I started this tank in September of 2004.
The setup:
- Second Hand 55 gallon tank (bought it from my friend)
Second Hand Pine Stand (bought it from my friend)
Pine Canopy (from eBay)
Waltmart 10 Gallon Sump (what I could fit under my tank)
Mag 5 return (underated for my tank)
HOT Overflow (sucks, I hate it.)
Euro-Reef ES5-2
(I bid most of my success to my skimmer.)
SWCD (I need a stronger pump for this guy)
2 Maxi-Jet Pumps
Lighting:
- 440 Watts of VHO (Two Actnic 03's and 2 Actinic White from URI)
IceCap VHO Ballast
175 Watt Single End Metal Halide @ 14,000K
eBay Ballast (waiting to start a fire)
No reflectors. (yeah, I know. I loosing all my light. Well, my hood is a terriable design, therefore, I can not really use reflectors)
Sand and Rock:
- Sand:
I wanted to do the Deep Sand Bed. My friend hand some crushed coral. So I did about 1.5 inches of crushed coral and then used 2 inches of AgraAlive Live Sand.
Rock:
I do not know its origins other than it came from my LFS. It is nice rock. Pretty dense and thick round pieces. I got about 70 pounds or so in it right now. It is probably FIJI rock.
Live Stock:
- Corals: Ranging from Softies to stone corals.
Sinularia (center off to the right)
Xenia (center to the top)
mushrooms (various places)
clove (center under the montipora)
green star polyps (various places, one giant rock of it, but retracted in this picture, off to the right bottom)
Montiporas (plating and branching) (next to the xenia to the right and below)
A coubple of Acropora (right of xenia)
2 Brains (on the sand)
Frogspawn (giant piece, left in the tank)
Sun Coral (the only orange thing in the tank)
Fish:
Green Mandarin
Yellow Tan
Sailfin Tang
Green Chromis
Orange Spot Gobey
PJ Cardnal
What I do for this tank:
- Daily Tasks:
Drip 1 gallon of kalkwasser
Checking skimmer for optimal operation (empty if needed)
Check overflow (the siphone breaks)
Feed MYSIS and Vegi-flakes
Feed corals MYSIS and GP Larvel Mix
Top off water with buffer RO (if needed)
Weekly Tasks:
Clean skimmer cup and neck
Check ALK, pH, and Ca levels and maybe NO3 (depending how lazy I am)
Sometimes my Ca gets low, so I add some SeaChem Reef Advantage Calcium
Monthly:
25% Water Change using my own RO system
Current salt: Instant Ocean
Previous salt: Oceanic
Current Readings:
- 420 Ca
10 Alk
8.3 pH
NO3 ? (i am lazy)
Everything appears to be fine.
I plan to do my next tank somewhat differnt. I might use a Ca rector or maybe use a two part Ca and Alk supplement.
Comments?
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