Nov 2003
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I've had fresh and
salt water fish aquariums all my life, but the 120 gallon reef project
was a considerable undertaking of money, time, energy (Did I mention, money?).
The comittment was
made February 24, 1999 by placing an order for an All Glass Aquarium "reef-ready"
tank (4'x2'x2') at my local fish store. Then the set up work began
with designing and building the cabinets, plumbing, and overall design.
It was stressful because I had never done this sort of thing before, and
decisions were being made that I would be stuck with for many years.
I still remember asking questions on how a sump works...
Six long weeks after
placing the order, tap water was added to the system on April 4th, 1999.
Live rock went in the next day!
The name of the reef
(based on the naming of SCUBA diving sites) is one of my wife's contributions,
who I rarely saw during its construction and often during it's upkeep.
The system cycled quickly
so the "clean-up crew" was added 10 days later, and shortly after a fish
from my old 55gal.
And as they say, the
rest is history...
Construction
pics
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Theory
My reef is based on
the Berlin System, which uses powerful circulation and "live rock" as the
biological filter, a protein skimmer for chemical, and I usually use a
piece of filter floss after the skimmer for mechanical filtration.
GAC is periodically run to keep the water clear.
Cabinet/Canopy
Custom designed/built
(by yours truly).
Dimensions: 36" tall
2'x4'cabnet, 10" tall canopy.
Finished in poplar
wainscoting and coated in rustoleum "Pebble" texture spray paint, choosen
to match the room. The insides are painted with white 2-part epoxy.
The back of the tank
is sprayed flat black, although it is almost completely covered by rock
and polyps now.
The project mindset:
The
finished product is never judged on how many mistakes were made during
it's constructin, but rather how well they were covered up!
The final stage was
pvc plumbing and set up, including leveling the cabinet and reinforcing
the floor with cross bridging from below. The past few years has
seen several alterations to the original design, so it would be advisable
to build a system that is flexible to change...
Components
Substrate
-200# Premium Fiji
Live Rock 4-7-99
(expensive, but it
IS the backbone of the system)
-50# Fiji Live Sand
4-15-99
and
fine grained SD sand for 1" height. Also added a detrivore
kit from Inland
Aquatics.
Circulation
-20g sump w/MAG 18
return pump (~700 gph) plumbed through two returns into the display
-(2) Maxijet 1200
power heads hidden
in the overflows and plumbed towards the front
corners of the tank. These are run from a DIY "Wave Runner" wave
timer.
-Since water circulation
is so critical (especially between and behind the rock work) I installed
an upside down "T" spray bar, with access to the pump (*gulp* Rio 2500)
at the top rear of the tank. 1/8" holes are drilled on 2" centers
along the length of the 1/2" CPVC pipe.
Note:
I only use these problem prone pumps because of the great intake cover
which so many better pumps lack. I keep a close eye on things, as
I believe the 4th one in as many years is currently in place!
This brings the total
circulation in the tank to about 1200 gal/hr (~10x turn over rate)
-A Red Sea Berlin
Venturi Skimmer w/MAG9.5 pump provides foam fractitioning of dissolved
organics.
Lighting
-MH & VHO Lighting
(12 hr photoperiod; 30k lumans)
(2) 175 watt
10kK Ushio Metal Halide lamps (Advance F-can ballasts) for ~11 hrs
(2) 110 watt
actinic 46.5" VHO Flourescent (Icecap 430) for ~12 hrs. Front
view lit with actinics and red PC
For night viewing,
a 9watt
red PC lamp was mounted on the center brace of the tank for night
viewing. It has recently been replaced with a 13W black
light which looks WAY COOL at night!
Miscellaneous
-Temperature is maintained
via a 350w titanium heater (and a 250w backup) or (2) 4.5" canopy fans.
An extra fan is located over the sump during the hottest months.
-An AquaController
maintains temperature within a degree F of the setpoint, and also monitors
tank conditions and controls lighting. I created a look-up
table based on a small island in the South Pacific for all lighting
durations and seasonal temperature variations. An exception is that
I offset the hours to my time zone, and I traded winter and summer temperatures
to better suit our northern seasons and maximize energy efficiency.
Additives
I'm not a big fan
of adding stuff to the water that I can't (or won't) measure. However...
-Calcium and alkalinity
are maintained via a Geo single stage Calcium
Reactor (Was previously dosing over 100ml/day of Bionic at a cost of
$25/month).
-A My
Reef Nilsen reactor which tops off the tank overnight with limewater.
This prooved necessary due to my heavy photosynthetic bioload causing pH
depression, especially at night when it would routinely drop to 7.6!
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Thinking
about starting a captive reef?
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There is much to know
about reefkeeping, so a few good books and many conversations with other
successful hobbiests (be weary of those who claim to know it all) will
save a lot of money, time, and more importantly, the lives of your inhabitants
down the road. Do your homework!
Many references view this as
a "hobby", due to the lack of any explicit catagory. Remember
that the creatures we keep are fragile and live in a delicately balanced
environment. The term hobby (i.e. done in spare time)
is really an understatement! A reef aquarium is a 24/7 undertaking;
like a child, it can never be pushed aside or "turned off".
Neglect will only destroy what so much has gone into creating.
I'm not trying to scare a
potential future "reefer" away, but it is important to reflect on
the committment that is so often understated. I had no idea what
captive reefkeeping would involve when I started out. Sure,
the ten thousand dollars I've spent was motivation to survive through
some challanging times, but it's really the satisfaction and enjoyment
that perseveres and makes it so rewarding...
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A couple older reference Books:
The Reef Aquarium (Vols I&II)
by Delbeek and Sprung
The
fine print...
I do weekly 5gal water
changes using Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals dissolved in Reverse
Osmosis and DeIonized (Tap
Water Purifier) water, which is used for daily evaporation top-offs
as well(~1.5 gal/day, so I installed an auto
top-off ). Every month or two I'll do a 30 gallon water change
just to "kick things up".
I recently upgraded
the TWP to a "normal" canister DI, freeing some space in my cabinet.
The solenoid and needle valves were replaced with all plastic versions.
Feeding:
A few drops of
Selcon is added to commercial frozen food which is alternated every other
day with flake and nori.
A variety of plankton
food is dosed a few times a week as well.
I think the bottom
line is to keep a close eye on the system, and take care of any problems
before they start. This would include pest anemones, nuisance algae,
or "coral wars". Negligence isn't a good option with thousands of
$ of perishable animals at stake!
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