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

[zachtos]

right - I re-arranged a lot of these corals to hide the dead undergrowth. My DIY LED fixture is illuminating about 2 feet of the far right, and 400W MH is covering the rest of the tank.

center - I have a hard time keeping the montipora zone happy. I think the light/flow is too high

left - something about corals on the left side of the tank... they tend to die on the top side... I think it's a low flow issue, hoping that changes now that I re-arranged a bit. I put a bunch of palmer blue milli in place of the now dead green ORA milli.

If I had to pick 3 corals for my next tank, they would be the Red planet, peach/green milli and palmer blue milli. They are true red/green/blue. They hold color well and are fairly fast growers. A few orange/purple montis would round out the color wheel. True yellows are still non existent.

I'm very burnt out on the hobby as you can see. Nowadays I just do water changes and try to keep the tank alive. I got rid of my office tank and anemone tank to help curb the cost/maintenance. I still don't know if I want to have a tank at my next home. A lot of the 'magic' is gone. I rarely learn anything new about the hobby anymore, or meet others that are advanced enough to share knowledge with. The money and time investment is too great now. I do have a daughter on the way, so maybe that will renew interest as she grows up.

 

[Don Monteith]

Don't give up now! The magic will come back. You have put waaaaayyyyyyy too much time and money into this. I go through stages where all I want to do is sell it all and be done with it. But then after a while I am back on the boards and the interest comes back. You have an awesome tank. You've worked too hard. Just put it on cruise control for a while and take a break. Maybe write a book and share your knowledge!!

Don

 

[erics3000]

any updates on your little one or the tank

 

[zachtos]

I'm extremely bored with the tank nowadays and do not do a whole lot with it.

palmer blue milli

cactus

palmer blue

red planet

where all my time has been going as of late

right side

center

left side

full tank shot as of 3/18/13. Still running reeflux12k 400w mh x 3 and a LED fixture on the far right side (cree 36 leds). Doing carbon dosing (vodka), small refugium, live rock, calcium reactor, skimmer w/ bubble blaster 4000?, GACarbon, 1.5 WC per month at 60G each, running about 400g water after displacement. Not much else going on. Very finicky fish still, but mostly just on cruise control for years now.

 

[ipaul]

very nice tank

 

[erics3000]

Congrats again on your little one. I hear you with cruise controll and life but wow your tank looks great. Thanks for the update.

 

[zachtos]

I'm going to be tearing down my tank because I am relocating. If any of my past subscribers knows of someone that would be interested in anything in my system, please let me know.

The big ticket items are the tank itself w/ stand and live rock. I'll work on selling off the corals and fish in for sale threads shortly.

 

[erics3000]

Wow. Crazy!!!!!!!!! I just read your post. I didn't know I was the last one to post on your thread. The real Crazy thing is I have just accepted a new position and will be relocating my self. I am still trying to decide if I want to get rid of all my livestock. Hope all goes well and good luck with your move.

 

[zachtos]

Yep thanks. I hope to setup a system again one day after I buy a house again. I just want to rent and ride this out for a while. Hoping it turns into a full on career.