December
2005
Alan’s System |
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Introduction
My name is Alan Swartz and I have lived in Natal
for the last 15yrs having moved down from JHB.
Before I start I would just like to thank SARK
for asking me to be their praiseworthy tank of
the month a huge honour guys, thank you.
I started off in the fresh water hobby about 23yrs
ago and eventually ended up breeding and supplying
discus to some of the pet shops. Due to family
and business pressure on time and the next challenge
in the hobby I moved over to the marines 3yrs
ago. I do however still keep 8 discus compared
to the 300 I used to keep. I spent about 6 months
researching the reef aquariums and then got started.
The first thing that shocked me was the price
of the equipment in the marine sector of the hobby.
This still blows me away at times.
My first reef tank was a second hand tank and
just as it was starting to mature after 2yrs the
silicon gave way. This was not such a disaster
as I was home at the time and it now gave me an
excuse to design changes to the tank that I wanted.
The main change I made was to install a centre
overflow and larger outlets as the first tank
outlets were way too small. Unfortunately, I could
not change the size of the display as the stand
and cabinet were custom made for the previous
set up.
This tank is only 10 weeks old and is still not
settled yet so I don't have the coralline growth
that I had in the first system. But all the live
stock is settling nicely and have had most of
them for over 2yrs, the clam was the first invert
I bought. I'm an LPS fan as I like the flowing
movement the corals give me in the display. |
Display
Tank Size in cm
230 long x 70 deep x 70 wide
Sump Size in cm
180 long x 60 deep x 60 wide
Refugium Size in cm
120 long x 45 deep x 45 wide
Total
volume is about 2000L. The tank is run on natural
sea water collected at high tide in the rock pools.
Construction of the tank is 10mm glass with 2
centre braces and a brace around the bottom. It
is a floating bottom style tank. The tank is situated
along one wall of the lounge with the filtration
in the garage. |
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Mechanical
Aqua Medic T 5000 baby protien skimmer.
It skims all water before going to the sump @
2500L ph.
Biological (Live rock, DSB etc)
100KG base rock, 150kg live rock and a deep sand
bed in the sump.
Rock is split up as 150kg main display, 70kg in
the sump raised off the
DSB and 30kg in the refugium.
Chemical (Whether run mechanically or passively
and how often)
Carbon in a canister filter 24/7 changed once
a month
Other
Refugium with calurpa |
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Main
system lighting
2x Aqua Medic 150w 14000K metal halides, 1x150w
venture
10000K metal halides, 2x antinic03 tubes
Photoperiod
actinics 11h00 to 23h00
metal halide from 12h00 to 21h30
Other lighting (Sump and additional tanks)
Refugium 4xAquastar 40w tubes
Refugium runs reverse cycle to main system |
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| Lighting
set up |
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Return
pump
Resun King 5 6000lph
Powerheads
2x 3000lph Ocean Runner powerheads
Closed loops if applicable
1x 6500lph Ocean Runner on closed loop |
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Calcium
reactors / Kalkstirrers / Drips etc
Aqua
Medic CA reactor, kalkwasser drip method at night
Trace
Elements
2.5ml per day, iodine 2ml per day and strontium
2ml per day.
Top Off
Fresh water top up is DIY automated, and RO/DI
water is used. |
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| Hammer
Coral |
Livestock
FISH
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1x
Yellow Tang, 1x Regal Tang, 1x ScopasTtang,
1x Copperband butterfly, 1x Niger Trigger,
5x Clowns, 2x Watchman gobies, 2x Royal
Gramma's, 1x Pipe Fish, 1x Mandarin, 2x
Wrasse |
| SOFT
CORALS
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pin
cushions, green star polyps, brown star
polyps, various ears (mushrooms),
yellow barly coral, organ pipe coral. |
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| Goniapora |
Green
Open Brain |
Red
Open Brain |
| LPS
CORALS |
Frogspawn,
Hammer, torch, plate coral, long tentacle
plate coral, various trumpet corasl,
various open brain, goniapora, crater coral,
pineapple coral, bubble coral, sun coral. |
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SPS
CORALS |
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3x acro colonies |
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OTHER
INVERTEBRATES |
Sand
anemone, clam (squamosa), gorgonian.
1x fire shrimp, brittle stars, 2x gobies |
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Plate Coral
Water
change regime
C hange 75L NSW per week (fresh, not aged), skimmer
cup cleaned 2x per week, change carbon once a
month.
How often are lamps replaced
Change bulbs every 12/18 months.
How often major equipment is stripped and cleaned.
Strip CA reactor and skimmer once a year. Feed
1L of RO water into venturi of skimmer once a
week.
General system parameters tested (How often)
I don’t test often - use stock health as an indication
of how the tank is doing.
Levels (Average or when last tested)
SG .
1.024 check every 3 to 4 months with refractometer
Temp (low/high)
lowest 25.5 highest 26 controlled by DIY chiller
PH
Ph 8.2 to 8.3 monitored 24/7
CA
420
Alk
7dkh
NO3
Don’t test
PO4
Don’t test
Feeding
Tetra bits, Sea veggies, flake, frozen brine shrimp,
frozen blood worm, nori paper, sea food mix, home
brew. Feed twice a day any 2 of the above. Corals
fed with a home made mixture and freshly hatched
brine shrimp. |
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| Gorgonian |
Trumpet
Coral |
Things
that you like most about your system?
The fact that all the filtration sits in the garage
and the amount of space this affords.
Things you would change if you could do it over?
The thing I would change is the width of the display,
I would like to go to 1m, must be the most common
complaint in the hobby.
Favourite on line resource besides SA Reefkeeping.com?
Online favorites are WetWebMedia, Reef Central and
Advanced Aquarist Magazine.
Best Advice received?
K nowledge is the best investment in this hobby.
Worst advice received?
Just add buffer to bring up your ph and then just
keep adding to keep it there, ended up with an imbalance
of calcium and alk.
Favourite fish?
My Royal Grammas
Favourite coral/invert?
My clam
Your all time wish list for a fish you don't
have but would love?
A fish I want but don't have is the Majestic or
Blue Girdle angel, not reefsafe.
Your all time wish list for a coral you don't
have but would love?
A healthy elegance coral |
| Conclusion
Well that's my system, and I must say that I am
very happy with it so far, still got a bit of
hair algae on the back glass that is starting
to die off. The bubble tip anemone is no longer
in the main display as it got restless after about
6 months but has split up about 9 times and now
has about 4 different homes, but I still have
visitation rights.
Thanks again to SARK for a great site |
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