Daniel@R2R
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My Tank Thread
Introduction:
Hello to all the reefers and friends!
Keeping SPS in an aquarium is nerve wracking, and yet extremely exciting and fulfilling when you appreciate and enjoy the ups and downs of the hobby. I am glad that my tank can be featured in this forum that may help inspire hobbyists to join in the fun.
My tank is 4' x 2' x 1.5' running under the ultra low nutrient system using mainly zeovit products. The majority of my corals are SPS.
System Profile:
- Display tank: 4' x 2' x 1.5' with front crystal glass
- Glass or Acrylic: Glass
- Stand: Cabinet
- Sump: About 3' customised sump
- Grow-out tank: 2' x 1.5'
- Protein skimmer: Skimz SM201
- Carbon/phosphate filtration: AF carbon / Pho minus
- Return pump: Jebao DC7000 + Eheim 1264
- Water circulation: Gyre 150 x 2 + Jebao RW15 x 2 + rw8 x 1
- Lighting (display): ATI non-dimmable 8 tubes
- Lighting (grow-out): MH250W radium 20k
- Calcium/alkalinity/magnesium dosing: Calcium reactor Schuran Jetstream 1 with add on 2nd chamber+ magnesium dosing via Jebao dosing pump
- Kalkwasser reactor: ATI with Kalk mixed water
- Auto top-off: Tunze Osmolator universal 3155
- Heating/cooling: Sanyo compressor 1.5HP with drop coil.
- System control: Myself
- Any other details: Lots of media (marinepure, ceramic rings/house etc + zeolite stone reactor + ATS) and no sandbed.
My sump:
ATS getting the job done:
Water Circulation and Flow Summary and Objectives:
I intend to run relatively higher flow in my tank so that detritus can be brought by the flow and trapped in the filter wool compartment.
Water Parameters:
- Temp: 26-27 C
- pH: 8 (when light on)
- Specific gravity: 1.025
- NO3: 0
- Ca: never measured
- Alk: 6 to 7 (sometimes it could go out of range)
- Mg: 1.3k
- PO4: never measured
- Display tank: 12hr
- Grow-out tank: 8hr
Tank Inhabitants
Fish:
1. Flame angel
2. Swallowtail angel
3. Blue eye anthias
4. Blue tang
5. Purple tang
6. Kole tang
7. Yellow tang
8. Melanurus wrasse
9. Six line wrasse
10. Tailspot goby
11. Royal gramma
12. Snowflake clown
Other Invertebrates:
1. Cleaning shrimp
2. Seahare
3. Hermit crabs
4. Snails
Corals:
I guess it is too hard to name all but maybe I name their places of origin?
1. Australia
2. Malaysia
3. Indonesia
4. Fiji
A few top down shots:
Food timer twice a day. For coral feeding, I use zeobak, start, food, K balance, B balance, zeospur 2, flatworm stop, coral snow plus, zeozym. I also use AF iodine, micro E, coral A, coral B, coral V.
Maybe my dad? He used to keep small kois in a fish tank when I was young. When I was studying in junior college, I was impressed by a planted tank in an aquarium shop near my school and decided to start my nano fresh water tank. I definitely failed a number of times before I got it right, and I later upgraded to a 3' planted tank and later progressed into keeping crystal shrimps.
In the past, I often visited a place at Pasir Ris farm to buy freshwater plants. It so happened that there is a marine aquarium shop next to it and I had to walk past it every time if I wanted to enter the freshwater plant farm. I guess that subconsciously influenced me to stop my freshwater hobby and enter my marine aquarium hobby.
I think it has been about 5 years since I started my first marine tank.
Who or what in the hobby most influences/inspires you?
James (aka lobang king) was the first person who taught me a lot in this hobby with his experience, and he always likes to push the boundaries to attempt alternative things to keep the hobby sustainable in an affordable way. You guys can find him in this forum I think, and there is another thread on his reef documented in sgreefers.com. OMG! He uses a solar panel to store energy in battery to power a wavemaker in case of power failure. hahaha... very interesting to have such a person in the reefing community. He was the one who helped me set the foundation right. Later, I met another friend Alex who always goes after coral shipments with me when I just setup my 4' tank and introduced me to different types of exotic SPS. It has been really fun to visit farms and waiting for some of the gems to be unpacked and put up for grabs.
When I get a new house, I wish to keep a bigger tank but shallow tank. Maybe 5' x 3' x 1' or something along this line which makes maintenance easier.
Final Thoughts?
I would like to advise all new SPS hobbyists that the journey of keeping SPS is full of challenges; however, there are always solutions to address the issues or even prevent the problems. All you need to do is to read some of the successful tank threads and ask when you encounter any issues. There are so many senior reefers out there that are happy to help when you are in doubt. Good luck and reef on.
