This page will contain an updated (hopefully) full-tank shot of each of the tanks, as well as all of the technical specs on each of the tank, with supplemental pictures and/or videos if they are helpful.

150G Saltwater Tank:

  • 150G glass display tank – 24″D x 72″W x 36″H
  • 20G acrylic sump with mechanical filtration, it used to be an EShopps wet/dry filter setup, but I took out the bio-balls and replaced it all with live rock.
  • 20G glass refugium
  • Sump/refugium together add about 30G of water volume for a total of 180G in the system
  • 2 eShopps Hang-On-Back overflow cups — one going from the display tank to the sump, the other going from the sump to the refugium
  • 2 Koralia 4 pumps in the display tank
  • Mag Drive 12 return pump going from the refugium to display tank.
  • A Tunze 9006 Protein Skimmer in the sump.
  • 75 lbs. Aragonite live sand
  • 250 lbs. live rock – used for biological filtration: 50 lbs. Pomphnei, 50 lbs. Key West, 150 lbs. CaribSea Reef Rock
  • The tank was cycled without fish, using pure ammonia from November 10-28, 2009; from that point livestock was added.
  • There’s a population of various “copepods” living in the sump and refugium.
  • The refugium has a boring 15W compact flourescent light bulb from Wal-Mart, which is off 24 hours/day
  • The display tank is lit by a Nova Extreme Pro T5 72″ system on a day/night cycle which is on for a total of 6 hours/day
  • I use tap water, SeaChem’s Prime water conditioner, and Instant Ocean reef salt and do roughly 10% water changes every other week. I keep the specific gravity around 1.025, and the temperature around 78F using three 150W submersible heaters.
  • Five days each week, the fish are fed pellet food and red and green marine algae. They also get a rotation of several different types of frozen food.

55G Freshwater Tank

  • 55G glass display tank – 12″D x 48″W x 21″H.
  • One AquaClear 110 filter – no carbon insert.
  • 110W submersible heater, I keep the temperature between 78F and 80F.
  • Three large pieces of driftwood used for decoration along with some Lace Rock and some Black Shale.
  • Substrate: 40 lbs. Tahitian Moon Sand.
  • Lighting: 48″ Nova LED system, which is on for 8 hours each day.
  • Every few weeks I do a 50% water change using tap water and SeaChem Prime water conditioner.

20G Planted Tank

  • 20G long glass display tank – 12″D x 30″W x 12″H
  • Two AquaClear 20 filters – no carbon inserts, I use an extra foam insert instead
  • 50W submersible heater, I keep the temperature between 78F and 80F
  • Four small pieces of driftwood used for decoration. The java fern is attached to one of the pieces of driftwood.
  • Substrate: there’s a little bit of Flourish EcoComplete fertilizer at the bottom, with an inch of Flourite red gravel above that
  • Lighting: Nova Extreme T5 10000K 30″ system, which is on about 8 hours each day.
  • Every other week I do a 50% water change using tap water and SeaChem Prime water conditioner.