I have been in this hobby for quite a while now, recently after university I found myself with an usually large amount of time on my hands even with a career. Well it didn't take long for me to bitten by salt water bug again. I want to share my tank and experiences that can hopefully be of use to someone. Lets get to the point!
Tank:
My tank is a 12Hx12Wx15L AIO, 3 sided starphire tank, it is a perfect cube with 3 inchs in the back for equipment. An overflow/sump setup wasn't viable due to the extensive waterfall noise and this tank is in my room, therefore I was subjected to a AIO design. I wanted the tank to be clean with no equipment showing on any of the 3 sides, this was a very big concern for me.
Equipment:
1.Fishneedit 70watt metal halide with a 20,000k bulb, modified with fans and 6 gu10 460nm 4 watt leds
2.Vortech mp10
3.Hydor 200gallon/hour pico return pump
4.50 watt ehiem heater
5.Eheim 2026 canister filter with rubble and ceramic rings,
6.GFO and Activated Carbon
7.Eshoppes 75psk hang on skimmer
8.Fluval spec led light for refugium
Tank Maintenance:
I have done a lot of reading on methods to achieve 0 phosphates and 0 nitrates, at first I had macro algae in the rear chamber growing. However it proved to be not enough in bringing my nitrates down... it always hovered around 5-10ppm so I started to carbon dose. I know a lot of people don't recommended carbon dosing along with macro algae and GFO. After 2 weeks of small dosages I have reached a maintenance dosage of .2ml per day. This amount of vodka allows my cheato to double in size each week and keeps my tank from being dependent on large sources of vodka. I have not noticed any algae blooms during dosing so far. My skimmer is always on wet skim.
As far as religious maintenance, I change 50 percent of water a week in order to replenish nutrients . I use H20 ocean for salt and have been getting good results with it. My SPS have been coloring up slowly . I have recently started prodibio dosing as well, I cannot comment on that just yet. Hopefully results will be seen when I update this journal in the future. I dose phytoplankton,pohls's coral vitalizer, feed fish daily, and spot feed acans weekly, my parameters are 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates.
Livestock:
1. 2 True percula clownfish
2. 1 Blood shrimp
3. 3 Trochus snails.
4. Pink coco worm
5. Red and white coco worm
6. Red feather duster
7. 2 Crocea clams
8.1500VA UPS battery back up supply
Corals:
My tank currently contains several acans, ricordeas, yumas, zoas and sps. Tank is almost 4 months old.
Pics:
I'll shut up and let the pics do the talking now:
Tank:
My tank is a 12Hx12Wx15L AIO, 3 sided starphire tank, it is a perfect cube with 3 inchs in the back for equipment. An overflow/sump setup wasn't viable due to the extensive waterfall noise and this tank is in my room, therefore I was subjected to a AIO design. I wanted the tank to be clean with no equipment showing on any of the 3 sides, this was a very big concern for me.
Equipment:
1.Fishneedit 70watt metal halide with a 20,000k bulb, modified with fans and 6 gu10 460nm 4 watt leds
2.Vortech mp10
3.Hydor 200gallon/hour pico return pump
4.50 watt ehiem heater
5.Eheim 2026 canister filter with rubble and ceramic rings,
6.GFO and Activated Carbon
7.Eshoppes 75psk hang on skimmer
8.Fluval spec led light for refugium
Tank Maintenance:
I have done a lot of reading on methods to achieve 0 phosphates and 0 nitrates, at first I had macro algae in the rear chamber growing. However it proved to be not enough in bringing my nitrates down... it always hovered around 5-10ppm so I started to carbon dose. I know a lot of people don't recommended carbon dosing along with macro algae and GFO. After 2 weeks of small dosages I have reached a maintenance dosage of .2ml per day. This amount of vodka allows my cheato to double in size each week and keeps my tank from being dependent on large sources of vodka. I have not noticed any algae blooms during dosing so far. My skimmer is always on wet skim.
As far as religious maintenance, I change 50 percent of water a week in order to replenish nutrients . I use H20 ocean for salt and have been getting good results with it. My SPS have been coloring up slowly . I have recently started prodibio dosing as well, I cannot comment on that just yet. Hopefully results will be seen when I update this journal in the future. I dose phytoplankton,pohls's coral vitalizer, feed fish daily, and spot feed acans weekly, my parameters are 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates.
Livestock:
1. 2 True percula clownfish
2. 1 Blood shrimp
3. 3 Trochus snails.
4. Pink coco worm
5. Red and white coco worm
6. Red feather duster
7. 2 Crocea clams
8.1500VA UPS battery back up supply
Corals:
My tank currently contains several acans, ricordeas, yumas, zoas and sps. Tank is almost 4 months old.
Pics:
I'll shut up and let the pics do the talking now:
