January 2002 Reef Tank of the Month

LisaP's Reef Tank

Look at this incredible tank!

My little slice of reef.

First off let me say how pleased I am to have my tank nominated for Reef Central's Tank of the Month. I am amazed that my tank has been so honored. Thank you so much, what a way to start 2002!

Happy 7th birthday!

The tank is set up in the manner of a Berlin style system with the filtration being performed by 180kg live rock and supplemental protein skimming using a Deltec APF600 skimmer. I have no substrate in the tank or in the sump. Lighting is provided by a Geisemann canopy containing 2 250W 10K metal halide bulbs and 2 30W actinics. The lighting duration is 10 hours (for the MH) and 12 hours (for the actinics). So efficient are the metal halides at producing heat that I had to invest in a chiller to maintain the water temperature at 79°F. Water movement is provided by two small pumps on the left-hand side of the tank and a beefy pulseable IKS Turbo pump on the right-hand side. The Turbo pump is controlled by an IKS Aquastar computer which is set to pulse between 70% and 60% with a 20% drop at night. I found that running the pump at 100% was way too much for my tank actually 'blowing' some corals over, not to mention that my LPS corals refused to expand as much as they did when the circulation was more gentle. The specific gravity is maintained at 1.026 by means of an automated top off system and all evaporated water is replaced with kalkwasser. Calcium levels are maintained by a calcium reactor.

Left Side of reef	Stripe leg crab

I change 12% of the water every week and have done so religiously for 7 years. I did try dropping this down to one 12% change a month but felt that the tank didn't look quite as good as it did with this new regimen. I persevered with one change per month for 3 months before trying a change once every fortnight and have now gone back to one change a week. It makes me feel better if not the tank residents!

The fish are fed daily with a mixture of frozen foods including enriched brineshrimp, mysis, gamma shrimp, lancefish, whole shrimp and mussel. The corals receive baby brine and red plankton and every night I alternate between the smallest of the golden pearls and Nannochloropsis occulata. The food is soaked in Selcon or Zoe vitamins prior to feeding.

Acro with commensal crab

For six years the tank contained mainly hard corals with a few soft corals dotted about. The centerpiece of the thank being a monster Euphyllia paradivisa, which grew from 3 heads to 40+ heads over a period of 5 years. It broke my heart to have to break it apart in September 2000 but it was just too big to contain any longer and was attacking all corals within its reach. It is only during the last year that I added SPS corals and clams. I guess the tank was well matured at least! I have been completely blown away by SPS corals. I love the different growth forms and colors. But most of all how they grow, and boy do they grow! I still find it incredible how quickly they can lay down skeleton and sprout out new branches, changing from one week to the next. Fantastic!

Blue acropora	Look at the coloration of this LPS.

Livestock

Are you sure this isn't the ocean?

So what's next for my tank? Well I need a bigger one of course!! Mainly because I've run out of room in this present tank and I'm now having to frag some corals to prevent them from attacking each other. Still the good thing about that is I can now pass on my cuttings to fellow reefkeepers.

I hope you like my tank.