This past weeekend at the BayMAC event we were fortunate enough to get some face time with EcoSystem Aquarium creator Leng Sy who among other things, told us about a fabulous German reef aquarium using Miracle Mud. The EcoSystem aquarium of Markus Resch is an exemplary slice of reef with more corals and diversity than you can shake a frag at. This EcoSystem aquarium exhibits such tight nutrient cycling that Markus intentionally adds ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) to his tank on a daily basis to keep his corals from bleaching even though his tank is filled with invertebrates and highly active anthias fish which he feeds on a constant basis. The prolific growth of this truly mixed reef aquarium is so rampant that Markus harvests between 50-100 frags each month just to keep the growth in check. Follow the break for the video interview of Markus Resch by Scott Michael with commentary from Leng Sy and a lot more footage of this epic reef.
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Beautiful tank, but I wanted to see the Ecosystem filtration system…
I second that. Want to see the ecosystem filtration system.
If you request the DVD to EcoSystem Aquarium, I think this tank’s sump is showed inside of the DVD.
I’d be interested to know what chemical filtration he uses, i.e. phosphate remover, carbon etc???
Does he not use a skimmer at all?
The tank picture shown above is taken in early Dec. 2008 with my iPhone when Mike Paletta and I were there for the conference in Stuttgart, Germany. Markus is a tinker himself so he has installed a skimmer in the sump about a couple of years back but running it only 3-4 hours at night. When the skimmer is running 24/7 then all corals’ polyps close up! Most live rocks were removed to make room for more corals.
The video shot is taken by Scott Michael in early Dec. 2005. No skimmer on this set up and it turns out to be the best ones of all. This is Markus first reef tank. Activate carbon has never been used in this tank since it was set up in early 2001. ECO PHOS was used and ECO salt was also used here. The Balling Method (3 parts calcium) is used to add calcium and minerals (this is all Markus used). At night he drips Kalkwasser water to replace evaporation water. Markus feeds his fish 6-8 times daily. Has 60-70 fish in this tanks! Add 30ml of ammonium chloride every night to get nitrate for corals to prevent bleaching as the EcoSystem is too efficient to remove nitrate (a different challenge if phosphate level is kept low). Water change is done weekly 7-10% but he divides it up so it is done automatically daily.
Anyone is interested in this set up or want to have a tank looks like this can talk to me. Be happy to help.
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[...] and why anyone would do it. Well thanks for that. I went looking and it didn't take long to find this. While I test 0 nitrate also, I don't think adding NH4Cl is in my future. A nice set-up though. [...]