Tank of the Month - February 2006

March 2006 - Tank of the Month
Daniel McDonald

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Hi, Future Tank of the month WMAS member! Thank you for allowing us to showcase your tank on our website. To assist you in your write up, we have complied a list of things to consider:

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: Daniel McDonald
Location: West, Jordan
Occupation: Student / Lab Tech.
How long have you been in the hobby?  About 4 years
How long have you been a member of the club?  About 2 years
How did you hear about the WMAS? Through a friend

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

Acrylic / Glass: Glass
Size in gallons: 46 Gallon Bowfront, 30 gallon sump/refugium
Dimensions: 36x12x20
Age: (how long has the system been running) My current tank was setup in May of 2004, previously it had been a 20 gallon tank that I had running since about 2001.

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

I have a 250 watt Aquamedic spacelight, with one 10K HQI bulb. I run my lights about 8 hours, from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm. (So I can actually see everything) I run my refugium lights 24/7, at first the plan was to run them on reverse daylight. But now I like looking at all the �bugs� in the tank. Its amazing what creatures are down there.

I really wish I had some actinic supplements. When I first got my spacelight, it came with a 20K XM bulb. The color was awesome, but I wasn�t getting very much growth with them. When that bulb burnt out, I switched to a 10K bulb. The colors seem to be washed out a little, but the growth on my corals has increased dramatically. So I tried some fluorescent bulbs for actinics, but that didn�t do much. My next bulb for the spacelight is going to be the Phoniex 14K. Hopefully get a good blend of growth and color.

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 run a 30 gallon sump/refugium. Half of the tank is a refugium, and the other is my sump. The refugium has its lights on 24/7 and has a lot of extra liverock pieces. I primarily have one type of macro-algae, C. Mexicana. I have some spaghetti Caulerpa growing, but its being out competed by the C. Mexicana. My return pump is a Mag 7, and I run a maxijet powerhead in the tank for added circulation.

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

I really don�t do very many water changes. Maybe once a month. As long as everything is looking good and growing well, I don�t really change it. I clean the glass daily and usually will do a deep cleaning about once a week. But other than that, I don�t do much.

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

I dose with Iodine about once a week. And use kalkwasser about every three days.

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

I feed my fish a combination of 3 foods. I feed daily with spectrum pellet food, and every couple of days I feed them frozen mysis shrimp. I also feed about every couple of days cyclopleez. For the corals, I�ll give them some phyto about once and week and then they also eat the cyclopleez that I feed to the fish.

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

I bought the tank, stand and canopy from another member on the board. The tank was a standard 46 bowfront, which the previous owner drilled. When I bought the tank I ended up sanding both the stand and canopy down, and repainting it to a different color.

9)      Stand and Canopy

Color: Black with a rustic look to it.

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

Favorite Fish:  Both my clowns, they�ve been in the tank the longest.
Favorite Coral:  Piece of Idaho grape acro that I got from ssilcox
Favorite Polyps:  sun polyp
Favorite Crab:  Horse shoe crab

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