AJ_Tsin's Zeo 47g Shallow. NEW FTS

[AJ_Tsin]

If it motivates you any, my tank is about 9wks old and I added a clam last week, so I'm sure you're system can take coral which I've had since the sixth or seventh week, Aslong as params are stable you should be fine.

 

Ha it's not the parameters I am worried about, it's my addictive personality and bank account I am worried about. Params are stable and water quality is perfect. Aiming to pick some frags or a couple colonies this weekend.

[Reefmaster1996]

I feel your pain

[Reefmaster1996]

I remember the look on my moms face when I walked in the house with three anthias and three cardinals after work, like there was something wrong with me lol

[AJ_Tsin]

SUMP SETUP

 

 

I have completely filled the last chamber before the return pump with rock. The water flows down the back flex pipe on left in a U shape moving through the sump. Into first chamber with filter floss, carbon, skimmer and Zeovit Reactor, over a baffle where the ATO feeds and a titanium heater resides, through a hole below the water line moving back left through the long skinny rock chamber, and back up into the display through the front flex pipe/return pump on the right.

As I start to lock things in and get settled I have some cable management to do and organize the power bars etc. I have considered implementing a dosing system for two part for quite some time, but because I have to manually drop in Zeovit Products daily, two Part is not much more of a hassle.

You can see the skimmer is still pouring into a little piece of filter floss as it overflows. The slightly brown line in the collection is not a water line but its where the foam is breaking in the cup and leaving thick skim mate on the walls of the cup. It has slowed down the overflowing dramatically over past couple days. Should be able to plug the drain on Friday.

[rowdie]

Looking really nice AJ! I really wouldn't worry about any concerns/criticism that you get over keeping a tang in this tank. Just reading through your posting you clearly care a great deal for the wellbeing of your fish. If anything that purple tang was lucky to go a home where such great husbandry was being practiced. It could very well be dead right now if had gone to somewhere with less experience/husbandry.

 

Your tang has also proved that regardless of what an LFS says you should always practice your own QT. I have only kept a couple snowflake clowns for the last 2 years but every piece of coral I got was dipped and placed in 10 gallon coral only QT tank for a week and dipped again. If after the second dip I could detect no sign of parasites I would then add it to the display. The LFS I use is actually a very impressive place and says they dip everything they get in, but still it only takes one coral with stubborn redbugs or flatworms to infect an entire system.

 

Can't wait to see this tank once the frags you get grow out. Hoping to see some awesome (expensive) acros in here.

[Reefmaster1996]

I dose reef foundations all in one powder (abc) and Brightwell aquatics alkalin8.3p for cal,mag, alk, and the abc also has strontium and other elements, I will get a doser just so that I don't have to remember what to dose, and have a easier time when vacation comes around. Whatever is easiest for you, I thought the same about dosing manually because of zeovit, I quickly changed my mind for consitency's sake.

[Legendary Corals]

So much potential with this tank. I'm loving it. Can't wait to see the corals!

[AJ_Tsin]

Looking really nice AJ! I really wouldn't worry about any concerns/criticism that you get over keeping a tang in this tank. Just reading through your posting you clearly care a great deal for the wellbeing of your fish. If anything that purple tang was lucky to go a home where such great husbandry was being practiced. It could very well be dead right now if had gone to somewhere with less experience/husbandry.

 

Your tang has also proved that regardless of what an LFS says you should always practice your own QT. I have only kept a couple snowflake clowns for the last 2 years but every piece of coral I got was dipped and placed in 10 gallon coral only QT tank for a week and dipped again. If after the second dip I could detect no sign of parasites I would then add it to the display. The LFS I use is actually a very impressive place and says they dip everything they get in, but still it only takes one coral with stubborn redbugs or flatworms to infect an entire system.

 

Can't wait to see this tank once the frags you get grow out. Hoping to see some awesome (expensive) acros in here.

 

Wow thanks, this is a really kind post. I greatly appreciate it.

 

I am strongly considering a coral QT tank as well... definitely going to dip with Coral RX first for first couple additions and as things get going set up a little 10g QT with a Par 38 lamp or something along those lines.

[AJ_Tsin]

So much potential with this tank. I'm loving it. Can't wait to see the corals!

Thanks just looked through your site. Amazing. If only I could get corals shipped from the States to Canada.

[AJ_Tsin]

Just took a couple other shots this evening. Its hard to really tell the depth or layout with a straight on front or side shot so here are a couple alternate angles.

 

[Arkayology]

Nice shots AJ. Are you going to put some clams or corals on the sand in the middle of the tank?

[magikarp]

Hey man, long time fan of your tanks. Your old one is actually the inspiration for a new tank i will start when I get my new house built. I will have the same dimensions as yours, with minimal rockswork.

just wondering your thoughts on Anthias, especially in a shallow tank. I remember you kept a few earlier.

 

I plan to move my clown + yellow clown goby from my current tank and add a small blenny (tailspot) and a twinspot goby. I am looking for 1 or 2 more fish to add, something that will swim around the open scape a bit. But I am not as brave as you as to add a Tang

[AJ_Tsin]

Nice shots AJ. Are you going to put some clams or corals on the sand in the middle of the tank?

 

I may keep the direct centre empty, but plan is to populate the sand bed close to the rock patches with things like Zoas and Acans. Eventually a clam or two will be added when a nice enough one at the right size is found. Frags and coral rocks will be used around the rock patches to taper them down into the sand bed a bit and hide the fact the they are just placed rocks.

 

Hey man, long time fan of your tanks. Your old one is actually the inspiration for a new tank i will start when I get my new house built. I will have the same dimensions as yours, with minimal rockswork.

 

just wondering your thoughts on Anthias, especially in a shallow tank. I remember you kept a few earlier.

 

I plan to move my clown + yellow clown goby from my current tank and add a small blenny (tailspot) and a twinspot goby. I am looking for 1 or 2 more fish to add, something that will swim around the open scape a bit. But I am not as brave as you as to add a Tang

 

Thanks. A bunch of people have told me that my old build inspired them, that's an awesome compliment and means a lot. I do admit, when I first built this setup there were little to no Shallow Reefs anywhere to look at for inspiration, closest thing was that massive volcano build. Now there are tons on N-R and everywhere else and companies are manufacturing shallow builds.

 

I had 3 Anthias that did quite well together 1 Male and 2 Female eventually one got killed by a Maxi Mini Anemone and I sold the other two. They hung out about 3-4 inches front he surface in the centre of the tank. Great fish but the need a lot of food and a lot of attention early on. I was probably at the limit with 3 in my display but they seemed happy and were not really aggressive.

[AJ_Tsin]

Heading over to a local reef keeper's place tonight to check out a few frags. And so it begins...

[JR!]

Just took a couple other shots this evening. Its hard to really tell the depth or layout with a straight on front or side shot so here are a couple alternate angles.

 

so beautiful man.

[AJ_Tsin]

so beautiful man.

 

Thanks dude. Feels good to be back on here updating a thread.

 

So bought several decent sized frags last night, mostly SPS other than 2 Ricordia heads. Evening was spent gluing them to pieces of Live-rock rubble, dripping them in, dipping in Revive and adding them.

 

Going to let them settle in and mount them to my scape tonight/tomorrow. Will post pictures sometime soon. Polyps are all out already with lights out and they seem to have made the transition well. Will be interesting to see how well they colour up under T5s and with Zeovit.

[BRADYBUNCH7]

Just took a couple other shots this evening. Its hard to really tell the depth or layout with a straight on front or side shot so here are a couple alternate angles.

 

 

OMG this is just to amazing!

[Sahin]

Hey Adrian!!! Good to see you're back! I randomly came across your old build thread on ReefEscape and being a non member there, I knew I had to come back and visit NR once again.

 

Yeah I remember your shallow 47G set a new breed of tank styles. In fact, my own tank is 47G and it was meant to be modelled after yours, but due to space restraints (children/wife etc) couldnt, but I still stuck to the 47G size.

 

I KNOW you are a very high calibre reefkeeper and understand how much care you would put into your tank and livestock. Nothing else needs to be said.

 

Anyway, I'll be following the thread for sure. Believe me; I have VERY high expectations regarding this tank.

 

Just have one question for you: what is the idea/reason(s) behind having the extra rocks in the sump?

[AJ_Tsin]

OMG this is just to amazing!

 

Thanks!

 

Hey Adrian!!! Good to see you're back! I randomly came across your old build thread on ReefEscape and being a non member there, I knew I had to come back and visit NR once again.

 

Yeah I remember your shallow 47G set a new breed of tank styles. In fact, my own tank is 47G and it was meant to be modelled after yours, but due to space restraints (children/wife etc) couldnt, but I still stuck to the 47G size.

 

I KNOW you are a very high calibre reefkeeper and understand how much care you would put into your tank and livestock. Nothing else needs to be said.

 

Anyway, I'll be following the thread for sure. Believe me; I have VERY high expectations regarding this tank.

 

Just have one question for you: what is the idea/reason(s) behind having the extra rocks in the sump?

 

Yea Reef Escape, is a local forum for me, I live in Southern Ontario so I frequent that site for equipment, livestock etc. Thanks for the kind words. It means a lot. I'm very glad to be contributing to such a great community once again here at N-R. I am continually humbled when people mention my original build inspired them.

 

As for the rock in the sump: Opted to stock the sump with Liverock to compensate for the minimal scape in the display. There is about 25 or 30 lbs of rock in the display which is kind of low, however adding more to the display would clutter things up.

 

My past build IMO could have been a bit more stable with more rock. So another 30 or 40 lbs in the sump acts almost like a bacteria and pod fuge and larger biological filter. It is still possible to syphon out detritus with airline from the sump rock section and the rocks are blaster with a turkey baster every few days to avoid buildup.

 

All in all more biological stability while maintaining a minimal aesthetic.

[AJ_Tsin]

Here are a few shots of a few coral frags I picked up. I have edited the images in the same low contrast style of all my other recent photos as I feel it gives a very accurate representation of colour and lighting, especially with T5

They are a bit dull/brown from transportation, dipping in Revive and coming from systems that are not ULNS. They should colour up and lighten up dramatically over the next couple weeks under the ATI and in a Zeo based setup. Time will tell.

These are all pretty basic pieces although still nice, I want to save the high end stuff until these are growing nicely and everything seems to be stable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BRADYBUNCH7]

Woww your making me jelous

FTS?

[Psychosis]

I'll never understand why it's such a chore to find Milliepora locally. It's one of my favorites, hands down. The tank looks great, as can be expected from you. I think you, Rehype, and the volcano tank all contributed to my compulsory need to get in to a shallow system.

[AJ_Tsin]

Woww your making me jelous

FTS?

 

Realized after I uploaded these I didn't take a new FTS. Will likely snap one in next day or so especially to be able to compare colours at the end of the months.

 

Thanks for compliments.

[AJ_Tsin]

I'll never understand why it's such a chore to find Milliepora locally. It's one of my favorites, hands down. The tank looks great, as can be expected from you. I think you, Rehype, and the volcano tank all contributed to my compulsory need to get in to a shallow system.

 

Thanks. Strange its not available. This piece i think is going to be awesome. Its a peach base and green polyp looking one. Hopefully it colours up nicely. I also like the look of mille but unless you have nice polyp colour they can also look really drab.

[Psychosis]

I think it's the growth pattern that attracts my eye. They generally look very stout and delicate at the same time, coupled with the exaggerated polyp extension it's hard to top an established colony imo. I found a nice little rose millie once at a frag swap years ago, and then managed to cook it under LEDs in my noobishness. In short, dibs on the first frag when that piece fills in haha. Hopefully that peach color becomes more apparent in the next month.