Justin's 75g Zoa Reef

J

JustinRHadley

Member
Hey just thought I'd start a thread on my new 75g zoa tank I've been putting together. Pretty excited about this tank since it will be the first saltwater tank I've had big enough for some real fish. Feel free to give any suggestions!

Oceanic 75g
1 1/4" Overflow
1" Return
Jebao dc5000 return pump
2 165w eBay LEDs
20g long sump
Simplicity 120 skimmer
Jebao rw40



things I'm looking to add with time:
additional t5 fixture
homemade canopy
 


I worked on a great stuff pond foam fake rock structure this weekend. I think it came out pretty good but I would have done a few things differently if I did it again.






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Hows that gona stay down. Doesnt it float?

Can you do mine?

Ill get a case of great stuff foam and a case of ur favorite alcoholic non alcoholic stuff.

Deal?
Looks good from here
 
The structure is made in 2 pieces and siliconed to the glass and overflow. I was a little worried about it floating once the salt is added but it's still pretty heavy in the freshwater. There is an eggcrate skeleton to make it more rigid so it doesn't crack. I was a little worried about the foam breaking down but according to everything I read online the pond version will not break down. I'm pretty sure joshporksandwiches faux Rockwall is greatstuff.

as for fish I'm not sure yet I just know I want a small bristle tooth tang and a yellow corris wrasse as of now
 
Some of that rock looks real, did u just like add filler styrofoam around the real rock? What are you going to seed with nitrifying bacteria if you don't have real rock in there? Lastly are u absolutely positive that styrofoam is the way to go in your reef? I've seen people use styrofoam for skimmmer stands before but never as filler for their scape, I'm just curious if Madjoes point of the styrofoam "breaking down" and leaching unwanted molecules/chemicals into your tank is a risk you are ready to take or if you just want to start over and build your scape completely out of real rock fixed together with hold fast epoxy. My other concern with the styrofoam would be with the fish. Especially in the case with wrasses and tangs they tend to graze on the rock all day and I would be concerned with them consuming styrofoam leading to a small bowel obstruction leading to mesenteric ischemia and eventually death through the unknown consumption of nondigestible products. Fish aren't the smartest of animals and I constantly have to fight my fish off from eating super glue before it drys and I always worry about them when I see that one of them has it stuck to their mouth. Otherwise I think this setup looks super sharp can't wait to see the progress, I'll be following along fosho!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Rcunning8 said:
Some of that rock looks real, did u just like add filler styrofoam around the real rock? What are you going to seed with nitrifying bacteria if you don't have real rock in there? Lastly are u absolutely positive that styrofoam is the way to go in your reef? I've seen people use styrofoam for skimmmer stands before but never as filler for their scape, I'm just curious if Madjoes point of the styrofoam "breaking down" and leaching unwanted molecules/chemicals into your tank is a risk you are ready to take or if you just want to start over and build your scape completely out of real rock fixed together with hold fast epoxy. My other concern with the styrofoam would be with the fish. Especially in the case with wrasses and tangs they tend to graze on the rock all day and I would be concerned with them consuming styrofoam leading to a small bowel obstruction leading to mesenteric ischemia and eventually death through the unknown consumption of nondigestible products. Fish aren't the smartest of animals and I constantly have to fight my fish off from eating super glue before it drys and I always worry about them when I see that one of them has it stuck to their mouth. Otherwise I think this setup looks super sharp can't wait to see the progress, I'll be following along fosho!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
+1
The styrofoam/ great stuff leads to many extra veriables on an already complex system, a thriving reef tank.
How does it hold up to intense light ?
How will it hold up to saltwater ?
You can imagine a lot of scenarios where things could go sideways.
I would think of an urchin or some kind of a tube snail breaking off a piece of the foam floating off plugging an overflow and flooding your floor.
Of course, none of this could happen and it does look great .
 
Thanks for the reply guys, as much as I wish I was the pioneer of this idea I'm not lol. I did take a few pounds of real rock and smash them in a bag with a hammer to get small pieces to stick into the foam. the lowest part is a larger rock to add weight. I am a bit worried about fish or inverts picking at it but I have not found anything online saying the pond foam breaks apart or deteriorates. I have found a few forums saying the original great stuff breaks down in a few years.

I have some live sand and rock from a frat tank I have running but I'm going to be needing more. The idea behind this foam was to keep stuff off the sandbed as much as possible for less build up of detritus. Also since the foam does not have cavities I want to get enough live rock for bristle worms and mini serpent stars to reproduce in.


related links I found
http://reef2reef.com/ams/foam-wall-instructable-a-full-how-to-step-by-step-guide.168/

http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-foam-rock-wall.183820/

http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-rock-walls-longevity.223799/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2054546

"actually, the yellow expanding foam will break down over time cause of the UV from the lights. the black pond foams are designed to be outside in the sun, so they have a carbon additive thet protects it from UV...& gives it the black color"- someone off nanoreef
 
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JustinRHadley said:
Thanks for the reply guys, as much as I wish I was the pioneer of this idea I'm not lol. I did take a few pounds of real rock and smash them in a bag with a hammer to get small pieces to stick into the foam. the lowest part is a larger rock to add weight. I am a bit worried about fish or inverts picking at it but I have not found anything online saying the pond foam breaks apart or deteriorates. I have found a few forums saying the original great stuff breaks down in a few years.

I have some live sand and rock from a frat tank I have running but I'm going to be needing more. The idea behind this foam was to keep stuff off the sandbed as much as possible for less build up of detritus. Also since the foam does not have cavities I want to get enough live rock for bristle worms and mini serpent stars to reproduce in.


related links I found
http://reef2reef.com/ams/foam-wall-instructable-a-full-how-to-step-by-step-guide.168/

http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-foam-rock-wall.183820/

http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-rock-walls-longevity.223799/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2054546

"actually, the yellow expanding foam will break down over time cause of the UV from the lights. the black pond foams are designed to be outside in the sun, so they have a carbon additive thet protects it from UV...& gives it the black color"- someone off nanoreef
Click to expand...

Ive made these before find a reef safe coating to put on it u will be glad u did also the intense light turns it from the black to a ugly brown fyi .agian had it happen first hand it will take while to maybe do some harm but if u can make it safe and last longer by adding a resin over top imo thats the way to go cause it does look cool now but in six months u probably be banging your head
 
madjoe said:
Ive made these before find a reef safe coating to put on it u will be glad u did also the intense light turns it from the black to a ugly brown fyi .agian had it happen first hand it will take while to maybe do some harm but if u can make it safe and last longer by adding a resin over top imo thats the way to go cause it does look cool now but in six months u probably be banging your head
Click to expand...


Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to look into it and see if their is something easy to coat it with then maybe take some sand and press it into the wet coating.

I remember you having a custom canopy with a lift, would you mind sending a picture of it? you can text if that's easier 773-627-9231
 
JustinRHadley said:
Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to look into it and see if their is something easy to coat it with then maybe take some sand and press it into the wet coating.

I remember you having a custom canopy with a lift, would you mind sending a picture of it? you can text if that's easier 773-627-9231
Click to expand...

Yea i have pics on here somewhere unless they got erased Photobucket sucks
I do warn u it involves a hole in your ceiling a 400# rated hoist from harbor freight running a outlet in attic and some garage door tracks and wheels and miscellaneous little springs lol. They make actuators for stuff like this but $ tgis cost me only like 150$ With everything maybe less i know hoist was 80$ on sale
 
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Picked up 2 fairy wrasses yesterday from Aquapros. I'm very happy with them and they are both already eating. I bought one yellow flanked fairy wrasse and the other I bought as a flashers wrasse but its really a katos fairy wrasse. Paid around 90 for them and I'm happy to have some movement in the tank finally. I also finished my canopy today and the paint is still drying but ill put up a picture tomorrow with a full tank shot as well. My canopy did not turn out as well as I expected so I think I will be building another one shortly when I have more time.


 
Nice i had the bottom one before was called like a orange sided or purple sided fairy wrasse i wanna say
 
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