bubblemytip
Active Member
Hi. I posted this over in the meet & greet section of the forum a while back, but it is probably best suited here...
I'm from Auckland, New Zealand. We are quite limited in the products available here, but we make do.... (Aquaforest has only just arrived, no Triton, etc)
A little about my tank:
AquaOne mini reef 90 (45cm x 45cm x 45cm) - spec'd out, about 100L net volume. Tank has been running for a year now. Switched to Zeovit in November 2016, as it has a NZ distributor I trust.
Parameters:
Feeding:
Zeovit/Dupla additives:
Other maintenance:
Livestock:
Corals:
About a month ago, I added some SPS frags (not sure of exact species of the Acros yet, will post some pictures, so if you can identify them, please do! :) ):
I will post some more photos of my rescape soon!
That's about it in a nutshell so far... Thanks for reading! :)
Photos:
Blenny hanging out amongst his flowerbed:
And then competing with the damsel for some food - a lot of posturing goes on at feeding time. No fish seems to get overly aggressive though - friendly banter, I'd describe it as. Very hard to get a good snap of these two...
I'm from Auckland, New Zealand. We are quite limited in the products available here, but we make do.... (Aquaforest has only just arrived, no Triton, etc)
A little about my tank:
AquaOne mini reef 90 (45cm x 45cm x 45cm) - spec'd out, about 100L net volume. Tank has been running for a year now. Switched to Zeovit in November 2016, as it has a NZ distributor I trust.
- Light: AI Hydra 26HD running an equivalent to the AB+ radio programming but with some David Saxby inspired respiration peaks and troughs thrown in, running 20cm above water line.
- Return: Ecotech Vectra M1 (silent, calibrated - love how feed mode synchs with the MP10); Eheim Compact 3000 in wardrobe as backup.
- Circulation: Ecotech Vortech MP10WQD with a DIY battery backup.
- Skimmer: Tunze 9004 in sump
- Heater: Eheim 100W and GHL 3-fan battery - both controlled by my Neptune Apex
- ATO: Tunze nano osmolator for baseline in case of massive evaporation, IKS Vario Blue 2 for keeping level steady above that, controlled by Apex too with Avast Marine float switch and OSC function. Using a 25L jerrycan as a RODI reservoir (buy RODI from supermarket here - distilled, then passed through RODI a few times, then ozonised, so it's good, but $6/10L. Luckily I only change 10L every two weeks. 25L RODI lasts me about 2-3 weeks of ATO)
- Filtration: 150-micron filter sock, Zeovit Rx with 100ml KZ carbon on top, Eheim compact 300 pump powers the Zeo RX.
- Dosing: GHL Doser 2.1 standalone 2-pump version (love this pump - silent!!) for two part only - 118*0.2ml doses (23ml) of Randy's #2 recipe, spiked with Dupla trace/vitamins; Dupla DP4 dosing pump for Potassium chloride (4x 3ml doses during photoperiod) mixed to ~18,500ppm K+/L - all powered through my EB6, so if pH or water level goes crazy, the dosing pumps turn off.
- Reactor: [possibly getting a new Skimz chaeto reactor for night-time oxygenation and nutrient redundancy - not sure if worth it or just cool to have - chaeto likely won't grow much, but it could mean I could feed a lot more...]
- All electrical outlets are in a separate cabinet to the left of the display to avoid any water damage/issues. All dosing pumps and containers are under my desk 2m away from display, out of sight but easily accessible.
Parameters:
- KH - 7.7
- Ca - 420
- NO3 - 1.5 (I try to run my NO3 and PO4 a little higher than normal zeo in order to keep my clam and softies/LPS happy)
- PO4 - .02
- Mg - 1350 (stays pretty steady without dosing)
- Salinity - 35ppt at 25ºC
- Temperature range: 25.5-26.1 each day (typically 25.5-25.8ºC)
- pH swings from 8 to 8.35 each day
- Photoperiod is 1 hour ramp, 7 hours with respiration peaks (equivalent to a Radio G3 running the AB+ program at 70% intensity)
- Potassium - 407.5ppm - Bacteria use up a lot of potassium. Since dosing KCl, I have noticed my mushrooms have swelled enormously and everything has perked up. Been reading about the benefits of potassium courtesy of Justin Credabel. I also used to run a Deltec SC1351 skimmer, which was far too large for my aquarium - foam head was inconsistent and it was skimming out too much good stuff, and it took up a lot of space. The Tunze 9004 is perfect for my tank and its nutrient levels, and it is extremely quiet.
Feeding:
- Mysis cube every second day - broadcast
- Vitalis xs pellets twice a day (4 weeks normal, 2 weeks platinum). Previously fed NLS pellets. I just buy what is available at the time.
- Target feeding of anemones and LPS once a week with a special marine mix of mussels, clams, prawns enhanced with vitamins etc.
Zeovit/Dupla additives:
- Zeovit stones - 100ml with flow of ~80-100L/hr, 80% replaced every 8 weeks
- zeobak 1 drop x2 a week
- zeozym - 1/8tsp dissolved in 1 cup tank water the night before dosing (dosed on Wednesday and Sunday)
- Vitalizer - 1 drop per day
- Sponge power - 2 drops every second day
- ZS3 - 0.1ml x2 per day (0.2ml total)
- Using K-balance and B-balance automatic elements
- Nyos aminos (soon switching to KZ Aminos once these run out) - 1 drop every second day
- DIY coral snow - usually after a frozen food feeding or maintenance
- Dupla Iron/Manganese - 1 drop/day
- Dupla Potassium Iodide/Potassium Flouride - 1 drop/day
- Dupla Strontium/Molybdenum - 1 drop/day
- Salt mix is either Dupla Natural Balance, KZ Reefer's Best or Red Sea blue bucket - whichever is on special.
- 1ml H2O2 3% per day (manually dosed a few hours after any zeobak product)
Other maintenance:
- My dosing containers are 10L empty RODI bottles, which at this point will last me over a year...
- Water change - 10% every 2-3 weeks - when I feel the corals need it or I want to suck something out of the tank I don't like. Sometimes vacuum the sand a little.
- Filter sock changed every 2-3 days
- Skimmer cup cleaned every 3 days (if going away, I make it skim wetter and then use a dosing pump to empty the cup)
- Shake zeo stones when I wake up, before I go to bed. Does not take much effort at all, and I like tinkering with the tank and observing, so does not take any extra time from running non-zeo.
- I try to pluck any algae I don't like out before it become a problem. Used to have bryopsis. I found running kalk at the time, plucking and running a chaeto refugium for a couple of months knocked that off. I have noticed a slight return since going zeo, but easy to keep on top of as it is localised on the clam's shell (H2O2-dipped toothbrush scrub of the outside of the shell is my latest remedy, which seems to have paid off)
Livestock:
- 7 Rose Bubble-tip Anemones
- 1 Tridacna maxima
- 2 ocellaris clownfish (pair)
- 1 Midas blenny
- 1 yellowtail damsel
- 1 banded boxer shrimp (Stenopus hispidus)
Corals:
- Rhodactis mushrooms
- Ricordea mushrooms
- Frogspawn
- Pink and green Trachy
- Sarcophyton leather
- Green star polyps
- Various zoanthids
- Seriatopora
About a month ago, I added some SPS frags (not sure of exact species of the Acros yet, will post some pictures, so if you can identify them, please do! :) ):
- x3 Acropora
- 1 green Montipora digitata
- 1 red Monti cap
I will post some more photos of my rescape soon!
That's about it in a nutshell so far... Thanks for reading! :)
Photos:
Blenny hanging out amongst his flowerbed:
And then competing with the damsel for some food - a lot of posturing goes on at feeding time. No fish seems to get overly aggressive though - friendly banter, I'd describe it as. Very hard to get a good snap of these two...
