Ultramarine Magazine Issue 64 JuneJuly 2017

67

too quickly and the cylinders
needed cleaning regularly to
prevent the alarm going off.
Having said all that, I think the
Dastaco is still a great product
and remains my fi rst choice for
this purpose.
The lighting choice was much
harder as, during the upgrade,
I ran the 2 tanks in tandem
with the aim of transferring
stock when the new tank was
ready. As a result I thought

that duplication of equipment

was prudent even though I

knew the old tank equipment

needed to be upgraded due to

the increase in water volume.

I started off with halides and

T5s and the new lighting

rig consisted of an Iquatics

stainless steel bar hanging kit

(as I felt it was all too heavy to

hang from the ceiling or wall).

This meant fi tting a back cover

and bolting the rails to this (all

a bit Heath Robinson!) but the

light was amazing. I used 20k

Radium bulbs plus actinic and

blue T5 tubes and this provided

corner to corner coverage.

Moving on, the lights have

now been upgraded to 2 x

Orphek Atlantik V3 (mounted

on DD rails) which I have

upgraded from the original

2.1b and now have 5w LEDs

and a diff erent spectrum. I have

to supplement these with an

EcoTech Radion G3 Pro and a G4

Pro (both XR15s) along the back

though as most of the corals

are at the front to middle. I still

feel the lighting is not ideal as I

believe you really need wall-to-

wall LEDs to prevent shading.

Of course this does not apply

to every tank though as rock

structures, tank footprint and

stocking/placement are always

unique. Anyway, I should be

upgrading to add 2 of the new

Orphek V4 fi xtures to replace

the Radions in the very near

future and this should ensure

excellent coverage over the

entire aquascape.

For controlling nutrients,

I have a large Korallenzucht

(KZ) skimmer powered by a

Jecod 4000lph pump, and a

re-circulating biopellet reactor

by Reef Dynamics. These are

both great but need regular

maintenance. While these items

are located in the second sump

chamber, I have Miracle Mud

and Cheatomorpha in the 3rd

chamber plus a small reactor

for if I need to use carbon. The

last chamber has a back-up

heater, 2 x D-D FR509 fl uidised

reactors (for Rowaphos),

the return pump and ATU.

There is also a Pinpoint probe

connected to an Aquamedic

computer monitoring the

pH. Maintenance-wise, I have

a regular daily, weekly and

monthly schedule which starts

with changing the fi lter socks,

through emptying the skimmer

cup and cleaning the pellet

reactor sieves that get gunged

up with mulm (this slows the

pellet movement and I am

fi nding it diffi cult to get a pellet

that is large enough to last).

The usual changing of GFO

and cleaning the reactors takes

place every 14 days and then

the cleaning of power-heads

and pumps comes next. The

tank usually just needs a run

over with a Fl!pper magnet

to clean the glass, but I have

had the occasional issue

with algae brought about

administering diff erent potions

a little overzealously, or by or

equipment failure.

So that brings us up to the

current date with my system. I

hope you have enjoyed reading

about it and can perhaps take

away something from my

‘journey so far’ that may assist

you in developing your own

reef aquarium!

 Maxwell’s Reef

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