150 Gallon Shallow Zeovit Reef
- Thread starter kenpau
- Start date
kenpau
New member
Hydra52s mate......that's how fast they grow coral!!
Nah, someone from my local reefkeepers club was shutting down their tank so I bought them from him!
jminick2
New member
nice.... your tank is looking good.
kenpau
New member
Thanks, picked up some more nice acropora today so am pretty much fully stocked, want a nice piece of plating monti and I'm there. Now the hard bit is leaving it alone and letting it grow!
Nino Garcia
Member
Sweet Light!
kenpau
New member
A few things have happened since my last post. I decided to break down my tank for 6 months, sell all the livestock and a couple of bits of equipment to buy a motorbike. There was a few things I was not happy about with my setup. Mostly being able to see the overflow pipework, but using Zeovit just was a lot more of a fine balancing act than I was hoping for. Zeovit systems which are maintained correctly look outstanding, unfortunately I just couldn't devote enough time to find that balance so decided to break the system down.
I managed to sell most of the livestock eventually, Gumtree really irritates me though, I put the whole system on there, not really wanting to sell but if I got a decent offer then I would have let it go. Bearing in mind the total cost to set this system up new is $17000, I had two offers, one for $3000 and one for $500! One guy offered me $500 for three 6 month old MP40s, under warranty in perfect condition, aquarium equipment does depreciate a fair amount but $165 for a 6 month old $700 pump, no chance.
So I decided I'd set the system up again, sold all coral, clean up crew and fish with the exception of my Purple Tang, Moorish Idol and Emperor Angel, I've become pretty attached to those 3 fish.
I was racking my brain about the pipework and was trying to decide what colour vinyl to put on now the tank had been drained, so I googled a few background ideas and a foam rock wall thread popped up, after reading up quite a bit, watching a few videos and pricing it up, it came in at about the same price as the vinyl so thought I'd give it a go.
It took about a week to make and basically involved zip-tying pieced of base rock to a large sheet of egg crate, then filling the whole thing with UV resistant, fish safe expanding foam, after that a sealant needs to be brushed over the entire surface and then sand placed on top. This is the result:-
20151119_205421 by kenpau01, on Flickr
It's by no means perfect, I'm not 100% happy with how the foam looks in places, looks a bit unnatural in places, however once it's covered in algae and hopefully morphs or green star polyps it'll never be seen.
New aquascaping:-
20151119_224329 by kenpau01, on Flickr
And the cycle began again 8 days ago...
20151121_193901 by kenpau01, on Flickr
20151120_083102 by kenpau01, on Flickr
The Zeovit reactor is gone and a refugium is in it's place, I'll also be running biopellets in this system too.
All that breaking down of the system, selling the livestock.....but then starting up the system again and spending money on a phosban reactor, refugium, foam rock wall etc. obviously meant I couldn't get my new toy.........actually I just bought my new toy anyway!!!
12273800_10204319967032834_5364648255048680592_o by kenpau01, on Flickr
I managed to sell most of the livestock eventually, Gumtree really irritates me though, I put the whole system on there, not really wanting to sell but if I got a decent offer then I would have let it go. Bearing in mind the total cost to set this system up new is $17000, I had two offers, one for $3000 and one for $500! One guy offered me $500 for three 6 month old MP40s, under warranty in perfect condition, aquarium equipment does depreciate a fair amount but $165 for a 6 month old $700 pump, no chance.
So I decided I'd set the system up again, sold all coral, clean up crew and fish with the exception of my Purple Tang, Moorish Idol and Emperor Angel, I've become pretty attached to those 3 fish.
I was racking my brain about the pipework and was trying to decide what colour vinyl to put on now the tank had been drained, so I googled a few background ideas and a foam rock wall thread popped up, after reading up quite a bit, watching a few videos and pricing it up, it came in at about the same price as the vinyl so thought I'd give it a go.
It took about a week to make and basically involved zip-tying pieced of base rock to a large sheet of egg crate, then filling the whole thing with UV resistant, fish safe expanding foam, after that a sealant needs to be brushed over the entire surface and then sand placed on top. This is the result:-
20151119_205421 by kenpau01, on FlickrIt's by no means perfect, I'm not 100% happy with how the foam looks in places, looks a bit unnatural in places, however once it's covered in algae and hopefully morphs or green star polyps it'll never be seen.
New aquascaping:-
20151119_224329 by kenpau01, on FlickrAnd the cycle began again 8 days ago...
20151121_193901 by kenpau01, on Flickr20151120_083102 by kenpau01, on FlickrThe Zeovit reactor is gone and a refugium is in it's place, I'll also be running biopellets in this system too.
All that breaking down of the system, selling the livestock.....but then starting up the system again and spending money on a phosban reactor, refugium, foam rock wall etc. obviously meant I couldn't get my new toy.........actually I just bought my new toy anyway!!!
12273800_10204319967032834_5364648255048680592_o by kenpau01, on Flickr
sixpackgarage
reef mechanic
that background is pretty sick
rickztahone
New member
Very nice build!
Do you think your Aurora Hybrid would be overkill for my nano tank?
:lolspin:
Just messing with you. That is one of the sweetest light fixtures I have ever seen. I am a fan of a whiter spectrum as opposed to a blue one and this one is such a beautiful representation of how a whiter spectrum can look so beautiful. TFS
Do you think your Aurora Hybrid would be overkill for my nano tank?
:lolspin:
Just messing with you. That is one of the sweetest light fixtures I have ever seen. I am a fan of a whiter spectrum as opposed to a blue one and this one is such a beautiful representation of how a whiter spectrum can look so beautiful. TFS
kenpau
New member
Thanks guys, more updates on the way as the cycle progresses.
The Aurora is a stunning light, I'm lucky enough to have one really, the T5s are on in the clearer shot, the shot which is slightly cloudy is LEDs only and was taken just after I'd filled the tank. The lights are so customisable that it's going to take a little trial and error, the advantage of being a Hybrid though is that I'll get good coral growth even if the LEDs aren't quite set up correctly because of the 320W T5s.
The Aurora is a stunning light, I'm lucky enough to have one really, the T5s are on in the clearer shot, the shot which is slightly cloudy is LEDs only and was taken just after I'd filled the tank. The lights are so customisable that it's going to take a little trial and error, the advantage of being a Hybrid though is that I'll get good coral growth even if the LEDs aren't quite set up correctly because of the 320W T5s.
kenpau
New member
Believe it or not the tank cycled in 2 weeks! I was confused by the readings, I had an ammonia spike, followed by a nitrite spike and then a slow reduction in nitrates, all by day 10. After consulting a few people it would seem that using my original sand which had heaps of die off had quick started the cycle.
I left it another week and tests all came back fine for this stage so my 3 fish who had been very patiently sitting in quarantine were able to go back in.
This is week four since startup:-
rps20151216_124616 by kenpau01, on Flickr
Still got a little way to go, a bit of a sand syphon plus a water change this week and hopefully in a few weeks I can add a couple of easy corals.
More pleased with how the foam rock wall is looking now too, seems to be blending in pretty well.
I left it another week and tests all came back fine for this stage so my 3 fish who had been very patiently sitting in quarantine were able to go back in.
This is week four since startup:-
rps20151216_124616 by kenpau01, on FlickrStill got a little way to go, a bit of a sand syphon plus a water change this week and hopefully in a few weeks I can add a couple of easy corals.
More pleased with how the foam rock wall is looking now too, seems to be blending in pretty well.
kenpau
New member
How is the tank doing? Would love to read any progress
Tank was sold 3 months after my last post mate unfortunately.
