EvolutionZ's Valley Reef

[evolutionZ]

Hi guys! some of you guys may know i have re-scaped my Evoz's floating reef scape and since its an entirely different scape, i've decided to start a new thread to document this build.

Following this build thread :

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2456506&page=9

Tank size : 90x45x45 10mm Front crystal with Bean animal C2C Overflow made by CRA.
Sump tank : 60x40x45 6mm 2 compartment
Skimmer : Skimz SM121
Lighting : ATI 6x39w Sunpower
Return pump : Eheim 1262
Chiller : Artica 1/5hp
Substrate : 20 - 22kg Grade 3 coral sand.
Wavemaker : Jebao Rw-8 & Maxspect Gyre 130

First, got to work with the scaping, took out the rocks which i had cured and soaked for 6 weeks.
After multiple attempts, this is what i got.

Next was cleaning 3 bags of Grade 3 coral sand! these were similar in size to Carib sea special grade and they were ALOT cheaper.. these are the way to go in future!

Cleaning the sump.. it wasn't properly cleaned for months, return pump were choked, bag of siphorax had hell lot of ditritus.. it was a night mare cleaning it!

draining the main tank...

Photobucket ran into some problems.. will continue tomorrow!

 

[HuskerBioProf]

Sometimes even the best setups need to be changed from time to time. I think this is part of the fun.

I do like the valley, and I am planning out a similar aquascape in my current buid. I think it gives a lot of nooks and crannies for interesting appeal. These are little spaces that make it seem like you notice something new every day.

 

[evolutionZ]

Continuing...

SPS were transferred into the blue tub! along with fishes, other corals and wave makers..*



Tank is fully drained and i proceeded to remove the sand, and clean the tank wall.

20170315_120533 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Rocks went in first before the sand went in and proceed to fill up the tank back with old tank water from the blue tub.. along with about 20% newly salt mix water which is about 40L.

20170315_141227 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

The idea of this scape is to create as many caves and holes as possible for the fishes to hide, my previous floating scape almost provided no hiding spot for the fishes,

20170315_231342 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

After couple hours, the water cleared and i started glueing the SPS back in place..

20170317_193723 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

 

[evolutionZ]

So now its been about 2 weeks since the rescape, i was expecting lots of color loss in the SPS due to the immediate change but luckily, the did lost abit of color but are on the right track in coloring up!

My huge pearl berry colony lost most of its color, but is coming back quick

20170326_223337 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Well this is interesting.. i had this small frag of pink lemonade for the longest time i remembered it was totally brown and it grew nicely into a ball colony. about 2 months ago before i rescaped, i stupidly replaced all the AIO pellets in my reactor and causes a major dip in nutrients which caused my anemone to die. a part of the dead anemone flew around and stung quite a big of SPS. this colony of PL was one of it that got stung and STN partially, fragged what i could and to be surprise, it started coloring up after that! it didn't lose it color from the rescape and infact, the yellow tips are growing! colored polyps are starting to appear too.. so exciting

20170326_223349 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Most color loss were my reds.. surprisngly my miyagi tort remained pretty blue

20170326_223352 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

SSC lots its bright pastal color. hopefully i can bring it back soon

20170326_223358 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Red stag literally turned brown, its coming back to a deep red now

20170326_223406 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Pink hyacinthus*

20170326_223420 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Red planet turned purple.. strange..

20170326_223423 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Tri-color valida remained strong, infront of it u can see a hairy red millie, used to be blood red!

20170326_223438 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Red dragon was pretty brown too, but im just glad it survived!

20170326_223610 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

 

[evolutionZ]

Well im not really a fish person, but without fishes any tank would look plain right? its been a really long time since i post anything about them!*

Current stocks in my tank :

Powder Blue tang, active really cute bugger, if only i could afford a bigger tank for him!

DSC09789 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

My lovely copperband, a pity it dosn't eat pellet.. but feeds mainly on mysis shrimps.. its been 1 1/2 years since i had him and the longest i had for any copperband..*

DSC09797 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

My clownfish pair, recently bought an anemone about a week ago and they were crazy over it, started dancing and i thought im gonna see eggs.. but nope

DSC09798 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

DSC09799 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

Golden Midas, bought him more than 2 years ago before i started the floating reef.. really cute fella!

DSC09807 by V3ns0n, on Flickr

I also have a melanurus wrasse, cleaner wrasse and fairy wrasse which were hiding (probably sleeping in the sand) when i was snapping those photos.*



Finally, this is the current FTS.. Diatoms are plaguing the tank currently probably due to the silicate released by the sand/rocks.just did another 20% WC with AF probiotic salt last week, will be replacing AC and AF phos minus to help increase the absorption rate of silicate.

Current water parameters are :

kH 7.0

Ca 450

Mg 1300

K 380*

n03 0

p04 0.1 (yeap.. pretty high huh)

20170328_095659 by V3ns0n, on Flickr



Thanks for viewing!*

 

[evolutionZ]

Sometimes even the best setups need to be changed from time to time. I think this is part of the fun.

I do like the valley, and I am planning out a similar aquascape in my current buid. I think it gives a lot of nooks and crannies for interesting appeal. These are little spaces that make it seem like you notice something new every day.

Indeed! with only 1 tank to 'play' with, it gets really boring to see the same scape for more than 2 years! :lolspin: