Aidan and Rod's Soft Coral Reef Aquarium | contact: rodney@azarmi.com | Nano-Reef March 2012 TOTM | Reef Builders Article
SPS seems to be all the craze today, but I really enjoy the beautiful shapes and movement of soft corals. Aidan (my 10 year old son) and I set up this tank to learn about these beautiful corals. Why soft corals and LPS? I've found that the feeding requirements, flow rates, and water conditions for soft corals, clams and LPS corals compliment each other nicely.
Tank Specs
Display: 40 gallon Aqueon 36"x18"x16" glass aquarium
Lighting: Current 4x36" T5 fixture with (2) ATI Blue Plus and (2) GE 6500 bulbs.
25 watt custom made Cree XP-G, XT-E and Osram Red LED array mounted onto my Current T5 fixture.
Overflow: Life Reef Nano overflow box
Sump: 15 gallon Aqueon glass aquarium
Heater: 200 watt Ehiem
Top-off: 5 gallon RODI with drip
Filter media: no sock or mechanical, Phosban 150 with GAC
Return Pump: Tunze Silence 1070.20
Circulation: (2) Koralia Nano 400 pumps
Sump Light: Sunpark PAR38 15 watt 5000k LED light for growing Chaetomorpha
Setup Date: Nov. 11th 2009
The tank is a blend of soft and LPS corals. Both categories of corals prefer more gentle water movement and most like to eat a lot. Many soft corals like Cladiella sp., Sarcophyton Elegans and Xenia thrive under intense light. The general rule in my tanks is "the less they feed, the more light they need". I have one hard coral on the back side of my center rock work, a beautiful orange Montipora Capricornis.
Goniopora sp. Upclose with the beautiful polyps of the Goniopora coral.
Acanthastrea sp. The hungry feeding tentacles of the Acan coral.
Xenia sp. The delicate pulsating Xenia coral.
Zoanthus sp. These small and beautiful polyps grow quickly in low light.
Soft and LPS Corals: A beautiful trio, Sarcophyton, Nephthea and Goniopora.
Side View: The feathery polyps of the Colt make it one of the most beautiful soft corals. The Xenia's have finally block access to the rear side glass.
Torch Coral: What can you say about the Torch Coral, it's just cool looking.
Reef Fish
The tank is not heavily stocked. I have a pair of Ocellaris Clownfish, small group of Green Chromis and one Pygmy Waspfish. I find fish in groups or pairs show much more interesting behavior. I spend hours watching my Ocellaris pair wiggle and shimmy together. The clownfish are hosting the frog spawn coral.
Pygmy Waspfish: A peaceful reef aquarium fish with poisonous spines. The Waspfish prefers live food but he will eat PE Mysis.
Green Chromis: I started with six chromis but the big ones like to pick on the smallest fish. I'm down to five.
Filtration:My current system is simple and has very low maintenance requirements. The water flows from the tank through a Life Reef Nano overflow box. The Life Reef overflow has been 100% reliable with no siphon restart issues. The overflow empties into a 15 gallon glass sump. No filter sock is used. Most of the sump is taken up with a large clump of Chaetomorpha. Any particulates that go into the overflow or sump are quickly eaten by a large population of small brittle stars (see photo) and amphipods. If I consistently over-feed, my detritivore population grows. I used a Sunpark PAR38 15w LED fixture to light the Chaeto. A Phosban 150 reactor is partially filled with activated carbon (GAC). GAC is surprisingly effective at removing dissolved organics and helps keeps the water clear and reduce odors. Sometimes soft corals can get a little stinky.
I've experimented with both GFO (granular ferric oxide) and protein skimming. GFO is a little too good at removing phosphate. In a small aquarium it's very easy to bottom out your phosphate levels and starve your corals- be careful. I think protein skimmers are a great option for aquariums heavily stocked with fish. I've used a Bubble Magus NAC6 protein skimmer in past. I didn't see any changes in the aquarium except my Chaeto grew more slowly. I'd much rather trim Chaeto once a month, than clean a skimmer every week.
The Sump: Low tech and low maintenace. The Chaeto has been a effective method of Nitrate and Phosphate control.
Clean Up Crew: The large population of brittle stars makes quick work of any detritus and uneaten food.
Chemistry is a hobby of mine and I've really enjoyed the science behind keeping a captive reef environment. It's important to understand the role of organic and inorganic compounds. Nitrate and phosphates are not the bad guys. They are two main food sources for autotrophs and without them corals would die. In a small volume of water, packed with fish, it is easy for phosphate and nitrate concentrations to get out of control. Strive for balance and equilibrium. Love your dissolved inorganic compounds (including CO2), they are the core building blocks of life on the reef.
Lighting:
My son and I enjoy electrical projects, so when it came to picking a light, we pulled out the soldering iron and got to work. I bought a partially working Current 36" x 4 T5 aquarium fixture on Ebay. We replaced a few wires and added a new set of cooling fans. We swapped out the stock Current T5 bulbs for ATI Blue Plus and GE 6500 bulbs. The new light worked great. The ATI bulbs were 30% brighter than the stock bulbs. We were pleased. Recently we added (10) Cree XP-G, XT-E and Osram LEDs to our T5 light. We mounted them on a 1"x.1"x36" aluminum bar and attached the whole strip to the underside of our Current light. We are driving them at 700mA for a total power consumption of 23 watts (3.2V x .7A=2.2w each). The LEDs add great color and shimmer to the aquarium. All the LEDs, supplies and drivers were bought from RapidLED.com.
Update: August 12, 2012: The LED upgrade is working incrediable well. Coral growth has increased and the color and shimmer in the tank is spectacular. Aidan and I have decided to replace all the T5 lights with LED lights. More photos and details to come.
Maintenance:It's great to have someone help you with daily tasks. Aidan feeds the fish and tests the water and I do the heavy lifting and scrubbing. Our routine is fairly simple: feeding, dosing, cleaning and water changes. We inspect the aquarium equipment, sump water level, temperature, corals and fish once per day. I clean the glass every few days as needed.
Feeding:I believe in feeding my corals and fish frequently. The fish are fed a combination of Formula One flake food and frozen PE Mysis and Cyclop-Eeze two to three times a day. The corals are target fed two to three times a week with a blend of PE Mysis, Cyclop-Eeze, and zoo-plankton mix frozen foods. I turn the main sump pump off for 1 hour when feeding corals to allow time for the food to circulate through the tank. This helps feed the large population of small brittle stars, fan worms and other filter feeders. The Xenia are the only corals in the tank that show no feeding behavior. I suspect their dependance on dissolved nutrients makes them sensitive to heavy filtration.
Dosing:I dose Brightwell Aquatics two-part, 200 ml per week. The alkalinity portion is added to my top-off water and slowly dripped over the week. I manually dose the Calcium component on Wednesday and Sunday. I prefer the Brightwell products as they clearly state all the ingredients and % concentrations of their chemicals. The Calcium mixture contains Magnesium and Strontium. This is a great time saver as I don't have to dose these elements separately. Once per week I add a small quantity of Iron and Iodine supplements. The Goniopora seem to benefit from the iron dosing (see Julian Sprung's research). I've tried the popular B-ionic two-part but immediately after dosing I lost (2) emerald crabs and several snails. Some of the B-ionic ingredients like copper, in my opinion, are undesirable.
Weekly/Monthly:I perform a 10% water changes with Tropic Marin Pro salt mix once per week. The Tropic Marin salt mixes very quickly and measures consistently. I inspect all my pumps and equipment, trim Chaeto (if needed), and wipe down my light and aquarium glass. GAC is changed every month. Alkalinity and Calcium test are also done monthly.
History:We setup the tank on November 11th 2009 in my sons bedroom. I wanted an open rock work with no live rock touching the sides or back of the tank. This would allow me to keep a four sides of the tank clean and coralline algae free. This had the added benefit of decreasing water dead spots and preventing fast growing soft corals like Xenia from spreading to adjacent rocks. Before we started the tank, I spent many days reading reef profiles on Nano Reefs, Reef Central and Advanced Aquarist. Learning what works and doesn't from experienced reefers was a huge jump start into the hobby. Thank you to the all the awesome people who contribute their expertise and time posting pictures and tank details and sharing their knowledge. And thank you to the web moderators who spend countless hours making the websites we all enjoy.
November 2009: The rock scaping is complete and ready for more corals. I used a very simple internal filter to start. No sump or top-off system. Adding the sump and top-off made life much easier.
October 2010: The new LPS corals seem to like their new home. The Wellsophyllia eats like no other coral I've seen. The open, free standing rock work requires much less in tank flow.
March 2011: The Xenia's skill at spreading is impressive. Babysitting a friends Acropora. Will it like the mixed company?
Mistakes:I've made a few mistakes over the years. A early change in my alkalinity dosing schedule caused a dip in PH and a few fish fatalities. Careless use of a siphon caused tissue damage and the death of a gorgeous Elegance Coral (Catalaphyllia Jardinei). Large amount of GFO in my reactor caused RPN (rapid tissue necrosis) in my Montipora Digitata and Capricornis. Fortunately, a little creative fragging saved both colonies.
Future Plans:The tank is full and there are several coral species I'd still like to add. We will definitely need to upgrade to a larger aquarium soon. I'd like to order a 42"x42"x22" eurobraced glass aquarium. Other items on my upgrade list, an auto-top-off system Autotopoff.com, dosing pumps and controller Reefangel.com and some Tunze controllable pumps.
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