Nic’s Waterbox 35.2 Zeovit

[Nic]

Hey folks, been a while. I recently graduated from seminary at Duke and start a PhD program in Political Theology in the fall so I thought I’d celebrate by jumping back into the Hong after a 5 year hiatus. I chose a Waterbox 32.5 and hope to upgrade much larger in 2-3 years. The intent is to have an SPS dominant mixed reef. I was going to get started a bit earlier but had a major medical emergency recently and spent all of vacation in the hospital. 😬

 

Equipment:

 

Adaptive Reef Control Cabinet

2x Coralvue XP8 Energy Bars

Coralvue X4 Controller

AI Neo 5

IM DC Desktop MightyJet for return

Tunze Comline 9004 protein skimmer

Lifegard reactor

AI Prime 16HD

Kessil A160 

3 x Sentia Doser

XTAqua ATO

5 gallon ATO reservoir

3 x 1L doser reservoirs

 

Probes and Sensors

 

Coralvue PH and temp

Coralvue water sensor for ATO

Coralvue sensor for skimmer

 

Controller Cabinet:

 

 

Tank and Aquascape:

 

 

Lighting is on just to show aquascape. Drilling hole in desk tomorrow, doing cable management and adding water. 

[Sturgi_0225]

Awesome start! Howd you get the rock to stick on the sides? 

[Nic]

Appreciate it! It’s actually a Tunze product. I’m aiming for a more lifted aquascape and thought it would compliment it well. 
 

https://www.marineandreef.com/Tunze_Coral_Rack_Long_0104_820_p/RTZ01045.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjw7cGUBhA9EiwArBAvotf2fu5g3sEbNJqpkvSbcDRaXM3CAGd-fNDt0QtIvRDlBnV1m8xOYRoCV1kQAvD_BwE

[Sturgi_0225]

7 minutes ago, Nic said:

Appreciate it! It’s actually a Tunze product. I’m aiming for a more lifted aquascape and thought it would compliment it well. 
 

https://www.marineandreef.com/Tunze_Coral_Rack_Long_0104_820_p/RTZ01045.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjw7cGUBhA9EiwArBAvotf2fu5g3sEbNJqpkvSbcDRaXM3CAGd-fNDt0QtIvRDlBnV1m8xOYRoCV1kQAvD_BwE

That’s pretty neat, can’t say I’ve seen that before. 

[debbeach13]

Welcome back! That is a great set up. I hope you have a full recovery.

[Nic]

Just about got things dialed in. 
 

To Do:

• Ordered extension cable for MightyJet main pump
• Ordered tubing for ATO
• Setup ATO
• Ordered tubing for dosers
• Setup dosers
• Ordered 100w heater

Main Tank Shot:

 

95% complete

 

 

Controller Cabinet:

(w/ a few loose cables)

 

 

 

 

[reef jockey]

Very nice build.  Love the clean look 

Keep up the great work

[Nic]

Wanted to weigh some opinions. My hope is to get a pair of McColluch’s Clownfish for the tank. There seems to be a huge discrepancy is tank size requirements, however. Live Aquaria lists them as needing a 70 gallon aquarium, however, multiple other sources range from 20-40 and Reef Builders even commented they were unsure why Live Aquaria has such a large tank requirement? 
 

Anyone have experience with these fish? Any reason why a 33 gallon aquarium would be horribly undersized? I do plan to upgrade to a larger aquarium in the relatively near future and the fish come as captive bred “small” specimens. Worse comes to worst I can always move them as they grow larger but wanted to get any opinions first. 
 

only other fish I’m seriously considering are a Watchman Goby and perhaps a wrasse. 

[Nic]

Added two Pajama Cardinals yesterday. They’ve started moving around a bit this afternoon and the cat has discovered them.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DevilDuck]

Sweet build! How do you like the Hydros XP8? I'm looking to add one to my collective.

[Nic]

17 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

Sweet build! How do you like the Hydros XP8? I'm looking to add one to my collective.

Love them. The collective was a bit hard to figure out initially and I’m still waiting for the second command bus cable to fully integrate it but man, what an awesome little system. The redundancy is what I appreciate the most. I do wish the x4 had a few more prone options beyond PH and ORP but I’m sure that’s in the works. 

[Nic]

Everything is finally all buttoned up and dialed in! Really like how simple and clean it turned out. Certainly a far cry from the tangled mess I’ve produced in the past! Now to sit back and repeat my new mantra… “take it SLLLLOOOOOWWW.”

 

 

Equipment:

 

• Waterbox 35.2
• Tunze DOC Comline 9002 Protein Skimmer
• Kessil A160 WE Tuna Blue
• AI Prime Plus 16HD
• Tunze ATO
• Bulk Reef Supply Heater
• Lifegard Turbo Reactor Side Flow Nano (Zeovit)
• AI Nero 5
• IM MightyJet Desktop Nano (Main Pump)
• 2x Coralvue XP8 powerbar/controller
• Coralvue X4 controller
• 3x Sentia doser

 

Probes/Sensors

• Temperature sensor
• Water level sensor in ATO reservoir
• Water level in protein skimmer cup
• PH probe

 

I’m probably forgetting something, I’m sure. 

[Nic]

Wasn’t completely happy with the aquascape I had. The intention was to have a somewhat “lifted” aquascape. Not quite bonsai but not a pile of rocks either. Tinkered around with it a bit and think I arrived at a good result. Let me know what y’all think. 
 

FTS

 

 

Right

 

 

Interior of rock structure (cove)

 

[reef jockey]

Looks great.  cant wait to see the fish and corals..  lol

[DevilDuck]

I like the new layout, it feels more balanced and you have more room for frags with different needs; low flow, high flow, more light, more shaded etc. 

[Nic]

Finally got everything set to officially start the Zeovit method. The only major addition that is still in transit is a second Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue lamp. Wiring is about where I want it and finally was able to put a thin sand layer down after soaking it in RO water for four days. I went with Caribsea dry sand - Fiji pink. Pajama Cardinals have slowly warmed up to their new home and are out quite a bit more. Feeding twice a day. 

 

Also, today is the first full day of Zeovit.

 

Initial Dose:

6ml of ZEObak

12ml of ZEOstart

4ml of Sponge Power
 

FTS

 

 

Controller Cabinet

 

The controller cabinet still isn’t quite as “finished” as I would like. I’m sure I will tinker with some of it to get it as crisp and clean looking as I possibly can but as is, I’m satisfied for now. 

[Nic]

Last piece of the puzzle: added a second Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue to the right hand side of the tank. We should be good to go on Acropora in the aquarium. 
 

On that note, I purchased two SPS corals. They won’t be shipping them out for a couple of weeks to give time for everything to stabilize. I chose two “easier” corals to give a little leeway in the first month of the tank being established. Purchased a mini-colony of Green Slimer Staghorn and a mini-colony of Montipora Spongodes. 
 

Day 3 of Zeovit is a non-dosing day. I will start back dosing tomorrow. 
 

 

 

[reef jockey]

looks like your ready for some corals..  very nice location for the tank 

[Nic]

Day 7 of initial Zeovit dosing

 

Ammonia is still standing around 8ppm

Nitrates look to be getting near 5ppm. I’m hoping this is an indication that the cycle is about to shift and the ammonia is about to decline. Zeovit method generally states that day 10 is the first day you can safely introduce hardier SPS corals such as Montipora. 
 

FTS

 

 

I did make an equipment change. I switched out the Lifegard Turbo Reactor for the Aqua Gadget Desktop Minimax Pro Media Reactor. I could only get the Lifegard reactor down to 67 gph which is about twice as much flow as was recommended for my tank. The downside to the Aqua Gadget reactor is that I can only use about .15L of Zeovit stones which is a bit less than what I need but I can get the flow through the reactor down to 10gph. I think the tradeoff is a better one because the right amount of stones with twice as much flow is likely to cause STN/RTN whereas the general consensus regarding amount of stones varies more. 
 

Thus far I’ve only been able to spot a small amount of diatoms. Otherwise, everything seems to be going smoothly. I will introduce a Montipora Spetosa and a Green Slimer Acropora on the 17th. 

 

[Nic]

Update on the tank:

 

Currently experiencing a significant bacterial bloom. I’ve been experiencing some pretty significant medical issues the last few weeks and was hospitalized from Wednesday-Saturday. Of course one of the Pajama Cardinals died and got sucked into the powerhead. Wife was able to remove most of the dead fish but it was still enough to kick off a significant bacterial bloom. 
 

Thought about adding some Seachem Prime but I’m not quite confident it won’t screw with the Zeovit dosing so, unless someone has experienced otherwise, I think I’m just going to ride it out the next couple of days and let the tank naturally stabilize. 
 

[Nic]

Just a quick update: 

 

Tank is still fairly cloudy with a bacterial bloom. Interestingly, the Ammonia is down to just about zero as are the nitrates. Both were consistently measuring at 0.8 and 2 respectively. Phosphates are measuring at 0.00 on Hanna checker. I imagine this means the water should clear up in the next day or two as the bacteria lose nutrients to feed on. 
 

Once that happens I have lined up a number of corals to be introduced at intervals and will add a pair of clownfish. Looking forward to the fun part now that the tank is starting to stabilize!

[Reefkid88]

 Super killer set up,those Adaptive boards are super cool.

 

 But with the lighting,why not go with a 32 or a G5/6 XR15 istead of your current choice ? 

[Nic]

24 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

 Super killer set up,those Adaptive boards are super cool.

 

 But with the lighting,why not go with a 32 or a G5/6 XR15 istead of your current choice ? 

I appreciate it! Yeah the Adaptive Reef cabinet has been super helpful. In previous tanks I've done, I've always focused on the aesthetics of the tank itself but then had wires and equipment all over the place. Putting this tank on our built in desk that I share with my wife pretty much necessitated that I take some time and energy on equipment and cable management and the Adaptive Reef cabinet made that super easy. I originally wanted to go with an XR15 but was convinced by someone else to stick with the AI Prime. It wasn't until after I made the purchase that I did some math and realized it wasn't going to be sufficient for an SPS dominant tank. Simplest solution (read: cheapest) and the solution that wouldn't make me feel like a complete moron for buying the Prime originally, was to supplement with two Kessils. An added benefit I didn't really consider is that I love being able to angle the Kessils toward the center of the tank. It leaves very little of the lifted scape fully shadowed. I figured I can make good use of the Kessils when and if I choose to upgrade to a larger tank, as well. 

[Nic]

By the way, @Reefkid88, I was taking a look at your 7 gallon build and saw that you did Zeovit system with it coupled with a bare bottom. I originally wanted to go bare bottom with this tank but was brow beat into putting a shallow sand bed by the folks over at the Zeovit forums. How did Zeovit fare for you on a bare bottom? 

[Reefkid88]

They are super nice,just super pricey foe my blood lol.  

 

 Sps can be had with this light,but aiming for the par most people keep their sps at really cannot be achieved with the Prime. Good lights,absolutely. I liked mine,but felt like the light was lacking spectrum. 

 

 For your size tank,a XR15 would have definitely been more ideal and could have eliminated the need for the Kessil's. 

 

 As for the Zeovit,it did not go as planned. The tank was WAY TOO small for the supplements. Not nearly enough water volume to correctly use the program. I think the smallest water volume to effectively use it would be at least 15-20g. 

 

 If it were me I would sell the kessils and there is a prime for sale in the hardware section for $100.