Custom 20g Zoa Garden

[NYfishies]

Hey guys,

 

Still waiting for the frag tank to recover from the deep clean. Most of the zoas are open, but not enough to be picture worthy!

 

I have continued ramping the lights with the goal of getting both to 100%. It is a very slow process as the delicate zoas will burn very easily, but I have several still reaching for light. Patience!

 

I think I lost my Rainbow Hornets to fungus - I cannot find them. Super bummed about that!

 

Today I added a fresh CUC to the tank. John @ Reef Cleaners hooked it up as usual. Added 7 Florida Ceriths to the DT, 2 Fuzzy Chiton to the FT (hair algae), 6 Limpets in the DT (diatoms) and 7 Nassarius Vibex to the DT (stir that sand). I am hoping this combo will eliminate both the brown hair algae in the FT and the diatoms in the DT.

 

I also added a 3rd Leak Detector next to the FT. For some reason I have lately had an issue where the DT fills slower than the FT after the pump has been off and it causes an issue with the FT drain. It is like an air bubble develops in the PVC and prevents water from flowing down. Once the DT fills and starts draining the FT follows. I cannot seem to figure out what the deal is.

 

I hope to take some pics this weekend if things start perking up!

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

No update on the tank itself as we are in SoCal ahead of MACNA! I did want to share something totally awesome though. After learning about the App called Alfred which lets you turn an old phone into a WIFI camera I decided we needed more. After doing some research I decided to by the following:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-HDSeries-Wireless-Surveillance-IPM-721S/dp/B017L1JOX4

 

For $75 and a pain in the butt to setup you will be extremely happy with the results.

 

Below is a screenshot of Internet Explorer connected to the camera back in NYC. It is fully controllable from here. I can pan/tilt/zoom. It has nightvision, HD, audio all of which is also fully controllable from the APP on your phone.

 

 

Here is a shot of the APP.

 

 

At the moment it is just sitting on my table, but if this thing was mounted somewhere out of the way it would be amazing. This combined with the APEX and good friends nearby gives serious comfort!

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

I have been slowly moving more and more zoas from the frag tank to the display. I wait until I can frag at least 2 polyps to keep for grow-out in the frag tank.

 

I am having 2 problems right now. My frag tank has 2 forms of algae. One is a brown hair algae that is relatively easy to remove, but time consuming. The other is potentially byopsis or another form of green algae the forms long firm strings. This is a pain and the only effective way I have found is removing all of the frag plug and superglue the rest.

 

I have fed this tank heavy for 2 months now. Aminos and phyto daily. Reef Roids / Reef Chili twice a week. Fish are fat as can be on LRS nano. I cut back water changes to twice a month. Light runs 10 hours a day with almost 100% blues and 30-35% whites for 4 hours of that.

 

The display tank does not show any signs of algae. Still has diatoms on the sand which I vacuum once or twice a month and stir twice a week.

 

The tank is running 0.32 ppm PO4 and 13 ppm NO3. If i follow the Redfield Ratio of 106:16:1 (C:N:P) and divide my NO3 (13 ppm) by 16 then I figure a balance PO4 would be ~0.81 ppm. With that being said I believe my PO4 is limiting, but the algae does not think so.

 

I now believe (through the guidance of a good friend ) that I have overfed the tank aminos, phyto, reef roids / chili and LRS nano reef frenzy.

 

I am going to cut back the aminos to once a week still alternating between the 3 brands.

 

I will try Phyto once a week.

 

I am going to use Reef Roids / Reef Chili as I see my PO4 level drops too fast. I really am not sure zoas care so much about it like acans, favias, mushrooms and other soft corals do.

 

The fish will be fed a daily diet.

 

All this combined with a doubled down CUC in the frag tank together with my manual removal will hopefully solve my frag tank woes.

 

My display tank is still acclimating to the 100% blues and 35% whites combined with the light being raised a bit. Some of the colonies are half closed whiles others are happy.

 

Anybody think I should try to use BioFuel as a carbon source to help lower NO3 and PO4?

The tank is running 0.32 ppm PO4 and 13 ppm NO3.

[drgibby]

What aminos do you use? Ive thought about adding that to the routine but haven't looked into it to much yet.

[NYfishies]

What aminos do you use? Ive thought about adding that to the routine but haven't looked into it to much yet.

 

I use Brightwell's Coral Amino, PolypLab's Polyp-Booster and AquaVitro's Fuel (I use AcroPower instead of Fuel in my mixed reef).

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

It has been several days since I have not fed the tank anything besides LRS for the fish (half as much as I used too, but I supplement with spot pellets feeding). I can honestly say things look much better in the frag tank. At the same time as cutting dosing and feeding (still dose alk, ca and mg) I added even more CUC to the frag tank. I think both have really helped. I continue to manually remove the hair algae, but not nearly as much.

 

I have gone back to weekly water changes (25%) for this month. I plan to do 4 total (halfway done).

 

My PO4 and NO3 are now quite low. Kat has suggested that the algae is likely consuming what is in the tank. I think she is right. As hard as I worked to "dirty" the water by dosing and dosing I am going to leave it be - watch the corals - stay the course and hope to beat the algae. Only then will I try to raise the PO4 and NO3 to detectable levels.

 

Enough talk!

[NYfishies]

Hey all,

 

I calibrated my Milwaukee Refractometer tonight and found that it was off by 0.002 which means my salinity is 1.024 rather than 1.026 as I had thought. I will try to raise that to 1.026 over the next few water changes.

 

I have also adjusted my light schedule to represent a more natural curve. I believe about a third of my zoa's are suffering from too much light. It is not a situation where they are bleaching, but instead they are not fully opening. The rest are doing great.

 

I am still battling with some hair algae in the frag tank. It has been since 9/20/16 that I have dosed/fed anything besides LRS for the fish. I have planned another 3 weeks and about every 3rd day I will continue to manually remove as much as I can. About 1/4 of the frags are still dealing with it.

 

I finally ordered a tripod for my camera and holly cow does that make a difference for somebody with shaky hands!

 

[MrNanoReef]

Wow I have never seen these tanks before! Nice zoas garden. Lmk if you ever sell any frags.

 

I also have a bit of hair algae problem in my 12L, I see it's starting to spread especially growing on some dead part of coral skeleton here and there. What do you think I should do?

[NYfishies]

Wow I have never seen these tanks before! Nice zoas garden. Lmk if you ever sell any frags.

 

I also have a bit of hair algae problem in my 12L, I see it's starting to spread especially growing on some dead part of coral skeleton here and there. What do you think I should do?

 

Thanks my friend! I do sell. I have held off for several months as I have battled some issues which I do not want to pass along to fellow reefers. The hair algae being the last issue. I am nearly passed that and I do have a number of frags that are ready to ship today. We can talk more in PM. I still owe you some measurements!

 

As for your hair algae. Are you able to post a pic so that we see how it looks? I have in my mixed reef a different type of "hair algae" which I fear may be something far worse that attracts itself to dead sps.

[DaveFason]

I think it will be hard to always have every zoa looking perfect. With each being collected from all over I think it will be close to impossible to really nail down. Some that are not opening, ever think of putting those in the IM40 lower?

 

 

Everything else looks great and the new light will make it even better.

-Dave

[NYfishies]

I think it will be hard to always have every zoa looking perfect. With each being collected from all over I think it will be close to impossible to really nail down. Some that are not opening, ever think of putting those in the IM40 lower?

 

 

Everything else looks great and the new light will make it even better.

-Dave

 

Hey Dave,

 

You are certainly right about that. What confuses me on these colonies (Red Hornets mainly) is that in my frag tank I have them in various spots (some directly under the light) and they do great. That is why I asked you the other day about the DUO's PAR readings. The Red Hornets are placed about 15" from the light which runs at 100% for 4 hours of the day and ramps during a total of 10 hours. In the diagram below you can see the placement.

 

 

I am thinking of starting a small zoa garden in my IM40 down at the bottom like you mention. The problem that I have with zoas in that tank is I battle an invasive brown soft coral that covers live rock and suffocates soft corals. Zoa's get crushed unless the polpys are very tight to the mat. Otherwise they thrice in that tank. This brown crap does not cover the SPS and LPS and most of them forces it to retreat.

 

Cannot wait for that new light! The metal arm is going to be so nice.

[martinicu]

Hi Fishies

I can't tell for sure . Is that a zoa chart over the tank? If so can you tell me where you got it? Thanks.

[NYfishies]

Hi there,

 

Yes it is a poster with 100 different zoas & palys. We love it. The frame was separate.

 

You can buy one here:

 

https://www.faunamarin.de/en/poster-100-zoas-palys/a-24866/

 

We got ours when it was a Kickstarter project. I have also seen them for sale at conferences like MACNA or RAP.

[martinicu]

Thanks. I'm going to check it out.

[martinicu]

Just ordered that poster. I think it's really a piece of art. Especially in the right frame.

Thanks again

Martin

[flatlandreefer]

The frag tank in the stand is really cool! Great looking tank, can't wait to see it fully grown out

[NYfishies]

Just ordered that poster. I think it's really a piece of art. Especially in the right frame.

Thanks again

Martin

 

You will be very happy with it when you see it in person as well. Just be careful as it smudges easily. We took ours to Michael's and the frame was around $240, but it is very nice and make the poster pop that much more.

 

 

The frag tank in the stand is really cool! Great looking tank, can't wait to see it fully grown out

 

Thanks! We love this tank even though it has been a heck of a challenge! We are trying to jam pack a lot of life in just 20-25 gallons. It wasn't until we increased the size of the sump which allowed me to have an over-sized skimmer that things started to turn course.

 

I can only imagine how things will look in 6 months!

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

Was playing around with the camera last night and took some update photos.

 

[teenyreef]

Wow, they're looking awesome! How has the lighting change worked out?

 

Love that poster, btw

[NYfishies]

Wow, they're looking awesome! How has the lighting change worked out?

 

Love that poster, btw

 

Thanks! Adding white light (5% weekly) has helped greatly from what I can see. Growth seems to be better. I am still facing issues with certain zoas that seem to be stretching for light, but will not open up.

 

Cutting out everything, but feeding the fish has also pretty much wiped out the hair algae issue in the frag tank. About 90-95% gone. In 10 days or so I plan to slowly start dosing again.

 

I found that my Mag was very low at around 1100 ppm. I have been bringing it up over the last week and it is at 1230 ppm now.

[lilmatty5dimes]

Wow awesome collection. I need to set up my game a lot now. Lol

[NYfishies]

Hey all.,

 

Things are looking up with the tank, although I still struggle with hair algae, cyano and half opened zoas! I wonder if one day all of these issues cease to exist (maybe Vibrant will help when I get it). Sorry for the long post, but I hope the info helps other zoa lovers!

 

I know that the zoas which are not opening all the way are doing so due to light. Whether it is too much or too little LUX/PAR or for too long during the day I have not yet figured out. My Red Hornets were definitely getting too much light as they are opening much more in their new spot. I bought a LUX meter which is pretty cool and was only like 40 bucks. I am playing with that to try and help with my placement. Worth it.

 

After about 1 month I finally received my ICP results from Aqua Forest which was a freebie from MACNA this year. I plan to pay next for a Triton test in about 2 weeks. As I thought my Mg and Ca were very low. I have spent the last few weeks bringing both up to NSW levels. All good now. I decided to switch to Brightwell's Magnesion while I continue to use BRS 2-Part for Alk and Ca. I also was not surprised to find I had slightly elevated levels of Silicon (from adding sand I presume), but was surprised to find that I have Aluminum in the water. Not sure where that could be coming from? The ICP test for my mixed reef also showed Al, but nearly twice the amount. I feed that tank much more LRS Reef Frenzy so that could be a source?

 

To combat with PO4 (which seems to still be leaching form the rocks and sand) and Si I took the advice of Kat and switched from Chemi-Pure Blue to ROWAphos + ROX 0.8 Carbon. I am running these in the same bag in the highest flow area of the sump. I also have tried to skim a bit wetter in hopes to pull out the Al and PO4. This skimmer is a beast. Hopefully ROWA will also help with Al.

 

I also decided to switch to Aqua Forest's Reef Salt from Aqua Craft's Marine Environment. I did this for a few reasons. First of all AF seems like an innovative company. I like their logical approach to marketing. I also enjoyed speaking with them at MACNA and let's face it the free ICP test lured me right in! Second is the fact I can order on Amazon Prime and the cost is much less than AC. Third is it comes in a bucket which is resealable. And lastly, but most importantly, it mixes to NSW levels and more specifically - pH. AF also does not have elevated levels of things like Alk which results in a Alk swing each time you water change. I can achieve these proper levels by dosing...

 

Now that I have the salt and I have used it several times on both tanks I cannot tell you how happy I am. It mixes in 15 min once you have your water temp at 78. This makes it so stinking convenient. It leaves no residue in the bucket so it feels very clean. When I opened the bucket for the first time the salt was in a bag which had a reusable plastic tie so you can double seal to ensure longevity. Lying on top of the bag was an analysis report with a batch # of the bucket for tractability back to production. This was super impressive.

 

I have in the last 10 days done 3 25% water changes where each time I thoroughly vacuum the sand. I am trying to remove not only the cyano, which seems to only grow on the sand bed, but also any fine sand remaining so I can turn up the MP10 even more. I also started dosing once weekly MicroBacter7 to help with the cyano. There is likely an imbalance between PO4 and NO3 which is resulting in both the cyano and hair algae.

 

I have just a few days ago started feeding Amino Acids, Koral Color and Vitamrin-C. I will hold off on Sustain (Iodine) and Reef Chili / Reef Roids until all signs of algae are gone. The dry coral food leads to elevated PO4 for sure and the Iodine is food for the hair algae.

 

I am excited to start using Vibrant next week and will report my findings here.

 

My new 5 channel DUO arrives tomorrow!!!!! MINT in the house!

 

In the meantime here are some shots from tonight while messing around with the camera and the lights were shutting down. A lot of zoas already sleeping.

 

[NYfishies]

Hey all,

 

It has been a while since I have posted. The tank has finally stabilized to a point where I feel like the zoa's are growing and gaining color back. It is a pretty good feeling after fighting what feels like a 2 year battle to get this tank going!

 

I have recently lost 2 of my very pricey Zoa's to random melting. Some of these guys are pricey simply because they are not meant for captivity!

 

I have been a pretty big fan of Vibrant since it came out. I have been dosing twice a week since it was released battling a variety of algae. I have learned that one must be diligent with maintenance during the Vibrant program. What happens is Vibrant seemingly kills off algae and as it dies it decays and PO4 levels jump. If you do not manually remove the dying algae you will likely find yourself with Cyano. In my case because of my 25% weekly water changes, but feeding of coral and fish I found that my NO3 was depleting faster than PO4 leading to imbalance. As a result I had Cyano. A while ago I had dosed KNO3 to my tanks, but had stopped as the effects were not clear to me. Now they are. By dosing KNO3 weekly to this tank I can maintain my C/NO3/PO4 balance thus no Cyano.

 

I also have been reading that GAC may actually be harmful to zoa's. For a few months now I have felt that the PAR in my garden was not where it needed to be. It was too much. While Paly's can handle higher par, smaller Zoa's cannot. I removed my GAC and ROWAphos bag (had the ROWAphos in their to remove Silicates and it worked as my several month diatom outbreak is gone) about a week ago. I can honestly say 20% of the polyps have reacted very positively.

 

I have learned a lot and have altered a lot of what I do to keep the tank. My biggest issue I think was too much PAR from the LEDs. I am dialing each in now to the point where 70-80% of the polyps open each day during the photo period. I have found that you must start very low and work your way up if the zoa's do not come from a LED grown tank.

 

I am still using the iDIp for all my testing. I love it and really would recommend it to anybody. It does have a learning curve that can be difficult, but once mastered it is really great.

 

I also still dose a number of things:

 

• Every 5 days Aminos (alternate between Polyp Booster, Coral Amino and Fuel)
• Every 3 days 4 drops of Koral Color
• Every 3 days 1 ml of Sustain (slow release Iodine)
• Once a week a mix of Reef Chili and Reef Roids
• Once a week 2.5 ml of MicroBacter7
• Once a week 4 ml of Vitamarin-C
• Once a week 2.5 ml of KNO3
• Twice a week 2 ml of Vibrant

I stir the sand and turkey baste pretty much every day. For a zoa garden I feel this is pretty darn important. High flow is also pretty key. If the mats of the zoa's cover with detritus, sand, algae or anything else for that matter they will whither away and like a tree with no roots the polyps will fall off the rock. I have actually added a SW-4 wave maker to my tiny frag tank and run it pretty high. Since I added this I cannot tell you how much cleaner this bare-bottom 3 gallon tank is.

 

I have not had any time at all to learn my new camera. Last night and tonight were the first chances I have had in 3 months to take it out and try to learn some things. I am pretty happy with the results so far although I really need a macro lens!

 

Sorry for the out of order photos!

 

Thanks for tagging along!

[teenyreef]

Wow, everything looks great! Thanks for sharing all you've been learning. I need to do some research on zoas and gac, that's really interesting.

[DaveFason]

Looking great! Save yourself a couple bucks.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/94232-REG/Hoya_S52MCU_52mm_Macro_Close_up_10.html

 

Make sure to use the one for your lens. It will be in mm.

 

-Dave