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BRStv - Saltwater Aquariums & Reef Tanks

The 2000 gallon SPS dominant reef

Tank 1 of 1 from A 2,000gal SPS Dominant Reef Tank Tour in Minnesota?! The BIGGEST in-home saltwater tank on BRStv!

2000
Gallons
SPS dominant
Style
60
Months Old
22' x 4' x 3'
Sean's 2000-gallon, 22-foot SPS-dominant reef in Minnesota is reportedly the biggest in-home saltwater tank featured on BRStv, running about five years. It's lit by 24 Orphek Atlantik V4 fixtures plus 8 OR bars, with 27 pumps, an SRO 9000 skimmer, four Clear Water algae scrubbers, and heavy automated dosing. Top Shelf Aquatics partners on the tank as a grow-out, fragging signature pieces a few times a year.
Equipment

Gear in this tank

Lighting
Orphek Atlantik V4 ×24 $794.75in stock, Orphek OR bars ×8 $153.00in stock
Controller
Neptune Systems Apex $989.99in stock
Dosing
two-part / multi-element auto-dosing
Filtration
algae scrubber + skimmer + UV
Salt
Tropic Marin Pro-Reef $23.99in stock
Water Changes
~15-20% water changes from a 200-gallon RO/saltwater bin
Feeding
HPD (High Performance Diet) jello mix with Selcon, Nori and Reef Chili in a hanging basket lasting ~4 hours; feeds 2-3x/day, doses phyto
Husbandry

Protocols & Practices

  • Source corals from trusted vendors (Top Shelf Aquatics) with strong backend pest-control processes.
  • Both trust the source AND quarantine/dip incoming corals before adding them.
  • Pull apart and clean all 27 pumps every four months to prevent flow loss and RTN.
  • Prioritize even, blanketed LED light over individual beams for SPS color and shimmer.
  • Broadcast feed rather than spot feed; uses fish bioload and Reef Chili to feed corals.
  • Underdose potassium and creep up via repeated testing rather than overshooting on auto-dosers.
  • Follow ICP/Triton recommendations conservatively, adding chemicals slowly via auto-doser.
  • Stagger cleaning of paired algae scrubbers so nitrate doesn't spike when one is cleaned.
  • Use coarse gravel-style sand instead of fine sugar sand to avoid blowing around in high flow.
  • Run a frag/nursery tank with a flow-off button to nurse stung or broken corals back with spot feeding.
  • Maintain a large diverse cleanup crew, re-upping ~1000 Blue Legs and 500 Scarlets regularly.
  • Run UV intermittently (8-10 hrs/day) to preserve a copepod population.
Stocked

Livestock

Corals
10
AcansAcan panel (rainbow Acans)ChalicesEuphyllia (hammer coral)Monti CapsSPS sticks / AcroporaAussie aqua rowsBowerbankiWilsoniScolies
Fish
2
Blonde Naso Tanga couple hundred Damsels
Inverts
4
Blue Leg hermit crabs (~1000)Scarlet hermit crabs (~500)snailsshrimp