swannyson7
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REEF SPOTLIGHT – October 2012
The Reef Aquarium of:
Mark Milazzo a.k.a. "markie mark"
Introduction
My name is Mark Milazzo, I'm 29 years old and a proud father of two. I’m a happily married man with a wonderful wife that has supported my addiction in the hobby since we first met each other.
I believe I was 17 years old when I got my first saltwater tank. It was nothing fancy and was a time when you were lucky to find more then marine fish in the Birmingham, Alabama area. Needless to say, it was a small 30 gallon tank with some live rock, a hang on the back filter, with nothing more than weekly water changes to maintain parameters. For livestock, I had a lion fish and a tiny snowflake moray eel. As a young boy, I spent every summer with multiple trips to Florida beaches and the Florida Keys, so saltwater has always run through my veins.
There aren't many things in this hobby that inspire me more than the corals themselves. I love watching my “sticks†grow and the colors the ocean has provided us with are nothing short of amazing..
At the moment, I have no future plans for upgrading this system. I replaced a 90 gallon in-wall system and put in the 150. Everything is self-sufficient and I do nothing other than feed the fish, clean the glass, and dump the skimmer cup every few days. I top of the kalk stirrer and replace calcium reactor media when needed. When it's all said and done, this system will always be remembered till the day I go. I love this tank and many others enjoy it as well...
System Profile
Display Tank:
150 gallons (60" x 24" x 24"). The display tank was one I just happened to run across before a guy was going to haul it to a land fill!?!? I replaced the front glass on it and slid it into the wall.
Glass or Acrylic:
Glass
Stand:
The frame is made of wood and is nothing special since this is an in wall tank.
Sump:
My sump is a standard 55 gallon tank drilled for my return pump and separated in half for a refugium and a skimmer compartment. I also have a standard 20 gallon, sitting above 55 that the drain line tees off of. The 20g acts as a second refugium.
Protein Skimmer:
Vertex IN 250. Nothing more to say about this skimmer... It's flawless.
Carbon/phosphate filtration:
Via Aqua 30/30 running Blue Life Clear FX Pro, which is very impressive stuff in my opinion. Not dishing my old school carbon and GFO, but I really like the new stuff.
Return Pump:
Gen-X model PCX-40 (1190 gph)
Water circulation:
Two Vortech MP40s in Constant mode on FULL BLAST.
Lighting:
A custom LED fixrture made by a very good buddy and I love it. It consists of 120 Cree 3 watt LEDs on two different heat sinks and 4 colors (blue, royal blue, neutral white and cool white)
Calcium/alkalinity/magnesium dosing:
Aqua Medic 1000 kalk stirrer and a Korallin c1502 calcium reactor.
Auto top-off:
All top off goes through the kalk stirrer at different intervals every hour, on the hour, in order to keep up with demand.
RO/DI:
RO is nothing more then a eBay system that's been highly modified for control via Apex and auto shutoff.
Heating/cooling:
No heater or chiller is needed.
System control:
The whole system is controlled by a Neptune Apex Lite with EB8 and VDM module. Thanks Neptune!! 1smile1
Water Parameters
* Temp: Temp stays around 80° even though my growth was better when temp stayed around 86°
* pH: Stays around 8
* Specific Gravity: 1.024
* NO3: undetectable
* Ca: Around 400 ppm
* Alk: 8 dKH
* Mg: 1350 ppm
* PO4: undetectable
* Ammonia and Nitrites: undetectable
Lighting Photoperiod:
8:00 AM: Blue & Royal Blue diodes RAMP UP
9:00 AM: Neutral White & Cool White diodes RAMP UP
11:00 AM: All diodes at 100% intensity
7:00 PM: All diodes begin to RAMP DOWN
9:00 PM: Neutral White & Cool White diodes OFF
11:00 PM: Blue & Royal Blue diodes OFF
Filtration and Water Quality Summary and Objectives
Beyond all the other filtration I've already named, I also run 50 lbs of Ecosystems Miracle Mud. It’s great stuff that I’ve used on my 90g and had to have it again on my 150g. The macro algae in my refugiums consist of chaetomorpha, caulerpa, and a type of sea grass.
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