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Steve Parkes
Reef Tank
Introduction
Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone at UltimateReef for
this opportunity to share my passion for reef tanks with you
all. As I'm sure many of you understand when I say that
for me, keeping a reef tank goes beyond a hobby - it's
an obsession.
My first aquarium arrived when I was about 5 years old and
I can't remember being without a tank since. I started
keeping marines about 15 years ago using under gravel filtration,
as protein skimmers or live rock hadn't made it on to
the hobby market at that stage. I happily kept a fish only
system for a while but then made a fatal mistake - I bought
a book about marine inverts! I've kept reefs ever
since culminating in my current system which was first set
up about 3 years ago and is dominated by SPS corals.
Equipment Specs:
Tank
The main tank was custom made on site by MG Marines and is
66”x30”x30” and it holds approximately 160 gallons net after
adding 100 kilos of live Fiji rock. It has a single rear overflow
which feeds through the wall into the sumps housed in the
garage.
Sumps
I started with a single 40 gallon sump/refugium which soon
became full of life – worms, pods, various macroalgae etc.
However, I recently decided that I wanted to add more water
to the system so had another sump built which overflows into
the first so that I didn’t have to disturb the original sump.
The new sump contains a 4” bed of Aragamax and holds 100 gallons
of water giving a total system volume of 300 gallons.
Computer Control
I currently use an Octopus 3000 to provide some control and
monitoring of pH, ORP and temperature. The system has so far
proved to be totally stable and completely reliable, if a
little limited when compared to more recent products.
Protein Skimmer
My skimmer is a HSA 1000 imported directly from Marine Technical
Concepts in the United States. An Iwaki 55 RLT pump drives
approx 1000 gph through a Beckett injector (like the ones
used on foaming pond fountain heads). Although it’s quite
large at about 4 feet tall, it produces so many bubbles that
the skimmer body looks like it’s made of white instead of
clear acrylic. The build quality is also excellent. Summarising
in one word - fantastic!
Lighting
My lighting set-up has changed several times but is currently
a DIY job using 3x400W halides. The bulbs consist of two AB
10K (white) and an AquaConnect 14K (blue). I use the blue
bulb for dawn and dusk effect although I do have a couple
of blue T5s and dimmable ballast waiting to be installed.
I chose to mount them in Spiderlight reflectors on recommendation,
so duly ordered them from the US. They do produce a very even
spread of light.
These are driven by IceCap electronic ballasts (also imported
direct from the US in a 240V version). These have several
advantages over regular ballasts in that they run cool, can
be mounted up to 33 feet away from the bulbs and don’t buzz
annoyingly!
A computer controlled moonlight system is also in place which
dims with the moon phase.
The sumps are lit by a single 150W bulb on a reverse cycle
to the main tank in an attempt to further stabilise pH and
grow macroalgae.
Circulation
Circulation in the tank is provided by 5 Tunze pumps. Four
are Turbelle electronic units (4000 lph each) and the fifth
is a Stream 6100 (12000 lph). They are cycled/pulsed by a
Tunze Multicontroller.
Return from the sump consists of 2 Rena 6000s pond pumps although
I have plans to replace these with MAK4 units soon.
Temperature Control
I use Schego titanium heaters and a Deltec Eco cooler both
on X10 interfaces controlled by the Octopus. The evaporative
Eco cooler performed very well in this summer’s heat but I
do have it sited outside as it does kick out a surprising
amount of hot wet air.
Calcium/Alkalinity Addition
Calcium is added to the system by means of a Korrallin 3001
calcium reactor and addition of calcium hydroxide to my top
up water via a peristaltic pump on a float switch. I currently
get through about 3 gallons per day.
Miscellaneous
I’ve recently upgraded from my original Korrallin 1501 calcium
reactor to the bigger model, so I have filled the original
unit with sulphur beads as I have recently started to measure
a slightly elevated nitrate level (I know - too many fish
and too much food!).
Small quantities of carbon are used in a timed reactor to
remove yellowing compounds etc.
I also run two 3000 VA APC uninterruptible power supply units
just in case of short power failures. I think that a small
petrol generator may also be a wise investment for longer
outages.
Water Parameters
Temperature: 27C
Salinity: 35 ppt
Alkalinity: 4 meq/L
Calcium: 430 ppm
pH: 8.1 – 8.3
Feeding and Maintenance
My current feeding regimen consists of frozen, dry, chemical
and live foods.
6 cubes of frozen food are added to 1 litre of home grown
phytoplankton and this is fed daily in 10 small doses via
a peristaltic pump. Salifert Amino Coral or Salifert Coral
Food are usually also added to this mix. A mix of dry foods
including Cyclop-eeze, Golden Pearls and Hikari Marine S are
fed twice a day using an auto feeder. Live rotifers are also
added to the tank after lights out. Dried seaweed (Nori) is
also added a couple of times per week to keep the Tangs happy.
I’ve tried to make the tank as maintenance free as possible
as I strive to get away on several scuba holidays per year
and I don’t like to leave my neighbour with more work than
is absolutely necessary.
Water changes are automated. I make up a 50 gallon drum of
fresh ASW (Crystal Sea Marinemix at the moment) and this is
continuously fed to the tank via a peristaltic pump. At the
same time an identical pump is pumping the same amount of
tank water to waste. Using this method I do an automated 25%
water change every month without so much as lifting a bucket
or risking a shock to the system.
The skimmer performs best when cleaned once per week although
the cup empties into a collection container automatically.
If the collection container fills to max the air supply to
the skimmer is cut off and the whole unit effectively shuts
down – a very handy feature which has saved me from a few
wet garage floors!
Apart from that other weekly chores include cleaning the glass,
an alkalinity test with a Salifert kit and the bottling and
dilution of phyto.
Livestock
My main passion is with the various Acropora species.
I used to say that I could always find a space for one extra
Acro but I really don’t think it’s possible any more (without
having to remove something else first). I have at least 3
or 4 species that have grown so tall that they’re breaking
the surface and the others are all growing into each other.
This gives a really wild look which I like and also gives
the fish somewhere to hide.
Although there are approx 40 fish in the tank, they are all
relatively small and again this gives the impression of a
really ‘busy’ reef. The Tangs are the exception to the size
rule but they also started as small 1 inch specimens some
three years ago.
Most of the coral and fish species are listed below:
Fish
Sailfin Tang, Zebrasoma veliferum
Yellow Tang, Zebrasoma flavescens
10 Lyretail Anthias Pseudanthias squamipinnis
10 Blue Streak Cardinals, Apogon leptacanthus
5 Blue Green Chromis, Chromis viridis
3 Yellow Tailed Blue Damsels, Chromis xanthurus
Pacific Fire Clown, Amphiprion melanopus
Banggai Cardinal, Pterapogon kauderni
Yellow Assessor, Assessor flavissimus
Blue Assessor, Assessor macneilli
Mandarin, Synchiropus splendidus
Eight Line Wrasse, Pseudocheilinus octotaenia
Golden Neon Goby, Gobiosoma evelynae
Possum Wrasse, Wetmorella nigropinnata
Corals
25 Acropora sp.
4 Montipora sp.
Elephants skin, Pachyseris sp.
Pavona sp.
2 Porites sp.
Alveopora sp.
Horn Coral, Hydnophora sp.
Blue Coral, Heliopora coerulea
Fire Coral, Millepora sp.
Sun Coral, Tubastraea sp.
2 Gorgonians
Brain Coral, Favites sp.
Goniopora sp.
Galaxea sp.
Others:
Other inhabitants include Christmas tree worms, clams, brittle
stars, a green feather star, blue Linckia star, sand
sifting stars, cucumbers, Sally Lightfoot crabs, Boxing crabs,
a Cowrie, Conches, Peppermint shrimps, a Tuxedo urchin and,
of course, the obligatory blue and red legged hermit crabs
and turbo snails.
Final Thoughts
I’m a firm believer that success in this hobby is dependent
on three factors:
Knowledge - either from online forums like this or books.
You can’t get too much.
Patience – A reef wasn’t built in a day. So why do we try
to?
A bottomless wallet – need I say more?
For me, a large part of the enjoyment of reef keeping is in
the challenge, continually pushing the boundaries. The hobby
has advanced immeasurably in the last decade and who can help
but wonder what the future has in store for us? Perhaps coral
spawning will become a common event in tanks? Maybe all of
our stock will be tank raised and hardier than wild specimens.
Only time will tell.....
Thanks go out again to everyone at UltimateReef for choosing
to feature my tank and all the help and tips I’ve picked up
along the way and also thanks to my long suffering wife for
putting up with my obsession.
Steve
Links to a few more pics
/uploads/SPacro1.jpg
/uploads/SPacro2.jpg
/uploads/SPacro3.jpg
/uploads/SPelephant.jpg
/uploads/SPcorals.jpg
/uploads/SPmorecorals.jpg
/uploads/SPgoni.jpg
/uploads/SPzoos.jpg
/uploads/SPpolyps.jpg
/uploads/SPlilcrab.jpg
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