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Introduction
Hi all, my name is Niresh Baboolal, a Durbanite.
I started out with a 2ft freshwater tank 26 years
ago. Well I just killed everything after every
waterchange, yeah used soap to rinse the tank..
I started to question what was going wrong and
eventually had good success. I was walking down
North Pier in the early 80”s and saw a snorkeller
catch a Domino fish. This is where the beauty
of marine fish keeping bit me. Must say those
were the days when I used to take a bus and collect
water and jeez you should have seen the crazy
looks I got. Ihave lost lots of livestock back
then as info, help and good equipment was very
hard to come by. Thanks to SA Reefkeeping and
other online resources the hobby is changing and
the novice is well equipped. Imaintain 3 buddys
tanks and the money it generates helps fund my
hobby. Here's wishing all SARK members happy reefing
and good success rates. |
Display
Tank Size in cm
60cm x 60cm x 61cm(h)
Sump Size in cm
60cm x40cm x40cm(h)
Total system volume
About 300litres
Natural Sea Water or synthetic mix
Synthetic-Tropic Marine Pro
Tank Construction (Glass, thickness, bracing
etc)
G lass tank 10mm centre braced
Cabinet
S upa wood sprayed black
Location
TV room 2 |
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Mechanical
Tunze skimmer.
Biological
60 kgs liverock in tank.15 kgs liverock in sump.
DSB in sump with refugium growing caulerpa and
chaeto macro algaes
Chemical
Carbon and Rowaphos 24/7 |
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Main
system lighting
2x39watts T5 Deltec super actinics
.1x30watt blue moon
1x 150 watt MH 10k Aquamedic
Photoperiod
T5 = 11hours.
MH =10 hours
Other lighting over 'fuge
1x 30 watt Powerglo
Photoperiod
10 hours
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Return
pump
3000 lph,Aqauclear Pro 5000
Powerheads/intank
2x Seios pumps |
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Calcium,
Strontium, Iodine(daily)
Magnesium, Coral Vit(weekly)
Autotop off
R/O top off manually - no bloody space left! |
Livestock
FISH
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1
x Regal Tang (Dory), 1 x Sixline wrasse
(Gremlin), 1x Common Clown (Nemo),1 x Yellow
Tang (Dumi)
1x Zebrasoma (Kronk), 1 x Yellow tail Damsel
(Spiky) |
| SOFT
CORALS
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Cloves,
Star Polyps, Zooanthids, 4 x blue, rust/green,
llime, green ricordias, gorgonias |
| LPS
CORALS |
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blastomussa,
Torch, Bubble, Blue mycedium, Red Doughnut,
1x brain coral, 1 x rose |
| SPS
CORALS |
| 14
diff colored montipora sp including 1x Monti
digitata(browned),
2 x Acropora humulis*,3 xAcropora millipora*,
4 x various colored Acros, 1 x Pink Tipped
Acropora loripes*.
(*believed species)
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OTHER
INVERTEBRATES |
2
x coco worms, 2 x Croceas clams,1 x Squamosa
clam.5 x various colored sponges.1x Red Star
fish
Clean up crews:
6 x Pentagon brittle stars. |
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 |
| An
infamous 'Incredible Hulk' Montipora danae frag |
Water
change regime
20lts maintank-5 litres sump per week.
How often lamps replaced:
Yearly
How often major equipment is stripped
and cleaned:
Powerheads bi-yearly.
General system parameters tested:
Whenever something is not looking good
Levels
SG.: 1.024
Temp (High/low): 26.5/25C
PH: 8.3/8.4
NO3: 0
PO4: 0
CA: 410/420
Alk: 8/9dKh
Feeding
Types of food:
Frozen brine shrimp, Cyclopeeze, Nori
How often:
Once daily
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Things
I like most about my system?
I have managed to keep small fully loaded reef system.
The cube is more appealing to me.
Things I would change if I could do it over?
M ade a door at front of hood. Add a durso (stand
pipe). Currently adding an XM 250 watt 10k MH/Icecap
ballast soon.
Favourite on line resource besides SA Reefkeeping.com?
frags.org
Best Advice received?
Best things take time, disasters can happen in
seconds.
Worst Advice received?
Hhmmm... cant remember, so many...
Favourite fish:
S ixline wrasse
Favourite coral:
Red montipora
My all time wish list for a fish I don't
have but would love:
Achilles tang
My all time wish list for a coral I don't
have but would love:
'Superman' (red polyped, blue skeleton) Montipora |
| Conclusion
I
would like to thank my wife and son for all their
patience and support for my love of reef keeping.
Thanks to George Halekas and Sean Harrison for
their continued support & advice. Thanks to
the SARK crew for all the advice and choosing
my cube for PSTM. Just watch out for new 6 ft
tank in the pipeline. lol. - Niresh |
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