Canreef Tank of the Month

TheGrimReefer's 30 Gallon Reef

Everyone always says how they were so surprised to be chosen for tank of the month right? Well I was! Especially after only being in the reef hobby for less than a year and a half. Like many people, this "hobby" has turned into an obsession and I have several other reef tanks in my small apartment. They still need a lot of work and money, since most of my attention is paid to my LPS reef.

System:

This tank has been running since April, 2006. The tank is a glass 30 gallon tall, dimensions 24" x 12" x 24". This tank is somewhat difficult to work in due to it's height and narrow width, but the dramatic appeal makes it worth it. I chose a black background because it's simple, and easy to keep looking clean.

This tank is without sump or refugium. I run a Marineland Emperor 280 powerfilter, which contains my heater and a single filter cartridge that could be changed more often than I do. Protein skimming is provided by a Red Sea Prizm Pro skimmer which could also be cleaned more often.

I would estimate only about 30 pounds of live rock in my tank. I chose lightweight pieces because the porosity provides more surface area for natural filtration. Flow is provided by three Aquaclear 30 powerheads. They are less than ideal, but hey... they were free! They will soon be upgraded to a pair of Tunze Nanostream pumps.

Tank Chemistry:

Specific Gravity: 1.023 Alkalinity: 10 dkH Calcium: 400 ppm

Temperature: 80F pH: 8.2

I do a 20% water change every week or two with R/O water (aged at least two days). I maintain my specific gravity of 1.023 by topping up manually at least every other day. I use a refractometer for measuring salinity and manually churn my sandbed during water changes. I rarely add supplements. Instead I keep my levels where they need to be by doing regular water changes with Instant Ocean.

Lighting and Photoperiod:

Lighting is provided by a Coralife Lunarlight 2x65 watt compact-fluorescent fixture with an additional 28 watts of T5 lighting. I have avoided metal halide due to cost and heat issues. the glitter of metal halide is nice, but my corals simply don't need more intense lighting. I have both fixtures on digital, remote-controlled timers.

Photoperiod:

10am- Actinics On

11am- 10,000K + 50/50 T5 On

9pm- 10,000K + 50/50 T5 Off

11pm- Actinics Off

Tank Inhabitants:

It was the fish that first attracted me to the saltwater hobby. I didn't know anything about corals and I wasn't interested in them because I was under the impression that they didn't really do anything. After living with corals for some time now, I can safely say that they are the most fascinating creatures in my tank, and my focus has turned to them. Fish are great for an addition of movement, color and to complete the reef ecosystem, but its really the corals that make a tank.

As impressive as an SPS tank can be, I've always been drawn more to the soft corals and LPS. I love the way they sway in the current, their dramatic changes in form and their feeding responses.

LPS:

Pearl Bubble Coral, Open Brain Coral, Hammer Coral, Frogspawn, Bubble Coral, Sun Coral, Finger Leather, Ricordea, Green Striped Mushrooms

Fish:

Tomato Clown, Strawberry Dottyback, 2 Yellow-Tailed Blue Damsels

Invertebrates:

Blue Sponge, Blue Linkia Starfish, Red Fromia Star, Nassarius Snails, Astrea Snails, Blue-Leg Hermit Crabs

The next thing that will happen for this tank is a pair of Tunze Nanostreams to replace my powerheads. I'm also playing with the idea of adding a sump and refugium, although that probably won't happen for simplicity's sake. I'm thinking about adding more ricordea and a gorgonian.

My next big project is plumbing a 70 gallon soft coral propogation tank into my 30 gallon cube system. The cube tank will likely house SPS corals and the prop tank will be mostly for ricordea to fund the addiction.

This reef thing really isn't that hard! I've found that the most important thing is patience and knowledge of the creatures you are trying to keep.

I hope you enjoyed my tanks and thanks for looking. Special thanks to Canreef, Japarto at Safari Pets in Victoria for the best corals in town and JohnnyReefer for a killer deal on my skimmers.

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