Jump to content

Tofu's 4ft Reef tank


tofubox
 Share

Recommended Posts

I would like to share some of my own personal thoughts so far along my zeovit journey, and also hope those not using zeovit can have a better understanding.

The core of every system is very clear and straightforward. It does not take a magical system like zeovit to get beautiful sps tanks. The core of any beautiful tanks u see anywhere boils down to simply, water parameters and lighting. Thats about it.

Water Parameters:

In particular u are talking about KH, CA, MG, Po4 and No3. The rest i will explain further later. How you maintain the above it really up to u. Theres nothing special in zeovit to address KH,CA and MG. So here are the available methods: Manual /automated dosing with balling light, 2 part dosing, self mix powder, Kalkwasser dosing and calcium reactors. There isnt a perfect number to any of the above. But there is however, a balanced no. U can check out this no from reef calculators. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html , just input any products to display the balance no. Keep these 3 big boys stable, a range of number is usually preferred as its hard to always acheive perfection since we do water change and stuff. A range of +-1.0 is good to start with, slowly narrow it down to +-0.5.

P04 and no3 is a little big harder to address: Zeovit basically controls this using their basic 4 system, zeovit/zeostart3/spongepower/zeobak.

So what if u dont use zeovit? Its still exactly the same principle. On top of your skimmer, be it probiotic dosing (polylab genesis/fuel, Prodibio biodigest/biotim, FM Ultralith/Ultrabak, Redsea care program), Refugium with macroalgae, Deep Sand bed, Biopellets, algae turf scrubbers, large amount of bio media (siporax, bacteria king, eheim substrate pro, Biohome) your goal is to break down that nitrate into harmless nitrogen gas. So u dont need zeovit to do this, its just another method along with all the above mentioned. There's pros and cons to each. And than theres p04 which u run reactors with (rowaphos, ultraphos, sorb4, goodbye po4, Redsea Algae management program). All the above also work towards the same goal of phos removing.

Given the choice honestly, sometimes i wished i had stick to the basic of having a good nutrient export system like a refugium system with macroalgae.

The last thing i have to mention is trace elements. There are important elements in the water that determines corals growth and colouration that sometimes goes overlooked. Mainly Potassium, iodine, strontium and a few others. Triton is also big on trace elements for having a successful reef. Now that u reached a low nutrient system, u need to be able to fuel the corals with the necessary elements. The importance of potassium is often overlooked. Regular change of water will help keep this in check if u use a good salt mix. But if u really want to bring out the colours or potentials in corals. u need to supplement further. So whats the best way i learnt, is to try out some colour products commercially available. Zeovit (Xtra, Bbalance, Kbalance, Xtraspecial) FM( Colour elements), Grotech (ABCM), Red sea coral coloration program. Start off with half the dosage and monitor the coloration. ( I.e U lack red in ur corals, u can increase ur dosage of FM Red/Purple complex, or increase dosage of bbalance) You don't need to measure the element in the water, this is already done by the company manufacturing these products, all u need to do is look and understand how your corals display. This makes it 10x easier to supplement trace elements

The main concept im trying to put across is that, u do not need zeovit to have a successful tank. Zeovit is amazing, but not everyone is made for it. It takes a lot of diligence and also an amount of experience to identify the dosage amounts. There are tons of successful methods used over the years that yield great results.

So now all u have to do, is mix and match ur preferred method for Big 3 dosing, Nitrate removal, Po4 Removal, trace elements addition and a step closer to a beautiful successful tank

Beautiful tank. Enjoyed this read in particular. Absolutely agree on simplicity and finding one method that works for you.

"Save a reef, grow your own"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazingly beautiful bro! Love that pair of clowns too!

Love the sps pe so nice!

Fish Recocgnition So Little Ah? Haha nice nice bro..

Awesome tank bro!

Wow!! Speechless!! Me can decom liow....

Your tank is truly inspiring bro...

beautiful tank! within 3 months all colour up!

super nice tank

Beautiful tank. Enjoyed this read in particular. Absolutely agree on simplicity and finding one method that works for you.

Thank you guys for the strong encouragement and motivation. Really appreciate it! :yahoo:

 

I Love Stagsss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SRC Member

Bro, thanks for penning down your experiences. It really saves us from going through the long learning curve. :) This is really the spirit of sharing.

Shadow Walkers's 4 ft Shallow Reef Chronicles

4 Ft - 120.35.35

3 Ft Sump

Skimmer: Bubble Magus NAC7

Chiller: Hailea 1/4 HS66A

Lights: T5 4 tubes ATI + Maxspect Glaive Led

Refugium with Liverocks and Cheato and lots of pods

Refugium light: Par38 Full spectrum

Return pump: Hailea HX6540..stupid pump so noisy

Wavemaker: Maxspect Gyre 130

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad to see all my corals doing well with even better pe extension than before i left for my short holiday. Heres an ssc that i just got recently that i was really worried about, but glad to see it healthy when i got home.

post-18626-0-90284600-1417010093_thumb.j

 

I Love Stagsss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got a call today from my favourite guy

"Your light set arrived liao".........................

OOMMMMGGGGG :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

Waited forever. But its gonna be worth the wait. My last key piece of equipment! Will update again with pics once i have it up :thumbsup:

 

I Love Stagsss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SRC Member

Got a call today from my favourite guy

"Your light set arrived liao".........................

OOMMMMGGGGG :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

Waited forever. But its gonna be worth the wait. My last key piece of equipment! Will update again with pics once i have it up :thumbsup:

Curious what you ordered! Haha

Tank Size: 3.5 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft
Sump: 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft”
Return Pump: Eheim 1264
Chiller Pump: H2Ocean Flow Pump 3000
Skimmer: Vertex Alpha 200
Wavemakers: 2 X Maxspect Gyre 130; 1 x Ecotech VorTech MP10WES, 1 x Ecotech VorTech MP40WES, 1x Jebao RW15
Filtration: Schuran Multifilter 100 (Rowa Phos), Two Little Fishies Phosban 150 Fluidised Reactor (Vertex Rox 0.8 Carbon), Enductor Fluidized Reactor- FR45 (NP Biopellets & All In One Biopellets) with Eden 140 Pump, Santa Monica Hogx1 Algae Turf Scrubber, Cheato
Calcium Reactor: Skimz CM152 with needle valve and Maxijet 600 feed Pump (CaribSea ARM Extra Coarse ,KZ Coral Gravel, Two Little Fishies Reborn, Grotech Magnesium Pro)
Dosing: Bubble Magnus Dosing Pump BM-T01 + 2 x 4 Head Expansion Accessory BM-T02
Bio Media: Marine Pure, Bacteria King, Eheim Substrat Pro, Eheim Substrat, Seachem DeNitrate, PowerHouse Hard, Polyplab Biosphere, Seachem Purigen

Chiller: JBJ Arctica Titanium Aquarium Chiller (1/3 Hp - DBE-150)
Lighting: ATI Powermodule 6 x 39 Watt T5. Solite 4 x 39 Watt T5 (Only 2 used) (Blue+ Blue+ Coral+ Purple+ Coral+ AB Special) (Blue+ Purple+)
Auto Top Up system: Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 Auto Top Off
Monitoring: 2 x Milwaukee MC 122 PH Controller (Calcium Reactor & PH Monitoring)

Substrate: CaribSea Aragamax Select

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SRC Member

Must be ATI Sunpower :)

Shadow Walkers's 4 ft Shallow Reef Chronicles

4 Ft - 120.35.35

3 Ft Sump

Skimmer: Bubble Magus NAC7

Chiller: Hailea 1/4 HS66A

Lights: T5 4 tubes ATI + Maxspect Glaive Led

Refugium with Liverocks and Cheato and lots of pods

Refugium light: Par38 Full spectrum

Return pump: Hailea HX6540..stupid pump so noisy

Wavemaker: Maxspect Gyre 130

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did a water change today, heres some updates of the tank. Zeovit still doing extremely well for me. Yet to get my lightset set up, lazyyyyy....Should get it up by this week....hopefully.

post-18626-0-87268500-1418030249_thumb.j

post-18626-0-23450100-1418030252_thumb.j

post-18626-0-31175000-1418030255_thumb.j

post-18626-0-82295100-1418030257_thumb.j

post-18626-0-32619700-1418030262_thumb.j

post-18626-0-51077000-1418030264_thumb.j

post-18626-0-64420900-1418030269_thumb.j

post-18626-0-38146500-1418030283_thumb.j

post-18626-0-17358200-1418030287_thumb.j

post-18626-0-56540000-1418030294_thumb.j

post-18626-0-84204700-1418030298_thumb.j

 

I Love Stagsss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As most of you have guessed it right, I recently switched over to ATI Sunpower 8 x 54w. Well, for obvious reasons............ its cheap and it works.

Let the colouring up begin! Finally the missing piece of the puzzle to my zeovit system

Bulb Combination from Front to back: Blue+, Coral+, Blue+, Purple+, Abspecial, Blue+, Coral+, Blue+

post-18626-0-25965100-1418572152_thumb.j

post-18626-0-92034300-1418572158_thumb.j

 

I Love Stagsss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Close up shot of the hanging bracket. I had it made at Prestech with couple of modifications. Fellow friend of mine actually gave me this idea with the mods required to hang the lightset. It is very sturdy and strong, very impressed with the overall looks, neat and tidy as well.

post-18626-0-05520200-1418652809_thumb.j

post-18626-0-85026500-1418652813_thumb.j

 

I Love Stagsss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share




×
×
  • Create New...