April
2001 Reef Tank of the Month
Doug Lowey's Reef Tank
Below
is a description of Doug's beautiful 170 gallon reef tank.
I
set up my first reef about 10 years ago, after many years of fresh
& salt water fish only tanks. They have progressed through various
sizes, filtration and lighting changes to the current tank built
into my rec room wall. The major concept of the reef is that most
all the corals are propagated. All the fish are small when grown
and many are tank bred. The only coral that's not a propagated species
is a bubble coral that has been with me for many years. Many of
the soft corals are close to 10 years old and have been propagated
many times to populate tanks all over the country.
Even
though I have had aquariums for many years, the greatest change
for myself has been the information exchanged on the reef boards
I frequent, with Reef Central being my favorite.
Tank, equipment,
etc:
Tank is custom made, 48in.L-32in.W-27in.H, roughly 170G. Sump is
a 55G Rubbermaid tub. Sump contains a 4in. sandbed, lots of worms
& pods, many snails & a banished pair of urchins. The calerpa
algae it contained, recently was removed, and is awaiting some new
calerpa species. I am Currently running my Euroreef in the
sump. The sump is lit with a 175watt 43K halide.
Lighting:
A 400watt 12K Sunburst is over the tanks center and is supplemented
by 4 normal output 65K ultra bulbs.
Filtration:
Only enough live rock is used to create a reef flat for the coral
to grow on. The tank contains a very live 4in. sandbed. This along
with the 4in. sump sandbed & either the skimmer or caulerpa
in the sump provides all the filtration.
Element
Replenishment:
Calcium,
alk.and trace elements are provided by a single stage reactor designed
by my friend Rod. I use iodine when adding new corals or when propagating.
Circulation:
Besides the Iwaki return pumps, the tank contains several
Hagan powerheads for circulation. No wavemaker device is used but
there are many different opposing turbulent currents.
Fish:
Prawn goby,[valenciennea puellaris], yellow coris wrasse, mated
pair of orange skunk clowns, soon to be mated pair of blue striped
cinnamon clowns, school of 8 green chromis, of which only 5 school.
The baby is in the sump,[ picked on ], and two have paired up and
are breeding behind the large star polyp colony.
Corals:
Large bubble coral,[ plerogyra sinuosa ], turbinaria peltata, propagated
by cutting with a hacksaw, green star polyps growing on both overflows
& tank sides, large colony of brown anemone polyps, [ been with
me since the start ], yellow polyps, several mushroom colonies of
different species, colt frags,[ sold mother colony ].
Many new sps
frags, acro's of different colors & species, pink birdsnest,[seriatopora
], montipora digitata, hydnophora [branching]. Recently picked up
many small frags & encrusting species that await correct ID.
They were broken left overs from my lfs last order.
Two derasa
clams & a blue/purple crocea. Also just added a fragged alveopora.
Inverts:
Mated pair of old cleaner shrimp, lots of various snails, scarlet
crabs, emerald crabs, large old brittle star, tons of worms of many
species, pods, cucumbers, many tubes worms and other crawlies.
Thanks
to the staff of Reef Central for giving me this honor.
For
more information about Doug's awesome tank check out his web site
- Click Here. |
