Reef Frontiers Featured Member of the Month

June 2009's Featured Member is brandyrb

Tell us about yourself:

My name is Brandy Vaughn. I am 30 years old and have lived all of my years since the age of three in Spokane, WA. I was born in El Cajon, California. I am married to a wonderful, handsome and fun-loving husband, Mike AKA Reefferman. We have two beautiful children together. Sierra, our daughter, is eleven years old and Devin, our son, is ten. I have worked as a Web Developer for the Community Colleges of Spokane District for the past six years. I got my AAS Degree in Web Technologies at Spokane Community College. I enjoy spending time with my family, singing, dancing, drawing, playing keyboards, reef keeping and of course staying up late at night on Reef Frontiers forums.

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

Well, my husband drug me into it almost six years ago. He came home one day with a 55 gal. long aquarium and said, "Look what I got honey!". My immediate response was, "No way! I don't want a saltwater fish tank. They're too expensive!". After he took me to the saltwater fish store, I changed my mind because saltwater fish are so pretty and exotic. Before long, I was hooked. I'd often drive by his work with a new marine animal I just purchased and say, "Look what I got honey!".

Tell us about your tank

We have three 40 Breeders and a 300 gal in-wall aquarium. The truth be known, Mike is the one that maintains all of our aquariums. I am the one that likes to spend our money on them by buying the live stock and equipment. He hooks it all up and keeps up with the maintenance. We make a great team, lol.

The 300 gal. in-wall aquarium is prodominately an SPS tank. It is connected to a 125 gal sump/refugium. Both the return and closed loop systems are powered by ReeFlow Barracuda Gold Pumps (4680 gph). The closed loop feeds into four 3/4" Sea Swirls at the front of the aquarium. The return is plumbed into four lockline nozzles at the back of the aquarium. Our 300 gal. is controlled by a Neptune AquaController 3. The auto top off system is a Tunze Osmolator.  Lighting consists of three PFO Parallel Reflectors with a 400W Radium SE Halide, 24W UV Lighting Super Actinic T5 and 24W ATI Blue Plus T5 in each reflector. The 400W Halides run off of PFO HQI Ballasts and the T5s are overdriven by Icecap 660 Ballasts. The skimmer is a Deltec AP702 and the calcium reactor is a Barr Aquatic CR2100. Our 300 gal. aquarium contains approx. 250-300 lbs of live rock and a 5" deep argonite sand bed. This aquarium is almost two years old and was an upgrade from a 125. The 125 was an upgrade from the 55 I mentioned earlier.

Inhabitants in the 300 gal. aquarium include:
Lots of SPS
Large Squamosa Clam
Large Derasa Clam
Large Adult Emporer Angel
Large Adult Desjardini Sailfin Tang
Medium Adult Pacific Blue Tang
Small Flame Fin Tomini Tang
Bicolor Blenny
Green Chromis
Royal Gramma
Green Mandarin
Female Splendid Leopard Wrasse
Male Splendid Leopard Wrasse
Black Clown Goby
Pink Spotted Shrimp Goby
Tiger Pistol Shrimp
Blood Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
Blue Tuxedo Urchin
Blue Linckia Starfish
Tiger-Striped Serpent Starfish
Hairy Colored Pincushin Urchin
and an assortment of Snails

The first 40 Breeder is a mixed reef. It has a very simple setup which includes a CPR HOB Skimmer, CPR HOB Refugium, two MaxiJet 1200 powerheads and a heater. Lighting is provided by a 36" 6 bulb TEK T5 fixture. There is approx. 35 lbs of live rock and a 4" deep argonite sand bed.

Inhabitants in the first 40 Breeder include:
Lots of SPS Frags
Lots of LPS Frags
Lots of Zoa Frags
Tailspot Blenny
Randall's Shrimp Goby
Small Crocea Clam
and a few Snails

The second 40 Breeder is prodominately a clown/anemone tank. It is also a simple setup with a SeaClone Skimmer, CPR HOB Refugium, two MaxiJet 1200 powerheads, heater and AquaClear water filter. Lighting is a 36" 6 bulb TEK T5 fixture. There is approx. 40 lbs of live rock and a 3" deep argonite sand bed.

Inhabitants in the second 40 Breeder include:
Pair of Mated True Percula Clownfish
Two Rose Bubble Tip Anemones
Green Star Polyps
Purple Mushrooms
and a few Snails

The third 40 Breeder is a frag/quartentine system that is setup only as needed. We treat all new corals we get with interceptor in this aquarium and observe them for any other pests. The lighting on this one is a PFO Hood w/2 250W HQI Halides, two VHOs and two fans.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers?

I saw the link to Reef Frontiers on the Aquatic Dreams Website (kevinpo's store). I saw the abudance of information and local reef keepers here and have been a member ever since.

What is your reef keeping philosophy?

I believe all reef keepers should research the animals they intend to keep before buying them and make sure they have the appropriate setup for them. Consistent maintenance of your aquarium is very important otherwise a healthy tank can go down hill fast. Patience is a required trait of this hobby and will be quickly learned. Knowledge about what works and what doesn't is very helpful. Learn from others mistakes and share your own so others can learn from you.

What is your dream tank?

Oh boy, I'd love it if my husband would remodel our basement again for a 500-600 gal in-wall aquarium, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Maybe one of these years. I actually love the peninsula style tanks that can be viewed from three sides.

Do you have any advice for others?

Yeah, research a lot and have patience. Try to avoid taking the cheap route on equipment in the beginning. You'll just end up replacing it all and pay more in the long run.

Feel free to Private Message Brandy with any questions or comments. Thanks again for your terrific support of Reef Frontiers Brandy.