SCR Member: @ivan
From: Arcadia CA
Years Reefing: 26 years
Favorite LFS: Bobs tropical - in East la
Sps store -in la cañada
Pasadena tropical fish - Pasadena
Introduction
I can’t believe that after being in this hobby for so many years my tank is being featured in SCR. Let me tell you how I started in this hobby. Let’s go back about 40 years when I was born. My dad had a freshwater tank and when I was in jr. high I took over caring for it and decided I wanted to take on the challenge of having a saltwater tank, but didn’t get the chance. It wasn’t until years later in my sr. year of high school that I went to Pet Barn in Pasadena which is gone now. When I walked into the store I saw that they had clownfish. I had always wanted to have that fish. There was something about the way the clownfish moved that always intrigued me and I had to have it. I decided to buy one and they told me that I needed a tank and saltwater and that little fish ended up costing me about $1100.00 and I went home without the fish! They informed me that I needed to let the water cycle for a period of time. I figured who needs to wait for it to cycle and had my sister go back the same day and buy the clown and about 10 other saltwater fish and went home and put them in. Thinking I knew better than them I kept buying fish from different stores. Obviously that was not wise. That was the first of many lessons I would learn on my journey in the hobby. From killing fish and corals to breeding clowns and being featured in SCR it has been quite a ride.
Tank Info.
Display tank – Elos 160XL
Dimensions 32 ½” x 84”
Stand – Elos
Sump – Custom made by Aaron at the SPS store
Protein Skimmer – Bubble King Super Marine 250
Return Pump – ATB
Water Circulation – Tunze
Lights – SFILIGO 2 X 400 MH & 4 TMs combo
Doser – GHL
Control – Apex Classic
Calcium Reactor – Vertex
Auto Top Off – Tunze
Water Parameters
Temperature: 78-80
PH: 8.1 – 8.3
Specific Gravity: 1.026
No3: 0.5 Salifert
Po4: 0.01 Hanna
Calcium: 410 ppms Hanna
Alkalinity: 9-10 Hanna
Mg: 1400 ppms Salifer
1000 gpd RO/DI: TDS 0
Aquascape and Flow
After having so many tanks I always had problems with nitrates and flow. No matter what I tried there was always a dead spot. When I created this aquascape I had in mind something different with a lot of open space on the top and bottom for the flow to circulate. I wanted to give the fish a more open area to swim and hide. I started gathering Tonga rock and handpicked particularly shaped rocks that would work for my design. To make this work I had figure out how to balance the weight so it wouldn’t tip over. I used a lot of tie wraps plus acrylic rods. At first, it looked a little bit ugly because you could see all the tie wraps but as time passed algae and corals began to grow and covered it up. It has become the center of attention in the tank. Supplements and dosing
Husbandry and maintenance
The maintenance on my tank is really low. Thanks to the controller the tank runs on auto most of the time. I clean the front glass, empty the skimmer cup, and replace the filter socks about once every three weeks. I add water to the auto top off reservoir once in a while. Besides that, there isn’t really much maintenance I have to do. I do spend time about twice a month doing water testing. I replace lightbulbs and do a water change about once a year. I’m not telling you not to change your water. Every tank is different. I figured out by not doing water changes very often there was less stress on my SPS. Having an oversized skimmer always helps with water quality. I strongly believe that the skimmer is the heart of the system. The only daily maintenance is feeding the fish and a quick look to make sure everything is working properly.
I use a calcium reactor which I strongly believe not only adds calcium and alkalinity I think it adds more trace elements or supplements than the corals need to thrive. In addition, I dose three-part tropic marine ORIGINAL BALLING to do fine tuning when it’s needed without messing with the calcium reactors settings.
Coral List
Mother of pearls
Strawberry shortcake
Oregon tort
Diabolic pac-man
ASD rainbow milli
S.garret Purple bonsai
Night rider
Pc rainbow
Pink Cadillac
Penope birdnest
Sc orange passion
Confetti
Red dragon
Purple bonsai
Picachu
Blue lagoon
Sunset monti
Rr tropical thunder
Tyree mystic monti
500 efflorescence
Frog sling acro
Wald Disney
Pink lemonade
Cal tort
Sc smurf
Purple stylo
Rr rainbow loom
Setosa monti
Pink diamond
Rastas
Out of chaos
Scramble eggs
Beauty and the beast
Space monsters
Fruit loots
Bam bans
Red Hornets
Purple hornets
Rainbow hornets
Oompa Lupa
Purple palys
Green palys
Sunburst anemones
Rainbow
Green carpet anemone
Green torch
Wall torch
Acan
Space invader
Fish List
3 yellow tangs
2 Achilles
1 blue tang
1 purple tank
1 powder blue tank
1 Pairs of DaVinci clown
1 pair of flakecassos
1 emperor ángel
1 watanabei angel
1 yellow bally regal in quarantine
1 6 line wrasse
1 ugly damsel
1 barcode gem
1 yellow bally regal in quarantine
Tank Food
I feed my fish a little of everything For example Pallets -Dr. Bassleer Marine flake - Omega one Green seaweed for the tangs - V2o foods Frozen foods - PE / HIKARI
Final thoughts
My advice is to go big or go home. The bigger the tank is the more stable it will be which will be less work for you. This is why shortly I will be upgrading to a 480 elos tank. The other thing I believe you need is patience and staying calm when things go wrong. Don’t just panic and overreact when you walk in the house and see cloudy water. Stop and analyze what possibly happened and then slowly adjust what needs to be done. You can cause more harm by overreacting than the original problem would have caused. Always have extra water ready in case you need it and every time you buy a coral buy something for your wife. Because happy wife means happy reef life. It doesn’t have to be the same value as your high-end frag which is $5
Without the help of family and friends like Jerry Del Rio, Aaron, Jackson, my wife, and many more I wouldn’t have a tank like this. They have all contributed in some invaluable way. They have shared knowledge, corals, time, money, and shared my passion with me. Please continue to support this featured reef by leaving a comment below.
