My 70g Cadlights Artisan, Radion Powered SPS Reef!

[Alex B]

you should look at the Avast Marine Top-down porthole. Ohh and that reminds me, you had asked to let you know how I like the Avast ATO. So far, it is working flawlessly. I would definitely recommend it. The only issue I have with it is it sticks out of the rear chamber farther than I would like for my AIO. In a sump, though, it would be perfect.

 

Cool man. I love my tunze on my big tank. I'll look into the avast for my little tank though. It's going to be sumped so all is good.

[frankdontsurf]

Man they look awesome. My mystic looks like a piece of grayish-pink goop I got the frag for $5 and pretty much knew it would most likely not survive in my tank. over fed a few times and its been down hill. Hows the flow and PE around it?

[DaveFason]

This thread is getting cray cray! Looking great Alex. Glad things are looking better.

 

-D

[Alex B]

Man they look awesome. My mystic looks like a piece of grayish-pink goop I got the frag for $5 and pretty much knew it would most likely not survive in my tank. over fed a few times and its been down hill. Hows the flow and PE around it?

 

Thanks man! The pe on it is great! I've only had it since yesterday, but it was fully open after 5 min of entering the tank.

I got that as a freebie. I bought 140.00 worth of frags from a fellow reefer and he gave me 3 free frags. The mystic was one of the freebies. Along with the ponape birdnest, and bright green monti cap.

Honestly my tank has crazy flow. It's got a mp10 at 100% and a wp25 turned up also.

I credit the clean rocks and sand to the flow. I am loving how open the scape is and how good the flow is in the tank. The rock and sand stay pristine. Hope your mystic colors back up! It's a common, but super pretty coral.

 

This thread is getting cray cray! Looking great Alex. Glad things are looking better.

 

-D

 

Thank u homie!!

[Arkayology]

Wow man, you have the seeds for a great acro forest. Now to sit back and watch them grow!

 

I have a question. What are you using to dose Ca/Alk? Hand dosing? Kalk? Do you have a doser setup?

 

Cool man. I love my tunze on my big tank. I'll look into the avast for my little tank though. It's going to be sumped so all is good.

I use the avast porthole for my top-down photos. I really like it.

[TheKleinReef]

that unknown green acro looks like a saramentosa. i could be wrong though.

 

and +1 on that avast marine top down porthole for the camera. i'm definitely getting one soon.

[Alex B]

Wow man, you have the seeds for a great acro forest. Now to sit back and watch them grow!

 

I have a question. What are you using to dose? Hand dosing? Do you have a doser setup?

 

 

I use the avast porthole for my top-down photos. I really like it.

 

Thanks man! I'm definitely excited to see some coral in the tank. I have a couple more pieces I reallllyyyyy want, and then I will go into cruise control with it. Trying to decide what I want to do on my sandbed. Not much shade in my tank. Clams seem like my only option.

[Alex B]

that unknown green acro looks like a saramentosa. i could be wrong though.

 

and +1 on that avast marine top down porthole for the camera. i'm definitely getting one soon.

 

Maybe. Hard to tell with how small it is. The growth doesn't look like sarmentosa to me though. Time will tell. I just hope the polyps stay 2 different colors. That's why I liked it so much. The mother colony had mixed polyps too. I like anything cool. Even if it doesn't have a uber cool designer name. When i saw the orange polyps I fell in love.

[Alex B]

Ok. So tank is a little over 2 months old now. It has been very stable and things have been looking ok.

 

Here is the deal. I'm not seeing much growth out of some of my frags. In my old non zeo tank, I would see frags show encrusting growth quickly. You could easily see the difference in a month whenever I added anything. I'm not getting it here. I know the tank is young, but it's stable and I would expect to see some growth. I've stated a couple times on the thread how clean the tank is.

 

I'm starting to think it's too clean. I mean I barely even get a film on my glass after a week. While I love not having to clean my glass...lol...I think I've maybe reached a point where nutrients are too low. The tank has a light bioload, only 3 fish. I feed 2 times a day, and frozen 3 times a week. I've Also seen 2 frags show signs of Stn. I haven't put 2 much thought into it, because they were both in poor shape when I got them.

 

Here is my plan of attack .

Lower the flow in the zeo reactor just a tad.

Start dosing coral vitalizer, and xtra sp

Maybe add a couple other fish to increase bio load. (Always been a firm believer that corals do better with a healthy amount of fish)

 

I'm also thinking of making some food here at home. A mixture of whatever I have .

Cyclopeeze, mysis, nori, garlic, herbivore blend pellets, nls pellets and whatever else I find. Maybe feed this 2 times a week?

 

My nitrates have been dead zero for weeks. While my nitrates were always low in my other tank, they weren't that low. Always around 2ppm. So what does everyone think?

 

If those 2 frags were not starting to Stn I prob wouldn't be putting much though into it. The fact they are though scares me a bit. Again these 2 frags were very rough when I got them last month to begin with. Everything else looks good, just haven't seen much growth .

 

As seen in the pics. Everything had pretty decent color and good PE.

[Arkayology]

Ok. So tank is a little over 2 months old now. It has been very stable and things have been looking ok.

 

Here is the deal. I'm not seeing much growth out of some of my frags. In my old non zeo tank, I would see frags show encrusting growth quickly. You could easily see the difference in a month whenever I added anything. I'm not getting it here. I know the tank is young, but it's stable and I would expect to see some growth. I've stated a couple times on the thread how clean the tank is.

 

I'm starting to think it's too clean. I mean I barely even get a film on my glass after a week. While I love not having to clean my glass...lol...I think I've maybe reached a point where nutrients are too low. The tank has a light bioload, only 3 fish. I feed 2 times a day, and frozen 3 times a week. I've Also seen 2 frags show signs of Stn. I haven't put 2 much thought into it, because they were both in poor shape when I got them.

 

Here is my plan of attack .

Lower the flow in the zeo reactor just a tad.

Start dosing coral vitalizer, and xtra sp

Maybe add a couple other fish to increase bio load. (Always been a firm believer that corals do better with a healthy amount of fish)

 

I'm also thinking of making some food here at home. A mixture of whatever I have .

Cyclopeeze, mysis, nori, garlic, herbivore blend pellets, nls pellets and whatever else I find. Maybe feed this 2 times a week?

 

My nitrates have been dead zero for weeks. While my nitrates were always low in my other tank, they weren't that low. Always around 2ppm. So what does everyone think?

 

If those 2 frags were not starting to Stn I prob wouldn't be putting much though into it. The fact they are though scares me a bit. Again these 2 frags were very rough when I got them last month to begin with. Everything else looks good, just haven't seen much growth .

 

As seen in the pics. Everything had pretty decent color and good PE.

Same problems that I had with zeovit, low growth and STN/RTN. GL with getting things under control. IME, you can dose as much CV and PXTRA as you want and it won't do much. I think decreasing flow on the reactor and getting a couple of fish will help. It is a slippery slope once a couple frags start to STN, others will follow.

[Alex B]

Hopefully I can get it under control. Like I said. Both frags were in really poor shape. I pray that is a sign. Hopefully everything else will remain happy. I've had great PE and nothing has browned out, or bleached on me. I noticed the Stn today. It is very minor, but I can see just a tad bit on the base of that super browned out frag. I just looked at the second frag well, and I don't think it's loosing tissue. It was just me freaking out.

 

Are you feeding your sps at all? I never really fed the corals per say in the other tank, but I did feed a lot of rods and other things for the fish.

 

I just mixed up a quick batch of food. Threw everything I had in my mini blender and went to town. All the coral in the tank reacted. That's for sure! Maybe I'm getting such a aggressive response from my sps because my nutrients are too low. I swear I've never seen sps respond like this in my other tank. Don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing.

[AJ_Tsin]

Have you tested for Potassium and how often are you doing water changes?

 

Before you change the reactor or add fish, try dosing Xtra and CV and see how the corals react. IMO if you are running Zeovit, you don't want to lower the effectiveness of the system you want it to be pulling out everything it can and then you can fine tune it with what you put back in.

[Arkayology]

Hopefully I can get it under control. Like I said. Both frags were in really poor shape. I pray that is a sign. Hopefully everything else will remain happy. I've had great PE and nothing has browned out, or bleached on me. I noticed the Stn today. It is very minor, but I can see just a tad bit on the base of that super browned out frag. I just looked at the second frag well, and I don't think it's loosing tissue. It was just me freaking out.

 

Are you feeding your sps at all? I never really fed the corals per say in the other tank, but I did feed a lot of rods and other things for the fish.

 

I just mixed up a quick batch of food. Threw everything I had in my mini blender and went to town. All the coral in the tank reacted. That's for sure! Maybe I'm getting such a aggressive response from my sps because my nutrients are too low. I swear I've never seen sps respond like this in my other tank. Don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing.

I feed oyster feast, reef chili, CV that I have leftover from my zeovit days, and some other stuff that I got as a sample from Kat.

 

Have you tested for Potassium and how often are you doing water changes?

 

Before you change the reactor or add fish, try dosing Xtra and CV and see how the corals react. IMO if you are running Zeovit, you don't want to lower the effectiveness of the system you want it to be pulling out everything it can and then you can fine tune it with what you put back in.

Unless his reactor has too much flow for the system.

[Alex B]

I haven't tested potassium yet. It's on my list of stuff I need to order. I'm doing weekly water changes. 10 gallons every Monday. Before I change the reactor I'm going to measure the output and double check I'm at 70g per hour.

 

I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself. The only frag showing Stn is the browned out mess. This frag has never even had PE since I bought it. It was all jacked up before going in my tank.

I'm going to keep a close eye on everything the next few days. All sps has good color and good PE right now. A lot of frags I have bought were fresh cuts. They always take a little longer to heal and encrust. I guess a couple more weeks will tell. The first frags are going on 1 month of being in the tank. A couple have shown a little growth. Not much at all, but a little something.

[AJ_Tsin]

Unless his reactor has too much flow for the system.

I guess I assume its flow is regulated rated at the suggested amount and flow based on the general Zeo Guide.

 

I haven't tested potassium yet. It's on my list of stuff I need to order. I'm doing weekly water changes. 10 gallons every Monday. Before I change the reactor I'm going to measure the output and double check I'm at 70g per hour. I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself. The only frag showing Stn is the browned out mess. This frag has never even had PE since I bought it. It was all jacked up before going in my tank. I'm going to keep a close eye on everything the next few days. All sps has good color and good PE right now. A lot of frags I have bought were fresh cuts. They always take a little longer to heal and encrust. I guess a couple more weeks will tell. The first frags are going on 1 month of being in the tank. A couple have shown a little growth. Not much at all, but a little something.

 

Definitely check the flow, if its on par with the recommended settings I wouldn't change it. Potassium I find is the first trace element to give people problems with ZeoVit, get a test asap and start there. I am willing to bet you are on the low side. I use the Salifert one and it works fairly well.

 

Water changes will help keep up trace elements so its good you are doing them weekly but even with weekly changes I am adding Potassium, Strontinum and PIF each a few times a week.

[Alex B]

I guess I assume its flow is regulated rated at the suggested amount and flow based on the general Zeo Guide.

 

 

 

Definitely check the flow, if its on par with the recommended settings I wouldn't change it. Potassium I find is the first trace element to give people problems with ZeoVit, get a test asap and start there. I am willing to bet you are on the low side. I use the Salifert one and it works fairly well.

 

Water changes will help keep up trace elements so its good you are doing them weekly but even with weekly changes I am adding Potassium, Strontinum and PIF each a few times a week.

 

So your dosing potassium and PIF?

PIF is potassium/iodine/fluoride right?

 

Aj our tanks have a similar water volume. I think I have about 15 more gallons give of take total. What amounts are you dosing of each?

Thanks man!!

[Illuiix]

Dayum, that corvette...white must be your favorite color lol. You even have a white car!

[frankdontsurf]

Thanks man! I'm definitely excited to see some coral in the tank. I have a couple more pieces I reallllyyyyy want, and then I will go into cruise control with it. Trying to decide what I want to do on my sandbed. Not much shade in my tank. Clams seem like my only option.

Aren't clams filthy? How's that work with a SPS tank like yours?

[Alex B]

Dayum, that corvette...white must be your favorite color lol. You even have a white car!

 

All my cars are usually white. It is my fav color! Everything looks good in white!! My gti is white, my new truck is white, my motorcycle is white and blue...lol u get the idea

Aren't clams filthy? How's that work with a SPS tank like yours?

 

Not sure. I think clams are pretty adaptable. I've seen many zeovit tanks with clams.

[Illuiix]

lol. I like black more

[Alex B]

Soooo....I think I underestimate the power of my light. I haven't changed my intensities for a month. Letting the corals all get acclimated. I bumped up the light from about 40% to almost 50%. It was a 8% increase to be exact. Came home to very unhappy ricordea!

Expelling zooxanthellae and all types of pissed off. Some got very light and bleached a bit. I'm starting to think the duo24 on its own would have lit this tank just fine. Even for sps, but I love my t5. The shimmer I'm getting with the hybrid is beautiful! I gotta throw up a video soon.

[Illuiix]

Hmm, hope your rics don't get melted....lol.

[Alex B]

Just ordered 2 of these. Let's see how it goes! I like my vortech, but I've ways hated having Micky mouse ears on my tank.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/123509535@N06/14237053966/][/url]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/123509535@N06/14237053966/]image[/url] by https://www.flickr.com/people/123509535@N06/]touchofklasse[/url], on Flickr

[Spiderguardnano]

nice when are they suppose to land?

[Alex B]

nice when are they suppose to land?

 

Not sure. I'm sure atleast 2 weeks or something. They just came out. My tank needs something in between a mp10 and mp40. I think will fit the bill nicely. Nothing against my vortechs, but after running my tank without one for a week. I kinda like the silence