Reef Spotlight - August 2012 - "Aquaph8"

[swannyson7]

REEF SPOTLIGHT – July 2012
The Reef Aquarium of:
Brett Daugherty aka "Aquaph8"
You can also check out Brett’s tank build here on R2R:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/large-aquariums-180g/60935-ph8s-225-build.html

Introduction
First, I would like to send a big thank you to my beautiful wife and two amazing kids for putting up with me and pretending to listen to my ramblings. This hobby sure has its share of spills, time spent tinkering and just overall crazy obsessions at times. Next, I would like to thank Reef2Reef and all its members and staff, I really do consider you guys and gals family. I've enjoyed every minute Ive spent talking with all of you over the years. I consider it an honor to have my tank spotlighted on this great forum.

I started this hobby back in 2000. I was a young kid that got into a bunch of trouble and needed to step back and decide what I really wanted to do with my life. Deciding that I didn't want to continue down the path I had been on, I decided I needed some kind of hobby to consume some of my time. Aquariums turned out to be the perfect vice for me. Like many, I started with a fresh water tank and eventually switched over to saltwater. My first tank was a used 80 gallon powered by canister filters and VHO lighting. On my "fresh out of high school" budget, I kept a few fish and soft corals, not really taking the hobby too seriously. After a couple of years I met a guy at the LFS who helped me purchase my first brand new tank. At the time, I thought the 125 gallon tank was huge and was so happy to finally have a nice drilled tank complete with sump and skimmer. I slowly began to learn how to keep my livestock happy for the most part and even got into some LPS over the next few years. My only source of knowledge was the LFS and after lots of bad advice and money spent poorly, I found there were forums full of people to answer my questions. I started reading articles and everything I could find and over the years got better and better. Towards the end of my 125's life span I started figuring out how to keep SPS corals and got more interested in the hobby than ever before. I was now married with a family and my wife was not on the same page as far as upgrading was considered. Then one day while we were sitting in front of the tank watching the fish, she looked over and made a bet with me, "If you can quit smoking, you can spend the money you save on a bigger tank". The bet was on and I quit my two pack a day habit the following day never to look back. Everyday I look at my kids and am so happy I put that habit to rest. The three of us have lots of fun and they enjoy learning about as much as I enjoy teaching. Hopefully they will be the future of Reefing to come.

I have been influenced by so many people over the years that I don't even know where begin. While beautiful tanks such as David Saxby and Luc Loyden have given me visual overloads on multiple occasions, it’s really all the people that were willing to give that extra time to help others that was truly inspiring to me. So many amazing people (you know who you are) have helped me over the years. This hobby is about always leaning new things and continuing to get better and that is what I love most about it.

System Profile
Display Tank:
225 gallon custom Lee Mar glass tank (60x36x24), Euro Braced with Side external overflow
Stand:
DIY 36" stand made with 11 gauge 1 1/2" steel tubing.
Wood facing is maple with a black finish.

Sump:
Lee Mar 42x24x16 rimless with DIY baffles

Skimmer:
Royal Exclusiv Vertex Alpha 300 with duel 1500 RD pumps

Carbon/Phosphate filtration:
BRS media reactor w/ BRS GFO
BRS Rox carbon ran passively in a media bag
Drains:
Bean animal drain system with 3x1.5" drains
Return Pump:
Reef Octopus water blaster HY5000 (1300 GPH at only 60 watts)
Circulation:
2x Tunze 6105 turbelle streams on a 7092 controller
1x Ecotech vortech MP40w
2x 1" returns with wavy sea wave makers

Lighting:
Sfilligoi Stealth T5 fixture 12x54watt, powered by ATI bulbs
(front to back)
Blue+
Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Aquablue Special
Blue+
Blue+
Purple +
Blue+
Blue+
Aquablue Special
Blue +
Calcium/Alk/Mag dosing:
BRS calcium chloride and DIY soda ash on BRS dosing pumps
Magnesium is dosed manually as needed
All top off also runs through a Geo Kalkwasser Reactor with Maxijet 1200 mixing pump

Auto Top Off:
Reef Fanatic ATO level controller

RODI:
BRS 75 GPD 5 stage
Heating Cooling:
I don't use anything to maintain the temp of my tank
System Control:
Reef Keeper Lite 2x PC4's and temp probe
Pinpoint PH monitor​

 

[swannyson7]

Water Circulation and Flow Summary:
With my tank being SPS dominated, I came to the conclusion that I needed more flow if I was going to succeed with SPS. Being somewhat new to SPS, the jump in flow was something very foreign to me and it took me a while to get used to. I threw around the idea of a closed loop but could never bring myself to be comfortable with having holes in the bottom of the tank. I started with two Tunze 6105 stream pumps and added an MP40 later on. I plan to add another MP40 as corals grow in, due to the fact that as some corals are getting big, others get blocked and starved of flow. My goal is to keep waste stirred up while moving it to the overflow to be removed by the skimmer, while also keeping water from becoming stagnant around the corals. I’m also a big fan of having water movement at the top of the water for oxygen exchange. The wavy sea's work great for this, while moving waste to the overflow. The return pump also runs a manifold used to run reactors and any future equipment that I may add down the road.

Water Parameters:
* Temp: 78-81F via RKL
* pH: 8.1-8.3 via Pinpoint monitor
* Specific gravity: 1.025 via Refractometer
* NO3: 5ppm via Salifert
* Ca: 450 via Salifert
* Alk: 7.8 dKH via hanna calorimeter
* Mg: 1350 via Salifert
* PO4: 0.4 via Hanna Calorimeter
* Ammonia and nitrites: Haven't tested these in years

Lighting:
Living in Arizona and being a tropical person by nature, heat has always been an issue. I keep my house steady at 77-78 year round. I've run halides and VHO’s in the past with chillers and I was never happy. This time around I decided to give T5's a shot and have never been happier. I chose a stealth fixture by Sfilligoi because I loved the idea of a 12 bulb fixture and all the different bulb combinations that I could try. I'm sold on T5s for now and have zero intentions of changing any time soon.

Photoperiod:
10:00 AM: Four bulbs {(3x) B+, AB} ON, Fuge light (CFL) OFF
11:00 AM: Four more bulbs {(2x) B+, C+, P+} ON
12:00 PM: Remaining bulbs {(3x) B+, AB} ON
6:00 PM: Four bulbs OFF
7:00 PM: Four more bulbs OFF
8:00 PM: Remaining bulbs OFF, Fuge light ON

Filtration and Water Quality Summary:
I would guess that my system is about 250 gallons total. I do weekly water changes of 25 gallons using a mix of half Reef Crystals and half Tropic Marin salt mixes. On top of weekly water changes and a big skimmer, I also dose vinegar daily. My skimmer gets cleaned once a week, faithfully, and I change out my carbon & GFO monthly. I enjoy feeding my fish and I give them a wide variety of foods but it takes its toll on the system, requiring me to stay on top of things. Unfortunately, homes in Arizona don’t have basements and the temperature in the garage in routinely above 100 degrees. This leaves me with no room for water storage, so I'm forced to mix in trash cans and drag them to the tank from the laundry room, but at least I'm not hauling water bottles across town any longer. I do run a fuge light with some macro algae and a couple pieces of live rock in my sump, but it’s never really grown for me. I just keep it in there for pods to hang out in and there seems to be quite the population of life down there.

 

[swannyson7]

Tank Inhabitants - Fish
While I love corals I honestly do this hobby for the fish, they are what drives me to put all the extra effort and what gives me the most challenge for they truly have little minds of their own. I enjoy sharing all I know about them with my kids and anyone that will listen.

Earl's Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus earlei)
Rhomboid Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis)
Pink Margin Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubrimaginatus)
Red Sea Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus octotaenia)
Mccosker's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
Lamark's Angel (Genicanthus lamark)
Purple Queen Anthias (Pseudanthias tuka)
Bangaii Cardinal (Pterapogon kauderni)
Mueller's Butterfly (Chelmon muelleri)
Lavender Tang (Acanthurus nigrofuscus)
Yellow Coris Wrasse (Halichoeres chrysus)
Orange Stripe Prawn Goby (Amblyeleotis randalli)
Mandarin Dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus)
Blue Eye Cardinal (Apogon leptacanthus)
(4) Orange line Cardinal (Apogon cyansoma)
(2) Red fire fish (Nemateleotris magnifica)

​

 

[swannyson7]

Tank Inhabitants - Other Invertebrates
Fire Shrimp (L. debelius)
Cleaner shrimp (L. amboinensis)
Harlequin shrimp (H. elegans)
Tiger cumcumbers X2 (Holodthuriidae spp.)
Turbo snails x5 (Turbo fluctuosa)
Nassarius snails (N. distortus)
Conch snails X3 (Strombus spp.)
Astraea snails (A. tecta)
Serpent stars (Ophicoma spp.)
Rose specled bubble tip anemone (E. quadricolor)

​

 

[swannyson7]

Tank Inhabitants - Corals
The tank is mostly a mix of SPS with a couple LPS and zoanthids/palys here and there. Im not real good with coral names but here are a few that I know that are in the tank. Many you may not see in the pictures cause they're still small frags.

A. tortuosa
A. plana
A. efflorescens
A. hyacinthus
A. hoeksemai
A. lokani
A. suharsoni
A. loisettae
A. millepora
A. montipora
S. hystrix
A. echinata
T. reniformis
T. peltata
A. tenius
A. microclados
E. divisa

 

[swannyson7]

 

[swannyson7]

Fish and Coral Feeding:
I feed the fish 3-4 times each day with a mix of pellets and frozen preparations. I keep 3 sizes of NLS pellets and Dainichi veggie pellets on hand for dry feeding. As far as frozen foods, I normally have a variety of whatever I can find locally plus my homemade food consisting of whatever the grocery store has fresh on the day a make it. Three of the daily feedings consist of dry pellets via an auto feeder and I add frozen food when I get home from work. I occasionally feed cyclops and oyster feast for the corals a few hours after lights out, but no more than once a week.

Conclusion:
To all the new members of the hobby, I just want you know that everything you go through along the journey is what everyone has gone through. Take it slow and read as much as you can. Keep things simple and try to make it a routine. Good things will come, they just take time.

To all the old salts, I just ask that you continue to help the younger generations learn faster than we did. This hobby has come so far in such a short period of time, but I think that it’s only just begun. Captive breeding is our future and we as reefers get better at it every year.

I've spent a lot of time on forums over the years and the way R2R feels like a family rather than a community is nothing short of a miracle. The way the members, staff and sponsors band together to help others out in time of need is spectacular. I'd like to thank David (Rev) for everything he does to make R2R so great. I'm sure you do a lot more than any of us know and I’m just glad to be a small part of the R2R family.

 

[swannyson7]

Congratulations Brett! That's quite an assortment of fish that you've got in there! 1smile1

 

[revhtree]

Awesome tank and well done! I love the detail in this write up too!

 

[revhtree]

Brett I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your wonderful tank with us and thank you for your contributions to our family here. Love ya bro!

 

[3Twinklets]

Congratulations!! Beautiful tank and wonderfully detailed write up.

 

[ritter6788]

Amazing tank! Congrats on the Spotlight. Well deserved.

 

[victornator333]

this tank looks even cooler in real life!

 

[MarvinsReef]

congrats man! awesome tank and deserving. 1smile1

 

[myzislow]

congrats! Nice tank for sure!

 

[ToadallyNC]

Congrats! Awesome system!

​

 

[Mike&Terry]

Congratulations, Brett! We have been fans for quite some time now. It has been a pleasure watching the progression of your build from the beginning and watching it become an inspiration to us all! Great write up and well-deserved Spotlight!

-Mike & Terry

 

[revsgirl]

:clap2: Congrats Brett!! Your tank is beautiful!!

 

[SaltWaterDave]

Congrats Brett!!!!

 

[skinz78]

Congrats Brett, looking good!

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2