Tank Specs
The 65 gallon tank was hand drilled, with a dremel tool. Three one-inch bulkheads were added inside three diy overflows made from modified dryer vent covers. (My own personal design). The back of the tank was artistically designed, starting with ordinary blue poster board. The highlights & shadows on the poster board were spray painted, giving it a three-dimensional look of an underwater reef. The poster board was then glued to a piece of 1/4-inch luan plywood. Then added was a topcoat to give it even more depth, the Kleer Kote epoxy resin was applied, (3 coats). The end results gave it an exceptional depth, with a total epoxy thickness of approximately 3/8 of an inch.
Now the 65gallon display tank is loaded with 85pounds of premium, personally hand picked live rock (Marshal Island, Kaelini, &Fiji) from Inland Aquatics .It also is filled with a 4-5 inch deep sand bed, consisting of Carib Sea Aragamax Sand, Geo Florida Crushed Coral, & Carib Sea Aruba Shell .The adjoining sump is a 30gallon tank stuffed with 20lbs of Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black Sand, & 20pounds of more premium live rock, the sump is also filled with macro algae (Caulerpa sertularoides). The incoming water is run through floss & Black Diamond carbon. A Coralife needle wheel 125 skimmer is also packed in the sump. The return pumps now consist of two Via Aqua Water Pumps model 4900 . Also a Quiet One 4000 & 3000 run in closed loops that add an additional 1500gph of water movement. The evaporation on the whole system per 24-hour period is around 1.5gallons. The lighting at first was a single 250watt Aqualine Buske powered by an Ice cap ballast, & also has 2 URI 36in - 95 watt VHO Actinic Blue bulbs. After the first year the AB bulb was replaced with a Hamilton 250 watt 14K bulb, the actinics bulbs were replaced with the same as before
The make up water is from a Coralife 4-stage RO/DI unit, with Instant Ocean Sea Salt added as needed, keeping the system with a specific gravity of 1.025/1.026.The water parameters stay with temperatures at 78-80F(AC & fan cooled room), pH 8.2,Alkalinity 10dKH,calcium 400ppm,amonia 0,nitrates 0,nitrites 0.The system stays consistent with frequent water added & with very little load in it. The fish inhabitants include: paired ocellaris clowns, 1 six-line wrasse, & 1 green mandarin goby,1 yellow tail blue damsel,2 orange tail damsels,1 three stripe damsel,1 powder brown tang, & 1 flame hawkfish.
04-20-2008, 04:29 PM
Hello from Urbana Illinos 
Re: Hello from Urbana Illinos 
