Editors
note: This month's Featured Aquarium
has three galleries associated with it. Clicking on
any of the pictures will take you to that respective
gallery.
I
live in Israel and have been keeping a reef aquarium
since 1997 when I converted a 55-gallon discus aquarium
to a reef aquarium.
When we
decided to move to a new house I decided on changing
to a bigger aquarium, so while my wife was looking
at the size and structure of the house, I was looking
for a good spot to place the aquarium. The approach
on how the aquarium would be built consisted of:
1. An aquarium as wide as possible, since I believe
the beauty of the aquarium is in it‘s depth.
2. An in-wall built aquarium.
3. An aquarium as high as possible for aesthetic reasons
and swimming space for the fish.
4. Easy to maintain.
Eventually
we decided to locate the aquarium in a storage room
with a shared wall with the living room – it
could be both seen and easily maintained. Since the
storage room’s size is limited due to municipal
restrictions and house structure – it defined
the size of the aquarium.
During
the building of the house the following changes were
made to the storage room :
1. An
opening was made between the living room and the storage
room.
2. A shelf (Which the aquarium was placed on) was
built, and was supported by a metal construction made
of a double T support that reached all the way down
to the foundations of the house.
3. Water and drainage lines were built in.
4. Electrical lines were routed to it.
5. A ventilation window was built into the outer wall.
The display
tank built in the wall is 330-gallons, 63”x35”x35”,
made by Yechiel Shamir Quality Aquariums Ltd Israel.
The sump is a 50-gallon tank 31"x20"x18".
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The
tank was setup in August 2002. Unfortuately, while
we were moving from the old apartment to the new house,
the electricity in the old apartment was cut off,
and when I came two days later all the fish and corals
I wanted to move to the new aquarium were dead.
Today,
the aquarium is populated mainly by SPS and a few
LPS corals and soft corals. In the center I placed
a big sarcophyton which is a focal point in the tank.
Filtration:
Protein skimmer – Aquamedic Turboflotor
5000 twin
I use 300-lbs of live rocks, most of it was
dry rocks from Indonesia
I use 3”-4” of live sand, which
was added to the aquarium around March, 2003.
Because
of the soft corals I permanently use 1 liter
of carbon.
Lighting:
2 x Iwaski 6500K 400 watt Metal halide
1x
Radium 20,000K 400 watt Metal halide
The
Metal halide bulbs are placed in a SpiderLight
reflector and are powered by a Metrolight electronic
ballast.
There’s
4 x Actinic Blue T5 80watt bulbs.
In
the beginning there were 3 Iwaski 6500K MH, but
the lighting was too yellow, so I replaced the
center lamp with a Radium 20,000K. I’m considering
changing to 3 x 10,000K lamps. The lamps themselves
are placed on a Spider Light reflector. All the
bulbs are mounted on a structure which allows
me to lift them during maintenance and to adjust
the height of the bulbs above the water.
Lighting schedule:
T5 - 1 PM to 1 AM
Metal
halide - 4 PM to 12 PM
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Calcium
and additives:
Calcium is added by Calcium reactor –
Knop HD-S
Strontium is added weekly
Iodine is added 3 times a week
Buffer is added if alkalinity goes under 10
dkh
Water
Circulation:
3 "Totton memp 80/6" pumps (1100 gallon
per hour) are for return from the sump to the
main tank while also feeding the chiller, protein
skimmer, and calcium reactor.
I added one Rio pump (900-gallon per hour),
but I still need to improve the circulation
Cooling:
Because
the temperature in the summer in Israel is around
95F I had to pay special attention to cooling
the tank.
The back room is air conditioned, and I use a
Chiller Teco 680.
An
8” fan blows air out of the back room; It’s
on during the Metal halide lighting period.A 15”
fan blows on the water surface; it works during
the T5 lighting period.
Photo
by Avi Cherni
Photo
by Avi Cherni
Photo
by Vladi Alon
Maintenance:
I Change ~13 g of water weekly.
Once in 3 months I change the carbon.
I Clean the glass twice a week.
Water
Parameters:
Calcium ~ 450 ppm
ALK 10-12 dKH
Ph 8.0-8.3
S.G 1.026
Temp 79 – 82F
InhabitantsCorals:
SPS - about 40 sps corals including Acropora,
Hydnophora, Pocillopora, Seriatopora, Porites,
Montipora…
