Williammuk's Reef

[williammuk]

Hi all,

Here's an update on my reef.

Age (as of date of posting): One year since 9 Sep 2002.

Size of tank: 2.5' x 1.5' x 2' (height) : 200 litres.

Size of sump/refugium: 2' x 1' x 1' : 40 litres.

Lighting: Giesemann Nova II with BLV 150W 20KK metal halide and Slim-Moon by Liverock.

Photoperiod: MH 10.5 hours (12noon to 10:30pm). Slim-Moon 5 and 6 hours (8pm to 1am, 6am to 12noon).

Water movement: Main return pump using Eheim 1262 (3400L/hr), SCWD driven by Ehiem 1060 (2280L/hr) in closed-loop system and powerhead using SICCE Nova (800L/hr).

Filtration: Various macroalgae in refugium with 10 lbs Miracle Mud. Some bioballs in sump. Wool. Sometimes will use PolyFilter, Chemi-Pure and RowaPhos.

Cooling: 1/2 HP Reef Relief chiller connected inline with main return pump.

Computer control/monitoring: None.

Calcium supplementary methods: Dose Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium and Seachem Reef Kalkwasser.

Water top-up system/top-up rate: Manual top-up during dosing of additives. About 2 litres a week using DI water.

Electrical systems: None.

Backup systems: APC 700VA UPS driving main return pump only.

Water parameters (as of date of posting)

pH: 8.2 (Bioscience)

Salinity (SG): 1.024+

Ammonia (NH3): -?-

Nitrite (NO2): -?-

Nitrate (NO3): about 50ppm (Salifert)

Alkalinity (KH): 11.8dKH (Salifert)

Calcium (Ca): 420ppm (Salifert)

Phosphate (PO4): 0.05ppm (Salifert)

Magnesium (Mg): 1410ppm (Salifert)

Temperature: between 25 to 27 deg C

Redox: -?-

Livestock list:

Fish:

15 Sep 2002 - Yellow Belly Damsel

23 Sep 2002 - Strawberry Gramma

10 Oct 2002 - Corel Beauty Angel

12 Oct 2002 - Regal Tang

7 Dec 2002 - Clown Wrasse

25 Jan 2003 - Yellow Tang

31 Jan 2003 - Flame Angel

29 Jul 2003 - Powder Blue Tang

Invertebrates:

29 Sep 2002 - Crocea Clam

12 Mar 2003 - Maxima Clam

6 Jul 2003 - Derasa Clam

21 Sep 2002 - Cleaner Shrimp

29 Sep 2002 - 2 x Camel Shrimps

1 Dec 2002 - Coral Banded Shrimp

26 Feb 2003 - 2 x Halloween Hermit Crabs

25 Jan 2003 - Blood Shrimp

26 Sep 2002 - Sea Cucumber (yellow)

10 Nov 2002 - 3 x Featherduster Worm (brown)

15 Nov 2002 - Sea Cucumber (pink)

7 Dec 2002 - Coco Worm (red)

18 Jul 2003 - Featherduster Worm (orange)

Corals:

24 Feb 2003 - Alveopora Coral

6 Jul 2003 - Blastomusa Coral (red)

21 Mar 2003 - Bubble Coral (white)

26 Jul 2003 - Octopus Branch Coral (green, pink tips)

24 Feb 2003 - Open Brain Coral (red/green)

12 Feb 2003 - Sun Coral

21 Mar 2003 - Prata, Tooth Brain Coral

21 Mar 2003 - Trumpet Coral

5 Apr 2003 - Cauliflower Coral (light pink)

5 Apr 2003 - Cauliflower Coral (dark pink)

20 Jul 2003 - Cauliflower Coral (light orange)

20 Jul 2003 - Cauliflower Coral (light pink-purple)

12 Oct 2002 - Leather Coral

15 Sep 2002 - Mushroom Coral (brown)

15 Sep 2002 - Mushroom Coral (green)

4 Jan 2003 - Mushroom Coral (green tips)

24 Feb 2003 - Mushroom Coral (blue)

1 Jun 2003 - 2 x Yuma Ricordeas (Orange)

15 Aug 2003 - 4 x Florida Ricordeas

29 Aug 2003 - 2 x Florida Ricordeas

25 Sep 2002 - Star Polyps (green)

1 Dec 2002 - Button Polyps (green)

15 Jun 2003 - Button Polyps (pink)

13 Jul 2003 - Button Polyps (yellow)

26 Sep 2002 - Sea Fan (yellow)

9 May 2003 - Sea Fan (dark purple)

6 Jun 2003 - Sea Fan (light blue)

18 Jun 2003 - Sea Fan (light purple)

Feeding routine: Very generously once a day with mixture of nori/pellets/bits soaked in Garlic Guard, Vita-Chem and Cod Liver Oil. Alternate days with 40ml DT's Live Phytoplankton, Salifert Coral Food, Salifert Amino Coral and PhytoPlan. Occasional frozen Red Plankton and Cyclop-eeze.

Husbandry routine: Weekly 15% water change using Tropic Marin salt mix with DI water. Dose Reef Solution and Epsom Salts (to increase Magnesium).

Any other comments: Skimmerless for one year.

[Sinn]

wow.

skimmerless yet so impressive

so how do u handle nitrates?

[Golden Tooth]

Nice.

[DeepBlue]

a great pleasure to see the cauliflower blooming......whenever I see tat...it reminds me of those fantastic dive sites I read in magazines(not a diver yet..)

I remember before the great SRC crash of August, you have quite a bit of pics put up, do you still have them?

Would really like to see some more pics of your tank!

Bro..a quality tank! very nice rockwork and love the way you place your corals!

[xp95]

Nice tank!!! How old is ur cauliflower?? Is it difficult to keep alive?? I heard from frens that cannot last long one.....true or not???

[Dispar_Anthias]

i have to admit william's tank is one of the more neat and unique tank i see......... Anyway always love his tear drop maxima

[metals99]

impressive tank.. sigh it seems u are the one of the most experience reefer here..

skimmerless... i will think your tank's ecology is perfect..

[onghm]

I'm one of the lucky chaps who has seen William's tank in person

Fantastic setup.

Very eco I think

William, great stuff!

And yes, keep those pics coming

[pospeh]

Really beautiful with all the fans and cauliflowers.

[FuEl]

Hmmm..If I'm not wrong the frozen red plankton you are using is actually frozen cyclops itself?

[ervine]

Love your sea fans! the yellow one esp!!...

but you state that ur nitrates are 50ppm? Isn't that a little on the high side? No algae explosion?

[woonming]

Viewing this tank LiVe is a 200% WOW ....

[FuEl]

Love your sea fans! the yellow one esp!!...

but you state that ur nitrates are 50ppm? Isn't that a little on the high side? No algae explosion?

No phosphates..then no algae lor. Even with nitrates.. =P

Notice his tangs? How can algae exist?

[Latitude57°]

Excellent looking tank

what about your bio and the pics of the previously loved purple and yellow tang?

[SpiderOne]

damn.. after i saw this lasst night . i began having dreams of a slim profile tall tank full of softies under permanent moonlight. I think im going to be in the market again

[juan rahmat]

[williammuk]

Hi all, thank you very much for your kind compliments.

It has been a year-long learning experience for me. Thanks to SRC, I have a place I can go to learn from the experts, ask questions and clarify my doubts.

I enjoy experimenting ... so this is just my way of having fun.

[williammuk]

Hi Sinn, my nitrate reading is always between 25 and 50ppm. I tried to bring it down to 10ppm once using a very popular "nirate-reducing" product but ended up causing other problems for my pets because I didn't have a skimmer. So I'm just going to live with the high nitrate ... seeing that my pets are doing fine.

[DeepBlue]

agree...if you wan to keep the nitrate really down, just have to cut down the number of LS. But in reality...most of us will grow too attached to those guys......I know wat you mean...my tank nitrate is never below 50....

[williammuk]

a great pleasure to see the cauliflower blooming......whenever I see tat...it reminds me of those fantastic dive sites I read in magazines(not a diver yet..)

I remember before the great SRC crash of August, you have quite a bit of pics put up, do you still have them?

Would really like to see some more pics of your tank!

Bro..a quality tank! very nice rockwork and love the way you place your corals!

Hi DeepBlue, yes, cauliflowers are very beautiful. But alas, they have extremely low survival rates. From what I've been reading, it would be very challenging for them to thrive in captivity.

I'm a diver, so I can appreciate what you mean. If you think they look nice in magazines, wait till you see them up close! I recommend you take up diving ... you won't regret it.

Yah, the crash ... all my writings gone! Luckily I still have the those pictures, maybe I'll post them up.

Thanks for your kind words, I'm still learning. I have my fair share of casualties too, you know.

[williammuk]

Nice tank!!! How old is ur cauliflower?? Is it difficult to keep alive?? I heard from frens that cannot last long one.....true or not???

Hi xp95 (Windows? ), the dates of purchase for each of my pets are stated above. A couple of cauliflowers are 5 months old, the others are barely 2 months. All still very "young".

Your friends are right. Do a search on the internet and you'll find some articles on it. They are known to have very poor survival rates. I'd be very happy if I can keep them alive (don't say grow) for 1 year.

[williammuk]

i have to admit william's tank is one of the more neat and unique tank i see......... Anyway always love his tear drop maxima

Thanks for your compliments.

Hee hee ... ... you remembered my Tear Drop Maxima ...

OK, here's an updated photo taken on 13 Sep 2003.

[williammuk]

impressive tank.. sigh it seems u are the one of the most experience reefer here..

skimmerless... i will think your tank's ecology is perfect..

Thanks. But honestly, my reef is not perfect as I have lost many fishes and corals before too. I'm still learning.

[williammuk]

I'm one of the lucky chaps who has seen William's tank in person

Fantastic setup.

Very eco I think

William, great stuff!

And yes, keep those pics coming

Hi onghm, thank you, thank you ... I'm happy to share what I've learnt.

[williammuk]

Hmmm..If I'm not wrong the frozen red plankton you are using is actually frozen cyclops itself?

Sorry, I don't know. From what I can see, the size of the Cyclop-Eeze seems smaller than the Red Plankton. The other problem with the Cyclop-Eeze is that some of them will float on the water surface and go into the overflow.