Tank Size: Acrylic, 600 gallons total water volume. Stand-alone system.
Equipment: ETS skimmer, sump with a lot of live rock covered in sponge growth for natural filtration, & a filter bag. No refugium.
Lighting: one 250w 20,000K Metal Halide bulb
Water Temp: 76° F
Feeding: The tank is fed throughout the day on average hourly. Foods include: lots of Cyclop-Eze; Ocean Nutrition Nano Reef food; baby brine shrimp (nauptili); frozed mysid for the fish; and phytoplankton occasionally. Some days food is only offered to the fish.
Cleaning: Filter bag is cleaned daily, sprayed clean with fresh water – protein skimmer is cleaned weekly. We used to do daily 25% water changes when all the corals were closed, but now that they have adapted we can do two to three 25% water
changes per week. We use a hydrovac to keep the sand clean.
Coral Location: About 15 species of coral from Indo-Pacific. One or two gorgonians from the Caribbean that may get removed.
Most Expensive Coral in Tank: Dendrophyllia and Micro Dendros
Fish: Deep water fish mostly. Fathead / Sunburst anthias, Ventralis anthias, yellow damsel, firefish, yellow assessors, and pipefish.
Advice from the Curator for keeping a Non-Photosynthetic Tank: Most important factor is clean water quality. With the amount of feeding required the nutrient levels are going to rise so you're going to have to do water changes frequently in order to keep a good balance on the tank. Keep the tank closer to 76F degrees instead of 80F. Don't try to keep dendronephthya (aka cauliflower coral) in any home aquarium. No matter what they always seem to decline and perish.
Curator Interview with Phillip Scheller by: Jessy Timko
Video Shot in HD & Produced By (using a Nikon D90): Jessy Timko
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