Tank 01
The 5,000 gallon home reef
5000
Gallons
SPS / stony dominant
Style
30
Months Old
Aqua Roche (France) interior set; box built by Water Dog, 3.5-4 in acrylic front window
Brand
16 ft long x ~6 ft front to back x 96 in tall (85 in water)
Lighting
EcoTech Marine Radion G6 ×20 $999.99in stockSkimmer
Deltec $515.99in stockReturn Pump
Controller
Neptune Systems Apex $989.99in stockDosing
calcium reactor
Filtration
berlin / algae scrubber / roller floss
Salt
Tropic Marin $23.99in stockWater Changes
One or two water changes per week (~330 gallons) from elevated mixing tanks above the sump
Feeding
Reef Nutrition auto feeder on dose system metering 5-6 times/day, two dry feeders, plus 10 sheets of nori Monday/Wednesday/Friday
Husbandry & Practices
8
- Aquascape pushed back and built low (~1/3 height) to grow up and forward, leaving fish space.
- Divers enter the tank weekly to clean, move, and prune corals into optimal light/flow.
- Constantly prune/whack back fast growers so corals don't shade or burn each other.
- Seeded with cured live rock from the Keys for biology rather than dry boat rock.
- Heavy redundancy: dual chillers on staggered thermostats so water never exceeds 80F.
- Corals glued with cyanoacrylate to the back wall to encourage pedaling and encrusting.
- Capture and log all fish quarterly into a database to track stocking and losses.
- No zoanthids or softies — intentional stony-only reef grown out over 2.5 years.
Target Parameters
Temp
80°F
Corals
10
capsgrafted capgreen capnuclear fusion grafted capMontipora (encrusting on back wall)green StylophoraLoboorange Faviaeagle eye chalicesSpace Invader palys/chalices
Fish
10
clown tangAtlantic blue tangsVlamingi tangchalk bassAtlantic blue chromisRoyal grammablack cap bassletSingapore angelcandy bassletsgreen AI blenny
Inverts
7
urchinstrochus snailsastrea snailsserpent starsAtlantic brittle starsPacific brittle starscleaner shrimp
