Zoanthkids Reef on the Rebound

[Zoanthkid]

hey guys, its been a while since ive posted in my thread in the zoa forum and i have been meaning to get a tank tread going since getting things turned around after a couple months of some serious neglect. getting a last second shot at a new l.e.d. light helped twist my arm into finding a few minutes to start a thread lol. here is a quick pic of the very beginning around 2 years ago when i first bought my lil 12 gal eclipse with a p.c. retro in the gutted hood at a swap with a powerhead for 20 bucks to get this thing started. will be adding more tonight.

this was about 3 or 4 months in for me in sep. 2010... lol it doesnt look aaaaaaannnnnyyyyyyything like this today... ive grown a bunch, lost a bunch, and now am almost back to where things should be and about to be upgrading to a big ole 20g tall hopefully in the next couple weeks.. just need some new sand n to figure out how im gonna build my stand lol. ill even have a sump on the new tank!! lol now to work on transferring some newer pics to the pc to get them up here tonight.

 

[revhtree]

Looking forward to the pics! Thanks for sharing!

 

[larryl]

Cool!

 

[Zoanthkid]

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/zoa-discussion-club-zoa/64141-my-modest-but-growing-collection.html
ok so heres a link to some not so great cell phone pics of some of the proof that i did have a thriving zoa garden at one time not so long ago.. some personal issues in life had made me slack in a horrible way on the tank.. and one day i was just looking at it, depressed and angry with myself at how i had let it get so bad, and decided i wasnt going to watch my beautiful pets suffer anymore when i had worked so hard and invested so much money into aquiring and growing... bc lets face it, even a 12gal is expensive to stock with good looking corals and adding and upgrading equipment isnt cheap at the bottom of the food chain let alone the top with your big systems. so now i really had some work to do.. us kids(25 is still a kid lol) have to learn the hard way with everything.. its easier to keep up than catch up, right guys?

 

[Zoanthkid]

i found some pics from the actual beginning... this is an official tank thread now ladies and gentlemen lol... just excuse the horrible picture quality.

first set up and cycling-

First additions-

 

[Zoanthkid]

couple pics of some corals.. some lost, some made it through.

one of my favorite fish that im so sad i lost:sad:

 

[caudill187]

Good to see you back

 

[Zoanthkid]

ok.. now heres where it starts getting bad.. rockwork collapsing and algae starting to take over-

Getting even worse, things starting to close up and stay closed...

Enter my best friend in this whole clean up process(dont worry he is borrowed not a perminant resident)

Giving him a real hand with the algae situation, next step scaping things with putty so nothing can fall over anymore

Rock work redone and waiting for the smoke to clear so to speak

 

[Zoanthkid]

dust settled and needing to clean up the sand bed...

dialing in skimmer...

most current fts...

newest pickup, got these guys the other day out of the "$5 brown mushroom box" at the lfs with hardly the right lighting or flow, counted 25 heads when i put them in the tank.. cant beat 20cents pp:tongue:

 

[Scoly]

Haha, I remember getting a frag n the 5$ section cause it had something green in the zoas when i shined my led flashlight on it. Now I have a 2" green plate coral! Haha! Good to see your tank coming around!

 

[Zoanthkid]

new pics.. nothing extraordinary by any means, but i took some pics the other day during a water change, some through the front, some top down while water was still with no pumps on. and i got busy and made a sump for the new tank finally. its running freshwater through the system in the basement on the floor next to the drain for a day or 2 to make sure everything runs smoothly and to give everything a decent rinse before sand, rock, and sw go in.

 

[Zoanthkid]

 

[Zoanthkid]

 

[Zoanthkid]

 

[Zoanthkid]

 

[Zoanthkid]

and the sump....