Zibba's Reefs

[gettaReef]

Woah!! Sick! Must say I love your aquascape. And how you decided to hang your AI's looks very sleek

 

[zibba]

wow!!!

Looking great!

Love it man, looks great

Woah!! Sick! Must say I love your aquascape. And how you decided to hang your AI's looks very sleek

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the compliments. Seems like it has taken awhile to get to this point. There's still work to be done but it's a relief to be at this point with the build.

Here's a quick video of new coral we picked up two weeks ago. It's a red goniopora and under the blue LEDs, it has bright yellow tips but that's really hard to capture on camera. This is under full daylight:

[video=youtube_share;5CPa-HYUO5U]http://youtu.be/5CPa-HYUO5U[/video]

Red Goniopora by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr

 

[-Logzor]

Where did you find those incredible rocks? is the branching one at the end a single piece?

 

[DO NOT PM]

Lookin fantastic! Is that the ORA hawkins down in the middle front?

Excited to continue watching this tank progress!

 

[revhtree]

Just awesome bro!

 

[zibba]

Where did you find those incredible rocks? is the branching one at the end a single piece?

Almost all of the rock in the display was purchased from the old owner, Siasl, who got it from Bulk Reef Supply, I believe. The big branching piece on the far right is mostly one piece. I drilled through it and mounted it to some other rock with PVC to create the overhang.

There's a timelapse video of getting that big piece in here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/large-aquariums-180g/166990-zibbas-reefs-7.html#post2003794

Lookin fantastic! Is that the ORA hawkins down in the middle front?

Excited to continue watching this tank progress!

Thanks Joel! Yes, that's ORA Hawkins in the middle right up front. I got that as a decent sized frag and I've had it since my old build -- it's growing into a nice center piece. Love the color on it and I'm trying to get some contrast with the red goni right next to it.

Just awesome bro!

Thanks Captain!

 

[Sahin]

Wow, I need to update myself on your new system. Hope you are doing well. That Goni looks AWESOME. And the video too! What camera and lens combo did you use to record that video? The clarity is breathtaking!

 

[Siasl]

This is just plain awesome. Amazing rock-work, drybox, and coral selection. Tanks this size are a real labor of love!

 

[zibba]

Wow, I need to update myself on your new system. Hope you are doing well. That Goni looks AWESOME. And the video too! What camera and lens combo did you use to record that video? The clarity is breathtaking!

Hi Sahin! Thanks for checking in and hope you're well. I appreciate the compliments. The video was taken from my Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm. Still learning how to use it but slowly getting the hang of taking and editing videos.

This is just plain awesome. Amazing rock-work, drybox, and coral selection. Tanks this size are a real labor of love!

If anyone knows, it's you! Thanks for the compliments but I so much to you for setting me up with an incredible palette of rock and "canvas" to work with.


Some new happenings: I started dosing MicroBacter7 two days ago and I'm following the instructions on the bottle: 100mL/day for 2 weeks. I'm doing this primarily to ensure I'm getting enough biodiversity and secondarily to see if it helps reduce cyano/algae.

As some do, I'm not planning to carbon dose (vodka, vinegar, sugar, bio-pellets, etc.) to feed the bacteria because I'm getting low readings of NO3 and PO4 as it is.

I've also had to up my dosage of Alk, which tells me corals are happy and growing. A few corals were starting to look a little pale so I upped the AcroPower from 15mL/day to 20mL/day.

Finally, the new QT system is plumbed and I've started mixing water to cycle the tank. I have two small tangs, a yellow-belly blue hippo and desjardini sailfin, that have been in the frag tank for several weeks. We'll be moving them to the QT tank once it cycles and leaving the frag tank fallow for about 10-weeks. Once the tangs are in their new QT home, I'll continue to monitor them for a few more weeks and treat if necessary. After that, all new fish will go through the QT and all new corals will go through the frag tank.

I haven't, and I'm likely not going to, let the display go fallow so I won't have any assurances that it's disease free. The fish currently in the display have all appeared healthy for several weeks now and I'm going to give it another 3-6 weeks before adding the small tangs. What I'm hoping for is that by following a stricter QT protocol, all new fish will be in the best shape to thrive in the main reef.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Wow! The new tank is looking AWESOME!

 

[zibba]

Wow! The new tank is looking AWESOME!

Thank you so much M&T. Means a lot as you two are a great inspiration!


Three-days into the MB7 dosing now. Seems the light brown/green dusting that was covering the sand is clearing up, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Haven't noticed an increase in skimmer output. Yesterday, I added about 20mL of the MB7 in the return chamber of the sump, which is where the pH probe is, and I had a sudden decrease in pH to around 7.5. O2 depletion is real! Will continue to monitor the MB7 daily.

 

[maroun.c]

Great build you got there.
Excellent photo skills and amazing to see how the corals are thriving in the middle of a move

 

[hjkesler]

It is so eye catching.Nice job and thanks for your affort

 

[ChristopherKriens]

Well done!

 

[LILBUDDHA]

Two Thumbs Up . Nice upgrade .

 

[Reef_Obsessed]

OMG! What a phenomenal setup!!! How did you set up the rocks? Did you glue them or just place them?

 

[Big Larr]

Awesome set up love it

 

[zibba]

OMG! What a phenomenal setup!!! How did you set up the rocks? Did you glue them or just place them?

Some of them were epoxied together and others were drilled and mounted to PVC. I had a video a few pages back but if you want some more details, let me know. Happy to share.

Great build you got there.
Excellent photo skills and amazing to see how the corals are thriving in the middle of a move

It is so eye catching.Nice job and thanks for your affort

Well done!

Two Thumbs Up . Nice upgrade .

Awesome set up love it

Thank you all so much for the compliments! I apologize for the delayed response but, as so often happens, work/life have kept me busy and away from the tank. The tank has been on "auto-pilot" and doing pretty well with the exception of having the return pump fail while I was away for a funeral. I'm very very thankful for my good friend, Hunter (evolved), who saved the day and made an emergency house-call to replace the pump.

Corals are growing, algae is dying back and the tank is slowly but surely settling in. I still haven't wrapped the stand, organized all the wires or plumbed in my large top off container; however, it will all get done in time. I'm clearly not in a rush.

On the other hand, I got the QT system all set up and it's fully cycled and awaiting some new fish: 2 convict tangs, a blonde naso, and 3 lyre tail anthias. I'm on the search for a small dussumieri tang, which I'd like to add at the same time that I add the convicts.

The convicts are actually in the frag tank right now and have been eating well for a week without any signs of disease. I'll probably keep them in there until I find the duss and QT all of them at the same time.

I'll try to take some pics tonight for y'all.

Cheers,
Z

 

[zibba]

The newest addition to the main tank after spending about 6-weeks in the frag tank fattening up and making sure he was healthy:

Desjardini Sailfin Tang by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr

There was some fighting between the sailfin and the yellow tang but after using the "mirror trick" things have settled down.

Few acro shots:
SSC Acro by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr

Oregon Blue Tort by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr

DSC_9891 by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr


My chalice collection took a hit during the move but this one has come back:
JF Goldmeister by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr

This JF Jack-o-Lantern is a really slow grower for me, but it's pretty:
DSC_9886 by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr

Random lobo looking like it wants to come out and eat:
DSC_9879 by ..:.. EZ ..:.., on Flickr

 

[zibba]

Some sad news, our female rhomboid jumped last night and died. I feel awful since I have all the materials to make the screen tops but I've been lazy about it. Entirely preventable and really disappointed in myself for not making them earlier.


In other news, I was trying to figure out some settings with my camera's flash last night so I took a few more pictures. Here are a few that turned out:

Happy New Year everyone!


- Z