Congratulations to DeMartini for being selected for our December Reef Profile! Her 14 gallon nano reef houses a diverse array of LPS and soft corals, invertebrates, and fish. Below she has written a profile of her aquarium's progress over the past two and a half years, and shares her experiences in the hobby. Check it out and share your comments and questions in DeMartini's featured reef profile thread.
I am extremely honored to have my tank featured this month. There are so many beautiful tanks on here and they have all been a big inspiration, so thanks guys and keep up the great work!
Tank Specs
Display: 14 Gallon BioCube: 15.5" x 15" x 16.7"
Lighting: 16.5" Sunpod 70w HQI
Circulation: Stock pump and a Maxi-Jet 900 with a U-tube return in the first chamber
Filtration: Purigen, carbon, filter floss
Refugium: 6 gallon Eclipse
Established June 2006 in a 12 gallon Cube Master aquarium.
Fish
• 2 True Percula clownfish
• Royal Gramma
• Sixline Wrasse
LPS Corals
• Red and green Blastomussa
• Frogspawn
• Red acanthastrea
• Candy canes
Soft Corals
• Various Florida Ricordea
• Various Yuma Ricordea
• Tyree Toadstool
• Green Star Polyps
• Blue Clove Polyps
• Gold Laced Clove Polyps
• Blue Spotted Mushrooms
• Zoanthids
• Palythoas (Nuclear Green, Purple Death, PPE, Armor of god, Devil's Armor, Darth Mauls)
Invertebrates
• 2 Pom pom crabs
• Cleaner shrimp
• 2 Emerald crabs
• Red Coco worm
• Blue crocea clam
• Red Sea starfish
Maintenance & Feeding
I dose calcium and dkh buffer to maintain a good pH and calcium level. I feed all of my fish ORA Glo and a mixture of mysis, cyclopeeze and Dt's phytoplankton for my corals.
History
In 2006 I started a freshwater tank and enjoyed it for about a week, but goldfish aren't very exciting, so I ditched them and started up a 12 gallon Cube Master. I soon bought my first clown fish which I still have today. I was happy with my tank for a while, but then the crappy ballast kept blowing out, so I decided to upgrade to a 14 gallon BioCube. Eventually I removed the hood and upgraded the lighting to a 70w HQI SunPod, which made my corals pop and allowed me to keep a clam...YAY! About half a year ago I added a refugium to keep nitrates down; I drilled holes in an old 6 gallon eclipse and placed it on a little stand right above my main display.
Future Plans
I eventually plan on moving all of the livestock from this tank to an 18 gallon ADA aquarium. I already have the tank, but I still need to buy more equipment. I'm going to be getting a 150w HQI Aquamedic Ocean light. I plan on running the tank filterless, but will use a Current USA Subcurrent to filter the water for a little bit after water changes. I also plan on using two Koralia nanos for water circulation.
Words of wisdom
Keep up with water changes, don't rush things, and do your research!!! =)
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