Blackizzz shallow zeovit tank

[blackizzz]

Hey guys!

Welcome to my build/progress thread

My name is Oskar. I'm from Stockholm, Sweden. Not going to bore people too much I hope:
I got interested in reefkeeping a long time ago, but only got my first attempt on reefing set up around 3 years ago, which quickly had to be torn down and dismantled when I moved to another town to enlist in the military. Since I wasn't able to maintain the tank, I thought it best to let it stand dry until I could. Fast forward to, well now, and I'm currently in law school, and have waaay too much time on my hands ;Bookworm so I decided now was a better time than any to set my tank up again!

Back to the build, I've reused most of the equipment from when I had my tank setup last. The light has been replaced, as my DIY LED I used last felt like a true DIY job lol New light is awesome.

Tank: 75x50x35 cm (29.5x19.7x13.8 in) 3 side optiwhite
Sump: 65x42.5x35 cm (25.6x16.7x13.8 in)
Stand: 75x50x75 cm, Built myself. it's low due ceiling height
Light: ATI LED Powermodule hybrid, 4x24w T5, 1x 75w LED, wifi controlled. Currently 2 C+, 1B+ 1 P+ bulbs, might replace a C+ with a B+ bulb though, we'll see.
Skimmer: Bubble Magus Curve 5, not the fanciest, but does its job very well.
Return pump: Jebao DC2000, will probably be replaced soonish as it "hums" and is definitely the loudest part of the tank right now, looking at a vectra S1.
In tank flow: 2x MP10wQD controlled by a reeflink.
Zeovit reactor: Cleartides 1L reactor, a decent choice for nano-ish tanks, have been looking at automatic reactors as a replacement though.
Dosing pump/ATO: Kore 5th.
(Probably missed something)

I know everyone loves pictures, and unfortunately I'm terribly bad at remembering to take them I am however pretty decent at working with sketchup, so most of the build pics are done in there.

Starting with the stand:

Being relatively low, missing about 6.5 inches compared to regular counter height, it's quite a tight fit with everything inside it. I may in the future attempt to build a slightly more "spacious" stand and use magic or something to change them out

Sump: designed by me, built by the same tank builder as the DT

There's also a sneak peak of the equipment used, I keep 2 tunze's in the sump to keep detritus from settling, seems to work pretty well ;Happy

Cable mess due to the tight fit of sump in stand, and why I'd love to get a slightly larger stand when I can

Light:

Should've taken a few pictures before I hung it, but I think most people have seen this fixture before

To the tank: Tank is currently cycling using the Zeovit method, basically a little dosing and a little waiting for a few days Currently on day 9 out of 14, and in an ideal world I'd add the first herbivore fish, the first test coral and the CUC tomorrow on day 10, but unfortunately I'm swamped until friday, so they'll enter the tank on day 13 instead

Tank is set up using LR and KZ aragonite sand, and I'm pretty pleased with the aquascape, the right island should provide plenty of space for hiding as well as coral placement. The left island I might rearrange, but it will stay as is for now.

Excuse the purple hue to the pictures, I'm still getting used to the light + phonecamera combo

 

[blackizzz]

Current state of the tank, the first few days I had a diatom "bloom" which quickly was replaced by a green algae of some kind reminding me of bryopsis, but not sure it is, hoping that disappears once CUC comes in.

Tank parameters are pretty solid for now:

Sg: 1.0252
Alk 7.8 dkh
Ca 400
Mg 1290
K 400
PO4 0.028
NO3 0.2
Temp 25.3
pH 8.1

Anyways I'm glad to be here and I'm glad to have you all follow my journey!

Welcome!

 

[blackizzz]

Day 10, unfortunately not able to get to the LFS for the first inhabitants yet, tomorrow...

Todays parameters:

temp: 25°c
Sg: 1.0254-1.0256
Alk: 7.6 (Hanna. Either measurement error or something is consuming Alk in a decent pace...)
Ca: 410 (Salifert, risen with salinity)
Mg: 1310 (salifert, risen with salinity)
ph: 8.1
K: 410 (risen with salinity
NO3: 0 (Salifert, no coloration visible)
PO4: 0 (Hanna ULR P, so can be between 0-0.015 PO4)

Apparently the zeovit is doing its job of stripping the water of nutrients. Will be interesting to see what happens once the first fish gets in and some food starts being consumed.

Today I have prepped the KZ active carbon (150ml), by first "activating" it with near boiling RO water, and then rinsed it with more RO. Currently "soaking" in RO water overnight, ready to be used tomorrow when first animals get in the tank. Will be using a filter mesh bag, and placing it where the water goes in to the return area of my sump.

Tomorrow I'm able to go to the LFS, and hopefully find a suitable fish, ideally a blenny to help with the algae. Will also pick out good test coral, perhaps a montipora or seriatopora.

Ofc also a CUC will be added, hopefully they have some Turbo Fluctuosa in case my algae issues turn out to be Bryopsis. Since nutrients are so low, it would surprise me if the bryopsis actually turns out to be an issue at this stage.

Lastly I'll receive my replacement control box for the ATI, which will (hopefully) fix an issue I have with the T5's "flickering" when they're supposed to be turned off. Really good service from ATI and the retailer on sorting that out.

Pics will come tomorrow once I get everything in the tank.

 

[niQo]

Looks good!

 

[blackizzz]

Looks good!

Thank you

 

[blackizzz]

Was able to visit the LFS today and get some living things in the tank unfortunately they’ve just moved and didn’t have any suitable fish in... but got a CUC and 2 frags to “test the waters” a bit... a Montipora confusa and an australian seriatopora hystrix.

Both looking great now about 9 hours since getting in the water, the montipora had some mucus out for a bit, but that disappeared quickly. Both were dipped in FM “The dip” but nothing else than isopods came off the frags.

Also got an assortment of invertebrates, the hermits are doing a good job of clearing some of the rocks from algae already, hopefully they’ll keep it up!

Since there’s no fish in the system yet, I’ll keep a close eye on the frags for signs of starvation. Zeostart is basically a lot of nitrates, and spongepower should supply some nutrients as well, both being dosed daily. Will be on the lookout for fish

Noticed I desperately need to start using the proper camera with a yellow filter for night pics, impossible to catch fluorescence with only the iPhone.

 

[blackizzz]

Definitely diagnosed the algae as Bryopsis, have manually removed some today, also trying to get hold of an bryopsis-eating nudibranch (Elysia Crispata) as it's spreading a bit too quick for my liking.

The corals are doing good, lots of PE, no loss in color. They've yet to be moved from the sandbed, and light is still set in "acclimation mode". Will move them to the rocks tomorrow and keep an eye on how they react. Will ramp up the light to normal during beginning of next week.

Tested most but not all parameters today:
Sg: 1.0259 (had to replace some water lost during acclimation of the livestock introduced on wednesday, during that time no topoff was done by ATO, and hence the slightly higher salinity.)
Temp 25.1°C
ph: 8.1
KH: 7.7
K: 410
NO3: 0
PO4: 0.049, so 0.031-0.067 (could be a slight misread from having a little particles in the water after stirring sand and rocks cleaning them from algae, or phosphates were released when working... Will be interesting to see how "quick" they "disappear".)

 

[blackizzz]

So, 14d cycle has passed. Will try to get the first fish in the system the following week.

Corals look to be doing good, the monti is getting harassed by hermits on a daily basis, so need to get that off the sand bed, the hystrix has been mounted to the LR.

“Still battling” the algae/bryopsis, although it looks to have trouble growing back in the places where it’s been removed, either by me or the blue tux urchin. Hopefully that is due to the low nutrients.

Parameters from today.

Sg: 1.0259
Temp: 25°C
pH: 8.05-8.1
KH: 7.4 - Dropping quicker than I thought it should. Have some buffert standing by to keep it at just over 7.0.
Ca: 420
Mg: 1300
K: 420
NO3: Just detectable, estimate less than 0.1, probably residue from me scrubbing rocks from algae + one snail that died (Looked like hermit wanted the shell)
PO4: 0.04 (0.023-0.057 error range)

Will decrease ZB to 2drops 2-3x per week, will continue with SP and ZS3 as before.

 

[blackizzz]

First acro frag is in the system! no clue which variety it is though.

Still no fish, and monti is turning a little pale-green, the seriatopora is keeping colours though, parameters are looking pretty good, but I suspect there's a little too little to eat for the corals, will start feeding reef-roids 2 times a week instead of 1. (target feeding small amounts)

Supporting my theory of low-food/nutrients in the system, is that algae (some benign type of bryopsis) is not really growing, at the point where it's barely surviving I think.

Yesterdays parameters:
Sg: 1.0255
Temp: 24.8
KH: 7.5
Ca: 405
K: 420

Camera captures the coloration really badly, it’s metallic blue-green, with a little more green in the tips. I think it’ll be very nice once it settles.

So, kh, po4 and no3 tested (today):
Kh 7.5 - staying where I want, dosing 15ml, equivalent of 0.2 spread out over the day.
Po4: 0.025-0.034 with Hanna (showed 0.034, CQ of reagents were constantly a couple ppb phosphorus over set value, so guessing it’s closer to 0.025-0.030. Then error range on that so: 0.008-0.045)
NO3: undetectable.

Dosing stays the same: 0.15mlx2 ZS3, 2dr SP daily, 2dr ZB x3 week.

Will feed a little reef-roids tomorrow night, and see how the acro reacts to it. Acro is also in a lower light area, + the light has been dimmed (partly due to acclimation, partly due to montipora getting lighter colors, ofc the lack of coloration in monti could be something like iron deficiency if the algae is consuming it, but first seeing if a bit more food + a bit less light will result in richer colors.)

Really want to get some movement (fish) in the tank soon, apparently I chose a bad time to start the tank

 

[blackizzz]

This morning PE was noticeably better, snapped a few shots in an effort to ID it.

Phone-camera, so not superb quality

 

[blackizzz]

Update for today,

KH had dropped to 7.3 from 7.5, and checking the dosing pump showed that it was sucking air at the connection for the container. Solved it temporarily, but need to find a better solution...

Algae is losing the battle atm, sand is mostly clear, and the urchin is making pretty good progress on the rocks. Guesstimate about 10-20% of the algae left, hopefully they’ll be completely gone soon.

The green Montipora confusa has turned yellow, which I suspect is because of the algae absorbing iron (?) PE is still good, and since I want to get rid of the algae I won’t rush to dose iron just yet...

Came home today to the Hystrix with very reduced PE, which is weird cause the monti and Acro were both happily displaying theirs.

A little evening shot from tonight

 

[blackizzz]

Everything is doing good, algae is basically all gone and corals are doing good!

Prepared the zeovit ahead of the first media change scheduled after 4 weeks, so that's coming up this weekend, also prepared a fresh batch of saltwater for a 10% WC.

Upped the flow a bit on the vortechs, theoretically there should be 70X+ the tank volume and the corals seems to enjoy it a lot. (One pump is on reef crest mode, so flow is not 70x all the time.) Occasionally one of the pumps draws in a little air and creates a micro-bubble storm, difficult to avoid with the tank being so shallow and not wanting to blast the rockwork with direct flow.

Still no fish Will be very interesting to see what will be the first ;Bookworm

 

[blackizzz]

Performed the first WC (8%-ish) and Zeovit change (50%) this Sunday.

Dosing as follows:

ZB: 2 drops for 10 days after ZV change, then back to 2 drops 2x/week.
SP: 2 drops daily (filter feeders are growing like crazy, I think it also is helping corals some since there no fish in the system)
SS3: 0.15ml x2 daily.

Corals are doing good, and some noticeable growth is showing

Will start dosing some "coloration additives" soon, but not until first fish is in (possible coloration is to the pale side due to little to no free nutrition.)

Since everything is good, (if everything stays that way), I'll also start stocking a few more corals soon-ish

 

[revhtree]

Looking good! Nice tank!

 

[blackizzz]

Looking good! Nice tank!

Thanks mate Glad to have a visitor in here

 

[blackizzz]

Got a new little friend today, a Pom Pom crab, had one in the last tank and found this peculiar individual at an LFS. It’s holding an Ricordea instead of the usual two anemones.

Bad picture, will see if I can get a better one later.

 

[Phelipe's Ocean]

Im following along sweet thread and l love the aquascape! I am currently debating what program im going to go with for an SPS dominant (ZeoVit, Red Sea, or polyp labs) so I cant wait to see how Zeo works out for you.

 

[blackizzz]

Im following along sweet thread and l love the aquascape! I am currently debating what program im going to go with for an SPS dominant (ZeoVit, Red Sea, or polyp labs) so I cant wait to see how Zeo works out for you.

Thank you, and welcome glad to have you along!
So far everything about the Zeovit method has been a breeze, I'll keep you up to date

 

[blackizzz]

Annoyingly enough, I woke up and discovered that my Kore 5th has dosed the entire container of top off water into the sump. :mad: Luckily enough I hadn't refilled it, and it was only about 1/3rd full. I've had some problems with the ATO not working the last few days (optical sensor error) but did the rookie mistake of not immediately disabling the feature in the software. Done now though ;Facepalm

Salinity checked out at 1.024-ish, so about 0.0013 lower than I usually keep it, although, nothing to worry about and I'll let evaporation bring it up to regular levels. Corals all look great though

 

[blackizzz]

Finally got some fish in! Decided on a small pair of Occelaris clownfish, only about 1" and 5/8" "large", but seems to do great (been in tank for 2 days). Also got a nice gold Euphyllia which I hope they'll decide to call their home sooner or later.

ATO is still broken, and so far no luck on getting hold of a new optical sensor. Dosing top-off manually 2/3 times daily atm. Seems like the silicone/epoxy/plastic on the sensor had "dried" from my storing of the unit for 2 years, and some cracks in that let water in made the sensor send faulty signals to the kore 5th.

Otherwise everything is tugging along, seeing some growth on the SPS, which is nice especially since the salinity isn't super stable for the moment.
Hopefully I'll receive a small shipment of sticks within a week, so slowly stocking the tank.

Tomorrow or Wednesday a couple of Zeovit additives will turn up in my mail box, so will start "experimenting" with those to see if/how I can improve coloration. (at the moment everything looks fine, and has great PE, but coloration is a bit on the dull side.)

Pictures will come once I learn how to get decent photos with my phone