Darryl's Tank
Congratulations to Darryl (reefermadness) for being selected as Canreef's Featured Tank of the Month for June. Thanks, Darryl, for sharing your system details with us! Please click on the thumbnails to view the pictures larger.
Introduction
My CANREEF FTOTM nomination was a pleasant surprise to say the least. Today I'm happy to share my 200g SPS dominant reef tank. Much like some of you this hobby started out quite simply as an urge to keep the more colourful and vibrant saltwater fish I was seeing at the local fish store. So I went about converting my 55g tank to a FOWLR from its current freshwater state. That was back in 2005 and at the time I had no idea that a colourful reef tank was even possible, having never seen one. Well my online research took me farther and deeper into this fascinating hobby than I ever realized possible. That FOWLR would soon be turned into a reef but what really caught my attention at the time was seeing a local reefers mature and colourful SPS tank. I was mesmerized by the colours and shapes of his SPS and even drawn in by the complexity and challenge to keep such organisms thriving. So with less than a year into the hobby I knew my goal was now to have a mature, colourful SPS tank. That 55g did turn out to be quite nice considering the learning curve I faced. However it was never set up long enough and suffered some typical newbie design flaws. After my modest success with that first 55g I moved and set up a 90g tank. This tank again suffered some design flaws and never materialized into my vision of a healthy mature SPS tank. Ultimately after having been in the hobby 4 years we moved once again, into a new house, and I had the opportunity to use all of my accumulated experience and knowledge to set up my current 200g display. Today I can say that I have had my ups and downs but I'm closer to accomplishing my goal than I have ever been.
System Stats
My current display is a 200g (54”x36”x24).
Equipment
- Skimmer: Modified SWC250 Extreme
- Lighting: 2 x 400w Radium + vho actinic
- Flow: Tunze Wavebox + 2 x Tunze 6100
- Return pump: Gen-x mak4
- Biofilter: SWC biopellets in reactor
- Ro/di: 6 stage with 0tds output
- Dosing: Ca+alk on BRS dosing pumps
- Controller: Ranco temperture only
- Sumps: 3 x 40g in basement
- Other: Gfo and carbon in brs reactor
Parameters
- Calcium: 400ppm
- Alkalinity: 8dkh
- Magnesium: 1200ppm
- N03: 0-.02ppm w/Salifert
- P04: Undectible w/Hanna meter
Equipment Room
Because this aquarium was going in a new house I had the chance to plumb it to the basement where I house my 3x40g breeder sumps (which includes a small frag area) and all other equipment. This makes maintenance a great deal easier and more convenient while cutting down on noise and mess on the main floor where the actual display tank is located. The skimmer resides at working height and a sink stands right next to it. This feature alone is a god send. I also have a 40G barrel to hold RO/DI water, a de-humidifier, and a UPS in this room which runs the return pump for a number of hours incase of a power outage. Another feature that cuts down on maintenance is the fact that I plumbed one 40g sump to be put offline and back online with the turn of a valve. This tank is used for water changes.
Maintenance & Method
Maintenance consists of bi-weekly 40G water changes using Instant Ocean Salt. I find this salt economical and sufficient. Like previously mentioned, one 40g breeder tank is used as a water change vessel. This tank is taken off and on the system with the turn of one two inch valve. During the two weeks between water changes the W/C tank is allowed to collect detritus which I clean and siphon at the time of the next water change. During this process I also run the RO/DI (bi-weekly) to fill the 40g tank as well as the 40g storage barrel which will supply the fresh water top up that is needed due to evaporation. The automatic fresh water top-up is accomplished using a solenoid valve and 2 float switches in series. The fish are feed a small amount of omega one flake daily on an eheim fish feeder. In conjunction with that they are feed once more each day consisting of either PE mysis, ¼ nori sheet, or NewLifeSpectrum pellet on rotation. Corals are feed a half cap of NutraKol reef complete twice per week. I also take the time to blast the rocks with a turkey baster at least once per week. I feel this process cleans the rock surface of organic detritus which will break down and feed algae waiting to get a foot hold on the rock. All the equipment is cleaned and inspected at least once or twice a year.
I believe my personal method and philosophy in keeping difficult SPS corals to be quite simple yet still consists of a few very important factors. Strong lighting with lots of light in the blue and actinic spectrum. Turbulent, random and high flow. Stable parameters, most importantly alkalinity which will affect pH and has the most impact on coral health in my experience. I believe in high import of good quality foods as well as strong nutrient removal methods. Experience and logic has shown me that our captive reef tanks are a small closed system and there is a nutrient balancing act that is taking place. It is easy for this nutrient balance to get skewed, mostly in the direction of nutrient rich but also can be turned nutrient poor. In order to allow a good amount of food to enter the system I make sure I have a large skimmer, waterchange routine, and subsequently use biopellets as a biological means of processing nutrients. I also incorporate the use of GFO(1.5cups) and ROX carbon(2cups), which is changed monthly.
Acknowledgement
A special thanks to the Canreef crew for allowing me to share my system. Of course I also have to thank my supportive wife and beautiful daughter. I would also like to thank all my fellow reefers who have shared my passion with me over the years. May we all have success at finding that hidden gem and absolutely no tank crashes.