Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Been posting and looking around here for a few weeks now. I kinda like the place, and decided it was time to do a bit about my tank.
I started my first 'reef' tank circa 1982. Trying to follow what I was reading of the 'Berlin method' systems at the library (yeah, I'm old). Shut down a 220 in wall reef in '04, due to several factors, family business left me with little time to maintain it, lack of maintenance led to dramatic losses, loss of interest kept me from trying to save it. Sold it all off. Out of reefing for over a decade.
Set up this 60g Marineland cube July 2015. I'll never have another tank bigger than 125 or so. Maintenance on a large system contributed heavily to driving me out of the hobby.
So... Tank going well, though growth rates were a bit slow, headed into Christmas 2016. Bought myself a halide setup to replace the Aquaticlife Halo I was using, and while waiting on that to arrive, I did _something_. Not sure I'll ever identify exactly what. I suspect I put hands coated in gun cleaning chemicals into the tank, but, whatever the cause, the result was near total wipeout. All my corals except one small Acan frag and a single head of a branching hammer, a deresa clam, and 4 fish. All Gone.
I've spent the last couple of months doing dramatic water changes, running carbon, cleaning _everything_ thoroughly... added a small frag of pocillipora just over a week back, seems to be holding it's own. So, I'm about to start rebuilding the reef, but not changing any hardware. I did hang my new light, but that's all that's changing.
So, free standing system, view-able 'in the round', so to speak. Some key features, starting at the top:
Excuse the mess, I added the BRS mini reactor after my recent crash, and haven't yet cleaned up the mess I made with the electric and plumbing. I'll get there, eventually.
Anyway, if anyone has any specific questions about any of the gear I'm using, I'd be happy to expand (or expound, anyway). Nice place you have here
I started my first 'reef' tank circa 1982. Trying to follow what I was reading of the 'Berlin method' systems at the library (yeah, I'm old). Shut down a 220 in wall reef in '04, due to several factors, family business left me with little time to maintain it, lack of maintenance led to dramatic losses, loss of interest kept me from trying to save it. Sold it all off. Out of reefing for over a decade.
Set up this 60g Marineland cube July 2015. I'll never have another tank bigger than 125 or so. Maintenance on a large system contributed heavily to driving me out of the hobby.
So... Tank going well, though growth rates were a bit slow, headed into Christmas 2016. Bought myself a halide setup to replace the Aquaticlife Halo I was using, and while waiting on that to arrive, I did _something_. Not sure I'll ever identify exactly what. I suspect I put hands coated in gun cleaning chemicals into the tank, but, whatever the cause, the result was near total wipeout. All my corals except one small Acan frag and a single head of a branching hammer, a deresa clam, and 4 fish. All Gone.
I've spent the last couple of months doing dramatic water changes, running carbon, cleaning _everything_ thoroughly... added a small frag of pocillipora just over a week back, seems to be holding it's own. So, I'm about to start rebuilding the reef, but not changing any hardware. I did hang my new light, but that's all that's changing.
So, free standing system, view-able 'in the round', so to speak. Some key features, starting at the top:
- Hamilton Bimini Sun -w- 250w DE 14,000k bulb
- BRS screen top -w- eggcrate cut around mounts
- Maxspect Gyre 130
- 4" oolitic DSB Controversial these days, but I'm a believer
- Stock overflow converted to Herbie -w- External return
- Mosaic tile surround, the work of my daughter, Kaitlyn.
- Custom Stand designed to give me a little elbow room in a compact system
- Eshopps RS100 Sump
- Reef Octopus SRO1000SSS
- BRS Mini reactor - Carbon GFO mix
- Tunze ATO -w- Tunze inline Kalkwasser doser, Eshopps ATO Reservoir
- Iwaki return pump
Excuse the mess, I added the BRS mini reactor after my recent crash, and haven't yet cleaned up the mess I made with the electric and plumbing. I'll get there, eventually.
Anyway, if anyone has any specific questions about any of the gear I'm using, I'd be happy to expand (or expound, anyway). Nice place you have here
