My Zoa & Paly System

[joshporksandwich]

Can you talk about your lights and schedule please. I just realized most of you polyps are zoas. Funny because most people have a hard time with zoas and stick to palys. I spoke to you about making you a package for free just to see them on your tile kingdom and after palooza we'll talk.

 

[Stomp]

Lovely photo, and lovely morph! Purple hornets are my favorite of infamous three hornet morphs.

thank you!

they are my favorite hornet morph as well

 

[Stomp]

Can you talk about your lights and schedule please. I just realized most of you polyps are zoas. Funny because most people have a hard time with zoas and stick to palys. I spoke to you about making you a package for free just to see them on your tile kingdom and after palooza we'll talk.

my light schedule with my current t5's are as follows...

i have a 6 light teklight for the time being (ordered AI hydras yesterday it just so happens). i have my dawn/dusk bulbs which are the outside two of the fixture, which are both ATI blue plus. they turn on at 8am and run til 11am. At which time, those two turn off, and the other 4 bulbs come on. They are 3 ATI blue plus, and 1 ATI Aquablue Special. Those bulbs run from 11am til 4pm. At that time, when my "day" bulbs turn off, the dawn/dusk pair of blue plus' turn back on, and run until 8pm. Then i have 12 hours of dark until the cycle starts again.

With the new leds, when i get them in, and figure out how im gonna hang them, and once my AI new soft touch controller comes in, im sure that schedule will change up a bit. I will have more of a ramp up period, as well as "moon lighting". The spectrum will be different as well, but i will figure all that out once i get them in and hung etc, and will likely take me a couple weeks or so, from now.

I guess i never realized folks had so mny issues with zoas over palys, and choose more palys to keep than zoas. I just thought it was hit or miss with them all, lol. But i guess it makes sense, but honestly, i cant tell too many of them apart and wouldnt know if they were really zoas or palys. I just add what i think looks nice and hope for the best.

And yea, you mentioned it a while back. Would love to talk more about that soon

 

[Stomp]

I would also like to note in this thread, I am currently setting up a 75g Fish and Invert/Anenome tank. I just have to wait on a few things to get to me as its in shipping now. Like an overflow, drill bits, bulkheads, etc. So all the fish that are in with my polyps now, will be moved to that tank, which will be a traditional, sand and rock setup. That will be completed sometime in the next week to week and a half. I actually just got done drilling the return holes in the 75g

With that said, this polyp display and grow out will only have the tiles and be strictly dedicated to the tiered 1' square tile columns. There will be no nooks and shelters for fish, etc. I plan to add a sixline wrasse for the heck of it and pest control.

What do you all think about running a small system (less than 45 total gallons) with only one or two small fish fed daily. If its a matter of nutrients not being enough, i could always "dose" oysterfeast, or just make an attempt to feed the polyps themselves. My filtration once this happens, will be a few pieces of good live rock, a mesh filter sock, and smaller, but effective protein skimmer. I will have a reactor plumbed in, from the return, but will only use it for carbon on occasion if its needed for any particular reason. Other than that the reactor will not be used for any media. There will be no UV or carbon like i currently use. Well, i've basically stopped using the carbon already.

Any thoughts on any of that?

Advise and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[saltcreep74]

Stomp... thats a RAD set up... reminds me of Atlantis... im inspired. GJ!

I'm not expecting to catch much interest as I'm not your traditional reefer and most folks just don't like different and unconventional. However, I'm still a proud reefer just like most everyone else out there, and this is my system thread here on Reef*2*Reef.

I take a whole different approach to aquascaping, and have had big success in the past using my approach (for those of you familiar with my other threads on other sites). My current system is young, and i have recently made some big changes to my setup. For example, I've removed the skimmer, as i am going to setup an algae turf scrubber soon. We can get more into these aspects and explantations later in the thread, but i would like to start with some photos for now.

As of today, I have 32 morphs that are mounted to columns, with one being a double of another. There are a few more double ups on the back frag rack. Some of the pics coming from pieces on the frag rack are from before they were mounted to columns. A couple have not done well since their addition to my display, and i do expect some loses here and there. However, some have done really well, even while ive changed things up and have had some inconsistancy in husbandry. I think i finally have the ball rolling with the spectrum i want, my parameters, and just having some patience and letting things settle in.

I would also like to say, this current display was just something to get myself going again, as i stepped away from corals for a while. This is absolutely not my desired display, or does it do my aquascaping approach any justice. It is simply a 40g breeder with ugly standpipes, and an annoying frag rack in it as well. Its to shallow and small for me to pull off the look and aesthetic feel i want to acheive. However, it is allowing me to get the ball rolling again.

please keep in mind, all but a couple morphs are pretty new to my system, so they have not even begun to grow in and cover the tile columns. But when they do, it will make for a very nice look and display IMO.

All comments, concerns, and constructive criticism is welcome.

So here we go my friends. Thank you for looking

 

[twistedfinn967]

Stomp, I got 2 words for ya... F'IN AWESOME!!!

 

[Stomp]

Stomp, I got 2 words for ya... F'IN AWESOME!!!

Thanks my friend. It should look better in a couple weeks once I've done a couple things and add the new lights

 

[Stomp]

Got a new piece a couple nites back.

 

[Stomp]

 

[Stomp]

And I got my frag tank/grow out, setup

 

[Stomp]

 

[Stomp]

 

[Stomp]

 

[bartmalave]

I'm a zoa freak and u just made my night, thanks for thinking outside the box. really nice congrats

 

[Stomp]

Thanks. I decided to go away from the small 1" x 1" columns. I'm making some different structures to mount them to. I have a 75g now, so I wana take advantage of the space. I only have polyps now, nothing else. So i can maximize space and area used to grow out. I think it will have benefits. Will have to see how it works out. I'll be able to move the columns/based around and turn them. I'm gonna make it so I can bring them forward and turn any side to the front for pics I'll be able to rotate them and grow them on all sides and surfaces, and view them all. But I think it will still look cool. Especially when they start to grow out.

Looking to increase the in tank flow as well. I have always used vortechs, and like them very much. But just for the heck of it, I'm trying a couple of those WP pumps. If they work decent and give me the flow I want whenever I want it, and last at least a year and a half or so, I'll be happy. I got one 25 and one 40. I'm gonna use the 25 for the most part and kick on the 40 here and there to keep the flow up to help keep everything clean. I'm optimistic.

I also tried some LEDs for a bit. I just prefer the look of t5s I think.

 

[JerSaint]

I like the idea of being able to photo of all sides of your growth. Have you thought about pyramids?

 

[PRomero]

What are these called?

 

[revhtree]

Very sweet!

 

[mannyfresh78]

Using uv 3watt LEDs I'm using 4. So my question is...... is it not good to use uv leds for your display tank? I ask because seems as though my fish like it and more active. Now we all know that uv get rid of parasites in water n fish correct? And so whrn I had removed it from my 90gal. Display my yellow tank and foxface abd 3 nemos where not too happy. Less active and scratching more but ones I put back on they are happy now.

 

[mannyfresh78]

I built and still adding more 3watt LED's. I
Building a similar spectro lights as the radion or something like that...lol its looking great I did a trial with just 65k whites and 65k uv and bright blue 65k. And gents. It looks amazing will have two channel dimmers. Ch1 will run 2 red, 1 green, 1 orange/yellow, 6royal blue, 4 12000-14000k and 3 6500k. Ch2 will run 4uv and 4 bright blue LEDs. All LEDs are 3 watts with all 120° view lens except for the 2Ch which will be 90° lens on the uv and 12-14k whites on a long heat sink board with acrylic to protect from water splash. What do you guys think? Please comment even if are negative cmmnts! Thank guys