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

[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.

[chris88]

Thanks A lot nebthet. I will see if I can borrow a Dslr with a macro lens again. Its been a while since I used a Dslr and taken some decent quality pictures. If I am correct last time i checked your tank looks like it has cleaned up and went on a growth spurt. Good job with your tank and I look forward to seeing an update on here.

[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.

[chris121277]

wow your tank is stunning!!

Great work man, not sure if it's been asked yet, but what is your dosing regime like? do you run 2 part with a dosing pump?

[chris88]

Originally Posted by phi delt reefer

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.

once your tank gets stable the natural filtration should take care of the high bioload. your tank will tell you when you are feeding to much with algae growth, then just cut back. you could also try using a carbon source to drive bacterial growth if your nutrients become to much to handle.

[chris88]

Originally Posted by chris121277

wow your tank is stunning!!

Great work man, not sure if it's been asked yet, but what is your dosing regime like? do you run 2 part with a dosing pump?

I make up my own 3 part. In 1 gallon jugs I mix the following:

1gallon 3 once of kent turbo calcium
1gallon 4 once of baked baking soda
1gallon 6 once of mag cholride

I dose the calcium and alk in the mornings in equal parts. I have a very high demand so i go through a lot of it. A one gallon jug of cal or alk last me about a week. At the end of the week I test the levels to make sure they are in line. If they are a bit high then I will cut back a bit and if they are two low I will dose a bit more. I try to keep my alk at 8DKH and my calcium at 420ppm.

I am not as strict with magnesium, I dose it randomly and a rarely test it. The corals are not as sensitive to magnesium levels. I aim for 1300ppm but anywhere from 1100-1500ppm will keep them happy.

[lorenz0]

tank looks awesome man!

[Zoaelite]

Simply stunning sir! Those red plays are wicked looking, have any macro shots with the day lights on?

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[chris88]

Alright, you ask and you shall receive. I borrowed a DSLR and a few different lenses and took a bunch of pictures. I don’t have much camera skills but these are some of the better ones. I should have used a tripod for the macro lens. The pictures were coming out blurring because I couldn’t stay still lol. I think a few of them turned out amazing so i hope you enjoy.

Full tank shots:





Sps coral shots:

This is my favourite pictures and it makes and amazing desktop background, just try it and see.










Zoanthid / Palythoa and Hammer corals: