Featured Tank, First Quarter, 2010

Robb in Austin's 58 Gallon Reef Tank

How did you get started in the hobby?
The first time I developed an interest in salt water was back in the late 80's. My girlfriend at the time gave me an old 20g long her family had, plus a box of Instant Ocean and a few odds and ends. After some basic research, I decided I couldn't go into it due to cost and turned it into a mollie/guppy tank. Flash forward to 2003-04 and we have 10g, 29g then 50g FW setups and I start getting the bug for SW again. In 2007, I started doing serious research and decide to set up something. Looked at going the nano route, then thought about a 29g, and then found my current 58g on Craigslist. During the fall of 2007, I decide on mixed reef with clam/anemone/LPS/softies and start acquiring equipment. I set up in January 2008 with just water and rock I picked up from MAAST, and added my first livestock (aside from hitchhikers) in February 2008.



System Profile (what gear/makes/models/photo period/etc.?)
58g Oceanic Shaker setup. Aquactinics TX5 light (running a mixture of ATI and Giesemann lamps currently). Tunze 9010 skimmer; decided on this due to in tank or in sump flexibility. Koralia 2. Vortech MP40W. Visitherm stealth heater. Buckeye Field Supply Premium series 75gpd RO/DI unit. Red Sea Coral Pro salt. Bulk Reef Supply two stage GFO/GAC reactor fed by a MJ1200. I use BRS high capacity GFO and their activated lignite GAC. I run my lamps ten hours a day. The TX5 has two lamps on one switch and three on the other switch. I have actinic lamps in the first circuit and run them as a dawn/dusk period of about two hours each way. Pavestone pulverized limestone for substrate. Supplement with B-Ionic two part, Kent Tech M. Test kits from API and Elos(Mag). Sybon refractometer.



     

     

Walk us through livestock (corals/fish/inverts).
Fish: pair of Clarkii clowns (A. clarkii), tailspot blennie (Ecsenius stigmatura), six line wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia), blue green chromis (Chromis viridis), royal gramma (Gramma loreto).
Inverts: two peppermint shrimp, cerith, nassarius, GBTA, two crocea clams, asterina stars, some type of oyster, pencil urchin.
Corals: zoanthids, xenia, anthelia, ricordeas, GSP, green/red trachyphyllia, acan, galaxea, hammer, frogspawn, trumpet.
The fish eat an assortment of Omega One marine flakes, supper veggie kelp flakes, PE Mysis, and frozen Formula 1 and 2.

     



What does your spouse think of the tank?
As any married member can verify, spousal approval is key. She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) took a lot of interest initially when all the critters first showed up, constantly looking at the tank through the magnifying glass. She still gets enjoyment out of it, but less than before. She "would like it more if it were cleaner!" Of course, fish store trips always raise her pulse. My daughter and her friends, all under ten years, take a lot of interest, which is nice.



     

     

Dumbest thing you've done around the tank?
Uhhhh. I think I have been lucky; no crashes, no tearing it down to get rid of a damsel. Lots of research prior to setting it up was the key. My only real issue has been with GHA. Lax maintenance and flake food are the key contributors, I think.

     

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do different?
I would have the tank drilled. I really struggled with having it drilled and have regretted it from about the 3rd month it was up. And maybe started with a 75.



     

What's next for the tank?
Upgrade! I've been planning/gathering equipment since the spring, but school has gotten in the way of getting it done. Going to a 75, drilled, with a 30g sump and Eheim 1260 for return. I had Prof at Epic Reef drill it and build the Calfo style overflow for me. Going with the BeanAnimal Silent and Failsafe Overflow as seen on RC. The Vortech was purchased for the upgrade, but I threw it in the 58 just to play with it. I will be using a 4ft TX5, same skimmer, BRS reactor, heater on the new setup.


How did you find ARC?
IIRC, from MAAST. Reef Central and MAAST were my two main sources at first. ARC seemed to be quiet at the time I started. I am really encouraged with the growth of the club over the last two years and the constant interaction on the board these days. Way to go ARC peeps! Now, ARC and RC are my two main sources, and pretty much in that order.