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June
2001 Reef Tank of the Month
MrSandman's
Reef Tank
Below is
a description of MrSandman's awesome 60 gallon reef tank.
Wow!
What an honor! First things first, I gotta thank Reef Central, the moderators
and the members for running such a great and informative board. Without
them, this tank would not be where it is today. .
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History:
This
tank originally started about 7 years ago as a FOWLR tank until my college
roommate introduced me to reefing. When I first saw his tank, I was in
such awe of the different colors of reds and greens. Little did I know
I was looking at Red Slime and diatoms! After selling all of the non reefsafe
fish to my LFS, the first addition to the new reef was a maroon clown/LTA
combo. It was that symbiotic relationship that really got me hooked, and
from that point forward, I knew this hobby was for me. I had kept an anemone/clown
combo with LR for the next 5+ years before making the "true"
reef plunge. Until about 18 months ago, this tank was a FOWLR/Anemone
tank. Now....its a full blown reef.
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Livestock:
I keep
a wide variety of coral species in the tank. I started with softies and
LPS corals, but eventually the SPS bug bit me (as it will you) and then
the Iwasaki's followed. Keeping such a wide variety of corals is not easy,
and careful placement with regards to growth must be considered. A sharp
pair of scissors for fragging sure helps as well.
I also keep a variety of fish and inverts/crustaceans. Being the symbiotic
enthusiast that I am, I had to have a pistol shrimp/yellow watchman combo
to complement my pair of saddleback clowns/sebae anemone combo. 3 blue-legged
hermits, and a mixture of strombus, trochus and turbo snails make for
an award winning clean-up crew. 2 - 4" crocea's and a 6" deresa
make up my clam list. Include a school of 6 green chromis, a flamehawk
and a cleaner shrimp, and that about tops off the livestock list.
For more details on my livestock, visit my website.
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Equipment:
The
tank is a 60 Gallon Sea Clear Acrylic tank with about 130 lbs. of live
rock from various locations around the world. The sand bed depth ranges
from 2-3 inches throughout the tank. It consists of about 40 lbs. of Home
Depot Sand with 40 lbs. of Caribsea Special Grade Aragonite Reef Sand.
Water movement is provided by 3 Maxijet 1200's and a Rio 2500 recirc pump
hooked up to a Red Sea Wavemaker. Lighting comes from a DIY 2 x 250W Iwasaki's
powered by Advance Ballasts. Supplemental lights come from 2 Actinic VHO's
powered by an Ice Cap 660 Ballast. All of this is housed in a DIY canopy.
This combo gives the tank a nice white appearance. More details on this
DIY project can be found on my website.
The reef is heated by a 300W Ebo Jager heater, and cooled by 2 Ice Cap
variable speed fans. It is skimmed by a KNOP Hang-on venturi skimmer.
The sump consists of an old Amiracle type wet/dry with the bio balls removed.
On the floor of the sump, I have a 3 inch sand bed with some small pieces
of LR. This area is what I call a settling tank where tons of pods and
worms live to feed on excess waste.
Food
and supplements:
Calcium
and trace elements are provided via a single chamber "Geo" reactor
filled with Caribsea Special Grade Aragonite Reef Sand. CO2 is regulated
through a 3M deluxe regulator. I feed a heavy smorgasbord of foods to
the tank. Every other day the following foods are served: 10ml of DT's
Phytoplankton, 2 pumps of Liquid Life Bio Plankton, a pinch each of Golden
Pearls rotifer and cluster size powder, 5ml of Selcon, 1 cube of Ocean
Nutrition's frozen Invert Food and 1 cube of frozen Prime reef and Prime
Reef flakes. About once a week silversides are fed to the anemone and
live brine shrimp is mixed into the pot for an extra treat for everyone.
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Tank
parameters:
Calcium
levels are maintained at around 450 with a dKH of about 12. pH ranges
from 7.9-8.3 throughout the day and is monitored via a Pinpoint Monitor.
Temperature remains pretty stable between 81-83 degrees F and is monitored
via a Lifeguard Digital Thermometer.
Misc:
Water
changes are performed very infrequently about every 2-3 months. A Bag
of Chemi Pure is placed in the sump about 3 days out of the month. Living
in California, its tough to balance saving on electricity not at the expense
of my reef. MH lights are left on only about 6 hours a day and the VHO's
for about 8 hours a day. For the rolling blackouts, the system has a backup
power supply via a UPS 650VA unit.
Thank
you for this great honor Reef Central!!!!
-MrSandman
a.k.a. Ramon
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For
more information about MrSandman's awesome tank
check out his web site - Click
Here
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