reeflounge_admin
12-08-2002, 09:47 AM
The main tank is a 29-gallon glass aquarium, 30 inches long by 12 inches wide by 18 inches tall. This tank was started in 1986.
The sump is a 10-gallon glass aquarium, and plumbed in are a plastic sweater box used as a refugium/propagation tray, and a small critter container that holds about 2 1/2 gallons used as a refugium/algae tank.
Water exits the main tank through an Amiracle hang-on overflow. The sump holds a Turboflotor 1000 and a Visi-Therm heater, and water is sent back to the main tank through a Mag 7 pump. Water motion in the main tank is handled by two MaxiJet 1000 water pumps. A MicroJet pump sends water to the propagation tray. Both MaxiJet and the MicroJet are controlled by a Sandpoint wavemaker.
The propagation tray is connected to the main tank with a 1 1/4-inch siphon tube. It also has a pvc overflow that drains into the algae tank, which in turn drains into the sump.
Here is a diagram of the system:
http://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/tankdiagram.gif
Lighting consists of four 40-watt normal output fluorescent bulbs (currently a mix of Coralife 10000K and 50/50's), powered by a Coralife electronic ballast, and a 96-watt 6700K power compact from AH Supply. The main tank and the propagation tray share the 40-watt lights. The algae tank is lit with an 18-watt power compact.
The main tank holds both soft and stony corals. Some of the corals are survivors of the 1994 Northridge quake that cracked my 60-gallon tank. I moved what was left to a 60-gallon acrylic tank but I was never happy with it so I ended up putting everything in the 29. Most of the additional corals and critters were obtained through trades and from store credits that I got from selling Red Sea Xenia frags. Soft corals do quite well, and SPS corals grow fairly well. I suspect the SPS corals will grow even faster if the lights were stronger, but given the amount of space I have left in the tank, I'm not sure I want that. Yet. Actually, Pocillopora damicornis seems to do quite well in the tank, and it has even spread around the tank by releasing polyps that colonize bare areas. My corals grow quite close to each other and I have to keep them from stinging each other buy pruning them now and then.
Aside from the corals, the main tank holds a couple of Tridacna maxima clams, assorted brittle and serpent stars, a blue Linckia star, some sea cucumbers, a hermit crab or two, a pair of anemone crabs, a mated pair of banded coral shrimp, some Trochus and Astrea snails, a tropical abalone, an acropora crab, and a pistol shrimp.
The fish load is kind of heavy: one blue damsel, a pair of tomato clowns, a pair of neon gobies, a pair of yellow watchman gobies (they live with the pistol shrimp), a green clown goby, and a royal gramma. Both pairs of gobies spawn on a regular basis, but I haven't seen the tomato clowns show any spawning behavior yet.
More detailed information about the reef system can be found at http://kensreef.tripod.com/reef2.htm.
I've recently had to remove a Condylactis anemone because it's started to outgrow the tank. I've also shifted some rocks around to make more room in the right side of the tank.
About me: I've been keeping fish tanks in one form or another since I was a young child. I started with saltwater fish when I was in high school, and a reef tank in the mid-80's. I love having an aquarium because it allows me to observe a little ecosystem at close range. And I have fun growing the corals and I get to meet a lot of nice people while I'm at it.
The sump is a 10-gallon glass aquarium, and plumbed in are a plastic sweater box used as a refugium/propagation tray, and a small critter container that holds about 2 1/2 gallons used as a refugium/algae tank.
Water exits the main tank through an Amiracle hang-on overflow. The sump holds a Turboflotor 1000 and a Visi-Therm heater, and water is sent back to the main tank through a Mag 7 pump. Water motion in the main tank is handled by two MaxiJet 1000 water pumps. A MicroJet pump sends water to the propagation tray. Both MaxiJet and the MicroJet are controlled by a Sandpoint wavemaker.
The propagation tray is connected to the main tank with a 1 1/4-inch siphon tube. It also has a pvc overflow that drains into the algae tank, which in turn drains into the sump.
Here is a diagram of the system:
http://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/tankdiagram.gif
Lighting consists of four 40-watt normal output fluorescent bulbs (currently a mix of Coralife 10000K and 50/50's), powered by a Coralife electronic ballast, and a 96-watt 6700K power compact from AH Supply. The main tank and the propagation tray share the 40-watt lights. The algae tank is lit with an 18-watt power compact.
The main tank holds both soft and stony corals. Some of the corals are survivors of the 1994 Northridge quake that cracked my 60-gallon tank. I moved what was left to a 60-gallon acrylic tank but I was never happy with it so I ended up putting everything in the 29. Most of the additional corals and critters were obtained through trades and from store credits that I got from selling Red Sea Xenia frags. Soft corals do quite well, and SPS corals grow fairly well. I suspect the SPS corals will grow even faster if the lights were stronger, but given the amount of space I have left in the tank, I'm not sure I want that. Yet. Actually, Pocillopora damicornis seems to do quite well in the tank, and it has even spread around the tank by releasing polyps that colonize bare areas. My corals grow quite close to each other and I have to keep them from stinging each other buy pruning them now and then.
Aside from the corals, the main tank holds a couple of Tridacna maxima clams, assorted brittle and serpent stars, a blue Linckia star, some sea cucumbers, a hermit crab or two, a pair of anemone crabs, a mated pair of banded coral shrimp, some Trochus and Astrea snails, a tropical abalone, an acropora crab, and a pistol shrimp.
The fish load is kind of heavy: one blue damsel, a pair of tomato clowns, a pair of neon gobies, a pair of yellow watchman gobies (they live with the pistol shrimp), a green clown goby, and a royal gramma. Both pairs of gobies spawn on a regular basis, but I haven't seen the tomato clowns show any spawning behavior yet.
More detailed information about the reef system can be found at http://kensreef.tripod.com/reef2.htm.
I've recently had to remove a Condylactis anemone because it's started to outgrow the tank. I've also shifted some rocks around to make more room in the right side of the tank.
About me: I've been keeping fish tanks in one form or another since I was a young child. I started with saltwater fish when I was in high school, and a reef tank in the mid-80's. I love having an aquarium because it allows me to observe a little ecosystem at close range. And I have fun growing the corals and I get to meet a lot of nice people while I'm at it.