July 2006 Tank of The Month

we will try to be patient... lol

Sorry I'm a tad late, but CONGRATULATIONS!!! You really do have a gorgeous tank! :-)

First. let me once again say how honored i am to be picked. this group is a great bunch of people that i hope to get to know better and maybe even meet some day. also please bare with my terrible grammar (i know but i am lazy).

the tank i submitted was a 37 gal. oceanic w/built in over flow. the stand was a black oceanic w/smoke glass door and the canopy was custom built to match the stand. this has been one of my most favorite tanks as it was one of the most simple designs i have ever done. it was just three rocks in the pic on the front page and later on i added a fourth rock... thats it just four rocks. they were almost completely hollow and had very small contact points.ok lets get to some specs.

sump-oceanic model 2
return pump- Q. one 6000
power heads-2xseio 820...2xmaxi jet 900...1xseio 620 (it was 600 something.lol). all the maxi jets were controlled by a red sea wave maker. (thanx to whoyah for pointing this out....i never would run any rio pump on a wave timer of any sort...esp. the seios)skimmer-euro reef es-8
lights-2x250w 20k radiums...3x75w VHO actinic
ballasts-2x250w halide electronic...1xice cap 660 VHO
salt-1/2 I.O....1/2 Oceanic
doser- kalk doser fed with a medical doser from a 5 gallon container.
mechanical filtration- 50 micron filter sock used in sump for all over flow water.
chiller- none!... except that i used an $8.00 wal mart fan on the sump and a couple of high RPM fans in the canopy.
chemicals used- saliferts calcium (liquid) and magnesium(dry)...thats it other than the kent kalkwasser and the kent super buffer
top off water- came from a 3 stage ro that fed into a 2 stage di filter...my reading has always been zero with the electronic monitor on the ro system.

critters-about a dozen snails and hermit crabs (thats 12 combined)...1 red and 1 plated fromia star...no fish at all (in my new tanks i will have some). other than a tiger tail cucumber that was it.
corals- somewhere around 12 acanthastreas (both enchinata and lords)...about 6 acros and montis...the 2 brains in the pic i have had for more than 4 years and still have them.

so i am way better at answering questions than i am at putting together a well thght out post so any questions you guys have bring them on, i love to talk about this tank.... it had one ideal that never changed...keep it simple...from the rock work to the equipment just keep it simple..no extra fancy stuff here (that has all changed with the dual 40's.lol)