LPRADO Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 (edited) Hello everybody!: This month my aquarium will be 8 years old, so I decided to share my experience in this prestigious forum. This is my Planet Nemo, from Santiago, Chile. Tank: 52 gallons (200 Liters) with sump of 21 gallons (80 L). Lights: 3 AI PRIME Filtration: 1 bio brick (Brightwell), Q3 skimmer (Bubble Magus, modified for sump), 9 watts UV. ATO: mechanical (1 Gal). Heater: Atman, 200 watts Circulation: now an Icecap 3K Return pump: Bubble Magus WP2000 Rock: mixed, but mostly Carib Sea Sand: Carib Sea Oolite Dosing: 3-channel basic dosing pump Established: May 2012 Maintenance routine Feeding Two times a day I feed the fish using a mixture of Nutrafin Flakes: Mysis, Brine shrimp, Spirulina. I use an Eheim automatic feeder. Morning and night I feed with dry Artemia. I feed corals once per week using Easy Reef, Reef Blizzard, or any other food I have. I spot feed every coral with a pipette. Every week I dose Red Sea ABCD. Cleaning I clean the glass every other day. I clean the skimmer every two weeks. I clean the sump every six months. I perform water changes every four months. Testing I test Alkalinity, Magnesium and Calcium every week. I keep alkalinity at 9 to 10, Calcium at 450 to 490 and Magnesium nearly at 1400 adjusting the dosing pump or manually when needed. Fish Two clownfish Banggai cardinal Coral beauty angelfish Randalls Goby Yellow tail Damsel Lawnmawyer blenny Vallentini Puffer Sixline wrasse I started with one clownfish, them added the others slowly they were available or when they caught my attention. In general, small to medium size fish. Corals Soft corals GSP Zoanthus Palythoa Ricordea Rhodactis Kenya tree Pulsing Xenya Discosoma LPS Candy coral Euphyllia Bubble coral Favia Favites Leptoseris Cyphastrea SPS Montipora digitata Seriatopora Montipora capricornis Pavona Acroporas Pocillopora My first interest was on corals: to witness such incredible animals in an aquarium. As a Marine Biologist, I am interested in biodiversity. Invertebrates Astrea snail My Tank’s Story On May 2012 I started with a 10 Gallon BOYU, with pulsing Xenya, Kenya tree coral, Palythoa. Then followed Rhodactis, Actinodiscus, and some SPS: Montiporas, Pavona and two small Acroporas. I was interested in corals only. The equipment was very simple: just basic aditives, weekly water changes, no skimmer, no wavemaker, PLL fluorescent lights. Reeftanks in Chile were VERY uncommon, people mostly brought equipment from holidays in USA and availability of species was very limited. Knowledge was scarce too. On July 2013 a brought a clownfish because it was the last one at the aquarium shop. I must confess that I considered they were a cliche, but I could not resist its charmings. On September 2013, I upgraded Planet Nemo to a 20 gallon BOYU to bring Nemo more space. I brought a second clownfish, a Feather dusker worm, an Euphyllia, a Candy coral, among others. I always kept it very simple. Then I upgraded the lights, first some simple led blue/white LEDS. On January 2015 I left science and got enrolled in the aquarium shop!. On August 2015 I was one of the first to have an AI PRIME when they arrived to Chile for first time. At that time, I had the strong feeling to learn watercolour to paint the Fish, amazed by the Sixline wrasse and Mandarin goby. On January 2016, I upgraded Planet Nemo to a 30 Gallon BOYU. I bruoght a Vortex wavemaker and I decided to start with SPS on 2017 using a dosing pump. I brought the Q3 skimmer to improve filtration. On August 2017, I upgraded the aquarium to its current size, nearly 74 gallons. Notice on the left that at the beggining, I did not add extra sand and lights. I added two more AI PRIME, one of them an HD version. I have had success with SPS corals using the dosing pump and regular tests of Kh, Mg and Ca. Currently, I have a collection of watercolour fish and started a YouTube Channel (in Spanish) to teach others in Chile. We have guided many hobbyists at the aquarium shop and, of course, installed many reeftanks. It has been very satisfying and rewarding. Future plans I have the strong feeling to make the first book of reef aquarium in Spanish made in Chile, and perhaps upgrade the aquarium. Advice for New Hobbists Marine aquariums are an endless journey. They are complex and beautiful as you may ever imagined, and I believe they are a lifetime hobby. For success, I do recommend . Read, research. Investigate as much as you can about the species, aditives and hardware before you buy them. It is key to be prepared for avoiding mistakes. Design your aquariun. Corals and fish are diverse and have different requirements of flow rates, light, etc. Some Corals grow slow, some are invasive, some are more aggressive than others. Same with fish, not all are compatible and there is a time and order to add them. Record. Write a journal to see your improvement, make notes of the use of aditives, etc. It allows to correct mistakes and achieve goals. Take photographs. Enjoy and be patient. This is a long-term hobby, enjoy every step of the way. Start with simple fish and corals, gain experience and move forward to the next ones. Anxiety and rush is not a good fellow, but patience is largely rewarded. Kind regards, Luis Prado Marine Biologist Edited May 5, 2020 by LPRADO Mispelling 1 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 3 minutes ago, LPRADO said: Hello everybody!: This month my aquarium will be 8 years old, so I decided to share my experience in this prestigious forum. This is my Planet Nemo, from Santiago, Chile. Tank: 52 gallons (200 Liters) with sump of 21 gallons (80 L). Lights: 3 AI PRIME Filtration: 1 bio brick (Brightwell), Q3 skimmer (Bubble Magus, modified for sump), 9 watts UV. ATO: mechanical (1 Gal). Heater: Atman, 200 watts Circulation: now an Icecap 3K Return pump: Bubble Magus WP2000 Rock: mixed, but mostly Carib Sea Sand: Carib Sea Oolite Dosing: 3-channel basic dosing pump Established: May 2012 Maintenance routine Feeding Two times a day I feed the fish using a mixture of Nutrafin Flakes: Mysis, Brine shrimp, Spirulina. I use an Eheim automatic feeder. Morning and night I feed with dry Artemia. I feed corals once per week using Easy Reef, Reef Blizzard, or any other food I have. I spot feed every coral with a pipette. Every week I dose Red Sea ABCD. Cleaning I clean the glass every other day. I clean the skimmer every two weeks. I clean the sump every six months. I perform water changes every four months. Testing I test Alkalinity, Magnesium and Calcium every week. I keep alkalinity at 9 to 10, Calcium at 450 to 490 and Magnesium nearly at 1400 adjusting the dosing pump or manually when needed. Fish Two clownfish Banggai cardinal Coral beauty angelfish Randalls Goby Yellow tail Damsel Lawnmawyer blenny Vallentini Puffer Sixline wrasse I started with one clownfish, them added the others slowly they were available or when they caught my attention. In general, small to medium size fish. Corals Soft corals GSP Zoanthus Palythoa Ricordea Rhodactis Kenya tree Pulsing Xenya Discosoma LPS Candy coral Euphyllia Bubble coral Favia Favites Leptoseris Cyphastrea SPS Montipora digitata Seriatopora Montipora capricornis Pavona Acroporas Pocillopora My first interest was on corals: to witness such incredible animals in an aquarium. As a Marine Biologist, I am interested in biodiversity. Invertebrates Astrea snail My Tank’s Story On May 2012 I started with a 10 Gallon BOYU, with pulsing Xenya, Kenya tree coral, Palythoa. Then followed Rhodactis, Actinodiscus, and some SPS: Montiporas, Pavona and two small Acroporas. I was interested in corals only. The equipment was very simple: just basic aditives, week Ku water changes, no skimmer, no wavemaker, PLL fluorescent lights. Reeftanks in Chile were VERY uncommon, people mostly brought equipment from holidays in USA and availability of species was very limited. Knowledge was scarce too. On July 2013 a brought a clownfish because it was the last one at the aquarium shop. I must confess that I considered they were a cliche, but I could not resist its charmings. On September 2013, I upgraded Planet Nemo to a 20 gallon BOYU to bring Nemo more space. I brought a second clownfish, a Feather dusker worm, an Euphyllia, a Candy coral, among others. I always kept it very simple. Then I upgraded the lights, first some simple led blue/white LEDS. On January 2015 I left science and got enrolled in the aquarium shop!. On August 2015 I was one of the first to have an AI PRIME when they arrived to Chile for first time. At that time, I had the strong feeling to learn watercolour to paint the Fish, amazed by the Sixline wrasse and Mandarin goby. On January 2016, I upgraded Planet Nemo to a 30 Gallon BOYU. I bruoght a Vortex wavemaker and I decided to start with SPS on 2017 using a dosing pump. I brought the Q3 skimmer to improve filtration. On August 2017, I upgraded the aquarium to its current size, nearly 74 gallons. Notice on the left that at the beggining, I did not add extra sand and lights. I added two more AI PRIME, one of them an HD version. I have had success with SPS corals using the dosing pump and regular tests of Kh, Mg and Ca. Currently, I have a collection of watercolour fish and started a YouTube Channel (in Spanish) to teach others in Chile. We have guided many hobbyists at the aquarium shop and, of course, installed many reeftanks. It has been very satisfying and rewarding. Future plans I have the strong feeling to make the first book of reef aquarium in Spanish made in Chile, and perhaps upgrade the aquarium. Advice for New Hobbists Marine aquariums are an endless journey. They are complex and beautiful as you may ever imagined, and I believe they are a lifetime hobby. For success, I do recommend . Read, research. Investigate as much as you can about the species, aditives and hardware before you buy them. It is key to be prepared for avoiding mistakes. Design your aquariun. Corals and fish are diverse and have different requirements of flow rates, light, etc. Some Corals grow slow, some are invasive, some are more aggressive than others. Same with fish, not all are compatible and there is a time and order to add them. Record. Write a journal to see your improvement, make notes of the use of aditives, etc. It allows to correct mistakes and achieve goals. Take photographs. Enjoy and be patient. This is a long-term hobby, enjoy every step of the way. Start with simple fish and corals, gain experience and move forward to the next ones. Anxiety and rush is not a good fellow, but patience is largely rewarded. Kind regards, Luis Prado Marine Biologist Beautiful tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Very nice tank Luis. Eight years is a long time to have it up and running. I was born in Brasil and lived there until I was 7 years old....so not too far from Chile. Who has the better futbol team? 🙂 1 1 Quote Link to comment
DNR88 Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Great to see such an old tank. I've great respect for people who are able to keep up a tank for so long and I love the matured look! 😊👍 1 Quote Link to comment
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