Josh's 20L mostly SPS mixed reef

[SPS20]

Hello everyone. I have been reading the forums here for some time now and I finally decided to join and post my reef here. I have been reefkeeping for about 15 years now but, due to space constraints (small house) I only have a single nano-reef now. In the past, I have kept a 120, 40B, 29, 40L, along with numerous 10 and 20g reef aquariums. This hobby is a continuing source of fascination for me; I never tire of staring at my critters.

 

Unfortunately, I can't post build photos: I have none, as the tank has been set for about 6 months.

 

The tank is a 20L (30"x12"x12") standard glass aquarium. Following is the basic breakdown:

NOTE: This post edited regularly to reflect current stocking and equipment.

Equipment:

 

Aquarium, Stand and Sump

- 20L Perfecto Aquarium (30" Long x 12" Wide x 12" Tall), black trim

- 30" X 12" Black Pine Stand

- Salvaged 15 gallon acrylic sump

- Generic siphon-based acrylic overflow

 

Lighting

- 2 Coralife Aqualight Pro 150W HQI Pendants with Phoenix 14k bulbs, on 12 hours per day.

 

Automation & Control

- 100W Submersible controlled Aquacontroller, in sump

- Current USA 1/15 HP inline chiller, fed by a maxi-jet 1200

- Spectrapure Litermeter III dosing pump, with one external channel, used to add Bionic 2-part Ca/Buffer system

- Tunze Osmolator ATO, with 7 gallon RO/DI reservoir

- Neptune Aquacontroller III with DC8, controlling all timers, pumps, 100W heater, and logging pH/ORP/Temp for peace of mind.

 

Filtration

- ASM Mini-G Protein Skimmer, in sump

- CPR Aquafuge Medium HOB Refugium with 18W Jalli Light, using 6500K Bulb. Refugium light is on when tank lights are off. There is some truly neat stuff growing in there. Refugia are cool.

- Cylindrical Sponge in external overflow box to keep clumsy critter (snails, small fish, etc) from getting washed into the sump. I had some problems with certain inhabitants banishing themselves to the sump repeatedly, so this is my solution. Now I just have to net them out of the overflow box periodically.

- Micron filter sock filtering water as it enters sump, and another catching effluent from the skimmer. The second one is there more to remove microbubbles than anything.

- Bag of activated carbon and Phosban in the path of flow in sump

 

Circulation

- Mag 5 (500GPH) return pump, with current alternating between 2 return lines using a SCWD

- One Koralia1 Powerhead.

- One

 

Livestock:

 

Corals (38 species)

 

SPS Corals (24 species)

- 12 varieties of Acropora

- 6 varieties of Montipora

- 1 encrusting Psammocora. The shaded portions are purple, the brightly-lit portions are green.

- 1 orange Pavona maldivensis

- 1 pink/purplish Stylophora

- 2 varieties of Seriatapora

- 1 unknown encruster. Perhaps Pavona.

 

LPS Corals (6 species)

- 1 Encrusting brown and green Goniopora

- 1 Orange Cycloseris

- 1 Green Fungia scutaria (I think)

- 1 Green Favia

- 2 small Acanthastrea, similar varieties

 

Soft Corals (8 species)

- A blue Anthelia

- A gorgonian (photosynthetic variety), no idea what species. extremely fuzzy

- 6 varieties of Zoanthid

 

Bivalves (3 Species)

- 2 Tridacna crocea

- 1 Small Tridacna squamosa

- 2 Tridacna maxima

 

Decapods

- 1 Peppermint Shrimp

- 2 small hermit crabs

- 1 Purple Porcelain Crab

- Numerous incidental small crabs such as acropora crabs and the like. They get to stay so long as they don't cause trouble, or else they get banished to the refugium.

 

Clean Up Crew, Miscellaneous

- A handful of trochus, astrea, nassarius, and cerith snails, two small sea hares, one fighting conch, and NUMEROUS Stomatella, amphipods, isopods, and copepods

 

Fish

- 4 Coryphopterus personatus (Masked goby)

 

Maintenence Details:

 

Daily

- Feed Cyclops-eeze, Frozen Mysiids, Formula 2, Frozen ground-up shrimp/squid/scallops, soaked in Selcon, approx 4 ml per day.

 

Twice weekly (Sunday and Wednesday)

- Test Calcium and Alkalinity, adjust Litermeter III dosage to compensate if Alk/Ca are rising or falling since last tested

- Clean protein skimmer collection cup

- Check filter sock, change if neccessary

- Stir the sand, and turkey baste the rocks liberally

 

Weekly (Sunday)

- Dose 1 Drop of Lugol's Iodine

- Harvest Excess growth from the refugium

- 5 gallon water change

- Top off reservoirs for Osmolator and Litermeter III

 

Biweekly (1st and 3rd Sunday of every month)

- Change Carbon and Phosban

 

Monthly

- Calibrate and clean pH and ORP probes

 

Every 6 Months (April and October -ish)

- Replace Metal Halide bulbs and refugium bulb

- Disassemble and clean circulation pump, powerheads, and skimmer pump

- Remove, clean, and inspect overflow box

- Calibrate Litermeter III dosing pumps

 

Water Chemistry:

- Ca+: 380-420 mg/L

- Alk: 8-10 dKh

- Phosphate, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia: Undetectable

- Temp: 75-81F +-0.5 degrees F, seasonally varied, controlled by chiller and heater attached to Aquacontroller III

- Ph: 7.9 - 8.2 (usually)

- S.G.: 1.026

(Thats all i test for)

 

Attached is a (poor quality) FTS, showing the tank as it looked at the time this thread was created. Note that this first post is edited regularly to reflect the tank as it is currently set up.

Edited June 17, 2009 by SPS20

[axia55]

Awesome looking tank! Love the long tentacle plate especially.

[Withers]

Wow thats an extremely well put together tank. Everything looks great!

Edited November 21, 2007 by VicSkimmr

[spanko]

Very nice well executed tank.

[JKUNZ]

U have a beautiful tank! I really appreciate your detailed schedulaing of cleaning, maintenance, and feedings. I have a question though. I was always under the impression, due to research, that natural reefs only recieve 8 to 9 hours of strong light daily, along with 2 to 3 hours of indirect (ie sunrise sunset). I'm worried about ur 12 hours of HQI lighting a day. Like I said, I just thought it was recommended to have 8 to 9 hours of full light, with one hour before and hour after provided by a lesser light source to simulate the sunrise sunset period.

 

I guess the difference I was trying to distinquish between is direct verse indirect light in nature, while we provide only direct light. I fear that too much high lighting may lead to future bleaching. I sincerely would like to know your methods and reasoning, I'm always open for learning something new. I really do like ur set-up, please don't take this the wrong way. Best of luck!

[TMartini]

Wow! That's gorgeous!!

[Maco]

to N-R

the tank reminds me of Japanese tanks

verry nice...BTW for pics set up a photocucket acount and then copy the derect link next click on the photo button (looks like a pic) then paist the URL and your ready to go

 

-Mac

Edited November 21, 2007 by Maco

[SPS20]

Awesome looking tank! Love the long tentacle plate especially.

 

I think he's my favorite too. One of the biggest (and ongoing) challenges in setting up this tank was getting very strong water flow to the SPS corals while simultaneously keeping the flow very gentle where the heliofungia is, as they really don't respond well to strong currents. It never fails to amaze me how much that thing can eat on a daily basis.

 

BTW, if you keep fungiids, people, for God's sake, feed them generously. It drives me nuts to see starving fungiids in people's tanks. They can only produce about 80% of their nutritional needs through photosysnthesis in an absolute best case. For some reason some people think heliofungia is a difficult species. It isn't, provided you understand the following:

 

1. They like lots of light

2. They are physically very delicate, and MUST be placed on fine sand

3. They do not like strong current

4. They need to be fed alot, and frequently

5. They need excellent water quality (low nitrates and phosphates)

6. They don't respond well at all to low calcium or Alk levels. They are a true stony coral and need to be treated as such as far as that goes.

 

Think SPS water quality and lighting, slow flow, and heavy feeding, and you will have a happy and puffy heliofungia for years to come.

 

Yes, i love that coral. If i didn't, i wouldn't let it take up a third of my precious real estate in my tank, LOL.

 

-Josh

Edited November 21, 2007 by SPS20

[SPS20]

U have a beautiful tank! I really appreciate your detailed schedulaing of cleaning, maintenance, and feedings. I have a question though. I was always under the impression, due to research, that natural reefs only recieve 8 to 9 hours of strong light daily, along with 2 to 3 hours of indirect (ie sunrise sunset). I'm worried about ur 12 hours of HQI lighting a day. Like I said, I just thought it was recommended to have 8 to 9 hours of full light, with one hour before and hour after provided by a lesser light source to simulate the sunrise sunset period.

 

I guess the difference I was trying to distinquish between is direct verse indirect light in nature, while we provide only direct light. I fear that too much high lighting may lead to future bleaching. I sincerely would like to know your methods and reasoning, I'm always open for learning something new. I really do like ur set-up, please don't take this the wrong way. Best of luck!

 

I understand your concerns about lighting and photoperiod, so here is my philosophy regarding light in reef aquaria:

 

1. Unless you are using 400W or 1000W MH bulbs, you are not going to get even close to surface irradiation levels in the tropics. So, keep in mind, even with 2 150W lights close to the tank, my corals are only getting a fraction of the light intensity that a shallow reef gets in the wild.

2. My light fixtures are hanging pendants that can be raised and lowered very easily. When I first installed the lights, I raised them up as high as they would go (about 2 feet from the surface) and started off with an 11 hour photoperiod. Then, I lowered the lights about an inch every week and increased the photoperiod by 15 minutes every week until the lights are as they are now. (6-8" from the water surface, 12 hr photoperiod)

3. Whenever a new specimen is added, I put it in a shady spot and put a narrow strip of eggcrate across the tank top to shade it with a few layers of fiberglass screen on it. I remove a layer every few days until the screening is all gone, then move the piece incrementally closer to the "hot spots" over the course of a few weeks until it is where I want it to stay. Of course, if i get a new coral that was already under very bright light and looking happy, I just slap it in the tank and its on its own to adapt that last bit.

4. Dull colors in Acroporas and Montiporas (brown, tan, cream colored) tend to indicate that they are used to low light and need to be acclimated. Brightly colored species (Blue, Red, Yellow) tend to be more tolerant, and can often be placed in the brightest spots right off the bat.

5. I try to keep mostly shallow-water species that glow close to the surface in the wild. You will notice i have no mushrooms or ricordea or other low light species. Some things just won't acclimate to intense light, no matter how slowly you acclimate.

6. The photoperiod of natural reefs (between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of capricorn) is between 10-14 hours per day. 8-9 of those hours are very intense illumination, with a dimmer dawn and dusk. If you keep in mind point #1 (intensity of natural sunlight versus MH light), I am supplying less light than the corals would get in the wild for 8-9 hours, and more than they would get in the wild for the early and late parts of the day. I feel this balances out in the end.

7. I use lugol's iodine, which i strongly believe helps corals to adapt to stronger light. I don't understand why, but I swear it seems to help.

8. One of the risks associated with lighting has little to do with the light itself but rather oxygen toxicity and day/night fluctuations in CO2 levels, and thus, swings in pH. I use a heavily planted refugium on a reverse daylight cycle. The result is, the corals produce CO2 at night which helps the algae in the refugium grow, while the algae in the refugium produce CO2 during the day to help the corals photosynthesize. Much like in planted aquaria, CO2 should be considered a primary nutrient, imo, as it is consumed rapidly by photosynthesis. Refugia help to stabilize this.

 

Wow, do I have a tendency to rant, lol.

 

-Josh

Edited November 21, 2007 by SPS20

[SPS20]

Ok I have been reading about all the member's tanks here, and looking at all the great pictures. I must say, I am deeply impressed with the spirit of cooperation and information sharing here. There are some really talented people with profiles on this site.

 

Thanks everybody for your kind words. It means alot to me; my GF can only take me talking about it so much, I need other reef nerds to commune with! I'm going to try to set up a photobucket tonight and get some better pictures here. Is it just me, or does it seem like there are alot of professional photographers here who just happen to keep reef tanks? I have alot to learn about how to get good pics of my tank.

[Ben314z]

Can't wait to see more pics of your tank!

[PurpleUP]

One of the risks associated with lighting has little to do with the light itself but rather oxygen toxicity and day/night fluctuations in CO2 levels, and thus, swings in pH. I use a heavily planted refugium on a reverse daylight cycle. The result is, the corals produce CO2 at night which helps the algae in the refugium grow, while the algae in the refugium produce CO2 during the day to help the corals photosynthesize. Much like in planted aquaria, CO2 should be considered a primary nutrient, imo, as it is consumed rapidly by photosynthesis. Refugia help to stabilize this.

 

I have read of swings in pH related to lighting periods, but I never understood it as well as you've explained it here. How can I maintain steady pH and mimic what you do to balance CO2 levels without keeping a refugium? also without spending crazy amounts of money.

[lilredneckman]

Awesome looking tank!

[SPS20]

I have read of swings in pH related to lighting periods, but I never understood it as well as you've explained it here. How can I maintain steady pH and mimic what you do to balance CO2 levels without keeping a refugium? also without spending crazy amounts of money.

 

Hmm, thats a really good question. IMO, stability of O2, pH, and CO2 levels in aquaria is a topic that is given insufficient attention in the popular literature, partially because its not something you generally can control directly (or would even want to). Also, this is largely an issue for aquarists, not coral biologists or reef ecologists, as the oceans aren't subject to the same degree of rapid change in dissolved gases. Coral biologists and reef ecologists focus their efforts on wild populations for the most part.

 

The writers we all rely on for a hard science information (sprung, tullock, delbeek, riddle, moe, etc, etc) serve as extremely valuable links between practical technical information (how to tweak a skimmer or choose a light bulb) and tested experimental observation (plankton densities on a tropical reef, light intensites at X feet of water at Y latitude at Z time of day on a clear day, etc). These writers are students of the scientific literature. But, in the end, many of them end up focusing on technical information (how to set up a reef tank) over theoretical information (gas balance in saltwater) as it is just easier to explain how to do than it is to fully explain why. Also, you can't attach a gizmo or product to it the way you can calcium levels or light. Gadgets, gear, equipment... Thats what gets the vast majority of the attention in the hobby. There is no product that monitors and controls gas balance in aquaria directly, and if one were to be invented, it would certainly have to be priced WAY beyond the reach of most aquarists.

 

So, let me just kind of toss some things to think about out there, some of which are extremely obvious, some of them not.

 

- Cooler water can hold more dissolved gases than warmer water.

- CO2, when dissolved in water, becomes an ion and forms carbonic acid. This obviously has the effect of lowering the pH.

- Cooler water will reach a lower pH when saturated with CO2 than the same water will at a warmer temperature when saturated with CO2. Additionally, the cooler water will hold more O2.

- The metabolism of every known form of life has a temperature which is ideal for metabolic processes and photosynthesis. When an organism is at its ideal metabolic temperature, the metabolic rate of that organism has a higher potential than at any other temperature.

- All organisms are respiring at all times.

- Respiration consumes O2, and produces CO2.

- The total O2 demand and CO2 output of a given organism's processes of respiration is equal to its biomass multiplied by its metabolic rate, or rate of respiration.

- Therefore, all organisms are consuming O2 at all times, and producing CO2, at a rate proportional to both their mass and their metabolic rate.

- Photosynthesis consumes CO2, utilizes the carbon by making sugars, and produces O2.

- For all practical purposes (such as ours) all photosynthetic organisms (such as most of the corals we keep) produce more O2 via photosynthesis than they consume via respiration when properly illuminated during the day. So, during the day, corals and plants consume CO2 and produce CO2.

- Those same plants and corals, along with fish, crabs, shrimp, snails, clams, etc, are consuming O2 and producing CO2 during the night, when the lights are off.

- So, in other words, Everything respires, only some things photosynthesize. Photosynthesis is sufficiently efficient to allow net production of O2 over time, but photosynthesizing biomass still breathes at night, just like everything else.

- Atmospheric gas exchange in aquaria, even when equipped with large skimmer, powerful water movement, etc, is not really as efficient a process as you might think it is. Gas balance in aquaria can easily get out of whack, even with lots of fans and pumps, etc.

- The air in your house, right now, is almost definitely lower in oxygen concentration, and higher in CO2 concentration than the outside is. This is especially true if your house is well insulated and it is winter where you live.

- The result is that the average aquarium rises in pH during the day (sometimes dangerously high) and down at night (sometimes dangerously low).

- The degree of fluctuation is proportional to the ratio of total biomass to water volume, and the ratio of water volume to total gas exchange capactity of the system. In other words, the more densely stocked the system, the more it will fluctuate from day to night. The better your gas exchange is (relative to water volume), the less your tank will fluctuate from day to night.

- Larger volumes of water take longer to fluctuate than smaller ones.

 

So what can you do? (Some of these options are cheap, some not)

 

- Open a window near the tank at night if you live somewhere warm.

- Run the air intake tube from your skimmer out a window with a small carbon filter attached (for air pollutants) This can actually help balance pH if your house is particularly well sealed and insulated.

- Keep the tank at natural reef temperatures. If you keep your tank in the mid 70's, warm it up a bit. Cooler tanks can hold more dissolved gases, and are more subject to pH swings as a result.

- Keep your tank sparsely stocked relative to water volume. (Booo! I generally ignore this one and make up for it in other ways, lol)

- Stop breathing near your tank, as you are using precious O2. (hehe)

- Install a cheap HOB refugium with a light cycle opposite to the main tank, as I do.

- Put a wad of chaeto in your sump with a small compact flourescent fixture on it. Every little bit helps.

- Get a bigger tank. the bigger the tank, the more stable it is.

- Set up a second display aquarium, sharing the same sump as your other tank. Light it on the reverse of the light cycle of the other tank. Stock it with similar biomass. (I like this option alot)

- Inject CO2 into the aquarium during the day. (too risky to be worth it) People who use calcium reactors often make sure they only run during the day which has the dual benefit of stabilizing pH and adding calcium.

- Make sure your calcium and Alkalinity (mineral buffers) are at proper levels. This will help minimize pH swings.

- Get a zeroedge aquarium. Those things have crazy good gas exchange due to their overflowing design.

- Oversize your skimmer and set it to a very dry foam. (so you don't strip your water of all the good stuff)

- Increase water flow in your aquarium. This helps the corals exchange gases better, and moves those gases around, making it easier for them to be exported from the system.

- Make sure the air in your sump and over the water surface isn't too stagnant. Even a small fan can make a big difference. Don't use a lid if you can help it.

 

So, there is everything you already knew and never wanted to know about gas exchange, lol. Really, its only an issue if its an issue, if you know what i mean. Measure your pH just before the lights go off, and just before they come on. Those values represent the maxima and minima of the fluctuation. If there isn't that much of a difference, its probably not much of an issue. However, in small, densely stocked tanks, it is often more of a stressor to the animals than we think it is, IMO.

 

Rant over,

Josh

Edited November 21, 2007 by SPS20

[Sushi]

^^^ That's a hefty post!

 

Great looking tank

[SPS20]

Ok, I think I figured out how to use photobucket. I uploaded some pics, hopefully this works. I hope you guys like them!

 

The FTS, in higher resolution:

 

Right end of the tank:

 

Left end of the tank:

 

My little SPS garden:

 

This acro grows SO fast. No matter how much light and water current I throw at this thing, it loves it:

 

A neat little hitchhiker. He grew out of a piece of rubble. Its some kind of goniopora, i think. Definitely a poritid:

 

A really cool blue anthelia. This stuff is beautiful, and grows like a weed:

 

My baby blue acro. The picture really doesn't do the color justice. I need a better camera.

 

My beloved Heliofungia. It uses almost a third of the tank, but it is so beautiful. (It gets HUGE at night, so i can't put anything near him) Easily my favorite coral.

 

There you go...

-Josh

 

Edit: i figured out how to put the images inline

Edited November 22, 2007 by SPS20

[dtfleming]

under the picture in photobucket, click on the direct link url and click the little picture icon in the forum, copy and paste.

[knoxvegas]

I would love some of that blue anthelia, if you frag it.

[SPS20]

Some more pics:

 

A close up of some of the live rock

 

My fromia. He's been in there since a week after I set the tank up, 6 months ago, and I have never seen him eat. He has grown, but lords knows on what.

 

My hector's goby staring me down

 

My fat little gold neon hiding under a rock

 

I love this gorgonian. I bought it because it was the fuzziest I had ever seen. Grows like a weed.

Edited November 22, 2007 by SPS20

[travisurfer]

awesome heliofungia. how long have you had it?

[SPS20]

awesome heliofungia. how long have you had it?

 

About 4 months. He's grown a little bit in that time, and i'm a tad worried that he'll just keep growing! Its such a small tank, after all. Regardless, i'll make room for it, it's so neat to watch the tentacles flowing back and forth with the surge currents.

[SPS20]

I rearranged a bit in an effort to make the tank look "cleaner". Now all I have to do is hide all those wires. Its a mess.

 

So this is my whole sysem from a few feet away, and a little table from a yard sale that fits over my chiller perfectly. The main system lights are off now. I normally have a little guard in front of the refugium to block light from coming into the tank at night, but I took it off for this photo so you can see the animals better. My reefkeeper's sidearm, the turkey baster, sits ever at the ready.

 

And a pic of a little hitchhiker that comes out of my rock at night, climbs my montipora, and filter feeds with little appendages on his head, just like a porcelin crab. Normally I consider all crabs to be suspect, but from what I have heard, filter feeding ones are ok. He doesn't seem to be bothering the coral when he climbs on it, so, he can stay. Plus he's kind of cute the way he waves his claws around to fend off predators. It makes him look kind of paranoid. The montipora he is climbing on is slowly recovering from being badly bleached. I neglected to acclimnate it carefully enough when I switched from 20k to 10k bulbs a few months ago. It is slowly regaining its color and polyp extension, since I moved it all the way to the end of the aquarium, out of the brunt of the metal halides.

 

This is a really bad photo (I'm no photographer) of a little tiny sea cucumber in my HOB refugium. There's hundreds of them in there, along with lots of little fanworms and sea squirts. I got really lucky with algae from an established tank's refugium, it had so much life in it it practically writhed in my hands when I transferred it to my refugium. I see little critters get washed out into the main tank all the time, yet the refugium is always teeming with life. This means its doing its job, IMO. The gracilaria in there is beautiful too. I have tried keeping bits of it in the main tank, but I think there's too much light for it there. It always ends up dying. In the refugium, the stuff grows like crazy.

 

More to come,

Josh

Edited November 24, 2007 by SPS20

[SPS20]

Digital cameras are fun. I took a couple of pics of corals that I have pics of from a month ago. Its neat to see how much they have grown and how much the colors have changed over time.

 

10/29

 

11/24

 

and...

 

10/29

 

11/24

[SPS20]

More Pics. I think i'm getting a little better with this camera. I still need a better one. :/

 

Updated FTS:

 

Some overhead shots. (All the pumps are off, except the refugium)

Edited November 25, 2007 by SPS20

[PurpleUP]

Digital cameras are fun. I took a couple of pics of corals that I have pics of from a month ago. Its neat to see how much they have grown and how much the colors have changed over time.

 

10/29

 

11/24

 

The new blue color in one month was such a drastic change, for the better of course. Were you aware this was going to occur when you first bought it? Tank looks awesome. I like the top down shot.

Edited November 25, 2007 by PurpleUP