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Mrs. Binford's Beautiful Reef


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  1. #1
    mrs binford - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    farmington hills mi
    Posts
    35
    Awards Tank of the Month - December 2011 TOTM

    Default Mrs. Binford's Beautiful Reef

    I am very surprised and happy to be Tank of the Month. I read captive reefs a lot but don't respond or post much, I really enjoy the mix of reefers and see several other female members doing a great job.

    I started this hobby by way of a gift from my husband ( @binford4000 ) when we first met in 1991. My first tank was 125-gallon tall which I maintained for about 12 years, When we moved to southeast Michigan due to the economy, I downgraded to a 36-gallon bow front. Which it was a nice change. I maintained that for about three years tell it was destroyed in a move and lucky the husband got a 75-gallon for Christmas which now is my present tank.

    Equipment

    The tank is lit by all LED's, It has two Aqua Illumination SOL blue modules and we just added a Aqua Illumination Nano SOL blue to fill in the shadow of the brace.

    The tank is an All Glass Aquarium 75-gallon drilled with a single overflow box built my husband, with a 1-inch drain. It has a 50-gallon refugium/sump which has a large emphasis on growing sponges which is why there is no light on it. The return is a reef octopus hyd 5000 reef flow pump, which runs a complete header for all extra components and also is the return to the tank. It runs to a single 3/4-inch flow inductor which creates a huge amount of flow.

    In the tank I have two Tunze Nanostream 6025 and a Korilla 4 for added flow. An Aqua Euro USA 1/10 HP chiller, a 37-watts UV sterilizer and a BRS dual chamber GFO and Carbon reactor are connected to the return header. My skimmer is a Skimz SM180 cone skimmer. I use a 500-watt heater. Everything except the LED's is controlled via a Neptune Aqua Controller Jr. I use the Aqua Illumination controller for the LED's which I love!!! My husband has been obsessed with reducing the electric bill so my tank went thru a complete upgrade this year.

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    Maintenance

    I use a Profilux doser to do a continuous water change and top off. I use only Brightwell's salt and maintain the following parameters:

    Salinity: 1.025
    Alkalinity: is 10 ppm
    Calcium: 430 to 475 pm
    Nitrite: 0 ppm
    Nitrate: 15 to 50 ppm
    Magnesium: ~1350 ppm

    I dose strontium and magnesium on a weekly basis. I feed the corals Reef Nutrition Oyster-Feast and Phyto-Feast. Fish are fed frozen mysis shrimp, Rods food, and spirulina.

    Inhabitants

    I don't know the collector "names" of most of my coral. I don't keep up with all of them...I just buy them because I like them. My livestock collection includes:
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    Thanks to @Manoj's Reef for taking the photos for this month's TOTM.

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    Last edited by jimsflies; 06-08-2012 at 10:32 AM.

  2. #2
    jimsflies - Reefkeeper
    Admin/Founder

    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    11,467
    First Name
    Jim

    Default

    Thanks Kathy for sharing your fantastic reef! Well done!
    Likes mrs binford liked this post

  3. #3
    larryandlaura - Reefkeeper
    Team CR

    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Houghton Lake
    Posts
    5,338
    First Name
    Larry
    Awards Monthly Giveaway Winner Fantasy Football Champion Referral Award Monthly Giveaway Winner

    Default

    Thanks for sharing your amazing reef!
    Hi my name is Larry and I'm a coral addict!
    Likes mrs binford liked this post

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Canton, Michigan
    Posts
    1,103
    First Name
    Manoj
    Awards Fishbowl Drawing Winner Tank of the Month

    Default

    Very beautiful mixed reef...love the clown eggs, nice coral collection and awesome equipment. Thanks for sharing.
    Likes mrs binford liked this post

  5. #5
    youngtimothy - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Tecumseh MI
    Posts
    323
    First Name
    Tim
    Awards Photo of the Month Photo of the Month Photo of the Month Tank of the Month

    Default

    Congrats! Very Nice!!!!!
    Likes mrs binford liked this post

  6. #6
    dentdominator - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Saltwater USA
    Posts
    89
    First Name
    A

    Default

    That's a great looking tank. I like the way it all filled in and flows. Looks like a lot of time was put into this system. Great job !!

    Congrats and Happy Holidays !!
    Likes mrs binford liked this post

  7. #7
    CR Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    clarkston
    Posts
    293
    First Name
    mike

    Default

    Congrats! Ms. Binford. Tank looks great as always.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Likes mrs binford liked this post

  8. #8
    dlhirst - Reefkeeper
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Detroit MI
    Posts
    705
    First Name
    Don

    Default

    Congratulations, and thanks for the inspiration for us little folks!
    Likes mrs binford liked this post

  9. #9
    mrs binford - Reefkeeper CR Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    farmington hills mi
    Posts
    35
    Awards Tank of the Month - December 2011 TOTM

    Default

    I want to say thanks again for chooseing my tank to be the tank of the mouth. I want to thank Mr. Binford for getting me in the hobby and building my system for me. I would like to thank Manoj for coming over and take the picture for me he did a great job. As you can see i really like the softy the are so relaxing to watch when you have a stressful day.

  10. #10
    binford4000 - Reefkeeper
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    farmington hills mi
    Posts
    2,214
    First Name
    Old man
    Awards Tank of the Month - May 2012 Tank of the Month

    Default

    good job babe,and thanks Manoj for the great pic's you really did make her tank look great

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