WMAS - Tank of the Month
Marzena Blundell

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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 compiled 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: Marzena Blundell
Location: Centerville, UT
Occupation: Currently a Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse, but still a Pirate at heart
How long have you been in the hobby? 6 years
How long have you been a member of the club? 6 years
How did you hear about the WMAS? Dated the club president, and then married him

2) Describe your tank. Acrylic or glass? Size in dimensions and gallons. How long has it been set up?
Acrylic / Glass: Acrylic tank with a glass sump
Size in gallons: 150 gal tank, 75 gal sump
Dimensions: 5 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet
Age: (how long has the system been running) Less than 4 months, started June 2006!

3) Describe your lighting system, including your photo-period. Add what you would change if you could.
Currently running two bulbs. Just two 400 watt 14K halides. They come on at 8am and go off at 10pm. That is it.


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.
Very detailed setup. Medium sand bed made of half Utah Oolitic and half CaribSea Aragonite. About two inches thick in general. Some live rock (25 pounds?) and some Utah rock (50 pounds?). Plus a lot of rock attached to the back wall making a rock face. One return pump (1,000 gph) but TWO closed loops each running at 3,500 gph. So 8,000 gph water flow in the tank. Closed loops each have 4 returns through spa fittings. The return drains through a filter sock, which has been a fabulous addition.
Skimmers, skimmers, skimmers- four to be exact. Four skimmers running 24/7 and a phosban reactor with occasional use.
No refugium. No algae.

5) What are your maintenance techniques? Include water change schedule.
Change the filter sock every day. Water changes every 6 weeks (50 gal at a time). Empty the skimmers once per 3 months.


6) What additives do you use? Kalkwasser, Strontium, Molybdenum, Iodine, Magnesium, Other
About 1 teaspoon of carbonate buffer per day. Once a week a little bit of calcium additive.

7) Describe your feeding philosophy. Include your schedule, and what you prefer to feed your system?
Usually feed Adam�s Gumbo. Sometimes cyclopeeze, golden pearls, rotidiet, arctic pods, and a ton of other foods that we�ve accumulated over the years. We have more of a variety of foods than anyone else.
Nori sheets added about once per week.

8) DIY ie, Calcium reactor, stand / hood, skimmer, sump, ect. Any Do-it-yourself items of interest? Web-sites that you may have referenced?
The stand and canopy have been re-built. We added several supports and a new frame work to the stand. Best move we made was re-wiring the room. This tank is running on THREE completely separate 20 amp circuits. No other real DIY items.

9) Stand and Canopy
Wood: Light Oak looking surface
Color: Light Oak looking surface
Special Characteristics: None

10) Items of interest: Favorite or unusual Fish, coral, or invertebrate
Favorite Fish: Tangs, Tangs, Tangs. All Marzena wants are Tangs. The more unusual the better.
Favorite Coral: SPS, Marzena loves tabletop across and acro that is blue.
Favorite Polyps: Adam loves the Blundell Buttons, but Marzena only has a few.
Favorite Sponge: Yuck!
Favorite Crab: Little hairy brown guy that lives in one of the acros
Favorite Worm: Yuck!
Favorite Clam: Two crocea, but hoping to get a nice gigas sometime soon!

11) Can you include a table showing your elemental levels of Ca+, alkalinity, S.G., temperature, pH and other interesting testables?
The tank has never been tested for anything besides salinity. New water is tested for salinity at the time of a water change. Anywhere between 1.022 and 1.026 is good enough and is added. Temperature stays between 80 and 83.

12) What experiences and challenges have you had with the tank? Any lessons learned? Is there anything you would do differently than others (or differently than previously)? If so, why?
Utah rock has lots and lots of dirt. May not be worth the hassle to use on future tanks. Drilling the tank and planning the plumbing really helps out. Having a big sump with room to work can help out. Best move we made was re-wiring the room for the tank.
You have to know how your tank is going to work. In this case Marzena doesn�t like algae and didn�t want a refugium. To make that possible she used 4 skimmers in her setup.

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