I just picked up some of the newer LE ORA frags.  ORA frags tend to do well in my tank and I like the fact that they generally hold their colors.  I brought these from a LFS, The Frazer Zoo. Mike over there knows his stuff and his prices are the best around. Here is a link to the store http://www.frazerzoo.com/.  Pictures below, colors are much better in person!

Frags on Rack:

Hawkins Blue Echinata:

Oregon Tort and Phil’s Granulosa:

Pinkish Lokani ? (Not ORA):

Here’s a few frags of a Cali Tort I also picked up from a local reefer:

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A Reverse Osmosis/ Deionization (RO/DI) unit is used to purify water, prior to its introduction into a reef tank.  RO/DI water can be used to mix with salt and can also be used as top-off water. This is the purest form of water available to the hobbiest and is needed to prevent outbreaks of algae.    Regular tap water has chemicals and impurities that will affect the tank adversely.  In general, the RO portion of the system will remove 95% of the impurities in the water and the DI will remove the rest.  Since I have low tds to begin with, all I need is a efficient RO unit.  BTW, tds refers to ‘total disolved solids’ within water and is a good measure of how ‘clean’ your water is.

I decided on the Spectrapure MaxPure MPRO-300 RO unit.  It produces 300gpd of water per day(provided your incoming water is 77 degrees and water pressure is 60psi).  Since my house is on well water, both my water temperature (55 degrees) and water pressure are low(40-50psi). I was only getting about 24gpd with my old 75gpd rated RO/DI unit.  After a short test, it looks like this unit will produce over 120gpd for me.  Not bad at all! Pictures below.

Sediment filter, carbon prefilter, carbon  filter, and 300gpd membrane.  A nice added feature was the built-in pressure gauge.

Size matters!  Compare the size of my old unit’s membrane (filmtec 75 gpd) and the Spectrapure’s 300 gpd unit.

Here’s the unit mounted on the wall of my fish room. I added a tds meter and it reads 0 tds!

Special thanks to Charles over at Spectrapure for answering all of my question!  Here’s some links with more information:

http://www.spectrapure.com/

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SP-MPRO-300&Category_Code=spro

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I was debating whether to build a wood stand or a steel stand for my new tank.  After much consideration, I felt a steel stand would be the best choice for a number of reasons.  The biggest hurdle was the cost of getting someone to build a steel stand.  I received  several qoutes and they were all around $1000.  This was before the paint options!  Luckily, I found a local steel fabrication shop that was willing to build me a stand and have it powder-coated for less than $400.  Sold!  I’ve seen alot of steel stands that are overbuilt w/ braces all over the place and I decided to go w/ the cleanest stand possible.  This thing is built like a tank, but takes up very little real estate.  It’s built from 1 1/2″ square tubing with triangle steel plates for bracing.

For the sump area, plywood was used, along with 2×4s to build a lip around the perimeter.

Waterproof shower liner was added so that any leaks or water spillage would be caught before getting to the floor.  A water detector alarm will be placed here to warn of any such leaks.

Finally, a plywood and a foam board were placed between the tank and stand.

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Let’s talk about protein skimmers.  Skimmers are used as filtration devices on our reef tanks.  They are essentially a water pump that creates a large mass of bubble within an acrylic chamber.  The waste products from the tank stick to these bubbles and as they pop, get collected in a collection cup.  This ’skimate’ is the nastiest smelling stuff imaginable!

There are many types of skimmers to chose from. Some use a powerful water pump and a venturi device that suck air into a small tunnel to create bubbles.  Others use a needlewheel or meshwheel to chop up the water and air to create fine bubble.  Some skimmers are designed for external use and some skimmers are made to be used internally (insump).  The most efficient & reliable skimmers (energy use & water/air ratio) are probably the needlewheel skimmers. In my opinion, the best skimmers in the world come from Germany and include the following: Bubble King, H&S, Deltec, and ATB.

I’ve selected the Bubble King Supermarine 250 as my skimmer of choice.  Some design features of this skimmer are:  super efficient needlewheel pump w/ high air to water ratio (generally more air is a good thing), double cone design skimmer body(smooth transitions cause less bubble pops before the collection tube and concentrate bubbles upward), bubble plate(funnels input upwards to smooth out turbulence in skimmer body), thick pvc & acrylic(built to last), and finally, because it looks bad ass!

Here’s some pictures:

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My current tank is an Oceanic 58g.  The dimensions are perfect for a single metal halide pendant (provided it can handle a 3′ light spread).  The tank has been up for several years and has gone through many grown pains.  I’ve learn a lot about what not to do.  I think the key with any tank, especially smaller tanks, is to keep the water quality up as all cost.  Weekly water changes along w/ a nice protein skimmer is a must!  This tank will be taken down once the 180 is up and running.

Here are the specs on the tank:

Tank: 58G Display w/ 15G sump.

Lights: 250W MH Pendant, T5 x2 36″ actinic supplement, 2x moonlights

Filtration: DAS Protein skimmer,  Zeovit reactor, Carbon reactor (24/7)

Flow: 2 x Tunze 6025, Panworld 20 return, Vortech 40W, 3/4″ Seaswirl

Here are some pictures:

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