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ALLCORALS REEF TANKS & GEAR
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Tidal Gardens

Ryan Reeves' 1000-gallon SPS reef

Tank 1 of 1 from Return visit to this 1000-gallon Reef Aquarium! - Podcast with Ryan Reeves

1000
Gallons
SPS dominant
Style
60
Months Old
10ft x 5ft x ~32"
A five-year-old 1000-gallon SPS-dominant reef (10ft x 5ft x ~32") built for large, vibrant coral colonies with a deliberately low fish load used mainly to fertilize the corals. It runs low nutrients (nitrate ~5, phosphate near zero), a GEO calcium reactor operated without probes, Radion Gen 4 lighting, and heavy flow from redundant Abyss pumps and four Maxspect Gyres.
Video by Tidal Gardens
Equipment

Gear in this tank

Lighting
EcoTech Marine Radion Gen 4 $999.99in stock
Skimmer
Trigger Systems custom one-off
Return
Abyss 400 (also runs an Abyss 200)
Flow
Abyss 400 ×1, Abyss 200 ×1, Maxspect Gyre (largest size) ×4 $359.99in stock
Dosing
calcium reactor
Filtration
berlin
Water Changes
Relies on frequent water changes ('water polishing') for nutrient control
Feeding
Fish kept largely as a 'fertilizer concept' to feed corals; low fish load (~10 fish)
Husbandry

Protocols & Practices

  • Low fish load (~10 fish) used mainly as fertilizer to feed the SPS corals
  • No GFO, no bio pellets, no carbon dosing — nutrient control via live rock and water changes
  • Nitrates kept around 4-6 ppm, phosphate undetectable to 0.2 ppm
  • GEO calcium reactor does bulk of calcium/alk supplementation; alk target ~8.5 dKH
  • Spaces coral frags deliberately to grow into full colonies and preserve negative space
  • Manually spot-doses calcium chloride and baking soda when reactor lags
  • Runs Radion Gen 4 on AB+ preset, ~8hr photoperiod with blue-tail evening
  • Maximizes flow: dual Abyss return pumps for redundancy plus four perpendicular Maxspect Gyres creating a whirlpool
Chemistry

Target Parameters

Alk
8.5 dKH
Ca
440 ppm
NO₃
4-6 ppm (targets ~5)
PO₄
undetectable to 0.2 ppm
Stocked

Livestock

Corals
6
Acropora (many large SPS colonies)Acropora astera (large 'ectoplasm' acropora)25-year-old Pavonadecade-plus Superman Montipora boulderEuphylliaAnacropora
Fish
3
Sailfin tang (8-10 inch)Vlamingii tang (~8 inch)damsels