Reef
PicsThe reef began in december of 1995. As the drywalling and carpeting had just been completed in my finished basement, I began thinking again of having a fish tank upon which to gaze. Having kept most of the freshwater fish possible in the time span since I was eight years old, I decided it would be nice to try some of the more interesting and exotic saltwater fish I had seen for years. After a trip to the local fish store for some questioning of the owner, I decided I could use my existing 55 gal and undergravel filter. In a week it was setup and cycling. In two weeks I had a pair of percula clowns happily swimming around, while I enjoyed the change to the vibrant colors of salt water fish.
Enough history allready, let's get to what's important.
Size: 75 gallon
Filtration: In the year I have been buliding this reef I have tried a wet/dry (trickle filter), a coil denitrator, a Jaubert plenum, and a power filter in various combinations . These days I like to keep things simple: 3" live sand and about 150 lbs live rock. Also using skimmer and Magnum 350 for GAC only (see maintenance).
Lighting: Lighting went through a similar progression as the filtration, starting with two 20W strip lights. There is now 1 250W-20,000K metal halide, 1 250W-6500K metal halide, and 2 110W VHO flourescents(1 actinic, 1 50/50).
Water Movement: Main pump gets water from a surface overflow, which is then pumped to the skimmer and returned via gravity to the tank. The sump is fed via siphon, contains two heaters, and water is returned via pump through a spray bar. The sump is also where various additives and trace elements are added. Two power heads at opposite ends of the tank cycle on and off at 10 second intervals and another power head cycles on and off randomly in 10-20 min intervals. The canister used for GAC returns water to the bottom of the tank to help with circulation within the rockwork of the reef structure.
Live Rock: About 40 lbs Gulf of Mexico rock, 20lbs Pacific rock, 40lbs fiji rock, 10 lbs Marshall island rock and about 40 lbs base coral rock and tufa rock(boulders).
Hard corals:
1
3" Blue T. crocea Maintenance and parameters: For this reef there is very little in the way of maintenance. Five gallon water changes are performed occasionally(once a month if I can find time). No siphoning of detritus or debris is done and there are no pre-filters, foam blocks or any kind of mechanical filters to be cleaned. The only thing left to do is clean the skimmer(weekly) and change GAC(2 weeks). For GAC, I use magnum carbon since it is larger pieces and resists packing and clogging which would reduce water flow.
Additives to tank: Daily additions of potassium iodide, and combisan. Weekly additions of strontium. Calcium is provided by an MKRI Ca reactor, just set and forget.
Parameters as of 2/22/97:
Questions or comments are welcome. Any reefkeepers in the Milwaukee-Waukesha area, I would love to hear from you, there doesn't seem to be many. E-mail to Blinky@execpc.com
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