Reef Tank Setup

In May of 2008, I set up my saltwater reef tank composed of a 48" acrylic tank with a center overflow that holds apprx. 65 gals. and is plumbed to a glass Ecosystem refugium tank (which adds another 5 to 7 gals. to the total capacity) hidden in the stand. My brother has been working at my LFS for over a year now and the owners have generously extended his 25% discount to all of my purchases thus far - nice!

Current Setup:

• 100# of live rock - free due to hair algae, majano and aiptasia infestation
• 40# of live sand - fine and med. course
• 3# of coral rubble (for jawfish)
• Current 1/10 Chiller w/ Maxijet 1200 (set at 77F)
• Four 65w pcf Actinic Bulbs (on 12 hr. timer cycle)
• 48" LED Moonlights (on dusk/dawn timer cycle)
• Two 175watt Metal Halides (added in late Dec '09)
• #10 Ecosystem Miracle Mud
• Reef Rubble in Refugium (removed bioballs)
• Spaghetti Macroalgae
• Fluval sponge
• SeaGel Carbon/Phosphate
• SeaChem DeNitrate
• SeaLife T2 external pump
• SQWD Wavemaker
• 2 gal. Aquadose for makeup water
• Aqua C Remora Skimmer

Current Livestock:

• Lawnmower blenny (Mr. Ugli)
• 3 - Bangaii Cardinals (mated pair - Zeus and Hera; and Leto)
• 2 - Green Chromis (Midori & Curacao). update: Midori died
• Golden-headed Sleeper goby (Cupid)
• Naso Tang (Doc)
• 2 - mated pair of False Ocellaris Clowns (Sunkist & Tangelo)
• Two Orange Firefish (Stop & Drop)
• One Purple Firefish (Roll)
• Blue Spotted Jawfish (Bleu)
• Pearly yellow-headed Jawfish (Saint Pearl)
• McCosker's Flasher Wrasse (Flash)
• (3) Yellow Clown Gobies -added 1/24/09 (Braveheart, Buttercup and Boo) Update: Boo died
• (4) Neon Blue Gobies - added 3/12/09 (Torpedo, Destroyer, .22 and .38)
• Coral Banded Shrimp (Vibrissae)
• Two Peppermint Shrimp (Alfredo & Scampi) - lost a shrimp to the cleaners
• Two Emerald Crabs (Chalk & Gachala) - lost Chalk
• Two Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp (Dyson & Hoover)
• Sally Lightfoot Crab (Speed) - died
• Serpent Sea Star (Nithhogr)
• Arrow Crab (Legolas) - died
• Lettuce Nudibranch (Romaine) - died
• Frogspawn - green w/ pink tips (5 heads) - update: 11 heads now!!!
• Pulsing Xenia frag
• Blue Snowflake Anthelia
• Clove Polyps
• Green Star Polyps
• Pink Star Polyp frag
• Nine Misc. Zoanthid frags
• Frilly Mushroom
• Ricordea Mushroom rock
• Green Weso Open Brain
• Leather Toadstool (added 1/7/09)
• Yellow Soft Finger Leather (added 1/11/09)
• Lime/orange Zoanthids (added 1/24/09) - wasted away within week of adding
• Coco Worm: red/white (added 1/24/09)
• (10) Hawaiian Zebra hermits
• (10) small Nassarius snails
• Hawaiian Featherduster
• Green Ricrdea polyp (splitting into 3-6 polyps)

As far as maintenance goes, I do it myself and it was limited to a bi-weekly 10 gal. water change and algae scraping the display tank until last week when I bought some SeaChem products to see if I can accelerate my coral and coralline algae growth.

New Maintenance Schedule:

• 10 gal. water change bi-weekly
• Drip makeup water with Aquadose system (salinity @ 1.20)
• Marine Basic, Reef Special and Calcium test kits purchased
• SeaChem's Reef Builder twice weekly
• SeaChem's Reef Complete and Calcium - twice weekly
• SeaChem's Reef Trace & Plus - twice weekly
• Brightwell's Zooplanktos-M - daily
• Feeding frozen mysis, brine, plankton and Prime Reef Flake

I picked up a few other items from SeaChem's product line, but I want to give the current routine a 30 day review. I haven't used the test kits yet...need to pick up some distilled water so I can perform the calcium test. Yeah, I know its a little scary that I really don't have any idea what my current water parameters are outside of salinity and temperature. The pulsing xenia is my only indicator of when the Ph is below 8.1, as it stops pulsing. So far that hasn't been a problem because I was bi-weekly buffering before the SeaChem line was added.

So that is the basic setup for the moment. I know the fish load is insanely high right now given the system has only been up about 5 months. I am sure the nutrient load is contributing to the red slime algae in the refugium. I need to clean out my old Aqua C Remora skimmer this week and hook that up to the refugium to try to remove this before I add any more fish or livestock this year. But knock on wood, I haven't lost any fish and only two of the crabs probably due to low iodine.