PDR's Hot Mess

[PDR]

Edit 2: Scratch all that. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this tank. For various reasons, I think I will be moving away from farming zoas. They just do so well in my DT, I don't really feel like reinventing the wheel. I'll just grow them in my DT and frag them as necessary. I decided to remove the sand from the tank, but I did put some in the sump that may eventually become a fuge if I ever have excess nutrients. I was contemplating farming BTA's, but since you really need a separate tank for each type of BTA, it just didn't seem worth it. I have seriously been considering trying out some SPS. The tank already runs at lower nutrients, can now handle more flow due to the sandbed being removed and already has lighting capable of growing sps well.

Edit: Due to some issues with the tank and my plans, this tank will eventually be turned into a dedicated zoa tank. I am going to let the tank mature for another 3+ months before adding the zoas back to the tank.

Well, it's not quite a farm just yet, maybe a micro farm . My goal is to offer a wide variety of aquacultured soft coral. This is the beginning of a dream of mine and I hope to be able to seriously expand within the next 1-2 years.

The current setup:

Tank - Zoo Med Low Boy Frag Tank on cinder block/plywood stand
Rock/Sand - 80lbs caribsea dry sand, 30lbs dry rock from reefcleaners
Filtration - AC50 hob filter for carbon/filter floss, 1/2 brick of mature marine pure bio media
Heaters - 2x 100w Neo-Therm Heaters
Powerheads - 2x Jebao OW-10
Lighting - cheap amazon 4 bulb t5 running 2 coral+ and 2 blue+ - I was originally planning on Orphek OR LED bars but was given the t5 fixture, so I figured I would try it out before purchasing the Orpheks.

Feeding:
LRS soaked in selcon once a day
I will be experimenting with different coral food, but no routine as of now

Maintenance:
2% daily water changes

I understand the current setup is not ideal, but I had several restrictions with this build that will not be an issue with a future setup.

Here are some quick pictures I took throughout the setup and progression of the system. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pics. Photography (especially with an iPhone) is not my strength.

Finished "building" the stand on 7/8/18


Rock and sand put in on 7/19/18


Finished filling with saltwater on 7/20/18 with some very temporary lighting




Added a pair of clowns from a previous frag tank on 7/21/18
Added a yellow wrasse, melanurus wrasse and squaretail tang on 7/24/18

New lighting hung on 7/28/18


New bulbs installed on 7/30/18


Added coral that was holding in my DT on 8/4/18


Fragged some leathers and gorgonians and added them on 8/5/18 (excuse the walls, I have some patchwork and painting to do)








This is the room where everything is set up for now


This will be turning into a bedroom within 2 years, so I will be renovating a closed off section of our garage and moving the setup out there. I am planning to expand when the move is made.

 

[HotRocks]

Nice setup! Thanks for sharing!

 

[PDR]

I was looking over all of my zoanthids last night and was amazed at the growth of some of them, especially considering these poor guys have been in 3 different tanks with 2 different kinds of lighting within 2 months.

A couple of examples, purple monster went from 2 to 11 polyps, CB rainbow infusion 1 to 8 polyps and WWC pink krak 3 to 17 polyps. I have had these for less than 2 months. I'm excited to see how they progress now that they are in the final system.

I also got the rest of my CUC in today and some other basic softies I didn't have yet.

 

[TessGlo]

Nice set up, I hope your dream farm thrives !!! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Phelipe's Ocean]

Soo nice! I love the dimensions of the low boy sadly I havent found any in my area or any that will ship. Im thinking of switching over to an ATI fixture from led’s hopefully I can get that kind of growth, currently my zoas are going slow

 

[PDR]

Soo nice! I love the dimensions of the low boy sadly I havent found any in my area or any that will ship. Im thinking of switching over to an ATI fixture from led’s hopefully I can get that kind of growth, currently my zoas are going slow

Thanks! I'm loving the cheap amazon T5 fixture so far. They are pretty much disposable at $100. I think my results have been the fact that they are under much more par (200-250) than before. Now that I have it up and running, I honestly think the low boy is too low. I would much prefer a 12"-16" tank.

 

[PDR]

I just got back from a week-long vacation and even though my tank sitter was only able to come every other day to top off and feed the tank, everything is still looking great! The fragged leathers attached to the rubble and the colors have completely returned to a couple of the zoas that faded under the kessils.

Luckily for me, my GFCI started to trip the afternoon I got back. I would have been screwed if this happened while I was out of town. Through trial and error, I was able to determine it was one of my Neotherm heaters that was causing the issue. It was a redundant heater so I removed it and filed a warranty claim with cobalt.

I will be getting a yellow leather coral, blue cespitularia, and ORA fuzzy lobophytum from DD on Tuesday. I am also supposed to be getting a pink nephthea from UC on Tuesday, but I'm concerned my order did not place properly in their system (no confirmation email and does not show up under my orders, even though they already processed the payment). I will be calling them first thing in the morning to try and get it sorted out.

I will post pics once everything gets here and has opened up.

 

[Kevin L]

Looks great so far! Been wanting to set up a not super complicated frag tank myself.

 

[PDR]

Cobalt was very helpful and got my new heater shipped out right away. According to them, there was a small crack in the insulation that was causing the issue. I ended up taking the marine pure out but added a piece of mature live rock from my DT to replace it. I finally got the flow where I like it and moved some coral around.

I added some more coral but just can't seem to get any decent pictures. I took these the other day. Colors are all wrong but you get the idea. Any tips on how to take decent iPhone pics would be greatly appreciated.









This was taken before the lights were on.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I like this one

 

[ReeferMadness0347]

Cool build! Following along!

 

[Joshua2598]

Gonna drop this here

 

[NY_Caveman]

Cobalt was very helpful and got my new heater shipped out right away. According to them, there was a small crack in the insulation that was causing the issue. I ended up taking the marine pure out but added a piece of mature live rock from my DT to replace it. I finally got the flow where I like it and moved some coral around.

I added some more coral but just can't seem to get any decent pictures. I took these the other day. Colors are all wrong but you get the idea. Any tips on how to take decent iPhone pics would be greatly appreciated.









This was taken before the lights were on.

My iPhone 7 Plus is also a challenge for pictures. Here are some easy ideas. I try to take pictures when the white LEDs are on and it helps. When you frame up the picture the little box appears in the center. Tap the coral you are photographing and the box will focus and adjust the iris for that position. I also use the free Photoshop app. The Clarity setting helps give it some focus and the Temperature setting will help you to add or subtract the blue. A small adjustment goes a long way.

 

[reef lover]

Looking good!!

 

[PDR]

My iPhone 7 Plus is also a challenge for pictures. Here are some easy ideas. I try to take pictures when the white LEDs are on and it helps. When you frame up the picture the little box appears in the center. Tap the coral you are photographing and the box will focus and adjust the iris for that position. I also use the free Photoshop app. The Clarity setting helps give it some focus and the Temperature setting will help you to add or subtract the blue. A small adjustment goes a long way.

The problem is I run T5's on this system and can't change the color. I have used several free (and paid) photo apps but I always seem to make it look worse somehow...

Looking good!!

Thanks!

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Nice growth, any for sale?

 

[Katrina71]

Yellow leather? I'm requesting to be put on the list for a frag now.

 

[PDR]

Nice growth, any for sale?

Thanks! Not officially, but I do have plenty of mind-blowing palys to go around if you're interested in some really cheap palys.

Yellow leather? I'm requesting to be put on the list for a frag now.

I hear they are difficult to propagate, but if I manage to do it without killing it I'll let you know!

 

[OffTopic]

Cool idea, I like the setup and using inexpensive cinder blocks to prop up the tank! Following

 

[PDR]

After much deliberation, I have decided to put a sump on this tank. I know, I know, I should have just done this from the start... Since this tank will not be running long term, I am doing this on a low budget. Eshopps Hob overflow that I got 50% off on sale, flex tubing, 20 long sump, and sicce return. With my BRS credit and some random stuff I had laying around, I think I only had to spend $84 (not counting the ato). There are 2 main reasons I decided to go ahead and do it.

1. This tank evaporates anywhere from 3/4 gallon to 1 1/2 gallons a day and I'm tired of manually filling it up. I tried several ato options, but none worked well.

2. For some reason, I am getting a ton of surface scum on this tank. I have the powerheads on full blast right at the surface of the water and it doesn't make any difference. I know it's a weird angle, but here is a shot of the scum/dust. You may have to zoom in on the top to see it well.



Needless to say there will be a pretty big update coming later next week