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Reeflections: Charlie Ehlers 300-Gallon Reef
By: Charlie Ehlers
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Reef Frontiers Advertisement
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Before I get into any of this, I would like to thank Scott Zachow and Gene Schwartz at Reefland.com for selecting my 300-gallon reef for this honor! I would also like to thank Mr. Kevin Pockell, owner of Aquatic Dreams in Spokane, WA, for his unending patience, and understanding. I couldn’t have gotten this far without that. I am humbled. Last but not least, I would like to thank Lorie and AJ for their unending patience. Lorie is the person that got me back into the aquarium hobby almost 10 years ago, and without her understanding and advice I would be dead in the water. THANK YOU!
Tank Introduction:
My main display tank is a 300-gallon custom made Interamerican glass tank. My friend and I dreamed this whole thing in February of 2003, over way too much coffee on a Saturday morning. I got the tank in July that year but had already begun purchasing the equipment; in fact, everything was sitting downstairs just waiting for the build to happen. It finally was setup on January 5, 2004.
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I run a deep sand bed (DSB) at varied depths ranging between 2 and 7 inches, depending on the amount of water flow in any particular area. Teh system was designed to be a Small Polyped Stony coral (SPS) reef, and after 2 years, it is finally starting to get good and broke in.
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Figure 2: Picture of the tank at 1 year.
Figure 3: Picture of the tank at 1.5 years, just after treating for red bugs.
Figure 4: Picture taken 2-25-2006.
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Unfortunately, I have suffered some losses to Tegastes acroporanus (red bugs) but things have actually turned for the better. It was definitely getting a bit crowded, so I took the time and slowly weeded out some corals (fragged!!!!) to get it to where it is now. Providing ample room for the corals to grow, I feel there will b a better long-term result.
A 75-gallon refugium was started in February of 2004, for no particular reason. However, now that I have it I sometimes think that I spend more time watching the critters in the ‘fuge than I spend watching the display. This vessel also doubles as my frag tank. Well, let’s get on to the goodies.
Tank Details:
- Tank Size and Dimensions - 96”L x 30”W x 24”D., custom made by Interamerican in Calgary, Alberta.
- 75-gallon refugium - Chaeto and Razor Caulerpa, and whatever frags that I have. Lighting for the refugium is provided by 2-400W 10K Coralvue Metal Halides.
- 100-gallon Barr Aquatic sump; thanks Brent.
Lighting:
2-3’ PFO hoods w/ 2MH each and 1-4’ PFO hood w/ 2 MH. Combined there are 4-400W Radiums in the back of the tank, and 2-400W 10K Reeflux bulbs in the front. I also run 4-96W VHO actinic and 2-110W VHO actinic. The power company loves me! I just recently went with the 10K’s in front, just to change the blue look a bit. I am beginning to get used to them, and I really like them! Actinic are on 10 AM-11 PM, the halides come on at 3 different times, the longest period being 12PM- 9PM. All 6 are on for a total of 7 hours.
Water Movement:
My main return pump is an Ampmaster 3000 run through 2 returns on the right side of the tank. I have 2 closed loops, one being an Ampmaster 3000 that drives 4-3/4” Sea swirls. The other closed loop is a Little Giant 4 that feeds 3 inlets behind the rock. I actually only use 2 of the inlets, the side ones, for surface movement. This closed loop is being looked at closely for some remodeling. I am thinking about using the 4 holes for an intake system to another Ampmaster 3000, which would feed a Hayward 3 way, and bring it over the top of the center brace and along the eurobrace in front, with 2 or 3 drop-downs on each side, in the front. It's just a thought.
Filtration Equipment and Methodologies:
Nothing special here. I run between 1.5 to 2 cups of carbon 24/7, replaced monthly. My skimmer is a Barr Aquatics 4200, driven by a Iwaki 100 at 2000gph. Last but not least is the refugium, I have Chaeto and Razor Caulerpa in there, which gets harvested once per month.
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Specialty Equipment:
No calcium reactor or kalk reactor. My Kalkwasser is dripped thru a 5-gallon bucket with a hospital drip attached.
Maintenance Routine:
I am pretty anal about my water changes. I do 2-20 gallon changes per week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, using Instant Ocean salt. I have been doing this now for about 4 months and since starting this routine, I have seen some amazing growth of 1/2” per month on some of the corals. I guess there is something to more frequent changes! I use RO/DI water for top-off, making saltwater, and kalk. Nothing special here either, everything is done manually, I find the less moving parts you have to deal with the better.
I try to clean out the top part of my skimmer every 5 days or so, I have found that the performance of the skimmer improves when I do this. The 2-gallon waste container is emptied at least 1 time every 5 days. My skimmer is just like everyone else’s; it has its good and bad days. I have learned not to make a big deal of this. Sometimes less maintenance is more! Intake screens on all pumps are changed out and cleaned monthly and as mentioned before I drip kalk 24/7, usually about 3 gallons per day.
Feeding and Water Chemistry:
I feed my little guys 2 times a day, when I get off work at 5PM, and a little nighttime snack before I go to bed. I use a mixture that I got from Kevin Pockell which includes finely chopped fresh shrimp, freeze dried plankton, formula one cubes and dried sea veggies, usually the brown and red variety. I also throw in some crushed garlic; it kills the smell of the freeze-dried plankton.
I only test for alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, and pH. After the first month or 2, I find that it is a waste of test kits to test for anything else. My critters will tell me if anything else is messed up. I do however keep those old kits around, just in case! My calcium is kept between 400 and 410, the alkalinity is 2.7-2.9, and the pH is at 8.1 in the morning and 8.2 - 8.3 after the lights have been on all day. The reverse photoperiod that the ‘fuge is on helps maintain the pH and keep it stable.
Tank Inhabitants:
Coral - There are 41 different species of SPS coral inhabiting my little reef world and 5 different LPS species. All of the SPS were grown from frags ranging in size from ˝” to 1.5”. This is a something that I am extremely proud of. The LPS were acquired while trading frags. There is one Fiji leather coral in there that hasn’t harmed any of the SPS, and as you can tell by the pictures, is getting rather large!!!! That particular coral also came as a frag that was about 3” around.
Fish
• 1 - Red Sea Purple Tang
• 1 - Achilles Tang
• 1 - Blonde Naso Tang
• 1 - Yellow Headed Sleeper Goby
• 1 - Blue Green Chromis
• 1 - Yellowtail Damsel
• 1 - Pyramid Butterfly
• 1 - Bicolor Angel
• 2 - Lyretail Anthias - paired up
Inverts
• 2 - Cleaner Shrimp
• 1 - Blood Red Shrimp
Clams
• 4 - Croceas
• 2 - Maximas
• 1 - Squamosa
• 1 - Derasa
Future Plans:
I have a 180-gallon acrylic tank just sitting downstairs, waiting for something to happen! If I hadn’t already made plans to move my 80-gallon softie tank into it, this would make a great SPS tank. The possibilities for flow are endless with this tank, but alas I think my softies need a home also. Other than that, and the plan to maybe redo that one closed loop, I think I may be more than happy just to sit back and watch this thing mature. I don’t want to make changes just for the sake of change anymore; I get into trouble when I do that!
Advice For Others:
The last statement under future plans is a perfect lead in to this final part. We all need to learn to be a little more patient, and let things happen as they are going to happen. All to often, you see people trying to hurry things along with chemicals, especially at the start of their tanks. Just sit back, enjoy, and let your tank cycle. If given the proper water conditions and good husbandry, the algae will go away! It is not going to happen overnight or in 1 week or 2. A reef tank is an ever-changing entity, and no 2 tanks are the same. What works for one person may not work for another, but maybe a different variation of the idea will. Keep an open mind when it comes to other peoples thinking.
Another thing is, instead of buying full colonies; I think we need to start looking at buying frags. The oceans have enough problems. We need to become a self-sustaining hobby. I think it can be done, at least in the coral world.
One last thing, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR LETTING ME SHARE!!!
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