The main display tank: 80 gallon

 I collected all the corals, rock and sand myself, the tangs I had to purchase as there is no way I can keep up with let alone catch them on the reef.  I could have easily took larger specimens, but am glad to say that most, if not all of the corals I have are fragments that were found broken off near larger colonys. Which allows me to feel a little better as I can not bring myself to rip out an entire colony, as tempting as it is.  That and with such a small tank, it allows me to keep a large variety while they are small.

The metal halide side ( only have one 250w ) the rest of the bulbs are compact fluorescents (household 6500k bulbs).

The refugium : 20 gallon tank

 The seagrass was recently collected, hence the "burn" appearance of its leaves, which will grow back shortely.  There is also a good variety of macro algae which also require low nutrient levels contrary to popular belief.  I plan to add some "paddle weed" next week to both the display and refuge. Hopefully the tangs will leave it alone this time.

The sump is nothing special, just a homemade DIY job using a 20 gal tank and two glass partitions, the last partition acts as my turf algae scrubber, which by the way, I credit as providing THE most nutrient uptake out of anything else. Once a week I have harvest it and toss it out.  The filamentous algae are, in my opinion, THE best algae one can add to a system. gasp!  Yes, I said to add "hair" algae to your system...  It by far has the quickest growth and nutrient uptake.

Okay, now some show and tell coral photos:

A frag I brought home a few days ago which is destined for a grow out/frag tank at a friends place in Manilla (capitol city).  Hopefully in due time, others can get a share of it. oh, and am assuming it is a montipora sp.

This montipora sp. is very fast growing, Within just one month, those are all new tips, which appears that they will grow upright and much thinner.

This next one is an Acropora sp. and having read that species found deeper often produce "blue" pigments I purposely collected a brown one at 55 feet deep on the reef wall and acclimated it to my MH, in just a matter of weeks, it went from dark brown to this really nice looking blue.

 Not sure if anyone remembers this Heliopora that I posted a few weeks back, but it is also in the display tank now and it too is growing quite well.  Arrows indicate where it has already attached itself to the rock.

I have to small colonys of Stylophora pistillata which are doing great! Lots of new growth also.

My "baby" - P. damicornis

 Also, in all of the branching corals, there are various species of coral crabs which adds to the whole "reef".

This next coral is living proof that high phosphate levels do indeed inhibit corals. The arrows indicate new growth that occured in just the last two or three months. This is my eldest coral, been with me since tank start up in 2004, it only now is taking off like a weed. oh, and its a Acanthastrea rotundoflora, I have another one as well but its totaly red in coloration.

Maybe there is such a thing as too fast of growth?  This acropora sp. in just two months has grown quite a few new segments/tips but seem to have done so fast that it seems to skinny at the bottom section of the the new growth, about half of the branches have this.

 Anyways,  I didn't want anyone to think that Eric's system / methods are unachievable, quite the contrary, this "natural" system of mine blows away all the other so called methods I have tried, which relied upon equipment and starvation.  The real beauty of it all, once it has matured, is that I can actualy feed my corals and fish EVERY day, as should be. The health of the corals and everything else for that matter speaks volumes about what a little biology can do if given the chance.

Chuck

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Thanks Eric!  Yeah, having good rainwater made a huge difference, and Linda doesn't even mind that I have eight six litre jugs of it hidden under her sofa in the living room...

 You can imagine what having scuba gear has done for me and my system, I still snorkel quite often but to get to where the beauty is and being able to stay there longer than 15 seconds is...am having a hard time to find the right word(s).  I can never thank you enough.

 The water changes are something I debate myself over and over again, and do think about the plankton benefit, which is something I should stick with. But I would like to have the option of not having to do water changes. In fact, my system HAS to be capable of going long term now without water changes as I do not have salt mixes available to me. If as happens quite often, a typhoon keeps me housebound for two months the tank has to run on auto pilot and be capable of it.  This is why I am in a bit of a rush to find some way to boost alkalinity.  I read where you use baking soda and washing soda?  If so, could you post the mix ratio again as I am going to try and find the washing soda soon. Am in a bit of a rush as these corals are now putting a much greater demand for such things on me.

 A plankton net... dang, I wish!!!!  I would love to be able to provide the tank with freshly caught plankton as well as spend a good bit of time peering through the microscope at what makes up the plankton.  I've thought about asking Linda to sew some nylon together but am at a loss as to how I could add a collection cup at the end of it.

 Have never caught the spawning event here or know of anyone who has. I assumed it would be around the same time as the great barrier reef in October?  I'll have to start asking around more. Might the biology department at the University know. I need to call them this next week anyway since I have to deposit my coral crab specimens with them in order to finish up the description.  Only took me six hours to get all the measurements on four crabs...  Dang near went blind.

 Tomorrow ought to be a blast. An online friend from Manilla is here and I'm taking him diving all day tomorrow on "my" reef. The ladys want to go snorkeling saturday so I have to think of a nice area that doesn't contain a lot of synaptids as they tend to freak out with anything that looks "wormy" or "snakey" as Linda puts it.  Whats so funny is that Linda does not have a clue as to how many times I have steered her in another direction so she doesn't see a passing sea snake....lol. 

As always Eric, Thanks!

Chuck

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Learn the way, forget the way, free the master within

I'll be visiting soon!  I wish  I'd end up being the "pruney" one that wouldn't get out of the water,lol. 

Seriously though, your tank looks great.

www.fishtalpropagations.com

Chuck

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