Featured Member – Take 2
By: Eric and Sheila Ropke
Featured Member
Tank Size: 110 Gallon – 48″x24″x22″ Lighting: 2x250w MH with 10k XM’s and 220w of VHO URI Super Actinic. VHO’s are on from 11am to 11pm. MH’s are on from 1pm to 9pm. Filtration: My Reef Creations MR-1 Protein Skimmer run with a Gen-X 6000 pump in a 30 gallon sump. 10 gallon refugium, fed from sump with a Maxi-Jet 600, with Chaetomorpha only lit by 18w PC 50/50 bulb run on reverse daylight.  Return pump is a Mag 9.5 going to a SCWD with 2 outlets in the tank. A Mag 12 as a closed loop pump running a spraybar in the back of the tank on the bottom blowing to the front. There are also 2 Rio Seio 820’s in the tank along with a Maxi-Jet 1200. |
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Blue Jaw Trigger |
 Alkalinity – 10.2 dkh Calcium – 430 ppm Nitrate – 0 ppm Phosphate – 0 ppm Magnesium – 1300 ppm pH – 7.9 to 8.1 Temp. – 78 to 81  For topping off the tank we use a Tsunami AT-1 auto top off unit with a 10 gallon tank holding the top off water. A Korallin C1502 Calcium Reactor is taking care of the Alkalinity and Calcium demands of the tank. Mainenance Routine: I try and do a 5 gallon water change once a week but sometimes miss and then do 10 gallon change the next week. The skimmer is cleaned once a week to keep it running at peak performance. Glass cleaning when needed, usually once a week or so.  Nori on a clip is feed generally every day. A blender mush is feed usually every 2 or 3 days. The blender mush consists of prepackaged foods as well as fresh seafood. |
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What Major Transitions Has This Tank Went Through:This aquarium has only been running for 11 months and has been pretty smooth sailing. I would say the most major transition to this tank has been the addition of a calcium reactor. Mixing kalkwasser on a daily basis gets very tedious very quickly. What Drives This Beautiful Aquarium: Our love of the animals is what drives us to do our best at providing them with the proper requirements to thrive throughout there life. Future Plans: The plan for this tank is to let everything grow out nice and big. Some times we don’t think that is ever going to happen with all the fragging we do. We are in the process of planning a 210 gal. in which our 120 gal. softie and LPS will be moved into. |
In your mind, what is ethical reefkeeping?Ethical reefkeeping to us is keeping our inhabitants healthy and happy. Sharing corals with others with the hope of one day minimizing what is taken off the reefs. And sharing our knowledge with others to minimize mistakes that cause loss of reef life.
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 Plan!! – Don’t be in a rush to get a tank set up. Plan it out and save up if you have to in order to buy quality equipment. Doing it right the first time will save you a lot of money and headaches in the future. Be patient!! – The reefs weren’t built in a day neither should yours. Taking your time with setting up a tank is very difficult due to the excitement of the end result, but taking your time is so important in building a stable environment for the critters we find so fascinating. Keep it simple!!  |
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