First of all, thanks to everyone involved for this honor. There are so many beautiful reef aquariums out there. For my reef to be considered is quite an honor. My love of all things saltwater started when I was young and my parents bought a 180 gallon saltwater tank. My job was helping with water changes and testing all the levels
weekly. Back then we had VHO bulbs, under gravel filters, wet dry filters, and coral that didn't last a week. Things have come a long ways since then.
I started off as many did with a second hand 50-gallon breeder loaded with bubble algae. I learned a lot of things the hard way but overall it was fun and a great way to get started. When I had the chance to move up to a 220 I jumped on it. I got it up and running, made a few upgrades along the way. The major jump being from 150 watt halides to a nice 3x 250 watt pendant set up. I had lots of LPS and zoas. I got bored quickly with them and wanted to take the plunge into SPS. I got my lighting set up, more flow, a bigger skimmer and bought about 20 types of SPS from a local reefer and never looked back. I expected it to be a rough start and lose some things, but I never lost a single frag I bought. I added those frags in April of 2011. I've sort of let it just coast along and maintain it since then. I'm pretty pleased with where it is right now.
Equipment
Tank: 220 gallon starphire Marineland
Sump: 90 gallon custom acrylic sump with 3 chambers. First chamber is 2 filter socks, second is refugium, third is return, reactors, and skimmer.
Skimmer: NWB-250
Return: Eheim 1262
Flow: 4 - 3200 gph powerheads and 1 MP-40. Im going to upgrade to 2 MP-60s in addition to the MP-40.
Lighting: 3 Lumenarc minis with 250 watt DE Radium 20k. Run on 2 galaxy dual ballasts. Also 4 36" UVL pure actinic T5s run on a IceCap 660.
Controller: Reefkeeper lite Level 2.
Reactor: 1 BRS reactor alternating between ROX .08 carbon and BRS phosphate remover.
Maintenance
When the tank was first started I religiously changed 15% water every two weeks. However, now I go about a month between water changes. Tank is so stable I see no difference.
I started dosing vodka to keep the nitrates at zero. However, I would have an occasional cyano outbreak. So at the advice of some others, I switched to vinegar and have had great results with no cyano since making the change.
I feed small and medium sized Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 pellets once in evening daily. I also feed a sheet of nori daily. On Wednesday, I feed a mixture of mysis, oyster feast, cyclops. Everyone seems happy and fat.
Target water parameters:
Calcium: 450-475 ppm
Alk: 8.5-9 dkH
Mag: 1300 ppm
Nitrate: zero
Phosphate: As close to undetectable with a hanna meter as possible.
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78-degrees F
pH: 8.1
Livestock
Conclusion
Thanks again to everyone for the opportunity to be Tank of the Month. It's been quite a journey. I never thought my tank would be anywhere near TOTM quality. I hope you enjoyed my slice of the ocean. I know I sure do. And to everyone just starting out, don't forget to step back and enjoy your tank. You can get so caught up in the details, you miss the big picture. This truly is a unique hobby enjoyed by the minority!
Gablett's Gorgeous Reef
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