Tank of the month March 2012

[ian]

Hi Everybody.

I would just like to say sorry as i didnt get febs totm done
what with one thing and another just run out of time.



This month Rob from worksop is under the spot light.
Rob is one of our newest members, so here we go.

He has been keeping fish for most of his life, these have
included the good old Trops-Discus-cold water and also cichlids.
Rob started keeping marines 5 years ago,his first tank was a
30"-18" which was upgraded to his present 400lt sumped system
which also has a closed loop for added circulation.







As you can see Robs tank is a bit out of the ordinary as it has
two extra viewing angles ,this gave a different feel to the system.

Eqiupment List

Skimmer is a Deltec Ts1200.
Dosing Pump- GHL.
Return Pump- 6500 LPH.
Closed loop Pump-6500 LPH.
Ozone Unit (TMC) with MV control unit.
300 Watt Heater.

System Lighting

Rob has just upgraded his lights 5 weeks ago from a single
250 Watt halide c/w 2x 24 Watt T5 tubes to the fantastic
AI leds. These consist of 2x units which have a 40-70 split.



Even though they have only been running for 5 week Rob has
already started to see a difference in the tank.
( The thunder storm mode is ace !!!! )

Test Kits

Rob is mainly using Salifert kits but has started to look at the
Red Sea range ( Nitrate and phos ).

Salt

D-D H20.

Additives

Rob doesnt add many additives other than Reef Energy A+B
and Strontium-Iodine + Heavy Metals which are mixed up in his
balling light liquids.





Sump

As mentioned before, part of Rob's system has a loop built into it
for added circulation which is run from the sump.
His sump is split into 4 main parts, first comes the auto top up,
next is the skimmer section after which he has a refugium.
The last part of the sump houses his loop and return pumps +
his reacter with phos remover.







Fish List

Yellow Tang.
Regal Tang.
Flame Angel.
Neon Gobey. ( My fav ).
Pair of Pajama Cardinals.
Three Clowns ( Percula )
Green Mandarin.

Corals

Rob has just started to try some acro frags and other hard corals,
the other corals in his tank include a beautiful leather, finger coral, acan, open brain coral, different coloured mushrooms, elegance coral, candy cane and lots more.













Water Perameters

Nitrate 1 PPM
Phos 0.16 PPM
Salt 1.025
PH 8.3
KH 10.5
CAL 420
MAG 1440.

Here are a few pics of Robs tank in a different mood.









I would just like to touch on another part of rob fishy past times.
Not happy with having his fishy hobby just in the house he also
has taken his past time outside as the next few pics will show.









Question !!!!
I bet you don't know what his star sign is ( P----S ) maybe this has something to do with it !!!!!!!!!!!!.

Well thats it for another month. I would just like to say thankyou
to Rob and his wife for making me very welcome.

Cheers Ian.

[steve]

beautiful tank rob

how are you finding the AI sol's?

[rob2563]

First of all I would like to say a big Thank you to Ian
It was great fun spending time with him and talking about this Fantistic hobby we are lucky to be involved with
Thanks Ian for asking me to be this months TOTM it was a pleasure and I feel privileged to be asked to take part

HI Steve
The Ai sols are fantastic
full power consumption is 70 watts per unit
I only run the units at about 60% maximum for around 2 hours around mid day
The units are fully controllable and the lights are on about 12 hours a day
The leds are set to start off with blue light at around 5% and then the system is programmed to ramp up the my highest setting around midday and then gradually reduce the lighting to nothing at night
a nice gradual sunrise to sunset senario

for me the controll and lighting is more pleasing on the eye
All the corals appear to be doing well including the sps frags

And also the benefit of no heat

the thunderstorm effect is a nice gimmick too
Always a good talking point with guests and great fun

Thanks again to Ian

Regards
Rob

[ian]

Hi Rob,

Thanks pal for the kind words.

Cheers Ian.

PS was a pleasure as always.