Sherita
Fri, 13th Apr 2012, 07:52 PM
I decided to make this a multi-part series, so that no one goes crosseyed trying to scroll through the old messages. Ok we already know I like old school, so here we go with the tank in my guest room.
Tank stats:
75g with 30g sump, total water volume 100g-ish
Skimmer: coralife super skimmer
reactor: carbon
one K2 powerhead on left side of tank
return pump: Mag9, with two return lines in the tank, one on either side
Sump - refugium>return/carbon reactor<skimmer, fuge is roughly 10g, lit with cheapo depot 5100k fluorescent flood x 1. The carbon reactor is in the return section because it is determined to leak. It can leak in there, it doesn't matter.
tank lighting - cheap, old, used 4 bulb coralife T5, 2 x actinic, 2 x 14k, moonlights - used from somewhere.
ATO - home made, works fine. Kalkwasser is used for topoff.
ACjr controls all lights, fans, heaters. There is no chiller on this tank.
http://www.rosehillwindhounds.com/75gFTSApril12.jpg
Tank inhabitants are: 18" zebra moray eel, 3" flame angel, 5" dwarf fuzzy lion, 5" marine betta, three nps rock anemones, one deer cowrie, one red knobby starfish, one spiny rock urchin.
This tank is less colorful than my 72g, since it is intended to showcase the fish and eel, rather than the coral. Even at that, there are two large tree leathers, a large toadstool, a small green poly toadstool, some giant clove polyps, a cotton candy leather, and a boat load of shrooms. All the corals for this tank were chosen because they were less likely to be eaten/noxious. I am also very old school here, this tank gets kalk in the ato to maintain alkalinity and calcium, I do large water changes for nutrient export so that maintains my magnesium levels where they should be.
Tank parameters (sorta)
salinity 1.025
alk 150-ish (hanna checkers)
ph - about 8 or so
no 'trites or ammonia
nitrates 20 or so
phosphates about 5
Nitrates and phosphates can be a booger in this tank, because I feed heavy. The inhabitants in this tank get some or all of the following every three days or so: squid, octopus, human grade fish flesh, pacific krill, mussels, clams, shrimp, oysters. The nps anemones are fed twice a week. I only give the fish what they will clean up in 10 minutes or so, and try very hard not to leave food lying around.
This tank is eel proofed, with mesh tops and acrylic pivoting covers over the electrical access holes in the canopy. There is NO escape access anywhere, all holes are either plugged up, or covered over. I will be adding a Golden Dwarf Moray in a week, so it is crucial that there be no means of carpet surfing. The tank is drilled and has an internal overflow.
Water changes are religiously done on the aggressive tank due to the bioload. I change at least 10 gallons, usually 15, every week, no matter what. I run a full pound of carbon in the reactor, and it is changed every week, and the skimmer is turned up to run wet at all times. The fuge has a deep sand bed, with chaetomorphia, and I have live rock rubble in the fuge as well as in the bubble towers in the sump. Once again, I don't buy expensive carbon, I use the pelletized carbon designed for koi ponds. It works just fine, and doesn't break the bank. No other reactors are run on this tank. I do have a few hermits in the tank for general clean up, but the eel views them as expensive snacks, so I think I am going to give up on them.
The sandbed in the tank is very shallow, only about 1/2", just enough to cover the glass and make things look pretty. Coralline algae grows like wildfire, and I scrape the glass at least twice a week. The urchin keeps it under control elsewhere. Due to the mag9 return, there is quite a bit of water movement in this tank, so I have aquascaped it with lots of open "hidey holes" for the livestock to get into and be able to get out of the current. The lionfish does not mind the current at all, which is surprising, and the angel hates the current, which is even more surprising. The betta and the eel don't care either way.
One thing I did not mention in my first post, I do use ro/di water for all of the needs of my tanks. My unit is a 6 stage Water General, and it is automated so that it keeps my 65g holding tank full at all times. I used the control valve from a dishwasher tied to two float switches to control the flow of water going into my holding tank (the second float is a safety). In the holding tank I have a mag5 for circulation, it runs at all times. I usually change my filter cartridges and resin twice a year, needed or not.
This tank is very low maintenance other than water changes. The corals don't require much, and I hand feed the fish to make sure everyone is well. Other than that, I just sit back and enjoy the tank.
I hope you enjoyed this post, the next few will be a bit more in depth, since we will be talking about my frag systems.
Tank stats:
75g with 30g sump, total water volume 100g-ish
Skimmer: coralife super skimmer
reactor: carbon
one K2 powerhead on left side of tank
return pump: Mag9, with two return lines in the tank, one on either side
Sump - refugium>return/carbon reactor<skimmer, fuge is roughly 10g, lit with cheapo depot 5100k fluorescent flood x 1. The carbon reactor is in the return section because it is determined to leak. It can leak in there, it doesn't matter.
tank lighting - cheap, old, used 4 bulb coralife T5, 2 x actinic, 2 x 14k, moonlights - used from somewhere.
ATO - home made, works fine. Kalkwasser is used for topoff.
ACjr controls all lights, fans, heaters. There is no chiller on this tank.
http://www.rosehillwindhounds.com/75gFTSApril12.jpg
Tank inhabitants are: 18" zebra moray eel, 3" flame angel, 5" dwarf fuzzy lion, 5" marine betta, three nps rock anemones, one deer cowrie, one red knobby starfish, one spiny rock urchin.
This tank is less colorful than my 72g, since it is intended to showcase the fish and eel, rather than the coral. Even at that, there are two large tree leathers, a large toadstool, a small green poly toadstool, some giant clove polyps, a cotton candy leather, and a boat load of shrooms. All the corals for this tank were chosen because they were less likely to be eaten/noxious. I am also very old school here, this tank gets kalk in the ato to maintain alkalinity and calcium, I do large water changes for nutrient export so that maintains my magnesium levels where they should be.
Tank parameters (sorta)
salinity 1.025
alk 150-ish (hanna checkers)
ph - about 8 or so
no 'trites or ammonia
nitrates 20 or so
phosphates about 5
Nitrates and phosphates can be a booger in this tank, because I feed heavy. The inhabitants in this tank get some or all of the following every three days or so: squid, octopus, human grade fish flesh, pacific krill, mussels, clams, shrimp, oysters. The nps anemones are fed twice a week. I only give the fish what they will clean up in 10 minutes or so, and try very hard not to leave food lying around.
This tank is eel proofed, with mesh tops and acrylic pivoting covers over the electrical access holes in the canopy. There is NO escape access anywhere, all holes are either plugged up, or covered over. I will be adding a Golden Dwarf Moray in a week, so it is crucial that there be no means of carpet surfing. The tank is drilled and has an internal overflow.
Water changes are religiously done on the aggressive tank due to the bioload. I change at least 10 gallons, usually 15, every week, no matter what. I run a full pound of carbon in the reactor, and it is changed every week, and the skimmer is turned up to run wet at all times. The fuge has a deep sand bed, with chaetomorphia, and I have live rock rubble in the fuge as well as in the bubble towers in the sump. Once again, I don't buy expensive carbon, I use the pelletized carbon designed for koi ponds. It works just fine, and doesn't break the bank. No other reactors are run on this tank. I do have a few hermits in the tank for general clean up, but the eel views them as expensive snacks, so I think I am going to give up on them.
The sandbed in the tank is very shallow, only about 1/2", just enough to cover the glass and make things look pretty. Coralline algae grows like wildfire, and I scrape the glass at least twice a week. The urchin keeps it under control elsewhere. Due to the mag9 return, there is quite a bit of water movement in this tank, so I have aquascaped it with lots of open "hidey holes" for the livestock to get into and be able to get out of the current. The lionfish does not mind the current at all, which is surprising, and the angel hates the current, which is even more surprising. The betta and the eel don't care either way.
One thing I did not mention in my first post, I do use ro/di water for all of the needs of my tanks. My unit is a 6 stage Water General, and it is automated so that it keeps my 65g holding tank full at all times. I used the control valve from a dishwasher tied to two float switches to control the flow of water going into my holding tank (the second float is a safety). In the holding tank I have a mag5 for circulation, it runs at all times. I usually change my filter cartridges and resin twice a year, needed or not.
This tank is very low maintenance other than water changes. The corals don't require much, and I hand feed the fish to make sure everyone is well. Other than that, I just sit back and enjoy the tank.
I hope you enjoyed this post, the next few will be a bit more in depth, since we will be talking about my frag systems.