Reef Tank: Updates

I wanted to provide a quick update on my reef aquarium. For the most part things are doing well, and I feel like the tank has established a good rhythm. Water quality has been great, the firefish has been quite healthy, and a plethora of small invertebrates has been emerging from the live rock.



Coral Growth
Of the ten coral specimens I've introduced to date, eight are doing great and showing good signs of growth. The Acropora millepora and tabling Acropora in particular have shown exceptional encrusting growth lately. The pink birds nest, Stylophora pistillata, has also been growing very fast.

Two species not doing well. The Pavona maldivensis has been pale and showing no sign of growth since within a few weeks of being introduced. I keep hoping it will come back, but it is seeming less likely with each passing week. More concerning is the recent demise of the Pocillopora damicornis. For the first month, this was my healthiest looking coral. Great color and polyp extension, and very obvious growth. One day it just started going down hill for no apparent reason, showing bleaching around the base which has since spread up into the branches. Some of the polyps still look healthy and extend to feed, but I fear there isn't much time left for this colony.

Flow Adjustments
I decided that running two Koralia 3 pumps, 850 gallons per house each, was too much for this tank. Corals demonstrated stressed behavior in the powerful current. I have since cut back to running just one, with a Koralia Nano on the opposite side to keep detritus off the bottom of the aquarium. This seems to be working out well so far.

Zeovit
Possibly suckered in by the great marketing photos on Zeovit USA, I've started to implement their system on my tank. Zeovit is a mineral that has been commonly used for filtration in commercial aquatic systems prior to becoming a trendy brand in the reef hobby. The pore density of zeovit makes it exceptionally good at filtering out ammonia, preempting the nitrogen cycle before it can occur. By removing the ammonia early in the cycle, bacteria never get a chance to convert it into nitrite, which eventually becomes nitrate.

Because of the sheer effectiveness of its ammonia removal, it is suggested that the reef keeper dose colonies of bacteria and bacteria food to keep the tank in a natural state. Conveniently, the provider of zeovit also makes these products. You can read more from the source in this PDF guide to the Zeovit filtration system.

To start, I've begun with ZEOBak bacteria solution, and the ZEOFood7 bacteria and coral food. I will slowly introduce the zeovite filtration material this coming week. There are a number of other supplements and foods in this product line that I have read good things about. Although too early to make any sort of useful evaluation, I've noticed the tank water appearing quite a bit clearer since the dosing start. Algae formation on the glass also appears to have been reduced quite noticeably. I like to pretend that the corals are beginning to color up and appear healthier as well, but that could just as easily be attributed to their finally becoming acclimated to the tank.

Turtle Tank: Three Years Later

I haven't yet posted about my turtle aquarium on this blog, so I owe my non-existent readership some back story on the setup and specs of this habitat. In the meantime, I spent a few minutes this afternoon trimming some of the plants and other general maintenance. This tank was built with a plexiglass divider wall to retain the land area. The facade of this wall is built out of natural cork bark which creates a great natural aesthetic, in addition to being a nice soft material for the turtle to clamber across.



After three years of operation he cork is naturally quite saturated with water. Its been slowly chipping off ever since the tank was setup, but today I noticed that quite a large piece had finally started to break off. I attempted to adhere it back to the plexi, but the soft and waterlogged bark was not letting anything stick. I finally just broke it off and removed it from the tank.

I'll have to decide how to proceed with this tank. It could use a total breakdown and reconstruction, but I don't have any temporary space to house the turtle while I make that happen. Also I need some sort of plan. I've always looked at the revision as a chance to make more swimming area available within the aquarium, but I have yet to figure out how to do so while also keeping the natural aesthetic. It would make sense to do this before we move to a new apartment in July, so I best get sketching.