Congratulations Daniel on winning TOTM for May 2011 with beautiful, clean SPS reef.
Daniel is known simply as Dan on the RTAW forums and
you can find out more about his tank in his tank journal.
Both
Cathy and I have always had a love of the ocean. I have, like so many
others kept and bred freshwater fish for many years and then about 6
years ago I finally decided to take the plunge into the world of marines
seeking more challenges than freshwater could have given me. The first
year a LOT of mistakes were made and lessons learnt and a move to Perth
saw me have to give up my tank. 3 years ago we were back in the sunshine
state, we found RTAW and marine aquarium keeping has slowly changed
from hobby to obsession.
Display tank:
3ft x 2ft x 2ft eurobraced in 10mm glass, tank custom made by Dennison from MaryAnnes Aquariums.
Stand:
Custom pine stand stained dark brown. The left side
panel is removable which allowed us to have the largest sump that could
fit underneath and it also allows for better side access to the sump
when doing routine chores.
Sump:
30in x 18in x 18in split into 3 sections (skimmer -> refugium -> utilities/return)
Filtration:
Filtration is primarily through the live rock and
skimmer. There is however a small amount of macro algae in the sump but
this does not grow due to low nutrient levels
Skimmer:
ATB Nano Cone (B version) with Airstar pump. Whilst I
was always skeptical about spending money on a good skimmer, this extra
performance has allowed us to feed corals an inverts in the tank almost
nightly. Large input, fast removal is helping to ensure the sps growth
rates are strong.
Water flow:
Single Vortech MP40w which is dialed in at around
50% on lagoon mode. This provides the tank with approx 20x turnover and
pushes the limits of flow without causing a sand storm. We also have a
battery back up system to give us peace of mind.
Lighting:
We originally had a DIY LED over the tank however
found the corals did not seem to adapt well so we decided to go with
T5’s as they are widely used and have been for many years. The current
fixture is a Solarmax 8 x 39watt which has individual reflectors for
each tube. We choose to use ATI tubes and replace these every 8 months.
Dawn Channel – 11am – 10pm
Daytime (full light) – 12pm - 9pm
Other Equipment:
2 x TLF Fluid Bed Filter running ROWAphos & ROWAcarbon (changed monthly)
Scheago 300watt titanium heater & controller
Bubble Magus 3 Channel dosing pumps running solutions of Randy
Holmes Recipe #1 and set to 6 cycles / day to ensure there is minimal
daily fluctuations
Auto Top Up float switch connected to a 60lt reservoir of RO water
RO/DI unit from PSI Filters
Hailea 150a Chiller fed from the return pump
Water Parameters:
The best thing I have learnt in this hobby
is stability, this isn’t always easy and I am still finding challenges
keeping important parameters like Alkalinity stable due to the ever
increasing uptake by my corals.
Current water parameters:
Salinity – 36ppm (refractometer)
Nitrate – Undetectable (Salifert)
Alkalinity – 8.0dKH (Salifert)
Calcium – 420ppm (Salifert)
Magnesium – 1280ppm (Salifert)
Phosphate – 0.00ppm (Hanna Checker)
Additives:
Prodibio (Bio Optim & Bio Digest) - fortnightly
Prodibio (Reefbooster) - twice weekly
Kent Iodine – 4-6ml weekly spread over 2-3 doses
Red Sea Potassium – 6ml weekly spread over 2-3 doses
Coral Feeding:
Those who know me know how much I believe in
feeding corals more than just light. Most marine aquarists go to great
lengths to maintain ‘natural reef conditions’ however the high volumes
of marine planktons which feed the reefs are often overlooked or avoided
due to potential issues with water fouling in our small closed systems.
We currently hatch our own Artemia (enriched with greenwater) and use
PolypLab Reef Roids to supplement the live Artemia. This coral food mix
gets fed to the tank 5-6 nights per week.
Fish:
We have both always loved fish and felt that they are
as integral to the tank as the corals unlike many dedicated SPS tanks
which have few fish to keep bio-loads down. We are currently searching
for one last fish for the tank but this is proving difficult due to size
of tank, compatibility and availability.
Current Fish List:
Amphiprion ocellaris – Black & White Clownfish x 2
Halichoeres chrysus – Canary Wrasse
Pseudochromis fridmani – Orchid Dottyback
Zebrasoma xanthurum - Purple Tang
Corals:
Mainly SPS but with a few LPS scattered around the base of the rockwork.
Acropora sp.
Millepora sp.
Stylophora sp.
Poccilopora sp.
Ricordea sp.
Montipora sp.
Euphyllia ancora
Fungia sp.
Ricordea yuma
Scolymia australis
Acanthastrea lordhowensis
Symphyllia radians
Zoanthid sp.
Inverts:
Lysmata amboinensis – Redline Cleaner Shrimp x 2
Tridacna crocea – Crocea Clam
Tridacna maxima – Maxima Clam
Trochus sp. - Trochus Snail
Strombus Sp. - Stromb Snail
Maintenance:
Daily visual inspection of all equipment
Daily visual inspection of livestock
Daily/Weekly algae cleaning (viewable sides & back wall)
Weekly 10% water change with natural sea water – I keep to this
religiously ensuring trace elements we do not have the ability to test
for are replenished
Weekly water parameter testing
Acknowledgments
Firstly I want to thank Cathy who put up with
this obsession day in day out during the early days, but is now as bad
as I am. I also want to thank my cousin Brad (Bradw6860) who introduced
me to RTAW and inspired me to keep persisting with a reefers ultimate
challenge, the colourful sticks. A massive thanks to Heath, Bruce &
John from QLD Coral Creations who time and time again give us access to
the very best quality livestock (:clap:) I also want to thank the MASQ
crew who without fail are always there if you ever need a hand, we’ve
made some great friends along the way with a special thanks to Derek
(Deek) and Heath who dropped everything to save our reef during
Brisbane’s floods earlier this year. Lastly thanks to those who
volunteer to keep the RTAW forums running and those members who continue
to share their knowledge along the way, our tank inhabitants have a
much better life thanks to the resources RTAW provide.
Cathy and I are honored and proud to be nominated and included in a collection of some of the best tanks down under.
Happy Reefing.
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