Sweet ZeroEdge SPS Nano

[Whitten]

After the untimely demise of my 30 gallon cube I have been on hiatus from aquariums with the exception helping with my friends Aquapod 24.
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/6441/img2638of1.jpg

After two years of ups and downs my friend was finally ready to consider the virtues of having a larger system with a sump. I didn't have much luck talking in into anything larger until he saw one of these:
http://zeroedgeaquarium.com/Pictures/Compact2/Square.jpg
The prospect of having a tank, sump, and stand that would contain everything and leave nothing to detract from the tank like wires was enough for him to litterally sell off his Aquapod and most everything in it in a matter of days so that he could upgrade to the new system. I told him I would help and it was on.
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2185/img2649lm2.jpg

So because I know it will drive ya'll batty trying to figure out what we bought I figure I will be nice and give you a break down.

Tank: ZeroEdge Square Model 30ZSQ
Measures 24"x24"x14" ht. (31"x31" Footprint)

Sump: ZeroEdge ZS1 Custom. Went with a 18" tall sump just in the even that the tank swamped the sump for what ever reason. We are also having a special chamber made to contain 20 gallons of top off to keep things clean in the stand.

Stand: Custom oak stand stained black by ZeroEdge

Lights: 24" Current Outer Orbit 250 Watt MH fixture with 2x 420nm T5 Actinics and 2x460nm actinics and as always the blue and white LED moonlights.

Main Pump: Mag18

Skimmer: Euro-Reef RS/80

Heater: Jager 150 watt controlled with a Ranco heater controller

Top Off: JBJ ATO

Also got some other random goodies like a 3 stage RO unit, Refractometer, and a ground probe so that we don't re-live the sins I commited with my tank.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1917/img2656to8.jpg
After getting the equipment in from Premium Aquatics it was time to head to my favorite store in the world.

Cappucino Bay, that is where we went today and I got the chance to relive how much fun it is to buy about 25 lbs. of live rock.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/8127/img2665jo7.jpg
It was fun while it lasted and we managed to fill our little blue tub full of rock and fresh salt water. On a side note if you have never been to their store and you live around the Atlanta area you are seriously missing out.

After the trek back to Auburn with the bin full of critters and rock it was time to get the sand in the tub with the rock so that we could start it cycling. The tank and stand won't be in for around a month so in the mean time we are just going to let the rock and sand cycle while we wait and let the skimmer pull that silt out of the water as well.
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6649/img2666ca0.jpg

I plan to continue updating this thead as the progress on the tank moves forward so stay tuned...for more of this guy and his new future home.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/622/img2620va6.jpg

[MikePowell]

nice! I like those zero edge tanks alot. BTW Guitar Hero is FREAKIN AWSOME. Good luck and have fun setting up the new tank.

[JAHGYDI]

THOSE FISH GET WAY TO BIG FOR ANY ZERO EDGE

[otto486]

That panther is gorgeous, but I share his concern- will that get too large for a zeroedge?

And rockband was much better than Guitar hero 3... Just throwin that out there.

[MikePowell]

Rock band does have better songs but I have a Wii and it's not for that console.

[Whitten]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11729612#post11729612 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JAHGYDI
THOSE FISH GET WAY TO BIG FOR ANY ZERO EDGE

I am fully aware of the size that the fish can reach...I have been at this for a while.
He is the only fish in the system and there are currently no plans to add another. There are also no shrimp or other critters for him to feed on so I posed the idea to my friend who loved it. Due to the fact that no one ever puts any kind of grouper in a reef, I thought since we had nothing holding us back livestock wise it would be fine to give the little guy a home for a year or so until he was too large for the new system. At present time the fish is about 2.5" and is getting feeding around 2 times a week.
When he is too large for the system I take him out and trade him into the store for another small one or to another tank owner that wants one.


That being said the most important thing is to know that I am absoutely terrible...








At Guitar Hero, but have been hearing some good things about Rock Band.

[WZHANG]

Your aquapod looks really nice. Keep us posted on how the new tank develops.

[Whitten]

Thanks again to everyone for the nice comments.

I figure while we wait I will post some more pictures of the ole Aquapod before it gets sold off and moved.
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/1069/img2622hd8.jpg
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/3749/img2629og0.jpg
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/5189/img2634yn7.jpg

[LionfishFinatic]

Just a little heads up on the grouper. He may look cut now but he won't always look like that. Adult panther groupers grow up to be big, brown and ugly. here is a pic to show you what I am talkin about :lol:

http://www.arkive.org/media/3C1C844E-25E8-42BE-B129-02204091EECE/Presentation.Medium/info-Adult-humpback-grouper.jpg

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_fauna_com-Fish&enlarge=0000+0000+0206+0062

He will also be a huge bioload on your tank. He will consume a TON of food and produce a lot of waste as well. He will also grow to a max length of around 27 in. I have never personally owned a grouper, but from what i have read about other peoples experiences. That little guy will probably grow to around 6in in the first 6 months in the tank. I would consider getting a new fish and returning him to the LFS where you got him.

Just my .02 though

The tank looks great BTW!!!!!!!

[Whitten]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11732999#post11732999 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LionfishFinatic
Just a little heads up on the grouper. He may look cut now but he won't always look like that. Adult panther groupers grow up to be big, brown and ugly. here is a pic to show you what I am talkin about :lol:


He will also be a huge bioload on your tank. He will consume a TON of food and produce a lot of waste as well. He will also grow to a max length of around 27 in. I have never personally owned a grouper, but from what i have read about other peoples experiences. That little guy will probably grow to around 6in in the first 6 months in the tank. I would consider getting a new fish and returning him to the LFS where you got him.

Just my .02 though

The tank looks great BTW!!!!!!!

Like I said before I am well aware, I have had several in the past, and I am no stranger to their needs. The skimmer for the tank plus the 50+ gallons of water volume will be more than capable of supporting the fish for a year or so.

Thanks for all the info and stay tuned.

[FiReBReTHa]

looking good!

how do you like the orbit light? any more photos of it installed?

[rick12]

i'm interested in the zeroedge--can't wait to see pics--let us know the process of setting it up--
thanks

[InLimbo87]

I remember seeing your cube on NR, looking forward to seeing the ZeroEdge :D

[otto486]

good luck with the tank! The pics look great, and regardless of the future, the grouper looks gorgeous now!!

[d9sccr]

why did you decide to go w/ the 250 watt vs the 150 watt

[J-Bass]

If you plan on an sps tank I'd ditch the panther grouper and get a small wrasse. Yellow coris are my fav IME. Six-Lines tend to get too aggressive IME. You'll need a sand bed for them though. Not a lot. Just enough for them to bury into at night.

[d9sccr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11761560#post11761560 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by d9sccr
why did you decide to go w/ the 250 watt vs the 150 watt

I only ask b/c I'm trying to decide between the 150 and 250 version for a 30g Finnex

[WZHANG]

Love the orange/red digita. Still one of my favorite corals.

[Whitten]

Hey thanks everyone, things are moving a little slow right now while we wait for the tank to be finished up.

Right now the the Euro Reef is kicking some major booty and pulling out all of kinds of gunk and silt.


As for the light question from d9sccr:
We decided on the 250 watt lamp based on the future possiblity of upgrading to larger tanks, the added intensity would allow the lamp to be higher off of the tank so it didn't obstruct the view, and also just because bigger is supposed to be better;)...seriously a 150 would be more than enough but I wanted to ensure that we had plenty of light so that we could run higher K value bulbs but not sacrifice growth.

WZHANG, you are more than welcome to a frag of it anytime you like. I don't know how shipping would go from East to West coast but I would be willing to try.

I will post some pictures of the rock that we bought last week as soon as I can tommorow...we are just praying that the tank and sump are being built soon so that we can get on with the build and go to some frag swaps.

Right now the plan is to keep the over all number of coral species down and spaced out so that they can have plenty of room to grow and branch out. I think we might have a max of 6-7 different species of SPS.

[d9sccr]

okay..thanks for explaining..hope everything goes well

[d9sccr]

okay..thanks for explaining..hope everything goes well

[pnguye3]

Any updates? I just found this thread. I've been contemplating doing a very very similar setup.

[Whitten]

Actually yes...the tank is being sent back, due to the fact that the stand dimensions were wrong, the inside of the stand was not sealed or water proofed in any way like what was previously agreed upon, and the custom sized top off resevoir was the the wrong size. I don't know if it is the way we had it set up but after waiting for quite some time with LR sitting in a bucket next to where the tank would go we were willing to look past all of the issues we encountered after we put our order in and not the least of which were uncontrolable micro-bubbles that just spewed out of the outlet.

We set the tank up and not only would the water not properly spill off all sides of the tank after taking a very accurate level to it, but the dimensions of the stand made any access at all a nightmare on top of the fact that it was a full 2" to small on the inside dimensions which made a huge difference in weather or not all the plugs, cords, and ballasts would fit into it.
This was coupled with the fact that it sounded like a toilet draining and microbubbled to hell and gone probably as a result of the fact that the was entire too much flow for the sump to handle.

So unfortunately after this we have decided to just take it off line after only about 8-10 hours of operation and pack it back up and send it back. The owner sold his tank to another person and had a few pieces of rock that he had bought to put in the tank sitting in a bucket. The thought of waiting another month to try and trouble shoot the micro bubbles or to just wait for them to stop coupled with fact that he is getting ready to move and the tank was already late getting to him made him decide to say forget it and send or sell everything back.

Unfortunate, but hey...I don't blame him the thing was getting to be a major pain in the butt.