May 2008

Chuck’s (R-BallJunkie) 90 Gallons Reef Aquarium

The Tank:

It started in the Army with me, 1991, after a tough deployment, found myself in another nice tour 18 km south of the border, in Uijeongbu <where the show MASH> was based in Korea for a one year deployment.  I got a 20 gallon tank fresh water aquarium, kind of a coping mechanism and then another, and another.  I soon had 4 tanks in my barracks room. 

I can still remember catching a cab to go buy a replacement tank in the village for the one I broke trying to clean it in the tub, so my poor Oscars wouldn’t die.  40 bucks was allot of money back then.  It didn’t stop there.  Back in the US, at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, it grew to 6 tanks. I was fortunate enough to be in “good” situations, where I could keep them.  I traded the 6 tanks in for something new, the year was 1992, and it WAS saltwater fish, and it has been a downhill slide from there.

I flailed away at it for a couple more years, till my early 20’s caught up, and all of a sudden, college, girls and partying took higher priority.  One more saltwater stint for a year or so, close to graduating college, graduated, and traveled a bit.

Fast forward to 2006, house wife, kid on the way, and my brother moves to LA and asks to “store” his new, never used 72 gallon Oceanic bowfront aquarium.  Sorry sucka.  I set it up.   Curing live rock in the living room tested my marriage.

The 90 gallon, as current, is my second reef tank.  In some ways, still new to reefing, always learning.  My set up is quite basic, no frills, controllers, X-10, remote HTTP access.  I rely on gravity and common sense for the most part. 

Lighting:

The main tank is lighted by two 250W, 10K MH bulbs (bought from Ebay for a cheap price) and four T5 actinic bulbs.  The MH bulbs are turned on from 12am to 10 pm while the T5 bulbs are on from 10am to 10:30 pm.  All bulbs are driven by Icecap ballasts.  The sump is lighted by two cheap 65K bulbs.

Flow/Filtration:

Main tank flow is provided by two  Hydor Koralia 4 and the  Mag Drive  9.5 as return pump.  The sump is a  AGA megaflow converted with chaeto and has bare bottom.  A Coralife Needlewheel skimmer rated for 220G tank is used for waste removal.

Maintenance:

Maintenance includes a 20 gallon change of water every 2 to 3 weeks.  Tank is topped off via a Kent float valve which is not tied direct to sump but to another container.  I used to dose kalk but stopped as it clogged my lines too frequently.

Parameters:

 I'm not sure about my tank parameters since I rarely test for anything.  Temperature is under 82, using a 1/10 hp chiller and fans on the lights

Feeding:

I feed my tank with my own mix, modeled after Eric B. recipe, adding  sme pellet and some flake every other day.  For supplementation, I dose with 2 part recipe, Alk, Ca, Mg:  6 squirts of the alk and ca, a splash of mg (sounds like a mixed drink, I will have another) every day, or when I remember.   Nothing else added.

Inhabitants:

Accolades:

Special thanks to my wife Adrienne, for her patience, driving around town for corals, putting up with my hidden purchases.

Special thanks to my little boy Chase, who loves to sit and point out the fish.  I hope it is truly developmental for him.