Overview of my reef tank

[kaybee]

Here are my reef tank details:

Tank Specifics
Volume: 65 gallons (36"L x 24"H x 18"W); undrilled and sumpless
Sand Bed Depth: averages 4"; mostly sugar-grain sized.
Live Rock: Approximately 55lbs.
Established since: 2006

Fish
Royal Gramma
Azure Damsels (2)
Tailspot Blenny
(Fed a pinch of NLS Small Fish formula pellets twice a week)

Invertebrates
Scarlet-legged Hermit Crab (just 1)
Turbo Snails (3)
Astrea Snails (3 or so)
Porcelain Crab (filter feeder)
Fromia Sea Star
Serpent Sea Star
Fighting Conch

Corals
LPS (Large-polyp, stoney)-dominated (wide variety of LPS corals), also some Soft Corals and two type of SPS (Small-polyp, stoney) corals.
(fed weekly, mysis shrimp, cyclopeeze, Reef Roids, rotifers, etc)

Typical Water Parameters
Specific Gravity: 1.026-1.027
Temperature: 78F
pH: 8.2-8.4
Calcium: 420-440ppm
Alkalinity: 2.85-3.92 meq/l
PO4: (currently undetectable)
Nitrate: 0ppm

Lighting: Aquactinics TX5 T5HO fixture; five 39-watt T5 High Output bulbs with individual reflectors.

Bulb Type/Configuration: (From front to back):
1) Giesemann PowerChrome Actinic+
2) Giesemann PowerChrome Pure Actinic
3) Korallen-Zucht Coral Light
4) Korallen-Zucht Fiji Purple
5) Giesemann PowerChrome Actinic+

Photoperiod:
Bulbs 2/4 on 1050am-1040pm
Bulbs 1/3/5 on 1210am-850pm
Once or twice a month there's a day without any light.

Additives
Seachem's Reef Complete (dosed infrequently due to the high calcium content of the Ocean Salt mix I use)

Sodium Bicarbonate: 1-3 teaspoons added every monday/wednesday/friday

Magnesium Sulfate: 1/2 teaspoon every other week. (if I remember)

Filtration
AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer w/drain fitting; powered by Maxijet 1200; wet skimming.

Dual Phosban Reactors (each containing 8-12 tablespoons of Granular Ferric Oxide (GFO) pellets; outflow of Reactor #1 connects to inflow of Reactor #2; powered by a Maxijet 1200.

Rena Filstar XP2 Canister (media sequence: 50-micron filter pad>2 media bags of carbon>50-micron filter pad>50micron filter pad> 2 media bags of carbon>25-micron filter pad). Three of the media bags contain 15-tablespoons of small-partical Activiated Lignite Carbon, the 4th bag contains 32 tablespoons of carbon.

Overflow Box: provides surface skimming and houses protein skimmer/canister filter intakes and reactor outflow.

Water Circulation
Three Korallia 3 (850gph each)
Rena Filstar XP2 Canister outflow jet nozzle (350gph)

Equipment
Refractometer

Pinpoint Wireless Digital Thermometer, two remote sensors

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Meter

Martini Mi-412 Low Range Phosphate Colorimeter

API/Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Test kits (Calcium/Nitrate/Alkalinity/High pH)

Small cooling fans (4)

Optima Vision RO/DI unit, 75gallons per day, 5-stage: 1-micron pre-sediment>catalytic granular activated carbon>0.5-micron carbon block>Dow Filmtek Membrane>nuclear-grade DI resin

Oceanic Salt Mix

20gal tub containing readily available RO/DI water
20gal and 18gal tubs containing readily available salt water
Salt mixed in tubs with a 935gph-powerhead/pump

Maintenance:
Water changes: large and regular (40% every 3 weeks). Sand stirred to remove any built-up detritus in the substrate. I have not observed any measureable adverse effects doing this.

Top Off: I manually add 1.5-2 gallons of RO/DI a daily (reconstituting what is lost via evaporative cooling and skimmate).

GFO Media is replaced in both reactors when phosphate levels from the reactor output reaches 0.07ppm. I acquired the second reactor fairly inexpensively which is why I decided to run them both on a single system.

RO/DI: DI resin changed when RO/DI water registers 1ppm TDS. Pre-sediment and carbon filters are changed out with about every 2nd or 3rd DI resin change. Will replace RO membrane when TDS-removal efficiency drops to 95-97% or in the year 2010, which ever happens last. Efficiency is currently at 99% (tap water TDS: 285ppm, TDS of RO water: 3ppm).

Canister: 1 media bag of carbon changed out weekly (the carbon in each bag is replaced every 28 days). During this weekly maintenance each 25 and 50 micron filter pad is washed and rinsed clean. Trapped pods and bristleworms are returned to system.

I became aware of many hobbyists using filter socks in their sumps to capture and remove particulate matter and micro-detritus, and saw how 25-micron filter socks trapped lots of micro debris and gunk in short periods of time in systems which had crystal clear water prior to usage.

Since my system is sumpless I decided to (attempt to) replicate this type of mechanical filtration with a canister (already in my possession). At the time I had also acquired a quantity of carbon fairly inexpensively and decided to concurrently run a year-long trial of copious carbon usage in a reef tank.

Modifications
I initially started with a 45gal set up in Aug 2006 and moved everything into the 65gal in Dec 2006. Modifications and adjustments are always occuring (my tank is a perpetual 'work in progress' project).

[Red]

:hmm3grin2orange: your going to taunt us all with that and no pictures?

[SW Addict]

This Thread is Pointless Without Pictures. LOL


Just kidding. I love the setup you have going there. Nice to see someone who is very conservative with stocking levels. Any plans for more fish?

[spudbuds]

Sounds pretty crappy. Must be pretty horrible to look at if you didn't post any pics. :ezpi_wink1:

All kidding aside, what are you thoughts so far on your carbon experiment? I've been considering running a bit of it myself to see if I noticed any changes.

Still can't believe you didn't post pics. :rolleyes:
- Bill

[kaybee]

Oh right, the pics..!:14:

Full tank shot:
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Some of the green star polyp growing on the back pane lost its grip and has folded over. I'll have to do something about that during my next water change.

Overflow box; containing skimmer intake, Phosban Reactor outflow, and canister filter intake. At the top of the photo 1 of 4 fans can be seen. :
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Dual Reactors (back of tank):
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..Nice to see someone who is very conservative with stocking levels. Any plans for more fish?

I've actually got intentions for LESS fish. When the fish currently in the tank live out their lives (years from now barring any untoward events) I'm thinking of either not replacing them or getting a single angler/frogfish OR a single blenny of some sort.

...what are you thoughts so far on your carbon experiment?

The experiment is going along fine and I may stick with it. One of the immediate effects was how super clear the water got, which is hard to convey since it was already clear before-hand. The enhanced clarity is due to all of the dissolved organic compounds being sequestered (though issues with water clarity were not the reason why I decided to put carbon to test).

I have not detected any impeded coral growth (indicating to me that whatever trace elements are being adsorbed are in abundant supply in terms of actual coral utilization). Almost everything considered a nuisance has vanished. I have not seen any adverse effects at all thus far (except my skimmer's skimmate rarely gets darker than green tea).

To figure out if carbon use has indeed been beneficial in my set up and to gauge whether or not the positive things I've observed can be attributed to carbon-use (rather than tank maturity and perhaps other factors), I'd have to do a (100 day?) no-carbon use trial to see if any degradation occurs.

[Gayle]

It is beautiful!!!!!!!!!

[spudbuds]

Much better. :sbiggrin:

Is the tank really that blue, or is that a photo artifact? It looks like you have a lot of blue bulbs. Do you like the look? I've been considering making mine "bluer", but I haven't seen enough tanks in person to know how blue I want it.

Keep us posted on the carbon experiment.

- Bill

[Tigerbarb]

Great looking reef! Alot better than the big brown mysterious lump that grew in my tank overnight!:hmm3grin2orange:
I've always wondered if I should run carbon in a saltwater filter, myself.

[kaybee]

Is the tank really that blue, or is that a photo artifact? It looks like you have a lot of blue bulbs. Do you like the look? I've been considering making mine "bluer", but I haven't seen enough tanks in person to know how blue I want it.

I'm not sure what a 'photo artifact' is, but it is that blue, more due to how the corals reacted to other bulbs which were brighter, and emitted photosyntheticially available radiation (PAR). As an example of how BRIGHT T5s are, my current configuration is illuminated by 1 daylight type bulb and 4 actinic types.

My initial bulb configuration (from front to back) was much more bright and intense (3 daylights, 2 actinics):

1) Giesemann Aqua Blue+ (~60/40 of 6000K & 22000K)
2) Giesemann Actinic+ (blue spectrum Blue 450nm)
3) Korallen-Zucht Coral Light (10000K)
4) Korallen-Zucht Fiji Purple (blue & red spectrum)
5) Giesemann Aqua Blue+

Most of my soft corals LOVED that configuration (the tentacles, or green 'parts' of my green star polyps extended to about 1"-1.5"), I never seen them that long before...but proved too intense for my mushrooms (which didn't expand like before) and nearly every green LPS (excluding euphyllia's) which began to brown out, even those at the bottom of the tank. Very intense light, even though I was running 93 LESS watts than my previous 96W x 3 power compacts (though different type of light for sure).

After maybe 4 months of that I played around with the arrangements and bulb selection and eventually increased the actinic-type bulbs to lower PAR (browned out LPS's very quickly regained their neon green after doing that). I eventually reduced the quantity of daylight bulbs to just one. With my initial configuration I probably could have kept most SPS corals (and probably any SPS if I eliminated the actinics).

I plan to try other bulbs during each replacement to find what's best for coral health and appearance.

[Coralife]

Do you have the Fromia Marble or the Red Fromia? and how long have you had it for?

Jake
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[kaybee]

Red fromia, though not solid red. It also has blacked tipped legs:
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It's still very new, I've had it for maybe 10 days. The first one I had was a casualty in a recent temperature-related mishap:
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[kaybee]

Here are some close ups of a few of the corals:

Favia
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Pink & green Lobophyllia
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Blue Mushroom
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Encrusting Hydnophora
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[Red]

love the tank and the corals!!

[coachfraley]

Sweet Lobo!

[kaybee]

Here are a couple of green soft corals:

Green elephant ear
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Neon green toadstool leather (recently acquired)
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[unleashed]

very nice kaybee!!!!

[jimpierce]

beautiful!!!

[kaybee]

Occasionally the polyps of the encrusting hydnophora (final coral photo in post #12 of this thread) retract and reveal the hydnophores (conical skeletal structures) for which this coral is named.

It seems to do this maybe once or twice a month and will keep the polyps retracted for several hours when it does so:
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[AABatteries]

Looks great, but a little too blue for me. xD

[kaybee]

Looks great, but a little too blue for me. xD

I had to configure the lighting that best serve the corals that I keep; current configuration 1 daylight bulb, 4 actinic types.

The initial four months under T5's had them under 3 daylight type bulbs and 2 actinics, which caused most of my green LPS's to brown out and my mushrooms to shrivel. Colors reverted to 'normal' fairly quickly under the current configuration. I'll take a neon green open brain under somewhat blue-ish light than a brown open brain under bright daylight bulbs any day. :ssmile:

I'm still experimenting with bulbs, it's been over a year with most of these T5HO bulbs so I've got some change outs to do, might try and see how the corals fair under 2 daylights/3 actinic types. I still haven't given up on finding the ideal medium which will work best for both the corals and the human eye.

...Keep us posted on the carbon experiment.

Looking back during the last 12+ months of copious carbon usage, SPS and LPS growth has been great and unimpeded under the trial. The yellow polyp and mushroom multiplication rate has apparently slowed, but this might be a good thing. These particular soft corals had phenomenal growth rates under my previous compact fluorescents (my entire yellow polyp population sprang from two hitch hikers and were spreading as fast as aiptasia). However my yellow polyps are currently 'at war' with invasive anthelia which has spread to and overshadowed the isolated rocks the polyps are on. Carbon use may therefore only be a variable than the factor, hard to say.

My other soft corals (zoanthids, xenia, anthelia) are doing very well despite requiring/needing the 'stuff' that carbon adsorbs from the water column. My anthelia is actually becoming invasive again, and I've got zoanthids spreading from the live rock and onto the sand bed (didn't think zoa's, while still interconnected to the main colony, could do that).

My plan is to go carbon-less from 01 Jan-31 Mar and note any significant changes following the 90-day carbon cessation and then re-evaluate continued carbon use in Apr 2009 based on those results; though I'll probably forgo that and immediately return to carbon useage if nuisance algae, diatoms and cyanobacteria happens to 'appear out of the blue'.

In other news... :c7:

Here's a chart representing 'average' temeperatures in my reef tank from 21 Aug-07 Dec. The intervals are irregular, with each markers representing the average of 10 temperature readings (basically, the chart displays the averages of 178 temperature readings, if that makes sense :confused: ):

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My goal is to keep it 'around' 77F, currently temps are at 75.7F.

[Harls]

PRETTY!!!!
although i don;t like the amount of actinic bulbs, no offence but in my opinion it takes out the natural colour of them :(
Harls

[kaybee]

No offense taken, contructive criticism may be a good thing. :ssmile:

I think my camera in some of the close-in shots may be overcompensating some of the colors that the actinics emit. But with that said, I am running 4 actinics (out of 5 bulbs) over the system due to adverse coral reaction when 3 daylight/2 actinic bulbs were running.

I've got two actinic type bulbs due for replacement on 01 March 09 and plan on replacing one of them with a daylight type bulb.

I've dug around some of my older tank pics, here's how my tank looked in December 2007 under a three daylight/2 actinic bulb configuration (before the 'browning out' of certain corals kicked in); this would be my ideal bulb configuration:

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Here's an updated pic taken today, about a year later (with lots of coral re-shuffling) for comparison with the current 1 daylight/4 actinic bulb configuration. Perhaps a little less blue than the full-tank shot on page 1 since I've also reorganized bulb positions, but still more blue than I'd like:
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Hopefully, after the bulb swap in March (2 daylights, 3 actinics), I'll get a better balance of colors, less blue and hopefully no coral 'brown out' as a result of the additional PAR.

[Harls]

yeah i like it much better :)
Harls

[kaybee]

A two-day 'cold front' (by Florida standards, anyway) caused temperature lows to dip down to the mid-30s (1C). The high's reach into 60s (17C).

My tank, which is heater-less, runs a lot warmer than room temperature due to heat generated by a canister filter, three water-circulating poweheads, and two additional one's powering the reactor and protein skimmer. I usually run fans over it to keep temperature's down. Due to the cooler weather I disengaged the fans.

Current outside temp: 34F
Current room temp: 64F (central heating not activated)
Current tank temp: 75.2F