Zachtos’ unique 240G reef w/ 375G sump/fuge-growout/RDSB/aggro tank
- Thread starter zachtos
- Start date
zachtos
Active member
Yep, I will post new photos soon enough. I'm waiting for my corals to color up a bit more and have changed a few things such as reduced feedings, vodka dosing, and coral feeding to try and enhance colors on top of the lighting upgrade. Colors are coming back slowly but surely. I plan to start releasing periodic video updates rather then photos.
zachtos
Active member
tank dive video
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I plan to start releasing video updates now and then in addition to normal text/photo updates. Here is 1 of 3 videos I made today. 2 more to come.
zachtos
Active member
Tour of my display tank
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zachtos
Active member
Sump Room Tour
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Here is the last update I will post for a while. I'm trying to take the tank ultra low nutrient (ULN) so I can color up the corals and finally end that blasted valonia/bubble algae infestation. I'll be dosing MB7 and VSV (microbacter7 bacteria and vodka/sugar/vinegar carbon source for bacteria) in order to accomplish these goals. I'm already 0 nitrates, so it should not be too hard of a battle. I will get around to posting another PAR diagram sometime soon.
zachtos
Active member
Just posting a 1 year post crash growth update. Everything is great. The tank is slowly filling in, no problems. I have been dosing vodka and MB7 (10ml / 5ml) every day. Keeps my NO3/PO3 at 0ppm. I keep a low Kh of 7-8dkh now to prevent tip burning as a precaution. The Ca runs a bit high at 475ppm and mg try to stay at 1250ppm. My fish have been very shy for the last year. I am planning to add an achilles tang again, just to get some life back in the display. Everyone hides all the time! My corals love the flow from the storm drive, which is going strong and totally maintenance free. My water heater system is fine, no problems there either. My electric bill has been $150-$170 non stop since installing all my post crash upgrades, and that's with 400W MH.
full tank shot january 2010
emperor angel is reaching maturity
full tank shot january 2010
emperor angel is reaching maturity
zachtos
Active member
new addition from our annual frag swap, rose bubble tip anemone (RBTA). I'm hoping it stays put in the middle and will like the 10-30,000 gph surges... I think I have enough light for this guy now w/ my 400W MH reeflux 12k's. I'm planning to switch to reeflux 10K's next time I do a bulb change too, a bit too blue for me now.
zachtos
Active member
I'm told it was a rose. I like the color anyways, that's under 425nm actinic only, the reeflux 12k is not on yet this morn.
I'll probably leave the info on the pump as what you see in the thread. I was going to build/sell them for people, but the demand wasn't high enough, and I'm not really sure that I have enough time to do that for anyone. I am considering making a digital controller version of it. I love my storm drive.
I'll probably leave the info on the pump as what you see in the thread. I was going to build/sell them for people, but the demand wasn't high enough, and I'm not really sure that I have enough time to do that for anyone. I am considering making a digital controller version of it. I love my storm drive.
zachtos
Active member
2010 june grow out update
2010 june grow out update
full tank shot - angled
left side
left side - closer
middle
middle - closer
right side
right side closer
Display refugium has become a fuge/anemone tank now.
The New rose bubble tip anemone is about 18" across when fully expanded. It's a beast and had to be moved to the refugium display tank. It seems to prefer the very low flow and reduced lighting levels (400gph vs 20,000gph and 150 PAR vs 600 PAR)
Corals are growing out well. Much faster then T5's ever did by approximately 30-50%. I still have very vew colonies by comparison, maybe 20 colonies vs 75 before the crash. I like giving them more room to grow out now, but it's more bland that way. I did not enjoy trimming back corals constantly when the tank was crowded, too much hassle. Fish still are hiding all the time. I miss my old tank when they were out all the time... Tank is still on cruise control w/ no real problems aside from a potential flatworm problem that's been around for 4 months now w/ no real significance.
changes:
-replaced reeflux 400W SE MH w/ XM10K 400W MH SE
-removed sulfur denitrator
-removed 40G remote deep sand bed
-removed broken ozone reactor equipment
-discontinued feeding of golden pearls and lighter feedings
-total water volume after displacement is now about 425G vs 500G
The XM10K is a bit too yellow for me, but at $200 for 3 bulbs, we are stuck with this for the next year. The PAR is much higher then the reeflux 12K though, around 1200PAR peaks vs 900PAR peaks (2.25X stronger then the T5's ever were).
I decided to minimize on my filtration system. I want to get as minimal as possible so I know what I really need for the next system. My nitrates and phosphates are still 0 after removing the RDSB and sulfur denitrator. A combination of vodka/sugar/vinegar w/ MB7 dosing, skimmer, macro algae exportation, reduced fish feedings and water changes are keeping N/P in line.
Carbon dosing / VSV (vodka sugar vinegar) is still being dosed w/ good results. I put about 9ml/day VSV and < 1 ml/day of Micro bacter 7 by brightwell aquatics. My coral colors are very light because of this, and I probably need to ease up to get them to color up deeper.
current Issues:
- flat worms, not coral eating, but annoying
- green hairy mushrooms, grow too fast, annoying
- hippo tang and emperor angel hide ALL THE DAMN TIME!
- small schools of fish die off slowly, I give up on this, I don't feed frequently enough to support them.
To combat the flat worms I used flatworm exit. It did not go well, the corals bleached out for only a week, odd, but the flatworms even after 2 heavy dosings, came back. I bought a leopard wrasse, but he does not seem to be able to keep up. I stopped dosing golden pearls because I read they can eat in addition to using light to grow, so I imagine they are only making things worse. My only plans are to hope they go away on their own, or buy another wrasse and hope for the best.
Mushrooms in the tank are a nusiance now. I'm tempted to put of 'free mushroom if you remove them' posts at michiganreefers. I never even put them in the tank, they were a hitchhiker that spread.
current Maintenance plan:
-every day feed pellets
-every other day feed 1/2 sheet nori
-twice/week feed frozens
-10 cups/carbon per month ran in sump
-60G WC every 2-3 weeks (15%)
I spend about 1-2 hours per week dealing with the tank. Not bad.
near future plans/goals:
- add achilles tang again
- add another leopard wrasse to combat flatworms?
- start up phyto plankton culturing again now that nitrates under control
- change back to reeflux 12K or 10K after XM10K's get old or tank grows out more
- when it gets close to moving time, I will start to build my own salt mix. I put that project on hold until I'm willing to risk losing corals (which I will likely have to start over nearly from scratch when moving time comes, or leave the hobby as finances may dictate)
2010 june grow out update
full tank shot - angled
left side
left side - closer
middle
middle - closer
right side
right side closer
Display refugium has become a fuge/anemone tank now.
The New rose bubble tip anemone is about 18" across when fully expanded. It's a beast and had to be moved to the refugium display tank. It seems to prefer the very low flow and reduced lighting levels (400gph vs 20,000gph and 150 PAR vs 600 PAR)
Corals are growing out well. Much faster then T5's ever did by approximately 30-50%. I still have very vew colonies by comparison, maybe 20 colonies vs 75 before the crash. I like giving them more room to grow out now, but it's more bland that way. I did not enjoy trimming back corals constantly when the tank was crowded, too much hassle. Fish still are hiding all the time. I miss my old tank when they were out all the time... Tank is still on cruise control w/ no real problems aside from a potential flatworm problem that's been around for 4 months now w/ no real significance.
changes:
-replaced reeflux 400W SE MH w/ XM10K 400W MH SE
-removed sulfur denitrator
-removed 40G remote deep sand bed
-removed broken ozone reactor equipment
-discontinued feeding of golden pearls and lighter feedings
-total water volume after displacement is now about 425G vs 500G
The XM10K is a bit too yellow for me, but at $200 for 3 bulbs, we are stuck with this for the next year. The PAR is much higher then the reeflux 12K though, around 1200PAR peaks vs 900PAR peaks (2.25X stronger then the T5's ever were).
I decided to minimize on my filtration system. I want to get as minimal as possible so I know what I really need for the next system. My nitrates and phosphates are still 0 after removing the RDSB and sulfur denitrator. A combination of vodka/sugar/vinegar w/ MB7 dosing, skimmer, macro algae exportation, reduced fish feedings and water changes are keeping N/P in line.
Carbon dosing / VSV (vodka sugar vinegar) is still being dosed w/ good results. I put about 9ml/day VSV and < 1 ml/day of Micro bacter 7 by brightwell aquatics. My coral colors are very light because of this, and I probably need to ease up to get them to color up deeper.
current Issues:
- flat worms, not coral eating, but annoying
- green hairy mushrooms, grow too fast, annoying
- hippo tang and emperor angel hide ALL THE DAMN TIME!
- small schools of fish die off slowly, I give up on this, I don't feed frequently enough to support them.
To combat the flat worms I used flatworm exit. It did not go well, the corals bleached out for only a week, odd, but the flatworms even after 2 heavy dosings, came back. I bought a leopard wrasse, but he does not seem to be able to keep up. I stopped dosing golden pearls because I read they can eat in addition to using light to grow, so I imagine they are only making things worse. My only plans are to hope they go away on their own, or buy another wrasse and hope for the best.
Mushrooms in the tank are a nusiance now. I'm tempted to put of 'free mushroom if you remove them' posts at michiganreefers. I never even put them in the tank, they were a hitchhiker that spread.
current Maintenance plan:
-every day feed pellets
-every other day feed 1/2 sheet nori
-twice/week feed frozens
-10 cups/carbon per month ran in sump
-60G WC every 2-3 weeks (15%)
I spend about 1-2 hours per week dealing with the tank. Not bad.
near future plans/goals:
- add achilles tang again
- add another leopard wrasse to combat flatworms?
- start up phyto plankton culturing again now that nitrates under control
- change back to reeflux 12K or 10K after XM10K's get old or tank grows out more
- when it gets close to moving time, I will start to build my own salt mix. I put that project on hold until I'm willing to risk losing corals (which I will likely have to start over nearly from scratch when moving time comes, or leave the hobby as finances may dictate)
zachtos
Active member
1.5 year post tank crash photo update:
recent additions:
-achilles tang
losses:
-cleaner wrasses
-blue starfish
updates
-setup a 5 gallon deep sand bed in the sump
-no longer using ozone, sulfur denitrator or 30G remote deep sand bed
-still dosing vodka,sugar,vinegar,vitaminC, amino acid powder, pottasium chloride, magnesium chloride, lugol's solution,
-75G refugium has turned more into a anemone and low light softie tank, still grow macro algae in it a bit but the yellow tang and urchin eat it faster then it can grow
-nitrates/phosphates still running 0ppm
-no problems or maintenance w/ the storm drive yet
*Future tank will be glass and dose Ca, Alk, Mg w/ a three part doser. Tired of the Ca Reactor!
My Rose bubble tip anemone has engulfed my 75G tank
Full tank shot poorly focused
center tank shot (montipora island)
right side of the tank, mostly millis
left side of the tank, mostly millis and digis
Emperor angel peaking out
Hippo tang doing his thing
I'll post more photos later this week I took for those that still follow my log.
recent additions:
-achilles tang
losses:
-cleaner wrasses
-blue starfish
updates
-setup a 5 gallon deep sand bed in the sump
-no longer using ozone, sulfur denitrator or 30G remote deep sand bed
-still dosing vodka,sugar,vinegar,vitaminC, amino acid powder, pottasium chloride, magnesium chloride, lugol's solution,
-75G refugium has turned more into a anemone and low light softie tank, still grow macro algae in it a bit but the yellow tang and urchin eat it faster then it can grow
-nitrates/phosphates still running 0ppm
-no problems or maintenance w/ the storm drive yet
*Future tank will be glass and dose Ca, Alk, Mg w/ a three part doser. Tired of the Ca Reactor!
My Rose bubble tip anemone has engulfed my 75G tank
Full tank shot poorly focused
center tank shot (montipora island)
right side of the tank, mostly millis
left side of the tank, mostly millis and digis
Emperor angel peaking out
Hippo tang doing his thing
I'll post more photos later this week I took for those that still follow my log.
Last edited:
carlosec83
New member
Everything looks much better.... good to know you stayed in the hobby..... Read through your entire thread...... Great work to get it back running
zachtos
Active member
angle shot of the right half of the tank
Lawn mower blenny resting after a hard day of eating
blue tipped stag, yellow humilus, ora blue/purple, cactus monti, orange digi
rose mille, peach/green milli, palmer blue mile, orange digi
rose mille 1.5 year
peach/green mille 1.5year
ora flower petal monti, green monti that wont turn green, orange monti, blue chalice, grape monti, strawberry field monti
palmer blue mille at 1year
zachtos
Active member
2 Years after the big tank crash. Things are going very well. Here are some macro photography shots for you to enjoy. Tank is now at fragging point with very little room for new corals.
Rose Milli
Blue Milli - ORA
Peach/Green Milli (not ORA nathan green!) - $10
Sunset Milli
Dark Red Milli
Palmer Blue Milli (slow grower, deeper blue than a ORA blue)
unknown milli
Yellow Humilis
Rose Milli
Blue Milli - ORA
Peach/Green Milli (not ORA nathan green!) - $10
Sunset Milli
Dark Red Milli
Palmer Blue Milli (slow grower, deeper blue than a ORA blue)
unknown milli
Yellow Humilis
