KMitch's Double the Trouble Tanks -- Mixed Reef & Clown Harem — Problem Riddled and Going in Reverse

[KMitch]

A few more pics of the tank...

 

 

 

 

 

[5*Chris]

18 hours ago, KMitch said:

I've gotten a few more PMs with questions about the ZeoVit dosing I'm doing -- so sharing the answer here for the wider group. 

 

This is my ZeoVit dosing schedule:

• ZeoStart - 0.15ml / day
• ZeoBak - 1 drop / every three days
• ZeoFood - 2 drops / every other day **
• Amino Acids - 1 drop / day
• Sponge Power - 1 drop / day
• Coral Snow - 1ml / every other day
• Iodine Complex - 1 drop / every other day
• Coral Vitalizer - 1 drop / every other day
• Pohl's Xtra Special - 0.5ml / every other day

** ZeoFood "Bonus Week" - One week a month, I dose 6 drops of ZeoFood a day and stop dosing ZeoStart during that time

 

I'd hardly say any of this is "required" - the top three (ZeoStart, ZeoBak and ZeoFood) are the core elements of a ZeoVit system (along with the rock media), but the rest are supplements to help feed corals and grow them. Some of them also help with biological filtration - like Coral Snow. That is an almost clay-like chemical that is dosed to the tank, temporarily turning the water into a murky milk color. But it helps to bind the junk in the water a little better and the protein skimmer can then pull it out. It also apparently tastes delicious to the coral, because the feeding response when I add it is almost unreal. 

 

Milk tank after dosing Coral Snow. The murkiness wears off in about an hour, and the skimmer pulls some extra thick sludge out during that time. 

 

Apparently it also contains coral drugs, because the feeding response is unreal

 

Yum Yum coral snow!

 

The rest of my dosing regiment comprises of adding BRS 2 part for alk/calcium on a weekly basis. I also do bi-weekly water changes and replace the carbon monthly.

 

I know that putting some drops into the tank every day sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not. I enjoy spending a few mins every day feeding the fish and admiring the view in the tank. The extra 20 seconds to put some drops in is just an excuse to look at the tank! 

 

To me, the benefits of ZeoVit sell themselves. The growth I've had in this tank is sick. The stability is rare for a tank this young. I have had no algae issues to speak of. My corals are more colorful and vibrant than ever before, and I am a believer! 

Wow, tank looks beautiful!

 

I'm running the Aquaforest system which I think is close to Zeovit, so I understand the daily dosing needs (daily 3-part, feeding, and ABEV supplements). And like you I enjoy the routine. Keeps me up close to the tank, so it's great. 

[KMitch]

On 9/16/2020 at 8:43 AM, 5*Chris said:

Wow, tank looks beautiful!

Thank you! I am very pleased with how it looks!

 

I caught something weird yesterday -- I witnessed a snail being eaten by one of the coals. Had never seen anything like that before. Took me a min to remember to pull out the camera and take some pics, but here's mid-snack and post snack:

 

Coral with the snail in its mouth

 

Done with coral snack... spitting out the shell

 

I also took a few pictures of the full setup last night after it was dark in the rest of the room. There's enough ambient light that it can be tricky not to get glare, so I waited until after dark and when the tank lights were just a few minutes from shutting off to get a few FTS. Some of the corals are starting to close for the night...

 

 

 

[KMitch]

I had the pumps off for some maintenance yesterday and took a few top down shots to share...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KMitch]

Wow... Time flies when you are having fun! Once again, I am behind on the updates for the tank, so let's catch up! 

 

Highlights:

- Got a new yellow clown goby

- Added a peppermint shrimp to help with a few aptasia that had popped up

- Everything is continuing to grow like crazy. Seriously. I don't know if this tank is on steroids or what.

- My LFS told me that the green and purple torch I have is actually some designer coral worth $1,500 for about 4 heads. I paid $10 for 4 heads.... I'm not huge into designer corals, but that's certainly amusing.

 

Lowlights:

- One of my Yasha gobies died. I don't know what happened, but I found him one day with a weird bend in his spine, almost as though he'd broken his back. He was sitting in the sand like normal - not sucked into a pump or anything. I don't know what caused it, and was sad to see him pass. The LFS is ordering me a new one, so hopefully I'll get my pair re-built soon.

- I found some sort of weird sea demon in the tank. I have no idea what it was -- I posted it in several Facebook groups and no one knew. It had a harder shell with these spikes and spines. It had a sucker on the underside of it that it used to hold onto the live rock. Whatever it is, I pulled it out with tweezers and sent it to the trash, but I still really want to know what it is/ was and if I should be concerned about it or others like it?

 

Pics!

The sea demon. It also has two eyes - one on either side of that freaky white smiley face thing

 

Another pic of the sea demon. You can see the sucker on the bottom of it more clearly in this photo.

 

 

 

 

Top down shot with the pumps off. You can see how crowded it's getting in this tank!

 

Sorry about the glare from the light...

 

 

 

 

My SPS Corals are all growing really well. This thing is a brilliant hot pink!

 

This frag was struggling at first because it was in an area of too high flow. I've moved it, and now it's got great polyp extension and colors

 

Yasha goby calling out for their partner who is no more 😩

 

November 18 Full Tank Shot

[debbeach13]

The tank is gorgeous. I can’t believe it is only 8 months old. I think it is a future TOT.

[KMitch]

51 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

The tank is gorgeous. I can’t believe it is only 8 months old. I think it is a future TOT.

Thank you!

[Marco Madeira]

Hi KMitch, nice tank and great colors!.... what color settings and intensity (still 65%?) settings are you using on the 360x? How much of white, green, red and violet % are you using?

Thank you.

 

[KMitch]

8 hours ago, Marco Madeira said:

Hi KMitch, nice tank and great colors!.... what color settings and intensity (still 65%?) settings are you using on the 360x? How much of white, green, red and violet % are you using?

Thank you.

 

Hi Marco,

 

I am a big believer in set it and forget it on the lights and not fiddling around with them! So I just opened the settings to look. I have it peak at 85% for 30 mins, with the bulk of my day spent between 60-80%. 

 

Color 6

Violet 9

Red 0

Green 0

 

Hope that helps!

[farkwar]

What is the 'sea demon'?

 

 

[KMitch]

On 11/19/2020 at 4:30 PM, farkwar said:

What is the 'sea demon'?

 

 

I don’t know. Was hoping for some help with the ID. 

[KMitch]

Well things are continuing to look good in the tank... just did a deep cleaning and water change so it’s a little murky to post pics. 
 

However.... I do have some big tank news coming soon. Any guesses? 🤫

[farkwar]

5 minutes ago, KMitch said:

Any guesses? 🤫

You figured out what the sea demon is?

[KMitch]

On 11/30/2020 at 5:03 PM, farkwar said:

You figured out what the sea demon is?

No! I have googled to the end of the internet. No information about sea demons available.

[KMitch]

Ok, here's a teaser of what's coming very soon on this tank.... any new guesses?

 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

8 minutes ago, KMitch said:

Ok, here's a teaser of what's coming very soon on this tank.... any new guesses?

 

 

 

Plumbing in a sump for that skimmer?

or 

an upgrade?

[KMitch]

On 12/1/2020 at 9:15 PM, mitten_reef said:

an upgrade?

Yes, Sir!

 

🚨 Official Notice of Tank Upgrade! 🚨

 

When I started this tank I said I wanted to do small and easy because the last tank I had (a Red Sea Reefer 250) had become too burdensome when I had it setup before. So for the past year, my 55 gallon reefer has been running as a FW discus tank while I have the 20 gallon reef.

 

I should have seen this coming. It's the plot that has played out so many times before that I shouldn't have been surprised. But here we are!

 

With all the growth I've had in the 20 gallon, I've decided to upgrade back into the Red Sea Reefer 250 (55 gallon) tank. It'll take a few weeks for me to get everything cleaned, setup, and re-worked for that tank, so the new system probably won't see water until January and the current occupants of the tank will slowly transition. I'm going to keep using ZeoVit, but will be scaling it appropriately for the Red Sea Reefer. 

 

I'll be posting pics and updates as we go, starting with the tear-down of the FW system this weekend. Stay tuned!

 

PS - the 20 gallon tank is going become a BTA and clownfish "mini-harem" tank ❤️ 

[KMitch]

Well we're off! I started on Thursday by emptying the freshwater tank, removing all of the gravel and dirt, and starting the deep clean. That deep clean took a long time -- I spent almost a whole day scrubbing equipment with citric acid to make sure every inch of the tank and gear in it was sparkling clean. 

 

I then removed everything from the stand and wiped down the stand with a mix of water and dawn dish soap. 

 

Tank in need of deep cleaning

 

An empty and gross stand in need of a refresh

 

Yuck

 

After deep cleaning every inch of this Red Sea Reefer 250, I then proceeded to modify the sump. I needed to cut out a few baffles and walls in order to fit the Clarisea roller mat that I'm using. It wasn't hard -- a sharp razor blade and some patience and everything came out smoothly.

 

The red area highlights the sections I had to remove

 

Filter sock holder tray came out very quickly

 

Glass wall removed and ready for a roller mat

 

I also wanted to refresh the whole exterior of the tank to make it match the decor in our house a little more, and to make it different from all the other Red Sea Reefer's out there. I really love the look of a wood cabinet, but getting a cabinet made would be expensive and time consuming. So I found an adhesive wood grain vinyl roll and re-wrapped the whole stand in this finish. It actually has texture, so when you run your hands over it, there is the feeling of wood grains. It was pretty easy to apply -- took a few hours of patience and more razor blades.

 

Before....

The wood grain roll I finished the stand in. I used a spare plastic credit card to help smooth out bubbles.

 

Fully wrapped!

 

Interior doors and walls wrapped as well

 

I also applied a thin layer of Modge Podge to the seams (its a matte finish and you can't see it now that it's dried -- photo taken while it was wet). This helps protect the seams and reduce the likelihood that splashing saltwater damages the finish.

 

Finally, I had previously removed the black background from the tank, but I wanted to put it back in to help hide equipment. If I mount my power heads and other gear against a black background, they won't be so obvious. So I used some rustoleum black paint and re-painted the back of the tank black. This took a few coats and a flashlight to make sure I had it totally light proof.

 

Paint and a cheap roller from an art supply store

 

Painted black!

 

Next will be to start the rework of the plumbing and rebuild of the Neptune Apex system. Stay tuned!

[Craig.]

The wood finish turned out great! 

[Elizabeth94]

I agree- that finish is super nice

[neontetra777]

wow i'm happy to learn about the upcoming upgrade but sad to see the end of the 20g. i would really like to see how far you could take it. happy to have stumbled upon this thread. your tank is an inspiration. 

[KMitch]

5 hours ago, Elizabeth94 said:

I agree- that finish is super nice

Thank you! Applying more paint to it today and making some additional improvements.... stay tuned!

[KMitch]

4 hours ago, neontetra777 said:

wow i'm happy to learn about the upcoming upgrade but sad to see the end of the 20g. i would really like to see how far you could take it. happy to have stumbled upon this thread. your tank is an inspiration. 

The 20g isn’t going to end - it’s going to evolve! I have plans to push that tank even further as a mini-clown harem.

Appreciate you following along!

 

I am thinking of keeping both tank builds in one thread... what do y’all think? Or should I start a new thread for the 55gal?

[Reefkid88]

Keep it as one,more than 1 thread and one always gets put on the back burner lol. 

[KMitch]

4 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

Keep it as one,more than 1 thread and one always gets put on the back burner lol. 

Yeah, I kinda feel the same way.