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I
started maintaining marine tanks approximately 11 years ago.
Since then it has evolved into a passion for keeping
specifically reef tanks that has lasted for around 9 years so far!
Recently I have begun my current tank, after moving to
North Carolina. Since then, I have developed a strong preoccupation with
keeping the highest quality corals and fish in the most beneficial
environment I can, hence I begun operating Reefscience.
The
display tank is 300 gallons [84"(L)x32"(W)x26"(H)]
with the front and side panels made of starphire.
Inter-American custom built the tank after my first tank
(from a local shop) had the bottom pane explode after
installation. What a mess!
My
equipment consists of a Euroreef 8-4 skimmer in a 70 gallon sump.
A 120 gallon refugium is also a part of the system and is
lit by a single 400W MH. Main
lighting consists of 4 400W metal halides (2 20kK Osram radiums, 2
10kK Ushio) and 2 6’ URI VHO bulbs.
The lighting cycle is 10 hours of VHO, 9 hours of radiums,
and 8 hours of Ushios. Current
and sump exchange are provided by 2 Ampmaster 2700 pumps.
One serves as a return from the sump and T’s into the
main system. The
other T’s to 2 1” seaswirls located at opposite corners of the
tank. To keep things
cool, I have fans located above the sump, refugium, and main tank!
I also run a MyReef calcium reactor (CR-2 Dual) to keep the
sps growth high.
Filtration
is by the 200 lbs of Fiji live rock and the skimmer.
I also use approximately 2 pounds of activated carbon per
week in the sump.
The
300g display tank has been in operation for 7 months.
The 120 gallon tank was my previous display tank (now a
refugium) and it has been at this location for one and a half
years.
For
maintenance, I change approximately 10 gallons per week of water.
It seems to work well, doing small changes very regularly.
I feed
flake food each evening followed by 2 cubes of PE brand mysis
shrimp later in the evening.
I also feed DT’s phytoplankton (approx 6 tablespoons)
weekly along with a sheet of nori for the herbivores.
The refugium does a great job of feeding the rest.
My
tank consists of over
100 different species of SPS (both acquired from trading frags and
wild colonies. I also
have a variety of LPS corals, including blastamusas, brains,
favites, and others. A
couple of soft corals are present including ricordea yuma, various
zooanthids and clove polyps as well.
SPS definitely predominate the tank though.
There are also a bright red rose E. quadricolor (bubble
tip) anenome, 7 Clams (Maxima, Croceas, and Squamosa).
In
the future, I plan on adding one more 400W or 2 250W DE HQI bulbs
to help increase growth even more. |
