Hello,
My name is Chris and my wifes name is Sue. We both love reefs and the many life forms that inhabit them. As we have expanded our collections we became entirely sidetracked by the very colorful LPS corals we found. Then upon finding our first micromussa amakusensis we were hooked! We now keep and propagate over 70 unique morphs of micromussa and are continually searching for more. To support this addiction we trade and sell bits and pieces of our little reef world.
Currently we keep A Very large system... Over 800 gallons final tally:
Our main Prop tank</B> with all of the micromussas is an 90 gallon tank that has an eggcrate shelf built that hangs about 3 inches under the suface of the water. About 6 inches above the waters surface hang 2X 250watt 20K Radium MH with 2 X 110watt VHO actinics and 2 X 110watt VHO 10K sunburst. This lighting has the micros under 10 hours of very intense lighting each day and seems to provide excellent growth and coloration.
Our Quarantined/imported corals tank is 80 gallons and Uses 400watt MH XMs
Our 400 gallon Main Show tank is still a work in progress. 2004 I began noticing that I was having to sell off all of my other corals just to make room for my micros and acans... my 80 gallon tank just could not hold everything. I knew I wanted to build a large system but the costs were very intimidating. I finally decided to just do it! I knew I needed an entire reef room to house this and also I wanted room to be able to mantain this tank and all of its equipment, I was also tired of crawling around under a tank stand.... I knew that with all of the frag trading that I do I would need to have quite a large prop tank. 5 years ago when I had built my house I had not finished my basement and then it was off to Iraq so the basement never got completed. This scenario was perfect for me to sell the idea to my wife Sue, "I''ll finish the whole basement if you let me build part of it as my reef room baby?" she was positive and supportive from the beginning.
So here are the stats: The room itself is 14''X14'' and has 3 dedicated 20A circuts (not including the actual ambient room lighting which is just on the Basement light circut). I have plumbed a deep utility sink into the wall and also plumbed a drain for easy water changes. 100GPD RODI lines supply the Saltwater mix vat and the Top-off. For the Plumbing I had ALOT of help from Paul at Oceans Motions... he is great and gives up so much of his time to explain things, what a smart man.
The tank is Starphire 1/2" low iron glass in a Eurobraced plywood frame coated in "BREWCOAT" 2 part FDA approved epoxy... the back of the tank has black pond foam.. then it was coated in epoxy and then crushed coral and sprinkled into the drying epoxy to form a rock wall.
96"X32"X31"
Stand:
Wood and concrete block
Filtration:
1X 3600gph Dart for sump/150 gallon, fuge/55gallon, prop/90gallon then return...
ETSS 1500XR skimmer powered by Iwaki 100rlt
Shallow sand bed in tank with DSB in the 150 gallon fuge, DSB with Plenum base in the 55gallon Refugium, 400+lbs of live rock in show tank and 100+lbs in the fuge
Closed LOOP:
2X OM 4ways feed by 2 X 3600gph Darts cycle flow back into the tank through 8 ports to create a "swirling barrell" effect
Lighting:
1X 8bulb bank of 54watt T-5s
4X 400watt 20K Radiums with Lumenarc Reflectors
1X 160watt VHO actinc
Ca:
4002 Koralline reactor with CO2 and auto dip 60gallon Kalk system
Feeding and supplements:
Fully controlled by a triple reefdoser and individual feeding stations
Electronic control and monitoring:
Pentium3 Dell Windows 2000 with Aquacontroller jr.
Left
Center
Right
Full Shot
If anyone is interested I will post pics of the "LAB"
My name is Chris and my wifes name is Sue. We both love reefs and the many life forms that inhabit them. As we have expanded our collections we became entirely sidetracked by the very colorful LPS corals we found. Then upon finding our first micromussa amakusensis we were hooked! We now keep and propagate over 70 unique morphs of micromussa and are continually searching for more. To support this addiction we trade and sell bits and pieces of our little reef world.
Currently we keep A Very large system... Over 800 gallons final tally:
Our main Prop tank</B> with all of the micromussas is an 90 gallon tank that has an eggcrate shelf built that hangs about 3 inches under the suface of the water. About 6 inches above the waters surface hang 2X 250watt 20K Radium MH with 2 X 110watt VHO actinics and 2 X 110watt VHO 10K sunburst. This lighting has the micros under 10 hours of very intense lighting each day and seems to provide excellent growth and coloration.
Our Quarantined/imported corals tank is 80 gallons and Uses 400watt MH XMs
Our 400 gallon Main Show tank is still a work in progress. 2004 I began noticing that I was having to sell off all of my other corals just to make room for my micros and acans... my 80 gallon tank just could not hold everything. I knew I wanted to build a large system but the costs were very intimidating. I finally decided to just do it! I knew I needed an entire reef room to house this and also I wanted room to be able to mantain this tank and all of its equipment, I was also tired of crawling around under a tank stand.... I knew that with all of the frag trading that I do I would need to have quite a large prop tank. 5 years ago when I had built my house I had not finished my basement and then it was off to Iraq so the basement never got completed. This scenario was perfect for me to sell the idea to my wife Sue, "I''ll finish the whole basement if you let me build part of it as my reef room baby?" she was positive and supportive from the beginning.
So here are the stats: The room itself is 14''X14'' and has 3 dedicated 20A circuts (not including the actual ambient room lighting which is just on the Basement light circut). I have plumbed a deep utility sink into the wall and also plumbed a drain for easy water changes. 100GPD RODI lines supply the Saltwater mix vat and the Top-off. For the Plumbing I had ALOT of help from Paul at Oceans Motions... he is great and gives up so much of his time to explain things, what a smart man.
The tank is Starphire 1/2" low iron glass in a Eurobraced plywood frame coated in "BREWCOAT" 2 part FDA approved epoxy... the back of the tank has black pond foam.. then it was coated in epoxy and then crushed coral and sprinkled into the drying epoxy to form a rock wall.
96"X32"X31"
Stand:
Wood and concrete block
Filtration:
1X 3600gph Dart for sump/150 gallon, fuge/55gallon, prop/90gallon then return...
ETSS 1500XR skimmer powered by Iwaki 100rlt
Shallow sand bed in tank with DSB in the 150 gallon fuge, DSB with Plenum base in the 55gallon Refugium, 400+lbs of live rock in show tank and 100+lbs in the fuge
Closed LOOP:
2X OM 4ways feed by 2 X 3600gph Darts cycle flow back into the tank through 8 ports to create a "swirling barrell" effect
Lighting:
1X 8bulb bank of 54watt T-5s
4X 400watt 20K Radiums with Lumenarc Reflectors
1X 160watt VHO actinc
Ca:
4002 Koralline reactor with CO2 and auto dip 60gallon Kalk system
Feeding and supplements:
Fully controlled by a triple reefdoser and individual feeding stations
Electronic control and monitoring:
Pentium3 Dell Windows 2000 with Aquacontroller jr.
Left
Center
Right
Full Shot
If anyone is interested I will post pics of the "LAB"
