to be about 3/4". The MaxiJet 1200 is about 295 gph, so that is like 15x turnover through the sump. I have a MJ900 (230 gph), a MJ600 (160 gph), or a MJ400 (106 gph) I can try.

I also bought a Hagen Glo 2x24w T5HO fixture for the tank. I don't have any bulbs for it yet so I stole the lights off my quarantine tank to take pics. I will pick up T5s next time I come back to Saskatoon. I ordered a UVL 454 and a UVL Super Actinic from The Reef Shoppe.

I'm thinking I might put seahorses in the tank...not sure yet. I would like to catch the Blue Assessor out of my reef, and put it in this tank, but I can't catch it.

Glad to have you back from camp. Looking forward to pics on how this is going!

That sucks that you forgot the camera cord, looking forward to pic.'s when you get it back. Hopefully you can get the overflow under control and get the water level to were you like it.

Also it was very nice to meet you at Blue World when you where here a week (or so) ago. I enjoyed chatting with you :biggrin:

Cool tank. I've got about a thousand camera cords if you want one, provided it's just the mini usb type.

Hey thanks for the offer Steve, but I'm headed back to camp in a few hours. I do have a second cord somewhere, but I can't find it. I might have thrown it out thinking, "What do I need two of them for?" :lol:

Hey Mark, it's nice to be home, even if it's only for a few days. I got done early on Friday morning, so I took advantage and snuck home for the weekend.

Ya, Laurie that was great to meet you and chat for what...2 hours? :biggrin:

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Well, I put an MJ600 for the return, and it did lower the water line by a couple millimeters, but not enough. I'm going to take the eggcrate out, cut off the bottom trim of it, and glue it back in. That should give me another couple millimeters. :D I need to raise the media rack too since the floss is floating. Grrr.

Ya it was around that, I do tend to talk a lot :lol:

So any news on this tank?

I have photos ready, but Photobucket isn't working. Grrr.

EDIT: Funny, we both posted at nearly the same time. Hehe.

Ok, photos! :)

Here it is all set up with the Hagen lights on top (not running):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../June42010.jpg



Here is the overflow in action, just one baffle (1" off bottom). I have since moved the media tray up as high as it can go. I switched out the pump for a MaxiJet600, as well I trimmed the bottom bit off the eggcrate overflow part. Both changes resulted in a 3-4 mm lower water level in the tank. These photos are all taken before I made these changes.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../June52010.jpg




And here it is in all its cloudy glory!! (lol) I have since epoxied some of the branch rocks into more vertical branch-lilke positions. The aquascape is made up of lots of small rocks on top of a bigger rock in hopes to aid in making frags later on. I added a Ricordea and 3 Zoa frags last weekend, but no pics. I'm going home for the weekend again later this morning after a short shift, and I will take some more pics. The rocks have been cooking for about 15 months, so they are stark white. I have been feeding the rocks mysis weekly though, so there should be some denitrifying bacteria still alive. The few colorful rocks in there are from my sump to seed some coralline and more bacteria. Btw, this photo is taken with a "spotlight" 50/50 bulb, not the T5s.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...June520102.jpg

Good to see it's on it's way. I think this tank could be a lot of fun with some of the ideas you've suggested you have for it. Have you decided on whether it will have seahorses?

Well, I moved most of my Zoas over and added some sand. I'm not happy with the rockscape...I might try to get my hands on some decent sized pieces of Tonga branch - I just have real small pieces. The shape of the tank is really awkward to work with being kind of L shaped because of the overflow and much bigger at the top than the bottom. I think the finer look of the Tonga branch would accent the shape better. The current rockwork I think looks too bulky and takes away from the elegant shape of the tank. Plus...too much rock in the sand. It will give me headaches with restricted flow.

Well Mark, I've been tossing around some ideas for critters. I have been looking at the tank thinking it really isn't designed with seahorses in mind, but with the new plan to go with Tonga branch rock it will be much more pony friendly. I'm not sure if seahorses mind hitching up to Zoa covered rock though...anyone know?

Here are some options I have been considering...

~ 3-5 Flaming Prawn Gobies aka Griessinger Goby OR Yasha Goby (neither are very good choices for open top tank though)
~ Bullseye or Candy Stripe Pistol shrimp
~ Pair of Seahorses (not sure which specie...something smallish for sure)

OR

~ Blue Assessor (if I manage to catch him out of my reef)
~ Maybe something yellow like a Clown Goby or Watchman?

OR

Dwarf Golden Moray (also not a good choice for open top)

OR ???

a small tang would look nice....... lol liking the build so far. i have moved my zoas over from my 17g into the pico but im thinking the lights are not enough for them as they are starting to reach for the light.. whats the length of the legs on your hagen light?

Haha, ya I think a Sailfin tang would be a good choice. When it gets too big to turn around I will upgrade to a 30 gallon. :eek:

Do you mean how tall is the light or what length does the fixture stretch to? When I bought the fixture in Petland I noticed some 12" T5 bulbs. Not sure if they were HO or NO though. I didn't see a fixture for them, but I didn't ask either. Maybe look into that?

ya i live two blocks maybe ill swing by and check it out. thanks

Impressive job you did building that overflow to conform to those odd contours. I'm wondering if you'll have issues with detritus settling on your viewing panels? Not many of us have that worry!

Hey Brett, thanks for your comments! The overflow was a pain in the butt. I wish i would have put another baffle in there. Dangit. Detritus doesn't settle on the front pane because it is flat, but it does settle on the two side panels which are curved. I just use a turkey baster or small scrubber to dust them off. I think better positioning of powerheads will help as well.

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Woohoo, got some bulbs for the Glo fixture! I just picked some up from a friend - a no-name Actinic and an Aquascience 15,000K. Looks pretty blue! The bulbs are actually brand new though so they should burn in in the next week or so.

I moved all but 3 Zoa frags to the nano today, and they are all looking pretty good. A couple are closed up still, but most opened up immediately. I am happy to get rid of the clutter from the bottom of my 90. The 90 had a good clean up today. Next weekend I will work on arranging all my SPS frags in my 90 so I can move the frag rack to the nano since it will double as a SPS quarantine tank since SPS pests can't infect Zoas.

I have Tonga branch rock coming in next week I think. I think it will look much nicer.

I think I already need a bigger tank!! It's pretty crowded already!

Anyway, I'm sure you guys are waiting for some more interesting pics, so here they are. Please feel free to make suggestions. I'm not really all that sure how to do the rocks to make the Zoas easy to frag, and look nice when they grow in. It's my first Zoa tank. :)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...une1220103.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...June122010.jpg



One of my newest additions. No ID yet:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...une1220102.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...une1220104.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...une1220105.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...une1220106.jpg

Lookin good there Mindy!.....the new zoas look to me like PPEs....if they are, nice score!

Thanks Doug! that would be sweet if they colored up into PPEs. :D Any ideas to make the tank look nicer? I'm not happy with it...

Im almost positive they are PPEs:wink:

your not happy with it.......how come?.....what dont you like?

I hope you're right! What I don't like? The rock...it does the tank no justice. I do have Tonga branch coming, so hopefully that will look better. I gotta make it easy to frag too. I don't know, I'm undecided. I also don't like the rock in my 90 either...I think I'm just too picky. :lol:

Very cool tank. Is there an advantage with flow at the bottom of the tank with the rounded sides?

Ya there would be...I do plan to put a powerhead down low behind the rocks, and probably eliminate the one on the top right.

any updates? pics?

It is being plagued by Valonia right now. I hooked up a TLF Phosban reactor to the tank in hopes it will help. I will do a water change tomorrow, and take some pics. Thanks for asking. :)

sorry to hear it... its worse than aptasia... i hate it... nothing eats it and its sporus if the bubbles pop... i basically bought my bowfront when my 45 got over ran with valonia...

GOOD LUCK..... and dont add emerald mithrax crabs... sure they may eat it but they pop the bubbles.. at least they did in my tank... i only had a couple i couldnt reach so i added a couple emerals and like a month later i was over ran with valonia...

I found plenty of things that will decimate valonia ... they just don't fit in a small tank. :( I shutdown my 20g zoanthid tank over it being a losing battle to valonia. Emeralds did nothing - I think once it gets to a certain point those little crabs can't touch the rate of spread of those things in the same way a ravenous tang can.

I have a similar problem with my 40g at the moment but instead of valonia only it's a mixture of valonia and caulerpa. :( I rotate some of the rocks into my tank with tangs but for the ones I can't move easily I prune as much as I can with tweezers but it's like draining the ocean with an eyedropper.

I tried a few different urchins in the hopes that maybe that was an idea but so far no luck with that. However I haven't given up on the idea altogether just yet. In my other tank I have 2 green urchins that seem to go after valonia, I am hoping to find more of these but I don't know the species ID. If you google green urchin you can find some coldwater species that look sort of correct but I've had one of them for 5 years now easily so if it is a coldwater species, it seems to be one who can adapt to warmer temps but I suspect it's probably a different species.

Anyhow I nod very sympathetically in your direction Myka. Good luck!

I finally won the battle against Valonia in my 90 reef. It was very much plague proportions. So in April I ditched the Zeovit additives and was just using Bak and Start. Then in June I ditched Zeovit completely, added a PhosBan reactor with 300mL of GFO, and added 8 small Emerald crabs. Nowadays you would be hard pressed to find any Valonia in my 90. I even had the dread red bubble algae which make the green stuff seem easy! I would manually prune the Valonia (and Caulerpa) a couple times a month when I was home, but I never got anywhere near all of it. The Emerald crabs aren't very hardy though, I think I only have 2 left in the reef now. I did re-home 4 of them due to their huge size. So I guess that's only two that are unaccounted for.

So, I recently did the same thing with my Zoa tank. On Oct 3rd I added a bag of carbon passively, on Oct 10th I added 2 small Emerald crabs and a Phosban reactor with 60mL GFO. I have already noticed a difference. I'm going to add a couple more Emeralds as soon as I can find some small ones...I'm not sure either of the Emeralds are still in there. Could just be hiding.

Valonia survives off very little nutrients. People starting off ULNS will find Valonia is the last algae to leave. The red stuff is even worse. I found adding the large number of Emerald crabs was the straw the broke the camels back. Not many of the Emerald crabs will actually eat the Valonia. I think the secret is to just keeping adding a couple here and there until you have enough in there that will eat it and can keep up.

Oh, and yes Tony I had Caulerpa in both tanks as well, although it is gone in the 90 now, and on its way out in the Zoa tank.