swannyson7
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REEF SPOTLIGHT - September 2012
The Reef Aquarium of:
Scott Rossow aka "rossco"
Introduction
This honor was unexpected and I would like to thank the R2R community for noticing my tank and giving me the opportunity feature my tank as this month’s Reef Spotlight.
How long have you been doing this?
I had several fresh water tanks through high school and dabbled in salt water a bit in college, but stopped when it became clear I wasn't able to afford the system needed to do it right. I went back to fresh water for a while. When I moved to California there was a gap for a few years in aquarium keeping but I re-started with salt water with a 29 gallon with PC lights and a backpak skimmer. I had great success with Zoanthids and Euphyllia and soon that aquarium was full. Around the same time I ventured into a new local reef store that had a display with SPS and that was my inspiration to try SPS. I started planning a larger tank and chose a 75 gallon, which I told myself should be plenty of room....
Who or what was responsible for getting you into the hobby?
Indirectly, my parents are probably responsible for getting me into the hobby. We had aquariums as long as I can remember growing up.
Who or what in the hobby most influences/inspires you?
I have a great group of friends who are into reefkeeping as well, and we keep each other motivated. I am the president of our local reef club which has been instrumental in meeting new friends and provides trading and information resources.
What are your future plans for improvement/upgrade of the tank?
The tank upgrade has already taken place. I have put together a new 210 gallon 72Lx27Wx24T system with a 65 gallon custom sump. I built a custom cherry wood stand and canopy. Lighting is 10 x 40 watt Sunbrite LED tubes. Flow is handled by one MP60 on one end and two MP40's on the back. The corals for the most part took the move well. It seems that there are a few acropora corals which just do not do well under LED. No issues noted with LPS or Zoanthids. I am 100 percent happy and stand by my decision to go with LED lighting.
System Profile
Display tank
75 gallon acrylic tank measuring 48x18x20
Stand
Custom built with cherry wood.
Sump
Custom 3 chamber 20x18x16
First chamber houses filter sock and calcium reactor pump
Second chamber is used as a frag tank lit by 150 watt Phoenix 14K MH in a PFO pendant
Third chamber houses skimmer and pump, return pump and CA reactor effluent line.
Protein skimmer
AquaC EV120
Return Pump
Eheim 1260
Water Circulation
Closed loop with Super Dart through OceansMotions Super Squirt Compact
Lighting
2 Radium 250 watt Metal halides in Lumenarc Mini reflectors with Icecap electronic ballasts.
2 Sunbrite 4 foot Actinic tubes
PAR readings
Calcium/alk/Mg dosing
Geo 618 Calcium Reactor
Heating/cooling
JBJ Arctica 1/5 HP chiller
No heater needed or used
System control
ReefKeeper 2
RO/DI unit
Spectrapure CSPDI 180 gallon/day 4 stage
Water Parameters
*Temp: 79-80 F
*pH: 7.7 - 8.0 (Due to calcium reactor)
*Specific Gravity: 1.026
*NO3: Not Measured
*Ca: 450
*Alk: 9
*Mg: 1500
*PO4: not measured
*Ammonia & Nitrites: Not measured.
Photoperiod
7:00 AM: Actinics ON
11:30AM: Metal Halides ON
7:00 PM: Metal Halides OFF
11:00 PM: Actinics OFF
Filtration & water quality summary and objectives
To maintain water quality, I conduct a 10 gallon bi-weekly water changes in conjunction with protein skimming. Light mechanical filtration is acheived with a filter sock. I believe that with proper husbandry and reasonable feeding, a balance can be achieved where basic equipment is all that is necessary to maintain water quality.
Tank Inhabitants - Fish
It is evident by looking at my tank that I'm not so much a fish person, but a hardcore coral person. My friends tease me about this constantly.
Purple Tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum)
Red Scooter Blenny (Synchiropus stellatus)
Barnacle Blenny (Acanthemblemaria macrospilus)
5x Blue/Green Reef Chromis (Chromis viridis)
Tank Inhabitants - Other Inverts
3 to 4 emerald crabs
30 mixed hermits
40 mixed snails
Tank Inhabitants - Corals
I keep a variety of corals, mostly SPS (small polyp stony) in the genus Acropora as well as Monitipora, & Seriatopora and LPS (large polyp stony) mainly Acanthastrea and Scolymia. In this tank, most of the chalice type corals just did not do well. I also keep a fair amount of Zoanthids and a few Ricordia Florida.
Fish & coral feeding
I feed the fish very lightly, offering a small amount of Formula One flake food daily. The corals are also fed lightly. I add one teaspoon each of rotifers and oyster eggs every 2 to 3 days, while the acans and scoly are target fed mysis once per week.
Progression Shots
Final Comments
Coral colors, namely coaxing the best color possible from corals is a fine balance. My style of reefkeeping is such that I kept the fish and therefore nutrient load, very light which gave my corals lighter colors. My friends envy my colors, and interestingly, I envy theirs. I could not get the green shimmer most reefkeepers get from their corals and recently have accepted that in order to do so, more fish and feeding are necessary. Also, as I increase my fish count and feeding, I must be careful not to tip the balance and lose color. Frugality with nutrients is still important, as well as nutrient removal. With my new tank I have increased greatly (for me) the number of fish kept which is over 20 and also added chaeto to my first sump chamber. All of the larger fish are included for a particular reason. Several different tangs reside, all for algae control. The 2 wrasses I keep are well regarded for pest control.
For anyone interested, I will be posting a link to an after-the-fact build thread for my new tank due to many requests for one. The link will be provided in a post in this Reef Spotlight thread. For the meantime, below is my most recent FTS.
Thanks for reading!
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