June 2016 Tank of the Month - PSXerholic

Link to build thread: Click Here

Other useful info on the tank, Click Here

Hi everyone,

Many of you know my tank and it's great and fast progress in the last 2 years since it's been set up.

I started in 2009 in the Saltwater hobby after coming over to the great state of Texas from Europe.

My first tank as a little kid was a 25G air bubbled crawfish tank which I caught in the local river, and I remember that night when my mom was complaining about all the crawfishs all over in the house, lol.

Well over the decades I maintained nicely planted freshwater Amazon themed tanks and finally in 2009, my wife convinced me to get into the marine tank hobby ;-)

Going through all the pain and learning over the last few years, nights of educating myself and no sleep while working on the tank systems, I tried a lot of different methods for nutrient reduction and maintaining trace elements in the reef tank and finally I found the right methods finally how to maintain a thriving reef that do work for me ;-)

This tank is not done yet, ........it just started !!!!!

-Andre

Aquarium Profile:

• 2-1/2 years old SPS dominated, mixed reef
• 210 Gallon AGA (from the shelf tank)
• Black silicone
• 2 overflow with DIY Durso, silenced & tied to a Co2 scrubber
• Co2 Scrubber Phosban 550 reactor
• Black acrylbased back wall coating
• Aragonite Deep sand bed
• 150 lbs Fiji Rock, mounted and supported by a piperack/build
• APEX Gold Control System
• APEX Salinity with Temperature compensation
• APEX LED Driver modules
• 30G Biocube plumbed into DT for frag healing
• 4 x Low noise 12VDC Fans for tank cooling (APEX controlled)

Stand

• Rocket Engineer modular DIY stand
• Red Oak DIY Skirt around the stand with Roll off gear for full access
• Inside coated with brown outdoor paint (less dirty and less light reflection)
• Top Trim, Stain and final coating to be completed ☹
• 2 x Kitchen cabinet lights
• Canopy with 4x Low noise Fans

Sump

• Overall very compact design for a 260G system
• 40 Gallon Breeder, DIY glass baffled sump
• Lifereef skimmer
• 100W Heater – barely used
• No socks
• Prefilter foam blocks prior Siporax
• SIPORAX 25mm Pond media chamber
• 1 x UV-Sterilizer 40W
• 2 x Return pumps in sump (MAG12/18)
• 1 x Auxiliary pump (MAG 9.5) for UV and Frag system
• 1 x “Just in case“ media reactor fed from the main return line
• Aqualifter Air pump from Co2 Scrubber to Skimmer (if needed)
• ATO system hardware

Water Circulation & Flow Summary

• 1 x WP60 Wavemaker in Wave mode (mostly 75%)
• 2 x RW8 Wavemaker in Wave mode (100%)
• Both Return pumps running 24/7

Water Parameters

• Temp  : 78-82
• pH  : 7.8 morning / 8.2 evening
• Salinity : 35ppt
• Alkalinity : 8.0-8.5 (6.5 in ULNS mode)
• CA 420 (430 max)
• MG 1350-1400
• No3 :4-5 (0.25 in ULNS mode)
• SR : 8
• Potassium : 410/420
• Iodine : 0.6

Lighting summary & objectives

• DIY Combo fixture of MH / T5 / LED
• 4 x 250W MH Hamilton Technologies Cayman fixtures
• 4 x 275 Electronic dimmable Ballast Hamilton Technologies
• 4 x 20K Hamilton Technologies bulb
• 4 x 80W - T5 on ATI Ballasts
• 6 x 4 Channel Rapid LED (42 supplemental LED’s)
• Light control via APEX

Filtration & water quality summary & objectives.

• APEX Controlled Water change system every hour (2-5 gallons per day, depending on salt mix. Check my Video on Youtube and as well my Sponsor section !!!
• Sockless and more dirty
• Carbon only as exception if needed
• Dosing of ALK via a mix of baked and unbaked baking soda
• Dosing of ESV Calcium Chloride
• Dosing of Brightwell Magnesium
• Potassium, SR and other traces as needed
• VSV Dosing (Vodka, Sugar,Vinegar mix)
• Biodigest bacteria weekly
• ZeoZym weekly (If I don’t forget)
• Acropower Aminos

Tank inhabitants

FISH:

• 1 Md maxima clam
• 1 Orange Rainbow BTA
• 1 Purple Tube Anemone
• 1 Yellow Tang
• 1 Blue Tang
• 1 Flame Angel
• 3 Royal Gramma
• Plenty of True Percula Clownies
• More fish coming soon !!!
• Plenty blue / red legged hermit crabs
• All kind of snails
• Plenty of Acro Crabs
• Few Emerald Crabs
• Hitchhiker Crabs
• Recently found a Pencil Urchin
• Serpent Starfishes
• Sea Cucumbers
• Sea Slugs

Corals

• Yellow, Red, Blue, Purple, Green, Rainbow and Ultra SPS’s
• A few High End Acros
• Gold and Orange Wall Hammer corals
• Micromussa, Acans Zoa’s etc.
• A few Soft Corals
• Check my website for most of the SPS

Fish & Coral feeding

• Tetra Flakes
• Coral Frenzy powder
• Reef Roids
• Selcon
• Frozen food cubes
• Silverfish
• Skimmate

Quote

“When one door in life closes, another one will open”…………nah, in real life ? If the door is closed, it’s closed !!!