900 x 600 x 600 system by CADE, mixed reef, about 18 months old, combination of new stock and fish/coral/rock from a system that was about five years old. My third large tank.
Aquarium Profile and Equipment
- What type of saltwater aquarium is this?
- Mixed Reef
- Total Water Volume
- 98
- When did you start this tank?
- Aug 1, 2024
- What is your aquarium made of?
- Glass
- Aquarium Length (inches)
- 36
- Aquarium Width (inches)
- 24
- Aquarium Height (inches)
- 24
- Aquarium Overflow/Drain
- Internal Overflow
- Aquarium Sump
- YES
- Sump Water Volume
- 13
- Aquarium Stand
- This is a CADE 900 S2 so the stand is a combination of aluminium and glass. It's the primary reason I went with CADE as my previous tank had a wooden stand which took massive water damage in just two years.
- Aquarium Controller
- NO
- Protein Skimmer
- YES
- Protein Skimmer Make and Model
- NYOS Quantum 120
- Aquarium Reactors
- None
- Return Pump
- SICCE Syncra SDC 6.0
- What types of equipment are you using for water flow and circulation?
- Wavemaker
- Water Flow and Circulation Equipment List
- AI Nero 5 x1
AI Nero 7 x1
Maxspect Gyre 300 x2
- Aquarium Lighting
- LED
- Lighting Equipment List
- 2x Dalua Illumagic X4
- Lighting PAR and Goals
- After five years with AI products I'm less interested in PAR and more in having lights that don't burn out their own lenses
. I had two AI Primes (one was for a sump) where the fans conked out and the lights stopped working. I had one AI Hydra 32HD where the power supply stopped working. And my previous dual 32HD setup saw both lights burn out their lenses to the point of the plastic melting and dripping into the tank.
The X4s were expensive but the fans are much quieter and after 18 months of use the lenses still look crystal clear.
I run the X4s using an SPS profile that ramps them up really high in the middle of the day and then tapers off quite blue for the evening. The photos here are taken under a pure white profile I set up for photography since trying to take pics under the blue is impossible.
Basically they seem to be growing the coral really well. The big blue SPS that's the "queen" of the tank in particular puts out really thick sticks.
- Dosing Equipment
- Other
- Dosing Equipment Detail
- I'm using Red Sea's four part dosing system and their four channel dosing pump. I've been on that for a year or so now and it has made a huge difference to the tank. I just set and forget. I still do water changes but I'm not sure it's even necessary.
- Auto Top Off or ATO
- YES
- Aquarium Heating and Cooling
- I am using a heater or heaters
- Water Temperature
- 25
- Heating and Cooling Equipment Detail
- Just a single 300W Eheim heater is sufficient for this water volume where I live. I have ducted AC in the house so in summer I just leave the AC set to 25C and the tank never needs chilling.
- Additional Equipment Detail
- I use a RedSea Reefmat 250 which, along with LED lighting that doesn't cost a billion dollars a year, has made it possible for me to stay in the hobby all these years. I remember in 2003 getting up at 2am to go fiddle with the filter wool wrapped around my overflow pipe to stop that dang trickle...
For the previous tank I ran without physical media for a while. It was fine but obviously a LOT of stuff built up in the sump.
Now these reef mats are just a revelation. Not only do they last months, they pull the goop up out of the water!
Aquarium Water Chemistry and Parameters
- Salt Brand
- As an Aussie in or near Sydney I have the luxury of new salt water on tap, as it were.
- Trace Element Dosing
- I'm using RedSea's four part system. It's going well.
Aquarium Natural and Mechanical Filtration
- Substrate
- Sand
- Substrate Level
- Shallow
- Live Rock Type
- Ocean-sourced.
- Nutrient Export
- Protein Skimmer
- Filter Roller
- Water Changes
- YES
- Water Change Details
- The RedSea four part dosing system has made it way too easy to miss water changes. The tank is VERY stable now. Corals are extended, fish look great... I'm actually nervous doing water changes these days. I do one about once a month.
Aquarium Tank Inhabitants (fish, coral, invert etc.)
- Fish List
- Angelfish
- Butterflyfish
- Clownfish
- Goby
- Hawkfish
- Surgeonfish Tang
- Total Fish
- Over the last seven years I've settled on a "team" that seems very stable.
3x black and white Occelaris clown
2x Skunk clown (pair)
1x Falco Hawkfish
1x Coral Beauty
1x Two-bar Rabbitfish
1x Klein's Butterfly
1x Five-lined Coral Goby
1x Yellow Coris Wrasse
The Butterfly and Rabbitfish mean I can't keep anemones (and zoos have to hide in crevices and awkward spots) but they also mean there are no aiptasia anywhere in the tank.
- Coral List
- SPS Coral
- LPS Coral
- Zoanthids
- Mushroom Coral
- Total Corals
- 20
- Invert List
- Crabs
- Starfish
- Snails
- Total Inverts
- 100
- Livestock Detail
- This tank relies heavily on a massive CUC of what we Aussies call periwinkles but which I think are a type of small turbo snail? I have more than 100 at any one time, a mix of maybe 30+ adults and many dozens of smaller individuals, down to about the size of a pinhead. At night the glass is absolutely covered in them.
There are also two Strombs stolidly churning the sand, and I'm not sure if I still have some hermit crabs. I haven't seen one for a while but they have a lot of caves to explore.
There are maybe six or seven little starfish, and I was delighted to see a brittle-star's arms just the other night. I thought they were all long gone!
- Livestock Quarantine
- No Quarantine
- Favorite Fish
- For all the limitations they put on what I can keep, the Butterfly and Rabbitfish are clearly high intelligent animals for their size. I love showing them especially to people who keep freshwater tanks.
- Favorite Coral
- The big blue acro is the "queen" of the tank, but next to it is a montipora that started as the tiniest little pink dot on a rock and is now the size of a saucer.
- Favorite Invert
- In our house the snails that come out at night are known as "the dudes". One of them is carrying an increasingly massive xenia garden on its shell,
- Never Livestock
- Mandarin dragonet. It's just not right.
Aquarium Nutrition (fish, coral, invert etc. feeding)
- Fish Feeding Frequency
- One Daily Feeding
- Coral Feeding Frequency
- One Daily Feeding
- Fish and Coral Feeding
- Flake
- Frozen
- Auto Feeder
- NO
Additional Aquarium Information
- What do you think are the keys to your success in reefing?
- I always put "the system" over any individual. It's sad to lose a coral or a fish but sickly individuals are usualy a symptom of a broader problem, so that's where my focus has always gone.
I've always tried to make the aquascape look natural or plausible. I'm not a fan of the greengrocer-stacked-shelves look. I always ask myself does this look like a place where these animals LIVE, or just a place where they are on display?
