mgemici2015
New member
I have an experimental reef tank that only uses natural sunlight and has a very high salinity of 1.026. It also only uses lots of live rock and an 8 inch base of live sand. I have had it for over a year and it is the most successful coral tank I have ever had! In fact, the coral propagate so much that I have to sell them back to the store on a monthly basis.
I do frequent water changes to compensate for no protein skimmer. I have very good circulation. As far as livestock, I have just a few gobies. My plate corals really love the natural sunlight as well as my weeds (Xenia) as I call them.
My temps are fairly high and fluctuate throughout the day just like a shallow reef would. Night temps are 79 degrees and Daytime maximum temps are no higher than 84, but usually go no higher than 82. This is another part of the experiment, allowing temperatures to fluctuate. I also keep the pH very high at about 8.4 - 8.5. My calcium and magnesium levels are very high and I also supplement trace minerals & iodine.
I don't have too much of a problem with algae and the tank gets about 6 hours of direct sunlight (Colorado). My one mistake was that I didn't pay attention to the temps one day and they got up to almost 90 degrees which led to some bleaching of corals but they quickly rebounded.
No one thought this experiment would be successful but it has become the most successful reef tank I ever had.
I really would appreciate any thoughts.
I do frequent water changes to compensate for no protein skimmer. I have very good circulation. As far as livestock, I have just a few gobies. My plate corals really love the natural sunlight as well as my weeds (Xenia) as I call them.
My temps are fairly high and fluctuate throughout the day just like a shallow reef would. Night temps are 79 degrees and Daytime maximum temps are no higher than 84, but usually go no higher than 82. This is another part of the experiment, allowing temperatures to fluctuate. I also keep the pH very high at about 8.4 - 8.5. My calcium and magnesium levels are very high and I also supplement trace minerals & iodine.
I don't have too much of a problem with algae and the tank gets about 6 hours of direct sunlight (Colorado). My one mistake was that I didn't pay attention to the temps one day and they got up to almost 90 degrees which led to some bleaching of corals but they quickly rebounded.
No one thought this experiment would be successful but it has become the most successful reef tank I ever had.
I really would appreciate any thoughts.
