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I’ve loved fish since I was a kid. My Mom had a couple freshwater tanks through the years and always enjoyed going to aquariums (even more so now). Back in 2014 I picked up a 29 gallon set up for freshwater to get into the hobby myself. It didn’t take long before I moved into salt water with a 72 gallon bow front. I had a couple of different FOWLR tanks (210, 240) until last year when got a 120 peninsula tank and wanted to start more into reef. I started with basic corals at first, slowly moving into more of an SPS mix. My corals and fish began to outgrow that set up, so I made the move into my current tank.
My current tank is a Marineland 250 gallon deep dimension (60 wide x 27 tall x 36 deep) with a custom stand and canopy built by Ben A. The stand is 43” tall with a bar top around tank that can be disassembled if I ever need to move it, and the overall set up is 99” tall. The system is in the dining room where it can also be seen from the living room and kitchen. The stand and canopy have four doors each, making it accessible from the front and the sides, and it matches the kitchen cabinets and hardware.
The return pump is a Waveline DC12000. Two Apex WAV power heads provide in-tank circulation.
Four Ecotech Radion xr30w Gen 3. I have them set to the Ecotech Coral Lab SPS AB+ template with lunar phase and traveling sunrise. I run them from 1000-2300 at 65%, and plan to increase intensity to 75 % over the next month.
The sump is a Trigger Systems Emerald 39 with an Aquamaxx EM300 skimmer. About 250 lbs of live rock and 250 lbs of live sand provide biological filtration. I use a BRS dual reactor for carbon and GFO, and a 36 watt UV sterilizer.
I do weekly 10% water changes using Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salt. I haven’t needed to dose anything since switching to this salt.
With so many fish I feed three times a day to keep them fat and healthy. An auto feeder dispenses PE Mysis pellets around 1130. I manually feed seaweed sheets (green, red, purple) in the early evening on two veggie clips, and Reef Frenzy frozen food with Selcon later at night.
Getting the alkalinity to a good level when calcium and others were already good. Keeping algae under control and cleaner crew stocked up. The negative of having Harlequin Tusk is it loves to eat inverts.
I’d like to finish a few more trim pieces for the stand and canopy, and would like to have bar top done to match the kitchen counters.
This is a very fun but challenging hobby as we all know, but there’s something about that feeling you get when you know you are re-creating a small piece of the ocean in your home. I’ve made some pretty good friends with people I never would have met if it weren’t for this hobby.
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- Salinity 1.025-1.026
- Temperature 78-78.5
- Alkalinity 8.3
- Calcium 450
- Phosphate 0.24
- Nitrate 0
- Display: 250gal DD
- Sump: Trigger Emerald 39
- Skimmer: Aquamaxx EN300
- Lighting: Ecotech Radion x30rw G3 x4
- Return Pump: DC12000
- Circulation: Two Apex WAVs
- ATO: Smart ATO
- Goldflake angel
- Purple tang
- Powder blue tang
- Bariene tang
- Yellow belly hippo tang
- Desjardini tang
- Blonde naso tang
- Yellow tangs x3
- Blue jaw trigger pair
- Lightning maroon clown pair
- Foxface x2
- Leopard wrasse (1 male, 2 female)
- Female bluestar leopard wrasse
- Potter’s wrasse
- Melanurus wrasse
- Red head solon wrasse
- Green chromis x9
- Lawnmower blenny
- Multi color monti
- Red monti
- Rainbow monti
- Red Planet acropora
- Gold wall hammer
- Reverse hammer
- Sunny D zoas
- Orange Bam Bam zoas
- Misc acros
- 4 or 5 sandsifter stars
- Emerald crabs
- Peppermint shrimp
- Misc snails & hermits
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