November Tank of the Month
Jim LaMunyon

 

Check out the PowerPoint presentation on Jim's tank by clicking here!


November’s tank of the month is owned by one of our northern most members. The aquarium set up is well thought out and provides an environment where many different fish and coral species thrive. The tank contains a diverse mix of both hard and soft corals. In fact, two of the most stunning corals are a plating montipora and a large sarcophyton. Jim and his family are enthusiastic about sharing their aquatic hobby with visitors. If you ever find yourself near Logan, take the time to see this tank! Thanks again to Jim and his family for showcasing their tank with the WMAS!

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: Jim LaMunyon
Location: Richmond, Utah
Occupation: Chemist
How long have you been in the hobby? 3 years
How long have you been a member of the club? 3 years
How did you hear about the WMAS? I found the WMAS website before moving to Utah from Oregon. I had originally planned to set up there, but due to a job change, held off until after the move.

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

Acrylic / Glass: AGA glass with corner overflow
Size in gallons: 65
Dimensions: 36” x 18” x 22”
Age: (how long has the system been running) System has been up for 2.5 years.

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

Twin 175W 10k MH bulbs provide lighting with actinic supplementation from two 40W fluorescent bulbs. This was purchased as a ‘retro-kit’ from Hamilton technology. The refugium mounted to the side (and above) is lit by an 18W 50/50 bulb. The RDP sump is lit by the Home Depot ‘Lights of America’ outdoor 65W PC bulb/housing purchased for $30.

The actinics are on for 11 hours/day and the MH for 9 hours. The sump in the stand is lit on a reverse cycle from the MH bulbs.

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.

Filtration is provided from a number of sources. The tank has 65# Fiji liverock and about 40 pounds of the infamous aragocrete for base rock. There is around 200# of oolitic sand in the tank/sump/refugium bringing the deep sand bed/worm farm to around 4” depth in the main tank. There are three powerheads and a return to provide circulation. One of the powerheads feeds the display refugium, pumping water up from the main tank. There are no siphons on this system; all the return water flow between the tanks is all by gravity overflows. The main return pump in the sump is a Sen 700.

Algae caulurpa, etc. is harvested and discarded regularly. The system has light skimming provided by an inexpensive SeaClone skimmer.

Lots of critters from worms, snails, small crustaceans, hermit crabs, miniature brittle stars, etc. make up the clean-up crew. I’m always looking for more, if anyone has a few stomatella sp. snails they would like to part with (hint, hint). Soon after setting up the tank, I added fish, mostly from Bird World, as Logan has no pet store carrying salt water livestock. Immediately all the crustaceans (amphipods, hermits, shrimp, etc.) died. I assume it was from adding water (with copper) from the pet store to the tank. I ran an ion exchange resin for about 6-8 months to chelate the metals out. Every few weeks I would add some amphipods, mysis, and copepods siphoned from a friend’s tank. After the running the resin for 8 months, they started to survive and multiply. The algae then slowly receded. I also added a couple more tangs (for a total of 3) to add their efforts. The hair algae has since evacuated the main tank for the more benign areas of the sump and refugium.

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

I change about 5-10% of the water a month, depending on how ambitious I am feeling. I also change the carbon every couple months. The make-up water is run through a RO unit before use.

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

The only additives I use are the SeaChem Reef Builder (alkalinity) and Reef Advantage (calcium). These are bought dry and what is needed is dissolved in a little water before adding to tank. I also have some buffer, but haven’t used too much since the pH has held fairly stable.

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

I feed my tank daily and alternate between Vibragro pellets and Formula Two. Once or twice a week I will add a little Cyclops-eze for the corals. At the same time I usually add some golden pearls (active sphere size) and Tahitian Blend algae paste for the clams. I feed quite a bit, but that is mostly due to a lack of hair algae in my main tank. When I went through my algae bloom, I fed less to force the tangs to forage more. I originally bought the Cyclops-eze when I purchased a mandarin dragonette a few months ago. It was feeding on it in the store. However, I have yet to see the mandarin feed on the Cyclops-eze in my tank. Go figure. I used to feed the rose BTA anemone, but got tired of it splitting frequently. Since cutting it’s food intake by direct feeding, it has split only twice and the growth between splits has slowed.

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 is built of braced 2 x 4’s with an oak plywood cap and trim. Nothing fancy. I also built the hood from oak and installed the Hamilton lights. Some of the base rocks were aragocrete. That idea came from Tom Miller (Smithfield, UT) and the GARF website. I am take it or leave it on the looks of aragocrete, but since it is under the natural live rock, you can’t really tell. It has also been covered with corals, coralline, sponges, etc. The sump is a 20 gal aquarium with acrylic dividers put in with a little silicon. The sump also has a sand bed, live rock and is lit on a reverse cycle from the halides. If I had it to do over again, I would build the stand a little taller to facilitate working underneath. The plumbing between the tanks is done with PVC from our friendly Home Depot.

9) Stand and Canopy

Wood: Oak Canopy, oak veneer plywood on stand.
Color: Natural with outdoor spar varnish (like on a cabin, or outside door).
Special Characteristics: I did not enclose the hood totally, but left strips in the top open for ventilation. Has a small fan that blows air into the hood to keep from overheating with all that light. Does increase evaporation a bit (~1 gal/day.

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

Favorite Fish: Purple tang (me), mandarin (wife), clownfish (kids)
Favorite Coral: I know everyone has it, but I like the fluorescent ‘green slimer’.
Favorite Polyps: Several flavors of zoanthids, like the purple ones.
Favorite Sponge: Have several types from the rock, the yellow, encrusting is nice.
Favorite Crab: Only have 5-8 blue legs in the tank, so not much selection there.
Favorite Worm: There are tiny feather dusters everywhere. Orange ones best.
Favorite Clam: Have two crocea clams, like the blue color.


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

With all the stony corals, I use quite a bit of my two additives. I try to keep the calcium level around 375-400 and alkalinity around 10-11. The pH has always been around 8.1 and doesn’t seam to fluctuate much. Temperature at 78F, and S.G.=1.024. The main thing is that I try to see if everything is out and extended. The only real problems came with the crustacean crash and algae bloom after first adding fish. Another bad experience was not testing for about a month (or adding anything) and the alkalinity level got a bit low. Now I usually test 1-2 times per week.

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?

If I had it all to do over, I would go with a bigger tank since I am nearly out of space. (I’m sure everyone else in the club (with the possible exception of Jim Perry wishes they, too, had a bigger tank.) A taller stand to make it easier to work underneath would also be a great help. Also, when first set-up, I had a small mantis shrimp come in with the live rock and it managed to eat a couple nice shrimp dinners at my expense. I never could catch it to put in a small tank of it’s own. The copper crash after adding the fish store water got him (as well as every other crustacean in the tank).

One thing that greatly helped before setting up my tank was to go see the 2001 reef tour shortly after moving to Utah. Anyone contemplating this hobby should see a few tanks for ideas before spending any $$$. For example, one of the best tanks on the 2001 tour was Chris Rodesh’s combination SPS/soft coral reef running an inexpensive seaclone skimmer. Paul Taylor, on the 2003 tour, is running a nice SPS tank, skimmerless. Lots of different things are out there, and as long as people are attentive to their reef, most can be successful. Even Adam’s dump-bucket, acrylic creation from the 2001 tour was unique.

I also had a friend in Oregon that had a tank with one of these veneered particle board stands purchased in a local pet shop. He had a slow plumbing leak and later a collapse. As a result I overbuilt my stand with 2 x 4’s then put on a plywood cap. Not as pretty as it could be, but no problems (yet), either.