tank setup

[brandon0350]

i have a old 20 tall fw tank sittin in my room thats been empty for almost a year. i think i would like to make a zoanthid only tank. now my question is i have never set up a zoo only tank. ive kept zoos in a mixed reef but never a zoo only tank. how different are thy than any other tank?

i was thinking 130w pc light,
remora skimmer,
and a hob filter to run carbon.

what else do you guys recomend, flow, substrate, is the lighting ok? thanks for the help brandon

 

[surfnvb7]

the only thing i cant stand about making a "seafloor" of zoanthid rocks...is they collect so much deterius/poop b/w and under the rocks.

if someone can figure out an inventive way to prevent all of this accumulation i'm all ears...

i like to keep my sand bed as open as possible, to create the greatest amount of surface area so critters can sufficiently turn it over, so there isnt huge pockets building up of "crud".

i've contemplated setting up various layers of eggcrate in front of rocks, ranging from 2-5inches high, and then just laying tons of small frags/rocks over the eggcrate so you cant see it anymore. that way sand sifting critters can get under all the zoas and attempt to clean up some of the buildup.

theres no proof of this that i know of, but i wonder if the buildup of "crud" in pockets b/w a ton of zoa rocks is contributing to some of the weird diseases we are seeing.

 

[omni2226]

One way is to use 4 or 5 inch pvc pipe cut to about 1/2 less than your sandbed. So with 6 inch sand cut the pipe into 5 inch peices.

"Screw" the peices of pipe into the sand every few inches and mount/place the rocks on the pvc. Gives the apearance of resting on the sand while still allowing sand burrowing worms and things to move around.

Or make the pvc 1/2 taller than the sand to allow full water flow around the rocks.

 

[omni2226]

Even better if you like a bare bottom is to run a small diameter pvc pipe down one corner and across to make a spraybar poiting at the front of the tank.

Use 1 inch peices of 3 or 4 inch pvc as mounts for the bottom rocks. This way all the gunk is pushed up into the water colum for easy removal by the skimmer.