Aquarium Profile

The aquarium is an All Glass Aquarium 120 gallon tank. The tank has two built in megaflows, allowing for 1200 gph in overflow. The tank is connected to a 40-gallon sump with a modified refugium built in. The sump was a DIY project and a great learning experience.

Lighting

The lighting is a 48-inch Outer Orbit T5 fixture. The outer orbit consists of 4 x T5 54 watt actinic bulbs and 2 x 150 watt 10,000 k MH bulbs. This lighting system works great in both the 75 and 120. The actinic bulbs are on from 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. and the MH bulbs are on from 12:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. The refugium has a 14 inch 9,000 k compact that is run from the time I wake up till I go to bed.

Water Movement

My tank has a lot of movement inside. A Mag 12 powers the dual overflows. The overflows are run near the maximum 1,200 gph. Two number 3 and two number 2 Koralia powerheads are also constantly moving water. All together the water movement in the tank is about 4,100 gph. Having this much movement can be a challenge in placement of soft corals. However, to this point I have not had any coral appear to be stressed by the high amount of water movement in the tank.

Filtration

I currently have about 150 lbs of live rock and 60 lbs of sand. The reason I don’t have more sand is because I did no place any under the rocks. All the sand in the tank is in front of the rocks to prevent the rocks from shifting and falling, or dead spots from forming. My skimmer is a Turboflotor 1000 Multi. I decided on this skimmer because my initial 75 gallon tank did not use a sump. I knew I would upgrade to a larger tank with a sump and needed a skimmer that could still be used after the upgrade. I now have my skimmer in the sump where it is skimming 24 hours a day. In the sump I also use carbon in the bubble box, next to the drain tubes.

Maintenance

The skimmer cup is cleaned about every 3-4 days. I clean all pumps and the skimmer about every 4-5 months in a vinegar/water solution. Doing this simple maintenance makes a huge difference in the performance of the skimmer and pumps; I recommend everyone do this a little more often. I do between 5-10% water changes every week. If I am doing a 5% I will do that twice in one week (I don’t use this method to often). I also run a Tunze osmolator to keep the salinity stable. After the upgrade to the 120 I realized evaporation was going to be a much bigger problem. My salinity prior to the osmolator would fluctuate between 1.025-1.028 in just one day’s time. The osmolator adds about 2 – 2.5 gallons of water each day.

Fish

The fish I currently have has changed a great deal from my initial plan. The Mandarin fish is what really pulled me into the hobby. Since I want a Mandarin, the fish I currently have were all picked so that the Mandarin a good environment.

2 x Amphiprion ocellaris (Ocellaris Clown)
1 x Salarias faciatus (Lawnmower Blenny)
1 x Gramma loreto (Royal Gramma)
1 x Bodianus bimaculatus (Two spot hogfish)
1 x Ecsenius stigmatura (Tailspot blenny)


Coral

The coral is mixed with soft and SPS corals

1 x ORA neon green toadstool
1 x ORA blue
1 x ORA green
1 x Frogspawn
1 x Colt Coral
1 x Blue w/ brown skit zoas
1 x watermelon zoas
1 x purple with green center start polyps
1 x green start polyps
1 x Pink Birds Nest
1 x Orange Montipora


Invertebrates

Lots of different types of snails
4 x red leg Hermit crabs
2 x Fighting Conchs
1 x Bubble Tip Anemone
1 x Lysmata amboinensis (Cleaner shrimp)

Feeding

I try to make sure that the diet is varied. I rotate between brine, mysis, finely chopped krill, and plankton for the carnivores. For the omnivores/herbivores I offer seaweed sheets and a couple of frozen foods for herbivores and omnivores. I dose the entire tank with DTs and cyclo-peeze, alternating the two every other day for the corals. The fish all seem to really enjoy the cyclo-peeze as well and I count that as a feeding for the fish too. I try to feed the fish a small amount two times a day. Normally this is about ¼ of a frozen cube per feeding.


Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Aquariums in Edmond and Premier Aquatics in Tulsa for all their help. I would also like to thank COMAS for the endless information the club offers. All their help has enabled me to enjoy a spectacular saltwater reef. This is something I would not have been able to accomplish with my own limited knowledge 2 years ago.