Introduction:
How do I start... maybe the beginning. I think I got my first saltwater aquarium when I was 17-18 to 22 years ago, I decided to play mad scientist to my current brackish tank and bump up the salinity in hopes to keep a starfish. Turns out the demon gobies I had eat starfish.. so I went on and purchased a damsel and it lived. Knowing nothing I was using lava rock and a trickle filter. That quickly escalated into a 55-gallon tank and Triggerfish. Then 125g. I remember to this day my first reef tank sighting. My mother owned a bakery and as a student I was forced labour and one of my deliveries was to a restaurant owned by our LFS owners brother-in-law and they had a reef tank set up! I was like, "What!?!" Cleaner shrimp/corals etc. The next day my mom took me to my lfs where the owner gave me rundown. I went home with some live rock and a refractometer. This had my brain spinning on lights! I need corals badly!
Being a young student with no money and need for corals I built a custom DIY T8 (not a t5) fixture that was 8bulbs over 6' 125g and it worked. The tank matured, I switched from triggerfish and lava rock, now tangs and live rock and corals. I actually still miss this simple tank. I still owned the 55g so I had it drilled and used it as a refugium. It was tempered... so I learned how to replace a glass panel in a tank.
The refugium quickly turned into a seahorse tank, and seahorse babies and more seahorses.
Skip to 20+ years later and I’m still learning everyday. Still trying to play mad scientist and trying new risks but maybe more educated. I’m a SPS guy but still want all the corals. So I try to keep a balance to have a mixed reef. Recently I upgraded to a 400-gallon tank and it’s still too small. I have started a new venture and opened an online coral selling business www.unorthodoxreef.ca. This has brought my hobby to a new level, an actual legitimate business, but an unorthodox kind of business. I donate proceeds from corals and swag to Cancer Research in memory of my late father. My father passed away over a year ago of stage 4 cancer. It was the toughest thing I ever witnessed, the strongest man I have ever met or known taken by a horrible disease. In a way the business keeps part of him alive.
- Display tank: 400 gallon 96”x36”x28”T
- Glass or Acrylic: Glass
- Stand: Custom wood stand epoxied and wrapped in acrylic.
- Sump: 4’x4’ DIY acrylic sump with refugium and frag/live rock section.
- Grow-out tank: 55”x28” frag system DIY custom acrylic tank.
- Protein skimmer: NYOS Quantum 300
- Carbon/phosphate filtration: Dosing vodka and Dosing ESV calcium Nitrate
- Return pump: 2x Sicce sdc 9.0
- Water circulation: Tunze 6105/Tunze 6205s.
- Lighting (display): Ecotech Radion G5 Pro xr15s x10 with Reefbrite Xho Blue
- Lighting (grow-out): Ecotech Radion G4 Pro xr30s
- Lighting (refugium): Kessil Sun
- Calcium/alkalinity/magnesium dosing equipment: Kamoer 4-head doser.
- Auto top-off: ATK with solenoid valve and back up float.
- Heating/cooling: 4x 250 watt eheim
- System control: Me!! And Neptune Apex
- Any other details: No filter socks
Water Parameters:
- Temp: 78-79F
- pH: 8.2-8.5
- Specific gravity: 1.026
- NO3: 5-8 ppm
- Ca: 420-450
- Alk: 8.3-9 dkh
- Mg: 1450-1500
- PO4: 0.02-0.06
What salt mix do you use?
Brightwell Neomarine, I like the black buckets and it mixes so clean.
What kind of rock did you start with?
Rock in the display was bleached live rock that was cemented with emarco 400 dry. I have established 15-20 year-old live rock in my sump.
What is your substrate?
Mixture of crushed coral and special grade Carib Sea sand
Calcium/Alkalinity/Magnesium Summary and Objectives:
I try and not chase these numbers. Basically, I let them float in a target area. A lot of times you will see a dip in alk or an increase in alk on certain days, but this could be any factor like low ph etc. It usually stabilizes back.
What and how do you dose for the big 3 (alk/cal/mag)?
I use ESV b-ionic, because it’s the best! With a doser. I should switch to a calcium reactor but it’s just so simple now. Dosing about 300-320 ml of each part a day.
Are you dosing anything else for your reef health (carbon dosing, aminos, etc.)?
Yes Vodka, and Nitrates. Sounds counter productive, but I find my phosphates climb and the corals strip the nitrates. I adjust my dosages by weekly.
Lighting Summary and Objectives:
I stagger my display/frag and fuge.
Photoperiod:
- Display tank: 13hr
- Grow-out tank: 13hr
- Refugium: 13hr
UV sterilizer for water clarity.
What is your export strategy?
I try to do minimum 5% weekly water change. 35 gallons
What is your maintenance routine?
Daily: Inspect equipment and fish, clean qt tanks and test copper. Test big 3 with trident. Clean glass, feed fish.
Weekly: Manual test for alk, cal, mag, nitrate and phosphorus at the same time. Frag corals fighting and empty skimmer cup. Prep salt for qt tanks and if needed top off mixing station for display tank.
Tank Inhabitants—Fish: (Please List)
Tangs
- 6x yellow tangs
- gem tang
- blonde naso
- sohal tang
- sailfin
- purple tang
- lavender tang
- tomini tang
- kole tang
- 2x cleaner
- 2x possum wrasse (breeding pair)
- 4 sixline wrasses
- kuiteri wrasse
- 7x cooperi (red bars)
- 4 ocellaris
- 1 skunk
- Bellus
- Red sea regal
- Kingi Tiger (in qt)
- Flame (in qt)
- fire fish
- copperband butterfly
- dragon face pipefish
- blue throat trigger
- watchman goby
- Mandarin
- royal gramma
- 5 diamond gobies (in QT)
- Tigertail cucumbers
- sand sifting starfish
- urchins
- blue leg and Halloween hermits
- turbo and astrea snails
- cleaner shrimp x3
- blood shrimp
- blue linckia starfish
Fish and Coral Feeding:
I feed a mixture of frozen/flake/nori and pellets and reef nutrition ROE.
How did you decide what to keep in your tank?
Hmm flow and aquascape.
Any stocking regrets?
Yes moorish idol, destroyed chalices and acros after 1.5yrs.
Any fish, invert, or coral you will NEVER keep?
Eels they are messy. But saying that I wouldn’t mind a small golden eel.
What do you love most about the hobby?
I love the endless need to learn and the challenges it brings.
How long have you been doing this?
Approximately 20 years
Who was responsible for getting you into the hobby?
My mother bought me my first fish tank when I was 4 years old...36 years ago.
Who or what in the hobby most influences/inspires you?
Hard question. My best answer is coral restoration and the need to acknowledge our ocean degradation.
If you could have any tank, what size would it be and why?
1000-gallon, would give me the space to let my corals and fish grow out.
Favorite fish?
Copperband butterfly, but recently I have begun to fall in love with angelfish personalities.
Favorite coral?
Staghorn sps
Favorite invert?
Pistol shrimp
How do you typically get over setbacks?
Carry on, you don’t have a choice just brush it off. It’s all part of the hobby and losses just teach you to do better next time.
Have you faced any major challenges with this particular tank, and if so, how did you overcome?
I am currently battling dinoflagellates. I am trying my own thing, but basically feeding heavy dosing nitrates and vodka to maintain balance and encourage cyano to overcome the amphidinium. I am almost through the battle.
What's the best thing you ever bought for your tank?
A cheap wifi camera to monitor the tank when I’m away and gfci outlet for heaters.
What are your future plans for improvement/upgrade of the tank?
I would like to enclose my lights in more with an acrylic box to match the stand. Upgrade my pumps to mp60s and upgrade my SPS frag tank.
Any special tips for success or advice you'd like to share with other reefers?
Keep it simple, test often and remember an issue you see today is most likely an change that happened months ago, so to fix this issue it will more then likely takes months. Only do one change at a time and research read books. Pick an experienced reefer you trust and follow there methods. Build in redundancy and have back up pumps/heaters/ equipment.
Please check me out on Instagram @unorthodox_reef if you have any questions feel free to ask and happy reefing!
