Pictorial history of Mark's reefs

55 gal plenum system. Sorry no pics, but this story http://www.garf.org/ugly.html

 

75 gal with DSB and RDP Refugium with Plenum, six NO Flourescent tubes, Two powerheads. During this time I built a three tank system in the downstairs office where I began to seriously farm coral. Sorry no pics.

 

 

10 gal with no external filtration, one 36W PC Helios brand pink-blue tube, 2 powerheads. The full description of this tank which was WMAS Tank Of the Month for July 2003 is over to the left on the TOTM tab.

 

75 gal with RDP Refugium and DSB's(Deep Sand Beds). Lighting was morning sun until noon, supplemented with four VHO later adding two 175W 14K MH. Connected to a 40 gal Frag Tank lighted by a 400W 20K MH

 Above is how it started out with a quick algae bloom that was solved by adding clams as seen below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coral farming made a good supplemental income during this time

 

120 gal with RDP Refugium, DSB and "floating" suspended reef. Lighting was the fixture from above, four VHO and two 175W 14K MH

 

 

 

2 gal Nano set up to show wife Donna how cute Nemo can be. (She took the bait)

55 gal with shallow Red Sandstone Sand Bed, HOB filter and a Poormans wavemaker powerhead at one end. Lighting was two VHO tubes, 1 Actinic White and 1 Super Actinic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010-2011
Mountain West Frag Fest Contest to see who could make the best looking aquascape. The Contest Judge said he had never seen anything like it, but could not award it first place because it was cluttered with too much rock underneath the the floating mountains of Pandora (He had not seen the movie Avatar )



Sand and rock from both states made this Hawaii-Utah 9 gal tank unique. Locally raised RBTA'a and my own baby Nemos along with locally grown coral made this tank special to me.
The water movement at the surface is wavy and turbulent because of the single powerhead at the bottom hidden behind the rocks shooting a jet of water straight up. This water movement is inexpensive, yet ideal for tank health. The HOB filter was there 2 weeks every month to run Activated Carbon, an absolute necessity for all reef aquariums.


100+ gal frag tank with absolutely quiet siphon/herbie style overflow and return water again shooting straight up creating a marvelous turbulent wave action. Of all the tanks pictured above plus many not pictured, this was the only one that needed a Skimmer (because of some dead dried LR that I had taken in to bring back to life.

It's wonderful to hear from you. Happy New Year to you and your wife as well.

Thank you for taking some marvelous pictures of my tanks in Bountiful during Reef Tour 2006. I use those pics frequently for reference. Some are above.

How is the cold Midwest?

Please post pics of your upcoming tank.

 

Here are two of your individual closeups that I like. Remember the "trench" that nemo and Dory were supposed to go through not over? Here is the pic you took, looking through the "trench" in the 75 in the window:

 

Here is the Tomato Clown in the Klyxum Coral in the 120 floating reef:

I've recently upgraded

My latest full tank pic.

 

And a recent pic from inside my newest tank in the sun:

 

Right in front you can see a green Brain and pink Bubble coral. These were just a few of the coral that rescued and brought back to full bloom. The morning sun that came in from the window on the left side was one of the biggest reasons for the success.