brshriver
02/01/2007, 11:04 AM
I have a 46 bow with an Aquapro combination light (150mh 14K double ended and 130pc) that zoos seem to grow very well in and very fast. Two MJ 1200s alternate on and off to provide most of the water flow combined with a 350gph pump that pulls water through a false back into the refugium area (a modded SeaClear System II tank - not the best choice in hindsight, but I was a beginner and did not know better ;-) ).
I also have a newer setup which is 4 months old now. Is is a 110G (60x18x24) reef ready tank with a 29gallon sump. A mag 9 provides the return flow and two tunze streams on a controller in the tank. The tunze alternate flow on and off. The lights are a 4 foot hamilton fixture with 2 250WMH 20K hamilton bulbs (new) and 2 65W actinic PCs and 2 65W 10K pcs (also new). The tank is 5ft so there is one foot of it that is not as bright that I use for non-light loving corals. This tank has a lot of flow in it and the SPS in it seem to thrive. However, the zoanthids grow slowly and the polyps are much, much smaller than they are in the 46 bow or my son's nano-cube 12DX.
Has anyone experienced too high of flow causing slow growth in zoanthinds and/or smaller polyp size? They don't seem to die off or lose color, they just don't grow like they do in the 46. I am experimenting with frags in different areas of the tank to see for sure. There are limited low flow areas in the tank between the tunze streams and the mag 9.
I run carbon in the sump as well as a decent skimmer. There is also a 10 gallon refuge chamber with chaeto, a DSB, some live rubble and reverse daylight cycle lighting. I just started running chemi-pure as well but that has not been there long enough to note any differences yet.
Other parameters and tidbits
Temp 78-80 in winter. 80-82 in summer
Ca - 400
Alk 10ish
Salinity 1.026
Nitrates, Nitrites, Amonia, Phosphate - not detectable
6 inch DSB in display
PH 8.1-8.2 - not much day/night swing
I dose: Reef complete, Reef advantage, Reef Plus
kalkwasser shots first thing in the morning as described in Calfo's book.
I feed:
- DT's Pro Reef Phtyoplankton (I think that is what it is called - the blue bottle) daily for clams and SPS
- DT's Oyster Eggs twice a week
- Cyclops a few times a week
- various frozen formula foods/plankton for the fish twice a day.
- Sea veggies banded to a rock once a day for tang food.
I don't target feed the zoos
120 lbs of live rock.
Mostly the tank is SPS frags (acrop, montis, stylophora (mother colony), and horn coral) and zoanthids/palys. There is a large yellow fiji leather, a small neon green singularia frag, and a green kenya tree coral as well. This is supposed to bee a zoo/acrop prop tank so I would like to figure out the growth rates and polyp size problem. There is a deresa doing very well. A maxima doing ok - growing fast but not as bright as it should be. I am experimenting with various different light levels for the Maxima. I have a 20H clown tank that I am also trying to see how zoos do in but that experiment is too soon to tell anything yet.
Thanks.
I also have a newer setup which is 4 months old now. Is is a 110G (60x18x24) reef ready tank with a 29gallon sump. A mag 9 provides the return flow and two tunze streams on a controller in the tank. The tunze alternate flow on and off. The lights are a 4 foot hamilton fixture with 2 250WMH 20K hamilton bulbs (new) and 2 65W actinic PCs and 2 65W 10K pcs (also new). The tank is 5ft so there is one foot of it that is not as bright that I use for non-light loving corals. This tank has a lot of flow in it and the SPS in it seem to thrive. However, the zoanthids grow slowly and the polyps are much, much smaller than they are in the 46 bow or my son's nano-cube 12DX.
Has anyone experienced too high of flow causing slow growth in zoanthinds and/or smaller polyp size? They don't seem to die off or lose color, they just don't grow like they do in the 46. I am experimenting with frags in different areas of the tank to see for sure. There are limited low flow areas in the tank between the tunze streams and the mag 9.
I run carbon in the sump as well as a decent skimmer. There is also a 10 gallon refuge chamber with chaeto, a DSB, some live rubble and reverse daylight cycle lighting. I just started running chemi-pure as well but that has not been there long enough to note any differences yet.
Other parameters and tidbits
Temp 78-80 in winter. 80-82 in summer
Ca - 400
Alk 10ish
Salinity 1.026
Nitrates, Nitrites, Amonia, Phosphate - not detectable
6 inch DSB in display
PH 8.1-8.2 - not much day/night swing
I dose: Reef complete, Reef advantage, Reef Plus
kalkwasser shots first thing in the morning as described in Calfo's book.
I feed:
- DT's Pro Reef Phtyoplankton (I think that is what it is called - the blue bottle) daily for clams and SPS
- DT's Oyster Eggs twice a week
- Cyclops a few times a week
- various frozen formula foods/plankton for the fish twice a day.
- Sea veggies banded to a rock once a day for tang food.
I don't target feed the zoos
120 lbs of live rock.
Mostly the tank is SPS frags (acrop, montis, stylophora (mother colony), and horn coral) and zoanthids/palys. There is a large yellow fiji leather, a small neon green singularia frag, and a green kenya tree coral as well. This is supposed to bee a zoo/acrop prop tank so I would like to figure out the growth rates and polyp size problem. There is a deresa doing very well. A maxima doing ok - growing fast but not as bright as it should be. I am experimenting with various different light levels for the Maxima. I have a 20H clown tank that I am also trying to see how zoos do in but that experiment is too soon to tell anything yet.
Thanks.