Atoll's reef after 39 years in the hobby.

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Bit about me.
Am an old geezer now 70 years of age. I have had around 12 tanks in the 39 years I have been keeping marines in all those years. Sometimes I have had a couple of tanks, often just the one. I have had tanks from nanos to a130 gallon reef tank. I have moved house a few times for various reasons and have never taken a complete setup with me although I have with some equipment. Fish, corals, rocks and tanks sold on.

Most of my tanks and equipment is secondhand inc my current tank, lights, reactors etc etc.

My current tank is a D-D 1500s pro reef with modified sump. I wouldn't know what to do with a standard sump apart from modify it of course to my liking and ideas. The first thing I did was to take out the filter sock holders and a glass baffle.

I don't use any prefiltration what so ever, no socks, roller mats or filter wool. I do have a Reef Octopus 150sss classic skimmer however.
I have a Oxydator model A running 12% peroxide along with 2 catalysts. I have a small amount of Siporax and 2 bio blocks in a basket in there. Sitting on the sump is a Turbo Aquatics waterfall ATS that I have had all the LEDs replaced as it's a good few years old and in doing so added another 4 LEDs on each side making 12 each side. On the screen I grow mainly Ulva intestinalis.

I have a small Aqua Medic reactor running a small amount of iron oxide to keep on top of PO4 and have just added a reactor with a small amount of pellets to get my NO3 down lower. The ATS keeps my NO3 stable but Ideally I want it lower then the ATSvis hopefully keep it there. I have an Aqua Medic kalk stirrer fed by a peri pump with runs through the night on a constant drip rate.

My lights are 2 x Orphek Atlantic V4 gen 2s I bought secondhand and a OR120 blue plus light bar.
Water movement is provided by my return pump, 2 x MP40 QDs and a Jebao gyre.

Here is a pic of the tank complete with live rock to which I have just added more (looks white at the rear of the tank)
20200309_161029.jpg


Pic of my sump.
20200306_202041.jpg
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
atoll

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
G’day from Australia! Sounds like you have some nice gear and knowledge
Thanks, I have a daughter and her family in Melbourne.
Most of my gear as said above is secondhand inc my tank, am on a pension. Much of my knowledge gained is from personal.experience and I have honed my philosophy to reefkeeping over all those years. Much of what I do is similar to the legend who is @Paul B on here seems we have arrived at similar conclusions on how to run a reef without much in the way of problems esp disease or is that lack of.
 
U

User1

Guest
View Badges
New video taken this evening.


@atoll nice setup. Great really. Let us just say that :). Bad habit of mine that my GSD trainer keeps kicking me. How was Anna this week and I reply good. She was ok. By the time he leaves he says no Scott - she is great. Say great!

So you have a great setup. 1st hand, second hand, none of that matters if the quality is good and it works for you. Means you are smart and let others pay the premium :). Flow at surface is really nice. You can see how it is flowing and the corals and fish react. New rocks should blend in within a couple months.

Great job! Keep up the amazing work.
 
OP
OP
atoll

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
@atoll nice setup. Great really. Let us just say that :). Bad habit of mine that my GSD trainer keeps kicking me. How was Anna this week and I reply good. She was ok. By the time he leaves he says no Scott - she is great. Say great!

So you have a great setup. 1st hand, second hand, none of that matters if the quality is good and it works for you. Means you are smart and let others pay the premium :). Flow at surface is really nice. You can see how it is flowing and the corals and fish react. New rocks should blend in within a couple months.

Great job! Keep up the amazing work.
Thank you, it means a lot. Yes most of my equipment is secondhand but chosen with my plan and budget in mind. Much of the rock and animals transferred from my Reefer 250. Still much to achieve esp with frags growing out, hopefully I will get there with time.
 

YankeeTankee

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Messages
481
Reaction score
1,046
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've heard some different rationale on the oxydator, what are your thoughts on the oxydator and how it helps your tank?

Do you clean our the siporax now and then? Are they just in a bag?
 

boacvh

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
1,637
Reaction score
5,105
Location
SOCAL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Beautiful atoll. Definitely following. As a relative newbie I have been following your thoughts and contributions (and PaulB's) on other threads for a while. Confess I have no clue what most of the equipment you mentioned does, but here to learn
 
OP
OP
atoll

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've heard some different rationale on the oxydator, what are your thoughts on the oxydator and how it helps your tank?

Do you clean our the siporax now and then? Are they just in a bag?
Thanks, IME the Oxydator helps in various ways. Firstly it helps clean the water and raises ORP. Secondly it fortify the tank with oxygen and in doing so helps the fish vitality wise, some report increased colour in them. I have an Oxydator user group on Facebook with lots more information and users reviews. Some say it helps keep itch at bay. I have no connection what so ever with the company and have neither spoken to them nor exchanged emails, however, I have used Oxydators for over 30 years.
The Siporax is in a plastic basket and zI just give it a shake up and down in the sump water to dislodge detritus off it.
 
OP
OP
atoll

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Beautiful atoll. Definitely following. As a relative newbie I have been following your thoughts and contributions (and PaulB's) on other threads for a while. Confess I have no clue what most of the equipment you mentioned does, but here to learn
Thank you, it's not yet up to the standard of one of my previous tanks but give it time.
My philosophy to reefkeeping which you note is not dissimilar to @Paul B is to try and follow natures as much has is reasonably possible, reasonable being open to interpretation of course. Nature has the answer to successful reefkeeping so I am a disciple of hers, she knows best.
 

najer

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 9, 2016
Messages
20,453
Reaction score
144,448
Location
Humble, England
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have only been on the salty side for about 10 years, trop before, from my first Aquanano 40, 55 litre cube I always thought that there has to be an easier way?
Fast forward 10 years, a second replacement after two tank leaks, 52 litre Evo aqua aio, no filtration, gotta keep the hungry coral happy too!
Less messing and more let it evolve, and yes an oxydator mini Les! ;)

DSC_0147 (1024x710).jpg
 
OP
OP
atoll

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thank you, it's not yet up to the standard of one of my previous tanks but give it time.
My philosophy to reefkeeping which you note is not dissimilar to @Paul B is to try and follow natures as much has is reasonably possible, reasonable being open to interpretation of course. Nature has the answer to successful reefkeeping so I am a disciple of hers, she knows best.
Yeah mate, I know your a disciple of both. Great denros BTW.
 
OP
OP
atoll

atoll

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
4,742
Reaction score
8,095
Location
Wales UK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Not updated my tank thread for sometime so thought I should do. On the equipment front specifically lighting I have added an Orohek 120 blue plus light bar and another light bar of unknown manufacturer that I bought secondhand. Both these are positioned at the front of my Atlantics and angled front to back. These do 2 things, they reduce shading even more and add a bit more pop to the tank.
20200910_132210.jpg
20201028_175433.jpg
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 38 50.0%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 40 52.6%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 16 21.1%
  • None.

    Votes: 19 25.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 7 9.2%
Back
Top