Tank of the Month - October

November 2005 - Tank of the Month
Josh Zorn

 
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1)      Your name, location and occupation. Include how long you have been an aquarist, how long you have been a WMAS member and how you heard of our club.

Name: Josh Zorn               
Location: Riverton, UT
Occupation: Student. I want to custom build tanks when I am older. I think the key to being successful is doing what you love so I would like to take my hobby into my occupation.
How long have you been in the hobby? My parents got my first tank before I was born. It was a 29 gallon freshwater. I switched to saltwater four years ago.
How long have you been a member of the club?  I have been active on the message board for a year now and a member for about five months.
How did you hear about the WMAS? I found it on GOOGLE when I was looking at reef aquarium info pages.

2)      Describe your tank. Acrylic or glass? Size in dimensions and gallons. How long has it been set up?

Acrylic / Glass: I have a glass quarter cylinder reef aquarium. I have a 12-gallon DIY sump. I made it from an existing sump and added a refugium chamber where I keep several species of macro algae. Along with many other inverts such as feather duster worms and sponge.
Size in gallons: it is a 55-gallon. I like the bow because it intensifies the look the aquarium inhabitants -like a magnifying glass. You don�t miss things in the corners as well as the bottom.
Dimensions: W 27 1/2�, L 40�, Bow to back 29�.
Age: (how long has the system been running) since May 17, 2004 almost 2 years.

3)      Describe your lighting system, including your photo-period. Add what you would change if you could.

I have a 250-watt mogul base 14k Coralvue halide running on a magnetic ballast. I wouldn�t add anything or take anything away just because I am so happy with the results and colors. I run it 10 am to 9 pm.

4)      Describe your filtration system. Include: How deep is your sand bed, plenum, your skimmer size and model and how long you run it, your circulation pumps (how many and their size in gallons per hour), your sump/refugium  including Reverse Daylight, biowheels and skilters, HOT systems, clean up crew.

I have a Refugium with several types of macro algae and filter feeding inverts. I have two maxi jet 1200 and one power sweep 270. My sand bed in my tank is crushed coral about 2-3 inches through out the tank. I have 60 lbs of live rock. 20 I made using aragocrete. I have a reverse daylight on my refugium. I use two freshwater power compacts for the algae. I think using the fresh water bulbs helps with the algae because they are so much like plants. I have a Seaclone 150 I run 24 hours a day. I run carbon 24 hours and change that every two weeks.

 5)      What are your maintenance techniques? Include water change schedule.

 I do a 10% water change about once a week or every two weeks. I scrape the glass when needed. Clean bulbs, change skimmer. Other than that I let the biological stuff take care of it.

 6)      What additives do you use? Kalkwasser, Strontium, Molybdenum, Iodine, Magnesium, Other.

I use Kent supplies. Calcium, strontium & molybdenum, Iodine, and essential elements. I dose once a week on the weekends. I turn my skimmer off for about 24 hours after I dose.

7)      Describe your feeding philosophy. Include your schedule, and what you prefer to feed your system?

 I feed three times daily. In the morning cyclopeez. Later around 5 I feed a mixture of flake and cyclopeez and at night I spot feed LPS and other carnivorous corals mysis and cyclopeez again. I figure if you feed small amounts often it can repeat and mimic how fish feed in their wild habitats.

8)      DIY i.e., Calcium reactor, stand / hood, skimmer, sump, ect.  Any Do-it-yourself items of interest? Web sites that you may have referenced?

 I made the hood. The tank did not come with one. I also did the sump. I put a bottom and side so I could have a refugium along with bioballs and room for protein skimmer. I would recommend garf.org for DIY plans. They have many acrylic and glass tank plans and furniture plans as well.

 9)      Stand and Canopy

Wood: stand is wood. The hood is made from scrap DIY.

Color: Black              

10)   Items of interest: Favorite or unusual Fish, coral, or invertebrate

Favorite Fish:  My sixline wrasse and maroon clown pair. Great personalities
Favorite Coral: Pink Echinophyllia
Favorite Polyps: Purple with white mouth zoos
Favorite Clam:  My Teardrop maxima

11)   Can you include a table showing your elemental levels of Ca+, alkalinity, S.G., temperature, pH and other interesting testables?

               Salinity: 1.0245 � 1.025 I test once a week with a Refractometer.
               Ammonia: 0
               Nitrate: 0
               Nitrite: 0
               pH: ~ 8.2 I don�t test very often
               Calcium: 400 � 450 ppm

12)   What experiences and challenges have you had with the tank? Any lessons learned? Is there anything you do differently than others (or differently than previously)? If so, why?

I moved to Florida after Christmas in 04 and I hatched BS cysts with the Clorox method. I made so much I wasn�t not able to wash all the Clorox out. I had a huge out burst of cyano bacteria. Killing most of the inhabitants. I am thinking the small doses of Clorox each day killed the biological bacteria and things got off balance. Basically what I have learned is to be patient with your tanks, let them cycle and mature, and to just be as careful as you can with what you introduce. For example washing your hands before you clean the inside and taking caution where ever you can.

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