Start Date:
July 1st 2007
Location:
Valdosta, GA
Time in Hobby:
1.5 years total (before I even knew what coral was); Serious about reef keeping since Aug 2006.
Equipment:
150 Gal RR AGA with dual Mega-flows
Background: Black
72X18X28
Total system Volume: 230 Gallons
Overall system height: 79"
55 gallon sump. 50 gallons at optimal operating capacity.
30 gallon fuge
Sump pump: Mag drive 36 (3600GPH)
3-400 watt MH. 2-20,000K, 1-14,000K
1-110 watt 20,000K VHO
2 6" clip on fan in the canopy
2 closed loops circulating 1100 GPH each on timers
400 Watt heater
4 ft DIY skimmer with a Gen X 4100 (1100GPH) pump
2 gal phyto farm harvested weekly
75 GPD RO/DI by thefilterguys.biz
I have replaced every known part of this system's components at least once within the last 6 months getting them to a respectable, safe, and reliable form.
Stats:
200 lbs Live Rock from Tampa and other places
Most of the sand and rock is approximately 6 years old from rehabbed systems with some new mixed with it. Mostly sugar sized sand.
Mixed system (mostly soft but LPS and SPS collection is growing rapidly as I have ventured out)
Sources of livestock:
Exotic Fish Valdosta
Panhandle Pet Supply Valdosta
(I no longer use either b/c of quality, inventory, and knowledge)
Aquatropics Gainesville
Ocean Exotics Gainesville
Extremecorals.com Irvin, TX
4 Combined tanks including 3 rehabbed tanks that were sold locally
Fragging reefers in Valdosta and Gainesville
Parameters:
Temp: 82-84 degrees Fahrenheit
Sal: 1.025
PH: 8.2
Cal: 420ish
DKH: 12 (sustained without replenishment)
Approximate energy consumption provided by RC:
Based on .09 a KWH which is what I am charged in the commercial district.
| Item | KWH/Month | Cost/Month |
| Lighting - full spectrum | 97.33 | 8.76 |
| Lighting - actinic | 194.67 | 17.52 |
| Circulation pump | 262.8 | 23.65 |
| Skimmer pump | 51.1 | 4.6 |
| Powerheads - constant | 0 | 0 |
| Powerheads - intermittant | 56.27 | 5.06 |
| Heaters | 36.5 | 3.29 |
| Calcium reactor | 0 | 0 |
| Chiller | 0 | 0 |
| UV sterilizer | 0 | 0 |
| Ozonizer | 0 | 0 |
| Other (phyto farm) | 54.75 | 4.93 |
| Total | 753.42 | $67.81 |
Recap of my time spent in the hobby.
May 2006 My first reef tank 72 gallon bow. Not even enough corals to see in a picture.
July 2006-same tank just more coral
October 2006-Got a good score on a 75 that I rehabbed
Novemeber 2006-converted 100 gal to reef
March 2007-The 100 after a tank move-Hours before it busted-The corals weren't in it even 3 hours.
March 2007-125 to replace the 100. It was only a little bit more $$. I had also come off of VHO's and onto 400 watt MH there are 4 but at the time of the pic there is only 3.
June 2006-150 gallon-I found out 125 and 150 had the same footprint. Got it up and running 1 week ahead of schedule with the help of a reefer friend. Scheduled wet date was 7-1-7.
Aug 2007
