50 Cube SPS Zeo Reef

Wrangy

Wrangy

Acrotrooper
I've been running my little cube for just shy of 2 years now and it's been one heck of an awesome ride. Plenty of up's and down's but more than enjoyable in the end. Due to some continually niggling problems that the tank had been having, I decided that a restart was the only way to move forward and given that the tank has now been restarted I think it was best that I restarted my journal as this is my new beginning. Using everything that I've learnt and the mistakes I made when I first set the tank up I've now tried to improve on it all and hopefully have things work a lot better and smoother!

I have always loved Acropora sp. and the various other corals that make up the "SPS" grouping and so because of this, once again, I'll be aiming my tank completely towards running an sps dominated system. My aim is to keep them as happy and healthy as possible, with some wicked colours :D I'll also have my collection of ric's and zoa's coming across with me and my dearly beloved T. maxima clam!! (Who will be getting prime position in the tank!)

Strike up Date:
20th of January, 2015
Display Tank:
600x600x550mm & 250L
(24x24x24" & 50 gallons)
Display Lighting:
At the moment I'm running a 60cm Illumagic Blaze unit that is a 100w LED system but most likely moving to T5 soon

System Water:
Red Sea Salt (Blue bucket)
Display Water circulation:
2x Jebao RW-4 powerheads
1x Tunze 6045
Return Pump:
Jebao DC3000
Skimmer:
RLSS R6-i, internal skimmer
Evaporation Top Up:
ATO run by the Tunze Osmolator
Other Support Systems:
Due to the success and positive influence that ZEOvit had on my tank I'll be running it from the get-go this time around to enjoy some more of those lovely ZEOvit benefits! I've started the 14 Day Cycle and I'm currently only on Day 2 but it is working it's magic as my fresh live rock and the tank has no smell whatsoever so the system has kicked in. For the moment and until the tank has matured and settled down a bit I'll only be running the basic 4 elements plus Sponge Power.
This is what my dosing schedule for the tank looks like:
ZEOlite Stones: 500ml shaken twice a day
Carbon: 200ml, replaced monthly
ZEObak: 2 drops 3 times a week
ZEOstart: 0.2ml dosed twice a day
Sponge Power: 2 drops every other day


I suppose I can put up some photo's even though the tank is still new so please be nice!
There's a few more bit's now since this one was taken:


The sump:


Power centre:


And where everyone is living till it's all moved across, only a few zoa's, fish and my T. maxima remain:
 
And finally some other random shots of things in the tank :)
Little goni:


Acro's:








I hope you all enjoy :)
 
I'm glad to see the reboot is going well mate. I think going with T5's will give you excellent results and more importantly everyone will be able to see what my acros do under your zeo conditions and T5 lighting.
We are going to turn your reef into something special my friend :)
 
Will be following your thread. That little Zeo reactor has caught my attention. Going to be running a hybrid sort of Zeovit/Prodibio system. Biggles likes to tinker with his tank and I think I've caught the same tinker bug. :lol:

Your rockscape looks really nice.
 
biggles said:
I'm glad to see the reboot is going well mate. I think going with T5's will give you excellent results and more importantly everyone will be able to see what my acros do under your zeo conditions and T5 lighting.
We are going to turn your reef into something special my friend :)
Click to expand...
Thanks :) I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out and is working!
I'm really looking forward to a T5/zeo combo, some absolutely stunning tanks with that combo :D I'm definitely intrigued to see how you acro's go in my tank and if/how they change too.

I'm hoping so! Your help is going to go a long way with that too!

sahin said:
Will be following your thread. That little Zeo reactor has caught my attention. Going to be running a hybrid sort of Zeovit/Prodibio system. Biggles likes to tinker with his tank and I think I've caught the same tinker bug. :lol:

Your rockscape looks really nice.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate :)
The little reactor the Z100 zeolite reactor from Fish-Street (Hong Kong based store that ships internationally, has a UK warehouse too. Just in case you don't know lol). Nothing super glorious or over the top but a solid build quality and does the job really well at a much cheaper price than most of them on the market!
I've been doing some stalking of Biggles tank over the last few days and it is my spirit animal! haha I usually like to tinker myself a little too

Thanks, took me about two weeks of rearranging to get to the final scape lol
 
What type of T5 setup are you thinking of mate - 8 tubes ?

That big clump of purple and fluoro is a great nutrient canary coral btw. If your water is too rich it won't have the beautiful blue highlights over the purple skin and will lose it's 'shine'. :)
 
biggles said:
What type of T5 setup are you thinking of mate - 8 tubes ?

That big clump of purple and fluoro is a great nutrient canary coral btw. If your water is too rich it won't have the beautiful blue highlights over the purple skin and will lose it's 'shine'. :)
Click to expand...
I would love an 8 bulb and that's the aim but I have the chance at a 10 bulb but we'll see if that goes ahead or not and if not I'll be straight on the 8 bulb :)

Cool, that's good to know! I'll keep a close eye on that beauty then and hopefully be able to tell a lot from it.

As requested an update ;)
The frags have all settled into the tank really well, which is awesome because I didn't want them to lose their amazing colours!! So here's some shots of them:






My little zoa garden


Front tank shot:


Side tank shot:
 
Looking like a rock solid start to an SPS tank mate. Can't help but think something is missing in the pictures.... Do you think that perhaps some fish might be the short answer?
Anyway looking forward to the zoos filling the gaps .... Very jelly of your zoa collection.
 
slin1977 said:
Looking like a rock solid start to an SPS tank mate. Can't help but think something is missing in the pictures.... Do you think that perhaps some fish might be the short answer?
Anyway looking forward to the zoos filling the gaps .... Very jelly of your zoa collection.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate :) haha yes I have been missing my fish for sure lol My bellus has been in there for over 4 weeks now and I added my dwarf angel and flame hawk back into the tank at the start of this week so there are fish in there again but they all hid for the pics lol I got a new bab flame hawk this morning to hopefully create a pair too, the next fish will be a mystery wrasse and then either a royal gramma or yellow assessor :)

ryanrid said:
Good start mate
Click to expand...
Cheers Ryan :)
 
So as I'm sure many are well aware I have and adore my flame hawkfish (Neocirrhites armatus) and that I recently restarted the tank and am back at only having three fish in the tank. One thing I've always adored is the look of a pair of hawkfish (espcially longnose hawks!), combine this with the need to buy new fish and create a little bit of busyness in the tank I decided that I'm going down the route of getting my flame hawk a partner :)

Flame hawkfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they all start life as females and the largest and most dominant become the males. Given that my flame hawk is now two years old (at least in my tank) and fairly fat and happy I'm rather certain that he's male. So I started chatting to Dave at Deer Park about it and pairing them up, he didn't have much experience with it nor seen anyone but said he'd get me in a cute little hawk (who is tiny :D lol), that little beauty arrived last night and I have picked her up this morning! (I may have bought an acro as well though :rolleyes) so a big thanks to Dave for getting me one so promptly and so healthy :worship

Now comes the tricky part lol, the pairing of the hawks!
My plan is to keep the new female in a small seperation container for the next week in the tank for Hawk Hawkins (my flame hawk named after the smart casual song lol) to adjust to the presence of a new flame hawkfish and hopefully I will be able to tell during this time how he will go with her in the tank :) Once that week is up and I'm satisfied then I'll be opening the container but not removing it so she still has it to retreat to and for an easy catch lol.

With any luck I will be able to have these two pair up for life over the coming months as they do pair for life in singular pairs and sometimes harems :) If anyone has had any experience with this please chime in!
 
Well she's in the tank and has acclimatised really well :) You can tell as she already has the deep red colours back as opposed to the paled out colour she was when in the bags :)


And of course the typical look you get from hawkfish :D
 
So I spent a few good hours today doing some gluing and sticking and rearranging and I'm pretty happy with how they've all turned out and mounted. I feel like I'm starting to achieve a more sps dominated look every time :) On to the shots I suppose! lol
The is the left arch of the tank:


Left arch again from the side of the tank:


Right side of the tank, the upper acro section:


Across the top from the left side:


Across the top from the right side:


Some fish (Hawk Hawkins lol) inspired shots lol:
As you can see here, this is where Hawk Hawkins usually likes to sit so that he has a pretty good view and is able to get close to the female. So at least he's showing lots of non-aggressive interest :)




 
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