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33 long Zoa Garden


Jmvanness

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I have a vision for a really spectacular tank so, I'm going to start a fairly low tech zoa only tank and I would really like to hear what you folks have to say about a few things in particular.

*Edited

Equipment:

33 gallon long (48" x 13" x 13")

1 HOB Seaclone 100 skimmer

3 hydor nano 240 gph

1 hydor 600 gph

BML 14000k Reef Spectrum 48", 90 degree, 64w (20x 6500k 16x 450nm 12x 470nm 4x uv 4x green 4x deep red), dimmable but only one channel

Livestock:

Every type of zoa i can get my hands on

Minimal live rock (20lbs)

1.5" sand bed

CUC: snails, mini brittles, and hermits

3x firefish

1x sixline wrasse

1x pygmy cherub angel

1x starry blenny

1x court jester goby

Any suggestions on my ideas here?

Got the tank up and aquascaped today. Just waiting for it to clear up before pics are posted.

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Sounds really cool, I am interested to see some pics cause that seems like a really long, skinny, shallow tank.

Like the stocking list with the exception of the sixline, not a big fan personally they get a bit to aggressive, and they could cause an issue with the firefish. Are you set on a sixline, and is he going to function as a pest controller?

Starry blennies are so very cool, they have some of the craziest personalties of fish, IMO great choice there.

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The sixline is meant to be pest control and an active attractive addition. I welcome other suggestions.

IMO Halichores species are great pest control without the aggression of a sixline. My suggestion for that size tank would be the red lined wrasse (Halichoeres biocellatus). It is one of the smaller Halichores species and looks pretty cool IMO. Hope that helps....

Can't wait to see this tank come together, it should be very colorful with all those zoas!

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With respect to your CUC, depending on your hermits, I find that they tend to eat the snails. What is a mini brittle? I suggest you use activated carbon in your low tech set up.

Happy reefing,

Patrick

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The sixline is meant to be pest control and an active attractive addition. I welcome other suggestions.

IMO Halichores species are great pest control without the aggression of a sixline. My suggestion for that size tank would be the red lined wrasse (Halichoeres biocellatus). It is one of the smaller Halichores species and looks pretty cool IMO. Hope that helps....

Can't wait to see this tank come together, it should be very colorful with all those zoas!

Ah the red-line is beautiful! I'll have to look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

With respect to your CUC, depending on your hermits, I find that they tend to eat the snails. What is a mini brittle? I suggest you use activated carbon in your low tech set up.

Happy reefing,

Patrick

The hermits, snails, and brittles just happened to be in the sand I had. I don't think there are many (maybe 1 or 2). The mini brittles are some tiny brittle stars I got from an ARC member. They stay tiny and usually I just see their legs sticking out of the rock.

Do you already own the Seaclone?

I do, I've had it laying around for a while. Do you have a better skimmer for sale?

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I was about to say the same thing about the seaclone. I didn't have anything but problems with it until it broke. But if you already have it then score smile.png Can't wait to see some pictures.

What about it? Are they not good skimmers? It's not skimming yet, but I figured it needs a few days to break in.

What is a mini brittle?

I'm assuming just the scavenging micro brittle stars. They get up to about an inch or two across including the legs.

Yes. That's what they are. Really cool little stars.

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Looks good so far! Aquascaping those dimensions may be challenging, 13" is not a whole lot of height and width. IMO it looks pretty darn good. Plenty of room for your zoas and some nice open area for your fish to swim.

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I remember when the Seaclone came out around 2001 or so. The main draw to them is that they are cheaper than other skimmers and there weren't many backpak types on the market. The problem with them is that the venturi doesn't inject enough air into the water to produce a high quality skimmate. That doesn't mean they won't work, but it does mean that they don't remove as much as some higher priced skimmers. Zoanthids don't like ultra clean water anyway so I wouldn't worry about it unless you develop a problem with phosphates.

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I'm planning on running phosban anyway and may even pull the skimmer as I have been told zoas like some yuckyness to the water.

Be careful. Skimmers and Phosban do different things. A protein skimmer remove dissolved organic compounds from the water column by injecting air in the skimmer chamber. The proteins are more dense than the air and take a ride up the tube and into the collection cup. Phosban and GFO are types of chemical filtration that attracts phosphate molecules. Here is a link to an article written by Randy Holmes called Iron Oxide Hydroxide (GFO) Phosphate Binders.

In short, Phosban removes phosphate on the molecular level and won't remove DOCs. Skimmers remove DOCs before they turn into excess phosphate and won't remove PO4 molecules.

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I'm planning on running phosban anyway and may even pull the skimmer as I have been told zoas like some yuckyness to the water.

Be careful. Skimmers and Phosban do different things. A protein skimmer remove dissolved organic compounds from the water column by injecting air in the skimmer chamber. The proteins are more dense than the air and take a ride up the tube and into the collection cup. Phosban and GFO are types of chemical filtration that attracts phosphate molecules. Here is a link to an article written by Randy Holmes called Iron Oxide Hydroxide (GFO) Phosphate Binders.

In short, Phosban removes phosphate on the molecular level and won't remove DOCs. Skimmers remove DOCs before they turn into excess phosphate and won't remove PO4 molecules.

I understand this. The phosban would be a preventive for phosphates and the removal of the skimmer would be for the benefit of the zoas by giving them more waste in the water to consume.

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IMO it's the other way around. I would keep the skimmer and remove the Phosban. Polyp corals need phosphate to grow, but the skimmer clears out the debris before it has a chance to decompose and go through the nitrogen cycle. I have no doubt that you can keep a successful zoa garden no matter which route you decide to take. All drains lead to the ocean smile.png

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Ah. I wasn't aware that phosphates were beneficial to the zoas. That's good to know. Thanks for clearing that up. Lol. So would you run carbon? Or anything else? I know I'll have to play around with it and see what gives the best results.

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