Zachtos’ unique 240G reef w/ 375G sump/fuge-growout/RDSB/aggro tank

[erics3000]

Cool...I always look forward to your updates.

 

[zachtos]

ozone reactor parts laid out

inside the reactor, at the top there is a drain plug, the carbon bag sits in here

completed ozone reactor. It is filled with bioballs to slow down the ozone bubbles and increase reaction time. The ozone bubbles out of an airstone at the bottom of the reactor, up through the bioballs, and then out of the tee at the top it flows throgh a bag of carbon, and the excess ozone can escape through the carbon into the air, the water is ejected back into the tank down a 1" pipe. The system is run by a maxijet and pushes around 100gph.

I did change the air pump to a much stronger 7.5W tetra 96W-2 deepwater pump because I could smell ozone in the house. I no longer smell any ozone whatsoever, because the reactor is working fine.

reactor in my sump. I am dripping my sulfur reactor effluent into the top in an attempt to stop the buildup of that white slime that comes out of it.

before pics of tank at 150 ORP

It is about 3 days now with the ozone reactor and 250mg w/o an air dryer cranking away into my setup non stop. The tank will NOT go above 300 ORP with the current setup. I am thinking I must either dry the air w/ silicon beads... OR, buy another ozone generator for another $100. I am leaning towards the extra generator because baking silcone beads is just one more piece of maintenance, that I AM NOT going to add to the pile. I would rather waste 15W of power then waste an hour every other weekend baking beads, that's just stupid.

Any feedback is welcome.

My new macro shots will be coming as soon as I get a chance!

 

[melev]

You should resize those pictures so we have a reason to look at them.

Your reef is looking good. Lots of GSP for a background.

 

[Reefer Brian]

thanks for the update, a little hard to see with the huge pics.

 

[zachtos]

Alright, Here are my new macrophotography shots using my new Olympus SW 1050 camera. (cheaper then buying a macro lens, and better IMO) (Supermacro setting, 10MP set to fine compression, auto ISO/aperture/F-stops using the camera's built in underwater shoot mode). No, I can not identify most of my own corals. I know generalizations like, stag, mili, monit, encrusting, tabling, and that's about it. Feel free to try and name any if you feel up to it. I will begin selling many of these in the near future and I will be willing to trade if anyone is in the mid-michigan area. This is the first installment of photos I will put up. I'll add another 10 or so each couple days. I have 70 photos and will release 10 at a time. Enjoy.

PS. I know how to size pictures properly now, since photobucket let's us have much higher quality photos now!

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290001.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290002.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290005.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290008.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290009.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290010.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290013.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290014.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290015.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290016.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

 

[zachtos]

Here is series #2 of 7 in my planned photo posts. enjoy, happy new year!

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290017.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290018.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290019.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290020.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290021.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290023.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290024.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290025.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290026.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290028.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

 

[zachtos]

Here is series 3 of 7 photo updates I am posting. Enjoy.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290029.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290030.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290031.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290032.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290033.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290034.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290035.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290036.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290037.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290038.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

 

[Goodwin9]

Your pictures are absolutely awesome! :thumbsup:

 

[zachtos]

Here is series 4 of 7 photo updates I am posting. Enjoy.
=========
<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/P1030091.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290039.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290040.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290041.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290043.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290044.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290046.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290047.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290048.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290049.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

 

[zachtos]

Here is series 5 of 7 in the macro photography photo updates. Enjoy.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290050.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290051.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290053.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290054.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290055.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290056.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290057.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290058.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290059.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290060.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

 

[zachtos]

Here is series 6 of 7 in the macro photography photo updates. Enjoy.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290062.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290064.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290066.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290067.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290072.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290076.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290075.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290068.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290073.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/PC290065.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

 

[TandN]

tank looks great Z. You should work on the white balance on the camera to bring the corals colors threw better

 

[zachtos]

Final photo update of the series for a while. The tank is just getting jam packed with SPS and I find it to be burden trimming them back to stop from stinging eachother to death.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1292.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
center tank shot

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1289.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
left side tank shot

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1286.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
right side tank shot

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1296.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
Angled shot of the right side. Notice all the green star polyps on the background now. They have really filled in.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1302.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
Recent side shot

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1305.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
Recent photo of my refugium display.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1307.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
My new emperor angelfish in the refugium tank. A very healthy eater.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1369.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>
A recent shot of my equipment room in the basement. The skimmer and calcium reactor are custom built. The only thing I did was add another recirculation pump to the skimmer and mesh mod it. I get about 1 gallon of dark tea colored skimmate each week or so. You can also see the phosban reactor/carbon chamber and water storage trash cans in the photo.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1372.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
Another photo of the equipment room. One tank is used for the frag tank, the other half is another refugium, and the one below is the sump. The trash can is the remote deep sand bed. The two PVC cylinders in the black tub are the sulfur reactor and ozone reactor.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1367.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
I also have a 15 gallon tank full of phyto plankton. I go through it fast now.

________________
Additions:

-1 emporer angel in refugium tank
-1 scopas tang in frag tank
-1 copperband butterfly fish

________________
Losses:

-4 or 5 SPS colonies were killed by some kind of rapid tissue necrosis outbreak. I'm not sure what caused this. I stopped dosing vodka, moved 2 of 3 urchins out of the tank and started performing 20% water changes weekly for a 7 week schedule. The coral responed to this positively, unlike my pocket book. I will make this a new yearly routine, and just drop back down to 12% weekly water changes soon. I have not seen anymore RTN since these changes *knock on wood*
-1 cleaner shrimp... dunno why.

________________
Equipment/husbandry changes:

- Growing 15 gallons of phytoplankton at a time now
- Created batch 3 of frozen food mixture (shrimp, salmon, mussells w/ garlic, selco, green algae powder?)
- now dosing ozone using a reactor, deep water air pump and 2 - 200mg/hr ozone generators
- No longer dosing vodka (not sure if this is compatible w/ sulfur reactors?)
- I now feed 1 sheet of nori to the tangs daily by folding it up and putting it on a clip w/ some gutter guard mesh. I find this keeps the nori in the tank for several hours instead of several minutes. The tangs pick at it more slowly.
-I'll be changing my T5 lighting pattern again soon. It will be 6 ati blu plus (20K), 2 GE 3500K, 2 GE 6500K, and 2 ati blu special (12K). This will be a very high PAR setup to get my growth rate back up high for the year.


Issues
________________
-dinoflagellates. I Believe they are gone again, but so are nearly 90% of my snails and emerald crabs. Have not decided if I want to replace my snails and crabs or not because my nitrates are climbing again.
-aptasia. The copperband butterfly wiped out 90% of my problematic aptasia. I see a small outbreak coming back as of late though.
-I want to get two cleaner gobies again. I loved them. But I have to solve the issue of them getting into the overflows. They are so tiny. I lost 3 that way in a year, and once they are in the sump, you can never capture them again.
-Nitrates are climbing to 10ppm again since I stopped the vodka dosing. The sulfur reactor output is around 1ppm but not stoping the increase. I am cutting feeding in half to curb this hopefully.
-rose bubble tipped anemone is still not happy. It was doing great for a few months, now it's crawling back into the rocks? Irratating, I will likely not do an anemone in this tank again, too full anyways.

________________
Paramaters:
8-9 dkh alk
425-450ppm calc
8.2-8.4 ph
1250-1350ppm mg
5-10ppm nitrate (still fighting to get to 0)
78-79F steady
1.025sg salinity
290 ORP (wont budge even w/ dual ozone generators and a reactor!?)

Notes:
________________
**I recently did a MAJOR revision to the coral layout in the tank. I clipped out nearly half of all my monti poras and moved a lot of frags over to the left side of the tank to make it more colorful. I'm trying to stop some of the coral stinging/fighting by relocation and also trying to make more room for more coral, like an idiot. I think I really can't fit anything into the tank anymore. I need a bigger tank!

 

[zachtos]

disaster - this is it

 

[michika]

Absolutely brutal. I really hope that more recovers from this. Glad to hear about the propane heaters, they sound like an amazing investment for large systems.

 

[MrSquid]

I saw your disaster thread before I saw this one. It was heartbreaking to read it - and it's even worse after seeing your pics.

I really hope some of your corals pull through for you - everything looked awesome.

I feel your pain - my 125 leaked this summer. Know that while it doesn't seem like it now, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The corals that do pull through won't look the same for a while - some even a long while, but eventually they'll bounce back.

My thoughts are with you and all your critters - I'll be following for updates.

 

[zachtos]

Trajedy Struck this last week after a mistake during a new project led to the crash of my entire reef. The tank ended up having the entire contents of a hotwater heater dumped into it, followed by hundreds of gallons of icy cold tap water until I woke up to discover the incident. My basement was filled with water and I was jolted awake to realize it wasn't a nightmare when I received a painful shock upon stepping into the water from a circuit that did not blow... Long story short, I saved the majority of my fish, but every coral has been lost. (zoanthids pending). Results of this catastrophe are posted below.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1006.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
the devestation

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1007.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
the tank now

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1008.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
the tank now

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1001.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
the first few hours, the corals seemed as if they could make it, but to no avail.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1002.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
colors faded, but did not survive

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1003.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
gallons of liquid coral being skimmed each hour

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1004.jpg" border="0" height="800" width="600"></img>
years of work, fit into a bucket

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1000.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
first to die

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/Tank%20Crash%2009/small_1005.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
a tank crash is not for the faint of heart, my girlfriend shed a tear for her favorite fish
-unlike others, I will not hide the ugly side to a mistake

After I calmed down, I decided to call reefkeeping friends to come help. They helped me bring the salinity and temperature back to normal within 4 hours. All of the fish that were laying on their sides began showing life again. The coral on the other hand, was exposed to hypo salinity and 50F water for far, far too long.

Current state of affairs:
-total SPS loss, all green star polyps are gone, all inverts, anemones, foxface rabit fish and my coveted achilles tang are all dead. My ammonia was 4ppm as of last night. (down from 8ppm the day prior). I'm experiencing a mini-cycle and I'm not sure what will happen. The only thing I can do is sit and watch. Once the cycle is complete, I will begin to perform 25% water changes as fast as I can across a month until I bring the water to 80% purity.
-This of course, had to happen right before our yearly frag swap in Michigan. I had a large tank of frags ready to sell. Instead, I went to the swap and sat at my empty table.

What hurt the most:
-losing 2 years of solid growth
-losing the achilles tang, it took 6 months to find him, and he was our favorite fish, so active
-losing approximately $1000 out of pocket for first time frag purchases, fish, inverts and salt to refill.

The Silver Lining:
-Many members from Michigan reefers have offered to help re-stock my tank with SPS and I have a member baby-sitting frags I picked up from the swap.
-I can now re-organize my tank so I will not have such a maintenance nightmare with all the corals touching eachother.
-I can enjoy the growing stages again

The Future:
-After much debate, I decided I should indeed try again, as I did not kill the coral from negligence, but only an accident. I love the hobby too much and have spent too much money to throw in the towel yet. (not to mention I don't have kids yet, so I should enjoy this while I still have time) I plan to restock using only millepora and montipora caps as they do very well in my tank and provide the most color from a distance compared to other corals. I will also try to grow a GSP wall again over time. I'm going to keep corals atleast 10-12" apart so they have plenty of room to grow out. I will not add any troublesome creatures like anemones, LPS or mushrooms that will get in the way of my SPS growth.

*The project that I screwed up on in question, was the installation of a natural gas operated heating element system for the tank. I used a glued fitting on PEX flexible tubing instead of a compression fitting. I did not know that was wrong until it was too late. I will post this natural gas heater in a seperate thread and also here. It is very strong and much cheaper then my expensive electric heaters.

 

[token]

My thoughts are with you. I am very glad you are going to continue. I had an incident not unlike yours, with the same results, from an equipment failure.

Best wishes on the recovery!!

 

[melev]

I'm glad to hear you are getting some love from your club members. Such devastating losses are very tough to swallow.

Will you be at the Midwest Conference in March?

 

[zachtos]

I wanted to post a quick warning guide to other as a reminder/suggestion list to prevent catastrophes.
-Make reefkeeping friends nearby that can help out in case of an emergency
-Stock enough salt AND water to perform a 50% water change in case of emergency
-Keep your Frag tank plumbed separately from your system (I will setup mine so it can share the water supply by turning a valve, and then close it off after I change out the water to segregate the system)
-Keep plenty of buckets and towels on hand. A utility pump to drain water is a good idea too.
-Keep your durso standpipes clean (check the air holes)
-Ranco temperature controllers should be used for all heaters as the built in thermostats always fail
-Check all of your water pipe fittings for a strong bond and make sure you use proper fittings for PEX
-Install an overflow alarm sensor on the floors near the tank (Similar to a fire alarm, I will be designing one of these in the future)
-Make sure you have GFI breakers and outlets (I would have started a fire when my basement flooded if the heater circuit didn't trip as water was spraying all over it)
*better yet, replace your durso standpipes with the new silent style pipe system by BeanAnimal