Mike's 45 Gallon Zoa Garden (Max E 170)

[HolisticBear]

Following. Love the picture with your kids.

 

[count krunk]

I would cut the replacement time frame some slack since it was over the christmas holidays and the new year. I imagine those two reasons slowed down the replacement by 1-2 weeks.

 

[tablesalt]

My Red Sea test kit came in today. This thing is sooooo much easier to read than my old test strips were, and titration for KH isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. We are at 0 For Ammonia, 0 for Nitrate, 0 for Nitrite, 8 for KH, 8.2 for PH, and my Hydrometer says 1.025. I am impressed with how well the dead shrimp method worked. I think my bioload now is lower than it was with the dead shrimp in, and the bacteria are probably rapidly shrinking in number. I am ready for my Zoas to show up on Friday. Did a little housekeeping with the rocks and dropped in some extra shells so my hermits will be less likely to murder the snails. The cleaner magnet makes a world of difference too, just have to keep it away from the kids.

 

[tablesalt]

I'm super excited. The corals are on their way and should be at FedEx tomorrow. I am super happy I didn't use the post office with the government shutdown possible tomorrow. In the mean time reef cleaners followed through and sent the barnacle that was supposed to show up with the clean up crew. I'm debating whether or not to keep it in there, break it up, or remove it. I don't know if a tail spot Blenny would hang out in those or if I would need Barnacle Blennies to see somebody in there. In the mean time happy reefing!

 

[tablesalt]

They are here! Into the tank soon. Only 1 detached from plug in shipping.

 

[tablesalt]

Well, It's all here and it's all in the tank. All arrived in good condition except the Ked's Red's which had detached from the base. Luckily some super glue fixed that. All are in the tank near the bottom and almost everything has already opened up. I have decided to keep the yellow button polyps and green polyps on their own little island as they were free bonus items and I don't want them to go too nuts. I think the Toxic Green Palys, Radioactive Dragon's Eyes, and Orange Bam Bams are my favorites at the moment. As the water readings are all still perfect I took the opportunity to throw in a tail spot Blenny on the advice of the, "most interesting fish to watch, not just pretty forum". He has already taken to the barnacle cluster. There is also a tiny new "Fire Shrimp" hiding in the rock. The fish have dubbed him/her, "Lady Glitter Sparkles". I think they are doing a "Trolls" naming theme. I am planning on doing a monthly "Census" of the corals to see what is growing well and what is not, and in the interest of the census here is the first pre-report, as I will be moving these slowly to their final positions over the next week so as not to bleach them. I'll try and put up some better pics when I remember to take the photo in the middle of the day.

February 10 "Pre Census".

Keds Red 10 polyps,
SBC Guava pinwheels 10,
Caribbean Beauties 10
True Blue Hornets 7 polyps,
Radioactive Dragon Eyes 15,
Fire & Ice 15,
SBC Space Magic Palys 12
Tubbs Blue 10 polyps,
Agent Orange 10,
Rastas 11
Electric Boogaloo 1 polyp
Japanese Deepwater 2
Japanese Firecracker 3
King Midas 4
Green Button Palys 5
Reverse Gorilla Nipples 6
SBC Blue Spirit Palys 5
Red Hornet 2 polyps
SBC Ring of fire 4
Purrple Hearts 5
Toxic green Palys 5
Mean green zoas 3
Giant Green Cinnamon Paly 1
Candy Apple Red 1
Orange Bam Bam 2
Yellow Polyps 4

 

[tablesalt]

Things are finally starting to open up a bit more and these guys a are beautiful! I've had to remove most of the plugs from the rocks because the snails keep knocking them over. I'm going to start super gluing the plugs to the rock this week in their final positions, but away from the brightest portion of the tank. I'll simply let them grow into the bright spot. I've had a couple of polyps detach from the bases but so far I've been able to successfully glue these to the rock work directly. Once these guys spread it's going to be amazing. The tail spot blenny has taken up residence in one of the barnacles and is a hoot to watch. The only real issue I'm having in my tank right now is the clean up crew snails I got from reef cleaners keep crawling out at night. I toss them in the tank every morning and they are fine, but it's still not ideal. I ordered a red-sea screen top kit to throw on top and I'll let you know how that works this weekend.

 

[Hazenight]

Nice lot of zoas you go there, they will make a great looking zoa garden.

 

[tablesalt]

I gave in, turned the lights down a bit, and mounted the frags straight to the rock. Everybody seems to be happy and doing well, but in my haste I managed to let super glue get into a couple of the true blue hornets. I know I nuked atleast one, but am still holding out hope for the others.

There is a tailspot Blenny in there now (Sheldon) along with a Fire Red Shrimp (Lady-Glitter-Sparkles) and everything seems to be doing well. Sheldon seems to have taken up residence in the barnacles, is hesitant to come out when we are near the tank, but the minute we walk a few feet back he comes out and starts pecking at the rocks. He's very interesting to watch. He seems to be eating mysis, but won't touch small algae strips when in the tank. The fire shrimp just hides all day.

With the exception of putting a net cover on my tank, I think I'm going to sit back and enjoy the tank and not mess with it again until at least March. The only things left I'd like to do is add a pink streaked wrasse, springiri dottyback, yellow clown goby, and maybe a skunk cleaner shimp. However, I think the best thing to do right now is be patient and wait until next month before adding the pink streaked wrasse and maybe the yellow clown goby.

I think I'm going to let the green button polyps and yellow polyps grow out on their little island for a few months, then trade them in (and some cash) for some Ricordia frags.

All in all, everything is healthy.

I'm dumping in a capful of Iodine once per week (per instructions) feeding pellets every other day with Mysis the alternating days, doing a 5 gallon water change bi-weekly, feeding reef roids sparingly 2x per week, adding 1 teaspoon of Kalk to every 5 gallons of ATO and wiping down the glass daily. Water quality is so far pristine.

I am enjoying the tank and if I can keep my hands out of it for a while, am looking forward to enjoying my tank with relatively low maintenance for years to come.

My first official polyp count/ census will come the first week of March.

 

[Hazenight]

The tank is looking good, can't wait till it starts to fill in. I have been wanting a pink streaked wrasse also, but can not find one in any of the local stores.

 

[tablesalt]

RIP Sheldon. I have my first fish fatality. My tail spot Blenny took a jump out of the tank last night. What really irks me is the tank cover showed up a few hours later.

I put together the Red-Sea cover twice. The first time I decided to use a tip I heard on BRS TV and use a hair dryer to shrink the mesh once installed. Since I don't have a hair dryer I used the stove. Bad idea. The picture with the hole in it is the result. All in all, it's not easy to put together, it requires a hack-saw, but looks and fits perfectly now. I only wish I had gotten it in a day earlier so my tail spot Blenny would have been okay. O-well. I got this off of fishtanksdirect.

 

[wowkingjames]

Nice zoas! following

 

[fishnreef Verified Sponsor]

Hi tablesalt,
Thanks for getting our 100% aquaculture zoas! Your tank is looking amazing and love the pics of the kids.
Let us know if you need anything...like if you NEED MORE zoas!...we've got about 20+ more not yet put on-line - utter chaos, nuclear greens, red deaths, purple deaths, sunny D's, daisy dukes, captain america....more..more ..more!
Keep posting! Love the tank!

 

[tablesalt]

Well,

My tank made it! I took the family to Disney World for the week and when I got home everybody was alive and happy. I have never been away from a saltwater tank this long before, but the cheap automatic feeder I bought combined with my ATO kept everyone alive and happy. I am also pleasantly surprised to find my first confirmed the first "baby corals" are here. I now have 2 Electric Boogaloo Zoanthid heads instead of 1. All of the coral polyps are now open and all look happy, except the Candy Apple Red seems to have detached from it's base and gone into oblivion... The Fire and ICE (front and center in the photo) are definitely the healthiest looking of the bunch and look like they are going to take off. I have resisted the urge to move anything since mounting the corals in mid February and it seems to be paying off.

I am also impressed with how little algae grew in the tank the week I was gone. The lights are on the max "reef Spec settings" and everyone seems to be doing fine, but my rocks don't have hair algae, and only a thin film of muck was on the glass (with holes where the snails had been).

All in all everybody is happy. The Tail Splot Blenny (now with a top on the tank) has happily taken up residence n the barnacle and is a hoot to watch.

While I was at Disney I managed to sneak a peak at "The Seas" with Nemo and friends. They had the largest single aquarium I have seen outside of Japan that was probably a hundred yards long. I'm pretty sure the building was a converted oil storage container. I have attached a photo of the official Disney answer to exactly what kind of fish some of the fish from the Nemo movie are. Additionally, it is interesting to note that even Disney has a frag tank.

 

[FredsNJReef]

Hey buddy, looking great, and THANK YOU for your service

That pic with your kids is awesome, and also, you have a rock with 3 faces on it, one for each kid!

 

[tablesalt]

Here is the first official Zoanthid Census! As you can see most things are growing. The only thing that disappeared or melted was the "Candy Apple Red". I think I got most of the names rate with the correct numbers. I plan on updating this monthly. This isn't very scientific as the Zoanthids are placed all around the tank, but if anyone wants to get an idea of how fast or slow these might grow under similar conditions... here you go.

 

[tablesalt]

True blue hornets are officially my favorite. New photo with the s9+.

 

[tablesalt]

Everything is pretty healthy in the tank and I have added some more fish. Water parameters are stellar with no detectable Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, ad DKH of 7, and a PH of 8.2. I got an IceCap 1k Gyre with battery backup after the last power outage scare just in case. I am kind of regretting the decision as I liked not having any of my equipment in the tank, but you can't have everything. I have moved all of the corals I believe will be aggressive growers/spreaders to a rock island out front (bottom left) to contain growth and will trade the rock in or sell once sold. Right now the banished corals are the ghost pallys, green button polyps, toxic green palys, and yellow button polyps. Everything else is where it was minus moving the electric boogoloo when they fell down to a position with more light. I found the candy apple red that had disappeared attached to the bottom of a rock on the other side of the tank. No idea how that happened but I'm going to leave it alone. I threw out my first bunch of chaeto from the fuge. I wasn't thinking and will trade the stuff next time. It grows like a weed.

I have added a few more fish and am fully stocked, and will eventually have to trade a few once everything reaches full size. I am probably going to be trading in the pair of clowns that helped me cycle the tank once my water parameters start to suffer due to the bioload of the fish.

In addition to the coral I now have [with wife/kid's name in brackets]:
Fish
2 Clownfish (will be trading in the next few months) [Branch & Princess Poppy]
2 McCosker's Flasher Wrasse (1m, 1f) [Dax and Warf]
1 Black Neon Dottyback (New Man-Made Hybrid) [Dukat or Spaz TBD]
1 Tailspot Blenny [Baby Sheldon]
1 Clown Goby [Cisco]
Mobile Inverts:
1 Fire Shrimp [Lady Glitter Sparkles]
1 Cleaner Shrimp [Jeac]
1 Emerald Crab [Boaty McBoat Face]
1 Brittle Star [Starfish]
A handful of hermits
A handful of snails.

The corals are all growing well, but none have spread off the plug since I got them. I will be conducting another "polyp census" in early March.

As far as care goes, I have an auto feeder feeding a small amount of pellets 2x a day, frozen food once per day, target polyp feedings 2x per week, 5 gallon water change bi-weekly, 1 TSP of Kalk into ATO every month, 1 capful of iodine every week.

The fish are a hoot to watch and I have seen the Dottyback, wrasses, and tailspot blenny all hide and/or hang out in the barnacle. I couldn't tell you if my favorite fish was the dottyback or the tailspot blenny. Happy reefing folks!

 

[tablesalt]

Month 2 of the Zoanthid Census is here. Growth has ranged from doubling of polyps (yellow button polyps) to a few where I can't see any growth at all (red hornets). Nothing has grown off the plug yet but these guys are definitely multiplying. Water parameters are all still good. 8.2 PH, Dkh 7, No detectable Nitrates, Nitrites, or Ammonia. The hair algae in the fuge is starting to out compete the Chaeto, but hat is the biggest problem I have right now. Still enjoying the new IceCap 1k Gyre and sleep better now that the battery backup is installed. Favorite fish right now is a tie between the black neon dottyback and the tail spot blenny.

The one thing I am kind of having second thoughts on now is that I seeded my dry rock with a few pounds of live rock. I found a baby aptasia (I think) on one of the small pieces of live rock I left in. I just chunked it. On the upside I am seeing a few baby feather duster worms here in there, and am starting to see the first bits of Coraline.

I am tempted to add in a leather coral in the upper right of the tank. TBD if I do it or not in time.

Anyways, here is the Census and a photo update.

 

[tablesalt]

Here's the latest, and it's not good. I've posted this in the Emergency and Algae section, but am putting it here too for historical purposes.

For the past few days, my zoanthids have been all closed up, my leathers have shrunk up, and I have been getting more and more cyano (presumably) over the past few days. My crabs and snails have mostly stopped moving over the past week (but the shrimp are fine). I am trying to narrow down what exactly I have done wrong.


If this is not red cyano bacteria, please let me know.


Water paramaters are as follows

Temperature-78.5 (stable)

Salinity 1.025 (recalibrated to make sure)

DKH-9 (usually about 7)

PH- 8.2

Nitrates (undetectable)

Nitrites (undetectable)

Ammonia (undetectable)


Basic tank setup Max-E170 (40 gallon tank) with aquafuge 2 refugium, carbon, skimmer, ATO, and IceCap1k gyre (running at 10%). I dose Iodine 1x per week and put in 1 teaspoon of Kalk per 5 gallons of ATO.


Tank is 4 months old with 5 months old live rock (dead shrimp method).

Up until 2 weeks ago, the tank was stable. 2 weeks ago I bought a toadstool leather and a sebae anemone. I had difficulty getting the anemone to mount and drastically reduced the flow by turning off the Icecap 1k gyre. After a week of difficulties trying to get the anemone to mount, I took it back to the store so I didn't kill it. I tried to feed it a few times during this time. I exchanged it and paid a little extra for a finger leather coral, 2 feather duster worms, 2 scarlet leg hermits, and a bottle of Strontium & Molybdenum. My troubles started (I think) when I put my new goodies in and dosed Strontium & Molybdenum (1 cap full) and turned my gyre back on. I have also had an inconsistent experience with the brightness of the light in my fuge. Fish seem to be happy.


I am thinking hard and can only come up with a few possible issues that may be nuking my tank.


1. Strontium & Molybdenum overdose?

2. Too much flow?

3. Something unseen came in on the new acquisitions?

4. DKh is slightly higher than normal at 9 vs 7.

5. Fuge light being inconsistent could cause issues?

6. Corals unleashing chemical warfare on tank contents?


The only thing I can think of to do now is to do a 5 gallon water change every day for the next few days until things calm down. I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.