Boozeman's 525XL build

kennedpa · Jul 31, 2017

I'm a vet at proving nothing good happens fast ;Blackeye

The longer you take the better lol. Keep up the artistry! Awesome build.

boozeman27 · Jul 31, 2017

Thank you very much! Patience I have plenty of.

ksfulk · Jul 31, 2017

boozeman27 said:
Thanks for the info. So did your skimmate look like mine does through the first 2 weeks? Light brownish? When did you add cuc since you saw no algae until day 17? When did you add fish? My amonia is now zero. Should I dose pure amonia to 2.0 and see if it disappears in 24hra, or just stick to Red Sea Reef Mature stuff? Thanks for all your help!

Take my experience as similar, but not exact to your own, as I was starting the KZ ZeoVit system, and not using the Red Sea Reef Mature. However, same tank, same rock. Your mileage might vary.

I added a small CUC when I started seeing algae on the glass. I went exclusively with trochus snails, as they eat off both rocks and glass, dont bulldoze like turbos, and can right themselves, unlike astraeas. I had 5 trochus snails and a single conch (from my macro tank, since I was dismantling it). I didnt add in more snails until well into the algae bloom (mid October) and then added in only a few at a time until I started seeing some progress on the algae, as I didnt want to overstock. I diversified my CUC at that point, adding in a few more conches, more trochus, a few astraeas, a turbo, and about thirty stomatella snails. It took a bit for the algae to stop growing like crazy, but once it stalled out, I added a sea hare and it mowed everything down in about two weeks. I havent had algae back on the rocks since.

As with most things, stick with what you've started. I dont have experience with that setup, but in general, it will all start working, just might take a bit more time due to the lack of diversity in your tank at the moment. Zeo tells you, you can add fish at Day 10 or so... and I didnt think I was there yet, since I hadnt seen anything. Lo and behold on Day 17, you could tell things were starting. As suggested above, stick with the program and try to zen yourself into patience

Skimmate picture on Day 17ish:

Here is the tank on Day #17 (mid September)

Here is some close up shots about a month later (Oct 13)

And here's a shot of the tank at the end of December:

kennedpa · Jul 31, 2017

ksfulk said:
Take my experience as similar, but not exact to your own, as I was starting the KZ ZeoVit system, and not using the Red Sea Reef Mature. However, same tank, same rock. Your mileage might vary.

I added a small CUC when I started seeing algae on the glass. I went exclusively with trochus snails, as they eat off both rocks and glass, dont bulldoze like turbos, and can right themselves, unlike astraeas. I had 5 trochus snails and a single conch (from my macro tank, since I was dismantling it). I didnt add in more snails until well into the algae bloom (mid October) and then added in only a few at a time until I started seeing some progress on the algae, as I didnt want to overstock. I diversified my CUC at that point, adding in a few more conches, more trochus, a few astraeas, a turbo, and about thirty stomatella snails. It took a bit for the algae to stop growing like crazy, but once it stalled out, I added a sea hare and it mowed everything down in about two weeks. I havent had algae back on the rocks since.

As with most things, stick with what you've started. I dont have experience with that setup, but in general, it will all start working, just might take a bit more time due to the lack of diversity in your tank at the moment. Zeo tells you, you can add fish at Day 10 or so... and I didnt think I was there yet, since I hadnt seen anything. Lo and behold on Day 17, you could tell things were starting. As suggested above, stick with the program and try to zen yourself into patience

Skimmate picture on Day 17ish:

Here is the tank on Day #17 (mid September)

Here is some close up shots about a month later (Oct 13)

And here's a shot of the tank at the end of December:

Great advice...my cuc is very similar for all the same reasons, but I tend to favor astreas. Stomatella will breed like wildfire - for the better, mainly night time eaters.

MCooper · Jul 31, 2017

Love this!!

Budman's Corals · Jul 31, 2017

very nice setup!

boozeman27 · Jul 31, 2017

Got my ato reservoir from Advanced Acrylics today. Really sweet. Fits right behind my tank. Now I need to figure a way to fill it. Lol. Has a really small opening obviously. Need something with a spout.

boozeman27 · Jul 31, 2017

Budman's Corals · Jul 31, 2017

sorta like a 5 gallon gas can

boozeman27 · Jul 31, 2017

budman said:
sorta like a 5 gallon gas can

Yep or a flower water can or one of those bigger water storage totes with a spout in the farm type stores. Maybe something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Pro...qid=1501552041&sr=8-15&keywords=Water+storage