Canreef Tank of the Month

Props' 90 Gallon Reef

I would first like to thank Canreef and its FTOTM Committee for choosing my tank as Tank of the Month. My craze for the hobby started long ago, before I even knew you could keep the same environment as the ocean on a little glass. Growing up in the Philippines, I’ve been fortunate enough to see the natural habitat of the reefs. As much as I would like to get the best looking fish or the nicest coral for my tank, I would still rather see them out in the wild on their natural environment.

System:

During the initial setup, I had the tank situated in our main living room. But due to unknown problem that occurred a few months back, my tank has called the garage its home.

The tank is a standard 90 gallon Hagen (L- 48” x W-24” x H-24”) with a DIY overflow. When I first drilled the bottom pane for an overflow drain, I wasn’t sure if the glass were tempered or not. =o) For the main circulation I use an Iwaki 40RLT as a return pump. For additional circulation within the tank, a Tunze 6060 and a Tunze wavebox were added to create diverse flow patterns.

Tank Chemistry:

To be honest, lately I haven’t been keeping track of the tanks water parameters due to work and family. While I’m at it I might as well thank a local reefer for bringing both of his thermometers as my tank temperature has been about 72-74 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks Rich!

Specific Gravity: 1.026 Alkalinity: 11 dkH Calcium: 420 ppm

Temperature: 77f Magnesium: 1250 ppm

Nitrate and Phosphates undetectable

Sump and Equipment:

Currently I’m using a 30 gallon tank as a sump with 2 baffles and drilled with 2 1 ¼” holes. With the amount of flow going through the sump, I added 20lbs of live rock to help limit the amount of micro bubbles getting back into the display tank.

Equipment lists:

Iwaki 40RLT for return.

DIY 24” Becket skimmer powered by a Mak 4.

UMI 1/5hp drop-in chiller

Aquarium Essentials calcium reactor with Milwaukee regulator, 10lb co2 tank and Mag 7 pump

Lighting and Photoperiod:

The lighting of the tank consists of 2x400 watt PFO ballasts with 10,000k CoralVue Reeflux bulbs. A couple of a Workhorse 7 ballasts power 3 - 110watt VHO super actinic 03’s. Two 65 CFM fans are mounted in the canopy, and are wired to turn on when the halides power up so heat doesn’t become a problem in the hood. At the moment the halides are only on for 6 hours while the actinic are on for 9 hours.

Feeding and Maintenance:

Second to none is what I feed the fishes in the tank and that is Flake Frenzy. Yes Flake Frenzy!! But in the last couple of months I have added frozen Cyclop-eeze, brine shrimp, and PE mysis to their diet.

A 20 gallon water change is performed once every two to three weeks with purified RO water mixed with IO salt. Unfortunately with the low calcium and magnesium levels on the IO salts, I do adjust the levels prior to changing water which I find annoying.

Tank Inhabitants:

There are currently 5 fish calling the tank home. 3 Six Line Wrasses, a yellow tang and a purple tang. Also there are various types of snails, an Astrea, Margarita and 1 Turbo.

The tank is primarily dominated by what I call “fuzzy sticks”. The obsession on them started when I saw a tank featured on Reef Central TOTM November 2003 which blew me right away. I’m thankful that some of those corals featured on that tank now reside on my tank. At one point I had over 90 different species of them “fuzzy sticks”. Currently there are only 40+ different species in the tank most collected at LFS but the ones I call gems are collected from local reefers. I may be addicted to Acroporas but my favorite of all in the tank are my Xenia. =o)

SPS:

Acropora: tortousa, gomezi, yongei, turaki, hoeksemai, aculeus, austera, formosa, hyacinthus, nasuta, nobilis, microphthalma, tenuis, valida,granulosa, loripes, prostrata

Montipora: efflorescens, verrucosa, danae, capricornis, digitata

Seriatopora hystrix

To name a few.

LPS:

Acanthastrea lordhowensis, Micromussa, Pipe Organ, Blastomussa wellsi, Euphyllia parancora, long tentacle Plate

Soft Corals:

Ricordia yuma, Ricordea florida, Pom Pom Xenia, Various colors of Zoanthids

Future plans:

The plan is to buy an Island back home and retire when the time comes. There is nothing better than having a front view of the ocean and the reefs right under your footsteps. I would like to get a bigger tank somebody and be able to keep a number of fish but as of late I’m finding it hard to keep the tank up and running as my main priorities are taking more of my time. Maybe next time you see this tank featured it’s on the buy/sell forum.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. My doors are also open to whoever wants to see the tank in person. Also thanks to Rich (Sumpfinfishe) for taking all these great images of my reef.

Back to Canreef

Back to Tank of the Month Discussion Forum