Custom 20g Zoa Garden

[NYfishies]

They are crazy little animals, but I love them dearly. I have a hard time losing them though because then I want to replace right away to keep my collection full. My setup has the frag tank plumbed together so while I can keep most pests separate (amphipods make it in from the fuge ughhh) any qater quality issues translate from 1 tank to the next. I can control the lighting though so that is another plus about the FT. I run the light intensity a bit lower there.

 

Oceanbox is building me as we speak a 18" long AIO ~5g tank which my gf will make a planted tank. He is great. I would highly suggest grabbing that little frag tank he made.

[metrokat]

Vitamin C Dosing

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/186106-vitamin-c-dosing/

[NYfishies]

Vitamin C Dosing

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/186106-vitamin-c-dosing/

I have heard of this. Will read when I get home from work.

 

I have 3 or 4 frags that have a serious algae/fungus on them. Different than the brown stuff I had before that Furan-2 would loose and a toothbrush would scrape off. This new stuff I cannot get off!

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

It has been awhile since an update and the reason is because the tank has been struggling.

 

I have learned a lot over the last several months about zoas.

 

1. They are not easy. They are very delicate. Any little tiny creature that crawls on them can cause them to close and thus starve them from light.
2. They melt after months of being happy - reason - they are not in their wild enviornment where they were born. These wild ones.. they never produce babies - they just live for awhile and then realize they are in a tank in NYC and then it is time to die.
3. They are all different. Some like high light and some do not. Some like high flow and some do not. Some like different combinations of both. It takes weeks to learn this because that is how long it takes them to adjust. Having a FT to do this in is very helpful prior to placing in DT.
4. Long stalks means they are reaching for light. This is factual. It does not mean you have them in the wrong place though. For me, the Colonista snails were keeping 4 specific colonies closed for months. They never would melt. They remained closed reaching for light. Now that they have opened they have retracted and now flush against the rock. In my FT I watch open zoas reach for light. If you move them to higher light (center of FT) over time as they remain open they will retract.
5. High flow is important to prevent algae growth over the polyps.
6. High flow results in long lashes. Lashes help the zoas grab food to eat. I do not really like the look on some and I do on others. Debate is out of this one for me.
7. Amphipods will eat your injured zoas. There is no doubt about that. More annoyingly though, they crawl all over your colonies which causes the zoas to close up. When you have too many pods (copepods and others included with the addition of too many amphipods) you will find your zoas closed more than open thus starving them of light and food in the water.
8. Sexy Shrimp will eat the lashes of your zoas if they are not well fed. I have watched it happen.
9. Some zoas eat my food mix and others pay it no mind.
10. Larger polyps I consider to be "Paly's". Otherwise they are all zoa's to me (in my tank that is). I have no Nuclear Greens, Purple Monsters, etc. They scare me - they grow too big and take over. I have been trying to get rid of these Pink and Golds forever. They keep coming back! These are an example of Grandis Paly's and IMO are the true Paly's. Not for this nano.

Now the garden has turned the corner and is finally improving.

 

Our issue with Colonista snails in the DT has been controlled. Unfortunately, the only way to rid of these tiny guys is by hand so each day I pull out 10-20. After several weeks the population has begun to diminish. We added Astrea snails to the CUC to beef things up. They have cut into the food supply of the Colonista snails. Thanks Kat for the suggestion! We increased the flow quite significantly to prevent algae growth in the first place. Again, thanks Kat! As a result the zoa's are opening, stalks shortening and colors coming back. Every frag that could be removed was removed and put into the FT due to these snails (the FT does not have them). I cannot wait to start adding them back to the DT.

 

The FT is doing much better. There were 2 big problems. Amphipods and Flat Worms.

 

In order to rid of the pods we added Kat's Possum Wrasse, Banjo, to the tank and he has been feasting for the past few weeks. He will remain for a few more weeks until his job is done and then join the other fishies in the DT. In the meantime we built a lid to cover the FT.

 

I have not decided yet if he is eating the Flat Worms. They seems to be diminishing. They still crawl on the zoa's thus keeping them closed which allows algae to grow over the polyps much easier thus keeping them closed indefinitely. At this point the only way to rid of them is using a turkey baster.

 

I started dosing Potassium Nitrate (http://www.amazon.com/Spectracide-66420-Remover-1-Pound-Granules/dp/B004GVYXKC - yes it is tree stump remover lol) to raise NO₃ and PO₄₃ to sustainable levels. I could not get my levels up from 0 ppm. I cut back to 2 water changes a month, still feeding the corals a few times a week and the fish every other day. Zoa's (as well as corals) consume both NO₃ and PO₄₃ (from my understanding) so essential to the growth and color. The color has definitely popped since dosing (few weeks now). I try to keep Nitrates at 5 ppm and PO₄₃ < 10 ppm. At this point I believe my tank requires 1 ml of solution to sustain these levels. Cool stuff - check it out! Very cheap and will last years. Just need to mix with RODI and follow a plan at the start. Ask if interested.

 

As a result of dosing NO₃ I have had some algae growth on the zoa's. This can easily be removed with a turkey baster as long as you recognize the issue early. If not, hope the polyp stays alive until the algae grows to a point where it is quite thick and then the turkey baster works. The algae sort of detaches as it gets more mature on the polyp.

 

I have also been dosing Iodine to help up with color and health of any injured zao's. Normal Alk/Ca/Mag dosing as well. I still feed a mix of Acro Power (thinking of switching to Fuel), Reef Roids and Reef Chili.

 

I keep Alk ~9.5, Calcium ~400, Mag ~1300, Iodine ~0.06, Temp 77-78, NO₃ ~5, PO₄₃ ~10,

 

Here are a few shots of the current front row of the FT. These are the only zoa's I can get a clear shot with on my phone using a attachable macro lens and orange filter between the phone lens and macro lens. No editing.

 

Solar Fusion

 

Utter Chaos

Tequila Sunrise

CB Bowsers (finally getting color back)

Alpha & Omega (left) / Lunar Eclipse (right)

Alien Anti-Venom

Hallucinations (grew from 1P)

Sorry for the long winded post. I had a lot of info to share and I hope it is useful to some other zoa gardeners!

Thanks as always for following.

[metrokat]

Nice update, glad to see things are looking better.

Why are you dosing acro power though?

[NYfishies]

Nice update, glad to see things are looking better.

Why are you dosing acro power though?

 

Thanks.

 

For the amino acids. https://reefbuilders.com/2013/12/05/acropower-review/

[NYfishies]

Ordered some new salt.

 

 

Also, Smiz has a little something heading our way...

 

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

It has been awhile. I have been battling what seems to be endless problems with this tank. I have lost a lot of my zoa's, but finally have gotten the tank on the right track and things are looking good!

 

One of the issues that I ran into was I started dosing Potassium Nitrates in an effort to maintain 5-10 ppm NO3 in the system. This led to Cyano bacteria growth which covered parts of the sand, but more importantly covers most of the zoa's. As a result I found myself turkey basting twice a day. I went on a MicroBacter7 regiment that seemed to be helping, but still not enough. A skimmer was needed. As a result I needed a new sump to fit the skimmer. A local reefer built the below for me.

 

I decided to get rid of the Fuge as there just is not adequate space needed for the chaeto to properly grow and be effective. Instead I installed an oversize skimmer (Jebao Coral Box D300 DC Protein Skimmer) and will be adding a different, in sump, media reactor soon.

It took me 3 full days to plumb this thing. Living in Manhattan and finding parts made it that much more difficult. I originally bought BRASS (yes BRASS) fittings to connect the PVC to the tubing. After realizing the massive error, the thing was built and it was midnight on Sunday. The tank sat idle (every 30 min turning heaters on and off and running the 2 powerheads in each tank) for the entire day so I took the decision to run the full system with the brass while I slept. I decided to take work off the following day to replace the brass with plastic. When I woke up not 1 zoa was open and some of the snails appeared to be dying off. I shut the system down and took off to Home Depot and the LFS. Picked up some Poly Filter and Cuprisorb to clean up the copper leached into the water from the brass fittings. Then, made enough water for a 100% change. Took off Tuesday to finish plumbing and to do the water change. Ran the system with the skimmer and all for 24 hours and boom all the zoas started opening, coloring back up, lashes coming out! Not to mention I nuked the MASSIVE population of Colonista Snails which I had been battling for several months. Blessing in disguise.

Here is how things are looking now.

Lid from Smiz is totally awesome. I highly recommend!

[tsouth]

Great looking tank and i'm happy to hear things are turning around for you. Would love to check this out in person once you feel it's in a good spot. Best of luck! Take care

[NYfishies]

Great looking tank and i'm happy to hear things are turning around for you. Would love to check this out in person once you feel it's in a good spot. Best of luck! Take care

 

Thanks for the kind words! You are welcome to stop by anytime to see the tanks. Send me a PM. We live in the FIDI.

 

Just added 6-7 frags last night from my buddy Brian @ NY Coral King. First purchase in MONTHS. Things are looking up for sure!

 

I have found a new battle though - Spionid Worms, Vermetid Snails and Hair Algae. All of these will bother and eventually kill Zoa's.

 

Over the weekend I removed 5-10 Vermetid Snails (had to pull the frag off the rock and out of the tank to break these punks off).

 

I removed via crushing with tweezers probably 25-30 Spionid Worms.

 

I also did my best scraping the green and red hair algae off the plugs in my FT (none present in DT). I added a Emerald Crab and a Mexican Turbo to the FT and I think the Turbo is doing the job. Not so much the crab besides maybe some bubble algae feeding. I believe the hair algae (as well as the cyano battle I face) are a direct result of me dosing Potassium Nitrate. I have since stopped (2 weeks or so since the last addition) and with my feeding schedule my NO3 has remained between 5-10 ppm while PO4 undetectable.

 

Zoa's are so tricky to keep happy when you have so many variations. I am findning an issue with my lighting so I just lowered the intensity (after increasing over the past few weeks). While I love to see my garden in bright blues, the Zoa's seem to not like it.

 

I have also had to turn down my MP10 in my DT as it just stirs too much sand (which irritates the Zoa's). To find the perfect balance between light, flow and nutrients is a true challenge. One I have taken and not succeeded yet in! lol

[metrokat]

It's looking good, the re-boot has helped and it will still take time till you get to the thriving stage. So far so good though.

[NYfishies]

It's looking good, the re-boot has helped and it will still take time till you get to the thriving stage. So far so good though.

 

Thanks! That 100% water change was a lifesaver. The skimmer just gives it a breathe of fresh air.

 

Benny and I were talking and he suggests instead of a reactor to just do some ROX in a bag. I have ChemiPure Blue in there now which I will take out. I am fighting with some clowdy water (dosing MB7 this week). Think when I take out the ChemPure Blue I should add some Purigen along with the bag of carbon? Maybe I should just stick with ChemiPure Blue and change it out once a month?

 

On another note I have taught myself to frag and will try to get some pics up soon for a pack or 2 to sell.

[NYfishies]

Hey all,

 

Here are a few pics of the frag tank (macros and normal using phone with gel in hand filter and 100% blues). Unfortunately, I was doing some maintenance prior so a lot are closed up, but a lot are still open to see .

 

Now that I started to use my girlfriends iPhone the pics are coming out much more clear. I will start to take some more and hopefully when they are all open!

[tsouth]

Looking great man Ready to see this tank asap! Hit me up!

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

Things are coming along. Still eagerly await the time the tank finally finds its full balance.

 

The tank is currently running:

 

Salt @ 1.026

NO3 @ 17 ppm

PO4 @ undetectable

dKH @ 9 ppm

Ca @ 457 ppm

Mg @ 1440 ppm

Iodine @ 0.06 ppm

Temp @ 78 degrees

 

I am having an issue right now with PO4 being a limiting factor in the Nitrogen cycle. My bacteria is not in balance. As a result I have ordered Brightwell Aquatic's NeoPhos, Reef BioFuel and MicroBacter7. I hope that by increasing the PO4 in the tank the Zoa's will finally get the proper nutrients they are missing to strive. All other parameters I have are in check.

 

I have switched from 25% weekly water changes to twice a month. I have noticed the NO3 increase due to this, but not the PO4. I really feel like I am feeding the fish quite a bit.

 

The D300 skimmer is killing it. The thing skims the most disgusting thick poop. I am still learning when and when not to turn it back on. I did a water change today and turned the skimmer on too soon and boom in minutes the cup was nearly full. I guess I never noticed this in my IM Ghost Skimmer on my mixed reef.

 

By increasing the MP10 to ~40-45% (max I can do without waves leaving the tank) the cyano has died off for the most part. I will add some larger grain sand soon as the fine sane we have is being blown around. Once it settles we will fill in the bare areas with larger grain sand.

 

Had the pleasure of meeting Dave from Nano Box on Friday along with his wife. Totally awesome people! We will be upgrading the DUO over the DT to one of his newer models which we have as a TIDE over the FT. Cannot wait!

 

Dave was also kind enough to share his camera skills. Below is a little sneak peak!

 

Thanks for following!

 

 

 

 

[NYfishies]

Well the tank is doing pretty good. Have not had any losses for awhile now. It seems the zoa's remaining in my tank will last!

 

After battling with so many different things I believe my final obstacle is to increase the light. I am doing so slowly in an effort to not startle or bleach any of the more delicate species. Currently running at 50-55% and I think I need to get to 75% to finally have happy, colorful and growing colonies!

 

I have started a new strategy for this tank now that is is stable/mature which looks like the below:

 

• 1.25 ml of Brightwell's Reef BioFuel daily.
• 2.5 ml of Brightwell's MicroBacter7 weekly.
• 5 ml of Seachem's Aquavitro Fuel twice per week.
• BRS's Reef Chili and PolyLab's Reef Roids twice per week.
• Alk and Calcium added 24/7 to maintain 9 dKH and 400-450 Ca.
• LRS Reef Frenzy for the fish daily (heavy).
• Water change 20-25% and Filter Sock change twice per month.
• Chemi-Pure Blue Nano x4 in the sump (I may try to get off this if the first 2 bullet points do enough).
• I plan to at PolypLabs's Polyp Extender.

 

I decided to pick up a Sony A6000 camera with a 50 mm lens so pics to follow!

[teenyreef]

Following! It looks fantastic

 

I really enjoyed your writeup about zoa care, it's pretty consistent with what I've seen in my tanks. It's also interesting to me that with three different tanks, the same basic conditions give different results. My frag tank grows zoas like crazy, but they don't do nearly as well in the display tanks. I think it's due to some of the issues you mentioned with amphipods.

 

If it makes you feel any better, I made the same mistake with brass plumbing early in the life of my 4g tank. I ran for three days before I finally figured out why everything was closing up and dying. I had to do a 100% water change and replace all the sand to recover.

 

Also, from my experience, be super aggressive in controlling the vermetid snails. They're unique in that no one seems to have found anything that eats them, so the only way to get rid of them is to crush them, starve them, or suffocate them (with superglue). And they will multiply on the inaccessible parts of the rocks where you can't get to them.

 

I can't wait for pictures from your new camera!

[NYfishies]

Following! It looks fantastic

 

I really enjoyed your writeup about zoa care, it's pretty consistent with what I've seen in my tanks. It's also interesting to me that with three different tanks, the same basic conditions give different results. My frag tank grows zoas like crazy, but they don't do nearly as well in the display tanks. I think it's due to some of the issues you mentioned with amphipods.

 

If it makes you feel any better, I made the same mistake with brass plumbing early in the life of my 4g tank. I ran for three days before I finally figured out why everything was closing up and dying. I had to do a 100% water change and replace all the sand to recover.

 

Also, from my experience, be super aggressive in controlling the vermetid snails. They're unique in that no one seems to have found anything that eats them, so the only way to get rid of them is to crush them, starve them, or suffocate them (with superglue). And they will multiply on the inaccessible parts of the rocks where you can't get to them.

 

I can't wait for pictures from your new camera!

 

Thanks!

 

I plan to do a fresh write-up on zoa care soon. I have some more advice!

 

Dude the vermitid snails are a nightmare. I kill the off daily. That and not enough light are my final (I hope) obstacles to master the zoa.

 

I will take pics when I get home!

[teenyreef]

I'm with you on the vermetid snail problem! I've been able to keep them out of my frag tank by being really careful, but they have taken over the 10g tank. Unless you can take out every rock and kill every snail on the back and bottom of the rock, they just come right back.

 

When I set up the 40g tank, I'm not going to use any rocks from my existing tanks, and hopefully they'll never show up.

[NYfishies]

I'm with you on the vermetid snail problem! I've been able to keep them out of my frag tank by being really careful, but they have taken over the 10g tank. Unless you can take out every rock and kill every snail on the back and bottom of the rock, they just come right back.

 

When I set up the 40g tank, I'm not going to use any rocks from my existing tanks, and hopefully they'll never show up.

 

I will never eradicate them from this tank on my own. The only way I can see them dying off is from a lack of food and with this being a zoa garden that is not gonna happen!

 

I am playing around with some $5 filters I have together with the new camera. Below are some of the shots!

 

As you can see the zoas are still very much getting used to the light.

 

Thanks for following!

[TristanC]

Nice collection, everything is looking great! The new camera takes some pretty nice shots.

[NYfishies]

Nice collection, everything is looking great! The new camera takes some pretty nice shots.

 

Thank you for the kind words!

 

I feel in about 2 months time the stalks will shorten and they will open more fully. Just need to get the PAR up.

 

The camera will take a long time to learn. I am trying to get the shots to look as close to they do to me here as they do digitally.

[teenyreef]

 

 

I will never eradicate them from this tank on my own. The only way I can see them dying off is from a lack of food and with this being a zoa garden that is not gonna happen!

 

I am playing around with some $5 filters I have together with the new camera. Below are some of the shots!

 

As you can see the zoas are still very much getting used to the light.

 

 

All the pictures are great, but I really love the colors and perspective in these two shots.

 

Good luck with the new camera! When I started reefing, I know nothing about photography. Now it's a whole second hobby.

 

You probably already know this, but shoot in RAW and fix up the picture later, especially for white balance. It's almost impossible to fix white balance from a processed JPG image.

[NYfishies]

All the pictures are great, but I really love the colors and perspective in these two shots.

 

Good luck with the new camera! When I started reefing, I know nothing about photography. Now it's a whole second hobby.

 

You probably already know this, but shoot in RAW and fix up the picture later, especially for white balance. It's almost impossible to fix white balance from a processed JPG image.

 

Thanks man. Those 2 shots are basically what we see when we get home and it is night. We have the zoa garden first. In the back near the windows is the planted tank. Around the corner from the zoa garden is the mixed reef.

 

We then have 2 grow lights (the red) on certain types of plants. Sarah keeps a ton of plants in the house so I figured why not give her some LED's as well?

 

As for the camera I am a total noob. Dave @ Nano Box inspired me with his work and advice. He led me to the camera we own today and after just a week with it I am still very much lost. When you speak in terms of RAW i would not even have a software to open this with let alone know how to shoot in it. lol! This is a brand new hobby. One which I question whether or not I have the time or money for with the dedication I have to glass boxes of water. Sarah, will love the camera as much as I will for different purposes. That makes it worth the investment!

[NYfishies]

Hey guys,

 

The tanks are doing great now that I have been keeping my parameters at the below:

 

Salt: 1.026

Temp: 78

Alk: 8-8.5 dKH

Ca: 350-450 ppm

Mg: 1300-1400 ppm

NO3: 10-20 ppm

PO4: 0.1-0.2 ppm

 

I used Brightwell's NeoPhos to bring my Phos content up from undetectable (no good for zoa's). Then, I use Brightwell's Reef Biofuel to control the NO3/PO4 levels by introducing Carbon to balance the nitrogen cycle.

 

I have several more Brightwell products on the way to start dosing including:

 

PhytoChrom

Reef Blizzard – S

Vitamarin – C

Coral Amino

Koral Color

These will be in addition to what I already dose (Polyp-Booster and Fuel alternating daily).

I will also begin using Continuum's Reef Basis Sustain as soon as it arrives to dose Iodine in a much more controlled way for such a small tank (it is time released).

 

Here are some iPhone macro shots using a gel filter of some new pickup from RAP NY and from another hobbiest.

 

Krak God

Unknown (some type of Orange Maul I think)

Shazams

Wowsers

Acid Reflux

RR Pink Diamond

Emeralds On Fire

Fairy Tales

Asskraks

Here are some terrible shots using the Sony A6000 of the frag tank. I don't know why they are so blurry. I will take some more this week since I chose to take these after I did a water change and a lot were not open! These just do not do it justice!

The display tank is finally starting to turn the corner and grow so I am slowly moving frags from the FT to the DT. I hope to some starter garden shots soon!!