How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

I first caught the bug from my wife while we were dating. When we first met in the spring of 2004 she had a 55 gallon SeaClear fish only tank. After some struggles with hair algae and cyano outbreaks, I began searching for help online from different reef hobby websites. I was hooked. I bought my first tank in early 2005, a 40 gallon SeaClear System II. Today that tank is in the process of being torn down as I move the rock and corals into our new 80 gallon custom CFI tank. Our clown fish are not happy with their BTA condo being moved to the new display this last week.

Tell us about your tank

In November of 2008 I decided to contact Jason at CFI and see what it would take to get a custom tank to fit a stand I had already started building. Through talking with Jason, we decided on an 80 gallon display tank measuring 50' X 21' 21' with an interanl overflow box centered on the back. The tank was ready in February 2009 and sat in my office for several months while I finished my stand. I moved the tank and stand upstairs and had water in it and the refugium set up in mid June of this year. Then it was time to let it sit for a few months and cycle.

The display drains into a DIY 29 gallon sump that I holds a Reef Octopus 150 skimmer and two 2 Little Fishies reactors that hold Rowaphos and carbon. Water is returned to the display via an Eheim 1262 to 2 returns on either side of the oveflow box. The Eheim also feeds the 20 gallon refugium which sits above and off to the side of the return section of the sump. Water from the fuge is returned to the return section of the sump through a PVC overflow that I came up with and is plumbed through the bottom of the fuge.

Circulation is provide by the returns, 2 Vortech MP20's and closed loop spray bar that runs the back length of the tank and is run off of another Ehiem 1262. I just got the Vortech's in on Aug 25th and I am considering removing the closed loop spray bar as the Vortech's seem to be providing enough flow that it may render the spray bar useless.

Lighting is provided by an Odyssea fixture I picked up used from another RF member. It has 2 - 250 watt Phoenix 14K halide bulbs and 4 - 65 watt actinic PC bulbs. The halides are powered by 2 Lumatek ballasts and I'm planning on running them on a staggered schedule for about 6 or 7 hours each. The fuge is lit by a PC daylight fixture and small 20 watt T5 grow light bulb and is on a reverse daylight schedule from the display.

I have about 80 lbs of live rock in the display and 2" of sand that is mix of Carib Sea sugar fine oolitic and Indo-Pacific black and white reef sand. The fuge has a 4" DSB and a huge chuck of Cheato in it. I got the Cheato and sand for the fuge from another reefer that was tearing down his setup so it was loaded with pods worms, snails and brittle stars.

Today everything is in place and I plan to move the fish over from the 40 in the couple of weeks or so.

Current Fish:

• 2 Ocellaris clowns
• 1 Royal Gramma

Future Fish:

• Potters Angel
• Flame Wrasse
• Fire Dart Fish
• Mandarin

Inverts:

• Pocillipora frags
• Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
• Bubble Tip Anemone
• Green Leather tree corals
• Misc Zoas/Palys
• 1 purple and red Reef lobster
• 20-25 Snails
• A few hermit crabs

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers?

I went to Barrier Reef for the first time about a year and a half ago to check out their store after hearing about them and guy name Josh that worked there was kind enough to turn me onto Reef Frontiers.

What is your reef keeping philosophy?

I do not know that I really have any philosophy. If anything, I have learned that patience is your friend when it comes to reef tanks. Be prepared to go slow. My first tank was rushed together and my second one is taking much longer. Heck, I have had water and rock in it for almost 3 months and still no fish.

What is your dream tank?

How about an indoor swimming pool converted into my own Hawaiian reef biotope. A guy can dream, right?

Do you have any advice for others?

Research your live stock choices, be ready for failures and get a good job so you can afford this crazy hobby. Do weekly water changes. Smaller amounts on a more frequent basis seem to help keep things in line and were a big help to me in eliminating nuisance algae.