Water testing is a necessity for a happy reef.
Water tests are performed often. Specific key areas may be checked or tested daily or every few days, but the full battery of tests are done once or twice a month. When those are completed, that is when I update my spreadsheet and post it on the site.
After years of using lumber to support my aquariums, I opted to free up space beneath the 400g with a steel stand. This one was designed to support the full weight of the tank, and it included a walkboard for easy of maintenance.
The steel stand was an absolute necessity with the new aquarium. For almost six years, the 280g reef was supported with 2x6 boards and two sides were blocked by the wall. This time, full access was my goal, from all four sides. Steel takes less space, is stronger and looks nicer.
Flow is provided from several angles to create streams of water movement.
My frag tank is 22" x 13" x 8" with a 1" Durso drain in a 5" x 5" corner overflow. The locline feeding into the frag tank is adorable, I've never seen such tiny locline before. It's got a 1/4" outlet. The tank holds just under 10g of water. (Note: this tank ran from 2011 to 2015)
Since 1997-1998, I've been maintaining saltwater tanks. It started with a 29g, if you don't count the 20g Long that I had when I was 11 years old. A trip to the island of Morea allowed me to snorkel in a lagoon for days on end, forever instilling in me the desire to enjoy what our oceans contain. This section of the site provides information about my current tanks as well as those that I ran previously.
Click on any image to get to the matching tank.
Within a few months, the Bubble Tip Anemone doubled its original size... but that is only where this story starts.
29 gal Saltwater Tank Established 9/98, moved twice with no losses. Taken down seven years later when the 280g was set up in 2004.
The 29g needed a nice looking canopy. It replaced the standard plastic light fixture the aquarium used previously, and had to house the power compact bulbs. Since I was building it myself, and the lights were also a DIY project, I designed it so the canopy would flip open completely to provide easier access to the tank and not be blinded by lighting.
I wanted to run a closed-loop system on my undrilled 29 gallon aquarium. My goal was to use the SCWD WAVEMAKER, and be able to replace two MaxiJet 1200 powerheads. This is how it was plumbed:
After years of deliberation, I decided it was time to expand the limits of my aquarium. I'd studied up on "Wet/Dry" systems, "Sumps" and "Refugiums." Following the advice of others, I investigated those various types of systems, and determined that a sump with refugium would be best suited for my 29-gallon tank's stand.
