How To Set Up A Zoa Garden

Hi everyone,

I've started a new build, and have decided to document it in this journal so that you might follow along (if you're interested). :happy:

Background:

I used to have a wonderful tiny mixed reef picotank for the last few months which brought me much joy. Unfortunately, 2.6G of volume wasn't enough to grow out all my corals, and I did add more than 60+ frags in that little tank. :unsure:

Eventually, I decided upgrading was the best solution. I needed a tank that wasn't too large that it would become a burden doing WCs, but not too small that it didn't have enough space to accommodate all the corals either. I settled on a 10G+ tank - it was roomy enough to meet my requirements, and most importantly, be simple enough to WC every week. I used the Tank Transfer Method (TTM) to upgrade, and used established cured LR (~5-years-old) from older systems as a biofilter. Only the LS was new, but I seeded it with a small cup of LS from my picoreef.

The new nano is now located in my bedroom, and the temp. dips down to as low as 25'C (night) and as high as 30'C (very hot afternoons). The swing seems wild, but my pico operated under the same temp. range (more or less), and so far the animals didn't have any issues with the temp.

Specifications:

10.23G tank

18" x 12" x 11"

Rimless

6mm Crystal Glass

Equipment:

H300 Dophin HOB (440L/Hr)

Aqua Knight Spectra M029 (30W)

Jebao SOW-4 Wavemaker (4000L/Hr)

Media:

Activated Carbon

Filter Floss

Rocks:

Established LR taken from my previous 2.6G's picoreef, 60G's refugium & 10G's nanocube in the library

Sand:

4.5kg Aragonite Live Sand --> seeded with a small cup of LS taken from the sandbed of my 2.6G picoreef

Water:

Tap Water + Dechlorinator (Nutrafin/Prime)

Salt:

Fritz RPM

Fish:

None for now.

Inverts:

(My monsters! a.k.a. Critters of Chaos!)

1x Turban snail

1x Yellow Coral Banded Shrimp (Stenopus cyanoscelis) - Shrimpy - 02/05/2021

1x Saron Shrimp (Saron marmoratus) - Harvey - 09/06/2020

Hitchiker Collonista Snails

Hitchiker Microbrittlestars

Hitchiker Spaghetti Worms
Hitchiker Stomatella Snail

Hitchiker Limpets

Corals:

SPS (8 Types):

Red Pavona

Garf Bonsai Acropora Valida

Purple Montipora Digitata

Forest Fire Montipora Digitata

Neon Yellow/Purple Montipora Spongodes

Chili Pepper Montipora

*Unknown Purple/Green Montipora

Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseries

LPS (14 Types):

Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

John Deere Leptastrea

Orange Leptastrea

Red/Green Favites

Purplish-Gray Blastos

Purple/Green Blastos

Red Blastos

Purple/Blue Whiplash Blasto Merletti

Malayan Rainbow Acans

Green Candy Cane/Trumpet

Red Fungia

Red/Blue Lobo Brain Coral

Rainbow Brain Coral

Duncan Coral

Soft Coral (6 Types):

Orange Clove Polyps

Brown Toadstool Leather C oral

Green Weeping Willow Toadstool Leather Coral

Red Finger Leather Coral

Metallic Green Star Polyp

Neon Green Star Polyp

Zoanthis & Palythoas (29 Types/Morphs):

Purple Death Palys

Nuclear Death Palys (Blue/Green Morph)

Nuclear Death Palys (Green/Yellow Morph)

Rainbow Infusion Palys

Metallic Green Palys

Sunny Ds Palys

Green Implosion Palys
Gold Maul Zoas

LA Laker Zoas

Butt Muncher Zoas

Incinerator Zoas

Incredible Hulk Zoas

Devil's Armor Zoas

Purple Monster Zoas

Rainbow Yoda Zoas

Blondie Zoas

Blue Hornet Zoas
Red Hornet Zoas

Purple Hornet Zoas

Rasta Zoas

Mint Green Zoas

Watermelon Zoas

Peacock Blue Zoas

Green Bay Packers Zoas

Gorilla Nipple Zoas

Red PE Zoas
*Unidentified Brown/Pink Zoas

*Unidentified Purple/Green/White Zoas

*Unidentified Purple/Blue/Green Starburst

Mushrooms (22 Types):

Teal Green Discosoma Mushroom
Green Leopard Discosoma Mushroom

Superman Discosoma Mushroom

Watermelon Discosoma Mushroom

Red Devil Discosoma Mushroom

Red/Green Discosoma Mushroom

Ironman Discosoma Mushroom
Red Discosoma Mushroom

Blue Discosoma Mushroom

Yellow-Spotted Green Discosoma Mushroom
Blue-Spotted Red Discosoma Mushroom

Green/Light Green Rhodactis Mushroom
Forest Fire Rhodactis Mushroom

Tricolor Rhodactis Mushroom

Violet Rhodactis Mushroom

Tricolor Orange/Blue/Beige Rhodactis Mushroom

Purple Green Ricordia Yuma Mushroom

Teal Green/Orange Ricordia Yuma Mushroom
Rainbow Yuma Mushroom

Yellow Yuma Mushroom

Green Hairy Mushroom

Blue Hairy Mushroom

Current Coral Count: ~79Types/Morphs/Varieties

Anemone:

Red Bali Mini Carpet Anemone

Macroalgae:

Fern Caulerpa

Grape Caulerpa

*TBA:

Livestock:

Fish

Ornamental Crab
Assorted Corals

Assorted Macroalgae

Pictures:

Empty tank on 16/11/2020:

Post-TTM on 16/11/2020:

FTS on 17/11/2020:

Topview FTS on 17/11/2020:

FTS on 12/12/20:

Topview FTS on 12/12/20:

FTS on 09/01/21:

FTS on 09/02/21:

FTS on 20/03/21:

FTS on 23/04/21:

FTS on 25/05/2021:

FTS on 15/07/21:

FTS on 10/09/21:

FTS on 16/10/21:

FTS on 15/11/21 (*1-year-old) :