MDP's 55 gallon reef aquarium

[MDPinUSA]

This aquarium was never intended to be considered for Tank Of The Month.

This is in fact a no frills, totally bare bottom ultra low budget living coral display.

This research aquarium was set up in Sept. 2004 and has functioned without serious incident or concerns to date.

At this time, virtually all captive corals have tripled to quadrupled in size.

The rational for this soft coral display research marine aquarium was and is to have the most healthy live stock, with the minimum maintenance and lowest amount and cost for support equipment.

E.g. All the water (marine salt formulation) to hold the system together vs. a host of support equipment and supplements.

IMO, a salt water aquarium should be a pleasure and a job, not be a chore.

This aquarium is made from acrylic and is sold as a 55 gallon size.

Outside dimensions are 48" long x 20" tall x 13" deep. These OD measurements indicate a 54.02 US gallon aquarium.

The inside dimensions are 47 1/2" long x 19 1/2" tall x 12 1/2" deep. That would hold 50.12 US gallons.

If the aquarium is filled to 18 1/2" from the inside bottom to the surface, the honest aquarium capacity is 47.55 US gallons.

The actual amount of aquarium water after displacement of decorations and live corals is approx. 40 US gallons.

Equipment:

Acrylic aquarium on a wooden stand.
Lighting is four PC lamps for a total of 360 watts. 50% "white" and 50% "blue".
The marine salt is Marine Environment® dual phase formula™.

Initially this display was supported only by: one Supreme brand heater, one internal Rio/Seio pump fitted with a sponge to remove solid particulate waste matter, one Otto 3000 pump that powers an over the tank trickle filter.

The over the tank trickle filter is simply a 5 gallon bucket. An Otto 3000 pump is inside the aquarium and pumps water to a rotating spray bar that is fitted into the top of the bucket. The bucket top has a 1" hold to allow the BI OX® to breath and allow the chamber to degas potentially harmful gases. Inside the bucket is 3 1/2 cubic gallons of Super BI OX®. The Super BI OX® sits on a plastic light grid or egg crate material that is 1 1/2" off the inside bottom of the bucket. There is a 2" drain or tank adapter that is fitted at the bottom of the bucket. This allows system water to return into the aquarium.

This over the tank trickle filter provides more than adequate biological filtration and returns processed system water that is 115% over saturation in dissolved oxygen.

The Rio/Seio pump proved to be unreliable. It was replaced with an Otto submersible pump that now pulls system water through a sponge.

For the last 29 months the Otto pump has functioned flawlessly. The Supreme heater is still working properly. PC lamps are changed every 18 months.

Feeding: Only Tetra Marin® food is offered. This feeds one tomato clown fish that is 18 years old, one blood shrimp, one unidentified crab that invited himself in as a hitch hiker.

Maintenance:

A 10% water change is performed each four to five days with Marine Environment® dual phase formula™.

The internal sponge filter is cleaned after a water change, with water taken from the tank.

Water siphoned from the center of the water column for removal during routine water changes is relatively clear.

Water siphoned from the bottom of the aquarium to remove detritus is yellowed in colour. Water siphoned from rocks and decorations that removes silt and/or detritus is deeper in yellow colour.

This suggests the removal of detritus may be a prime cause of yellow aquarium water.

Twice a month a DIY power vac. is used. This is a 1 quart water bottle with the large end cut off.

Inside the opened bottle, filter material is placed. The small side or neck of the bottle is fitter to a 4' flexible hose.

This flexible hose is connected to an external March 400 gph. pump. A return flexible hose is connected to the outlet of the March pump. At the end of this return hose are 1/2" PVC fittings. These allow the return to attach to the aquarium when this power vac. filter is functioning.

The DIY power vac. filter removes at least 90% of all detritus accumulated on the bare bottom of this aquarium, along with detritus that is on rocks, decorations and live corals.

The outlet of the DIY power vac. is moved around and pointed in different directions to have high water flow move silt and detritus around for collection into the inlet (cut water bottle with filter material).

At the end of the cleaning cycle, the DIY power vac. filter is removed. The filter material is discarded. All hoses and the pump are flushed out with clean fresh water.

When using this DIY power vac. it was noticed that water changes could be extended from 10% ever 4-5 days to 10% every 6-7 days.

However, when a 10% water change was performed at the end of the power vac. cycle, all tank inhabitance appeared to do better. E.g. Corals opened to a greater size with richer colours.

No additives, supplements, baking soda, sodium carbonate, trace elements, butter, two part this or ionic that, carbon, chemical filters, resins, etc. been required or considered.

The pH stays between 8.28 and 8.4. The temperature remains at 770F / 250C. The salinity is 35 ppt. / Specific Gravity of 1.025-1.026. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate are zero to ultra low levels.

During a learning curve (actual needs of the aquarium), 10% water changes ranged from a daily basis to once a month. It appears that a simple water change of 10% every 4-5 days with occasional power vac. cleaning of the system is sufficient to allow these captive corals to grow uninhibited and exhibit natural rich dramatic colours.

If water changes are performed every two weeks vs. every week, a bubbles appear on the surface of the water at the outlet of the over the tank trickle filter. Perhaps a skimmer would control this situation?

Problems With The Aquarium:

The continual cleaning of coralline algae from the inside front of the aquarium.

The weakest part of the system was the addition of two commercially available phyto plankton brands of invert. food. The additions of the popular brands was discontinued after unwanted algae started to develop.

The addition of popular commercially available phyto plankton foods proved to be totally unnecessary as well as troublesome. All corals demonstrated continual growth and exhibited rich natural colours without the use of the foods. Thus unwanted algae produced by these foods is no longer an issue.

Without question the use of a skimmer would aid in the removal of urea, phenols and lips that contribute the naturally occurring of yellowing of aquarium water.

However, siphoning from the bottom and decorations during routine water changes, as well as the use of the DIY power vac. attachment appears to have negated the need for a skimmer.

Soft corals are the theme of this aquarium. If SPS were kept on display, stronger lighting would be required. As well as perhaps more frequent water changes.

Photo #1 shows the aquarium with open stand. No sump, skimmer, reactor(s), dosers, etc. are used.

The 5 gallon bucket on the upper right side of the aquarium is the only piece of external equipment employed.

Photo #2 shows the inside of the aquarium.

Photo #3 is a medium close up of a few corals. These corals have grown 3x - 4x in 36 months.

[Tangboy]

Wow... can I really say anything else? Very complete MDP and very informational!

[ricosuave]

So let me get this straight...your saying that with proper water changes(with an exceptional salt) and regular (but not excessive) maintanance(vac'ing) that elaborate hardware and additives are simply not needed.
After seeing this I am going to rethink my strategy on reefkeeping. Simple seems to be more effective. As you pointed out the object of a captive reef is enjoyment not exhaustive chores and maintanance.

thanks again MDP

[MDPinUSA]

Tang, this project is three years thus far. I wanted to offer as much info. as possible. What I am sharing just might help a lot more people enjoy their hobby/investment, a lot more.

Rico, Not an exceptional marine salt. One that simply does what it is suposed to do vs. a salt that creates more problems that require spending more money than the end result is worth.

For some reason, there are far too many marine keepers that boast about how cheap their salt mix cost. As they continue boasting about how much support equipment they have!

In most instances, their choice of sub basic El CheapO water chemistry forced them to spend one heck of a lot more money than necessary. This in an attempt to make the El CheapO salt mix work like the other guys dog pack mentality approach or reef aquarium keeping.

E.g. We are all doing the same thing. We are all having the same questions, concerns and problems.

This approach to aquarium keeping is simply one of many.

As to the value of external support equipment. No doubt a skimmer, sump, reactor(s), dosers, etc. would make for lower maintenance. However, my current maintenance is quite low. Without costly, unsightly and sometimes difficult to understand and use support equipment.

Considering the cost of quality support equipment vs. the cost of the tank, stand, etc. it would seem resonable to realize that a host of the better support equipment could rival the cost of the basic set up. -- Plus it takes endless fiddling around making all the different things work in harmony.

I usually get a chuckle when I see a 55 gallon marine aquarium hooked up to a giant skimmer, large sump, reactor(s) (that play havoc with KH, pH, Ca, etc.), dosers that looks like the infamous Dr. Kitchen Kemist was at work by the aquarium and more than a hand full of bottles and powders in a cabnet under the aquarium.

This is KEY -- Many marine displays that employ/require a host of support equipment to house/support massive over crowding conditions of similar types of animals. -- Thus an over stocked mono-culture system will create a disproportionate chemical demand on the system.

IMO, I see no reason to have support equipment that rivals a heart / lung transplant machine, just to keep a nice salt water aquarium. Thus I choose not to dramatically over stock / over crowd an actual 40 US gallons of salt water.

I have seen some fantastic marine displays that utilized the heart/lung transplant approach. For me, I prefer to enjoy my marine pets vs. having to continually adjust this, add that, change this setting, use another of this or that.

Key #2 Enjoying my aquarium time transulates to allowing my pets to enjoy their life in captivity. I do dramatically not over crowd. I do not attmept to place a chunk of a coral reef that thrives in the open sea with continual replenishment from the oceans of the world in a small enclosure.

The corals in the aquarium shown must be moved from place to place, as they are growing and growing.

For me, was and is an easy and fun aquarium project. Again, this is simply one way to keep a marine coral display aquarium.

In this post:

Photo #1 shows mushroom corals. These were about 1" some 2 1/2 years ago. They are now well over 3 1/2" in diameter. They exhibit deep rich natural color.

Photo #2 shows a close up of a mushroom that appeared one day. In about 6 months it is now about 1" in diameter.

There are at least 8 (and counting) baby mushroom corals poping up in various parts of the aquarium.

Photo #3 shows a close up of some corals that were not evident on live rock. They appeard one day a some months ago and continue to grow.

[MDPinUSA]

Check this old RAG thread about Ca, additives, reactors and what people have to go through to understand and use each.

Vs. using balanced initial water chemistry, continuing the use of balanced water chemistry... and, using a simple bio filter that increases essential dissolved oxygen.

http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/for...additives.html

[olsaltybastard]

Mike,

You bring up a very good point about enjoying reef keeping vs it being a chore. The less I have to do, the more I like it. I'm actually grumpy about having to empty the skimmer cup and clean the glass mid-week. You and Gary (phlounder) have always pointed me in the direction of starting with good water quality and taking it from there. I have shown this very method to several folks who have decided that it made perfect sense. Every one of their tanks looks so much more healthy and are virtually nuisance algae free.

[Tangboy]

MDP,

Yes that is an amazing 3 year project, it helps me understand that I do not necessarily have to drill my tank, put an overflow in, run a sump, protein skimmer etc etc to have a healthy system as long as I keep it balanced. Makes me also want to possibly take a fish out since it might be a big load on my system (even though I am not doing corals etc atm). Thanks again MDP for this vast detail base!

[ReefSilly]

Nice looking tank there and tons of good information

Originally Posted by MDPinUSA

[b]PC lamps are changed every 18 months.

I change mine every 8months what type of bulbs are you using?

My 55gal has no skimmer no sump ; just pumps no bucket either. My tank has been up and running for 5yrs now and the tank is doing great with water changes. I used to add CA besides my softies I have a few LPS but when I change salt to BIO SEA I did not need to add CA any more. I DO NOT use any additives what so ever!!!

I will say I had the same experience that MDP had with the phyto plankton. The brand I used was two little fishes and it started an algae bloom so I stop at once that was about 3yrs ago. I do my water changes and change my bulbs and crape the walls of my tank and thats it. My coral all started out as frag and some are out growing the tank now ( toadstool ). I have one frogspawn that started out with one head and now there is 21.
When I upgrade this tank I will have a skimmer and use the 55 for the sump.

[MDPinUSA]

Photos show my DIY power vac.

In this thread:

Photo #1 shows the entire DIY power vac. system.

In the center is the March 400 gph. external pump. Attached to the inlet is a fllex hose that connects to the open ended water bottle. At the top of the photo is the filter materal employed. To the left is the outlet or discharge with 1/2" PVC fittings.

Photo #2 is the outlet or discharge with the 1/2" PVC fittings. The fittings are not glued together. They are semi tighly connected so the nozzle or outlet piece can be moved around or pointed in different directions. This allows for attaching to the aquarium in various positons. This also allows for directing the output of water flow to point to various locations in the aquarium.

Photo #3 shows the open ended 1 quart water bottle, fitted with filter material.

We get rolls of this non toxic filter material in rolls that measure 60' x 36" x 1". It is easily cut into various shapes and sizes. This material has proven invaluable in filtering solid particulate matter from water as well as air.

[goldenmean]

Thanks for sharing this MDP!
You mentioned this tank in my planning stage thread for my 55g.
I love all the detail especially the power vac. Brilliant!