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May 2005 - Tank of the Month
Shawn Winterbottom
Check out the PowerPoint presentation on
Shawn's tank by clicking here!
REEF
1) Your name,
location and occupation. Include how long you have been an aquarist,
how long you have been a WMAS member and how you heard of our club.
Name: Shawn Winterbottom
Location: Sandy
Occupation: Software Developer
How long have you been in the hobby? Just over 2 years
How long have you been a member of the club? 2 Years
How did you hear about the WMAS? My good Friend Kirk Talbot (lives
across the street)
2) Describe your tank. Acrylic or glass? Size in dimensions and
gallons. How long has it been set up?
Acrylic / Glass: Glass
Size in gallons: 75 Gallons
Dimensions: 48” x 18” 20” deep
Age: (how long has the system been running) 14 Month
3) Describe your lighting system, including your photo-period. Add
what you would change if you could.
During most of the time I just had Power Compacts. I then added some
VHO’s. About two months ago I replaced my lighting. I now have two
150w MH’s, two 96w Actinic Power Compacts, and Three Moon lights.
The moon lights are on 24 hours per day. My PC’s are on from 7am –
9pm. Finally, my MH’s are on from 9am to 8pm. In just the last two
months, I have seen a huge difference with the increased lights. One
of these days, I want to upgrade to even more light.
4) Describe your filtration system. Include: How deep is your sand
bed, plenum, your skimmer size and model and how long you run it,
your circulation pumps (how many and their size in gallons per
hour), your sump/refugium including Reverse Daylight, biowheels and
skilters, HOT systems, clean up crew.
The Main tank has a three inch sand bed and about 80lbs of live
rock. (I would like to add about another 50 lbs.). The main tank
also has many several types of crabs and snails. I have a 20g
refugium with about a two inch sand bed. In the Refugium is some
Macro Algae. Mostly Chaeto. The refugium also has some crabs and
snails in it. The refugium is set up for reverse daylight. I haven’t
run my skimmer for about six months. It is just too hard to adjust.
Eventually, I will replace it with one that actually works. Finally,
I use activated carbon in the refugium.
5) What are your maintenance techniques? Include water change
schedule.
As I am very busy, I don’t do the maintenance the way I would like.
Mostly I just top off the water. When any of my livestock looks
unhappy, then I run tests and fix what’s ailing them.
6) What additives do you use? Kalkwasser, Strontium, Molybdenum,
Iodine, Magnesium, Other
I do add Iodine and other trace elements (Kent Marine’s Essential
Elements). I also use B-Ionics’s Calcium Buffer System.
7) Describe your feeding philosophy. Include your schedule, and what
you prefer to feed your system?
I do not use a formal feeding schedule. One to two times a week I
will put in a little flake food for the fish. I also feed them some
frozen shrimp periodically. I put in some Phyto about every other
day. I also feed them some Cyclopeeze once a week.
8) DIY ie, Calcium reactor, stand / hood, skimmer, sump, ect. Any
Do-it-yourself items of interest? Web-sites that you may have
referenced?
As I am a computer programmer, I only do software…DIY projects are
“Hardware” issues.
9) Stand and Canopy
Wood: Oak
Color: Natural
Special Characteristics: Since I got the new lights, I haven’t been
able to get the hood back on.
10) Items of interest: Favorite or unusual Fish, coral, or
invertebrate
Favorite Fish: I love my Gold-Stripped Maroon Clown. However, My
favorite would have to be my Starfish. His arms/legs/appendages are
over 5 inches long.
Favorite Coral: Boy that’s hard…I don’t know that I have a favorite.
Favorite Polyps: Green Sand Polyps that I got From Mark Petersen
Favorite Sponge: My blue sponge
Favorite Crab: My emerald crabs, though they hide all the time.
Favorite Worm: My red coco worm.
Favorite Clam: Crocea
11) Can you include a table showing your elemental levels of Ca+,
alkalinity, S.G., temperature, pH and other interesting testables?
I do not test regularly
12) What experiences and challenges have you had with the tank? Any
lessons learned? Is there anything you do differently than others
(or differently than previously)? If so, why?
I would have gone to brighter lights (MH) from the beginning. Adding
them cause
FISH ONLY
1) Your name,
location and occupation. Include how long you have been an aquarist,
how long you have been a WMAS member and how you heard of our club.
Name: Shawn Winterbottom
Location: Sandy
Occupation: Software Developer
How long have you been in the hobby? Just over 2 years
How long have you been a member of the club? 2 Years
How did you hear about the WMAS? My good Friend Kirk Talbot (lives
across the street)
2) Describe your tank. Acrylic or glass? Size in dimensions and
gallons. How long has it been set up?
Acrylic / Glass: Acrylic
Size in gallons: 150 gallons
Dimensions:
Age: (how long has the system been running): 9 plus years. It was my
company’s tank. I have only had it for just over two years.
3) Describe your lighting system, including your photo-period. Add
what you would change if you could.
It started out with Normal florescent lights. When I upgraded my
lighting on my reef tank, I move my old lights from the reef to this
tank. It now has two PC’s and two VHO’s. I am still struggling with
the algae bloom this caused.
4) Describe your filtration system. Include: How deep is your sand
bed, plenum, your skimmer size and model and how long you run it,
your circulation pumps (how many and their size in gallons per
hour), your sump/refugium including Reverse Daylight, biowheels and
skilters, HOT systems, clean up crew.
I use hermit crabs and snails. The main filtration is by a wet/dry
sump.
5) What are your maintenance techniques? Include water change
schedule.
This tank only gets topped of with water and the acrylic is cleaned
so algae doesn’t build up.
6) What additives do you use? Kalkwasser, Strontium, Molybdenum,
Iodine, Magnesium, Other
None
7) Describe your feeding philosophy. Include your schedule, and what
you prefer to feed your system?
I feed them a variety of food. I have some frozen krill, freeze
dried krill, frozen shrimp, and flake food. I feed them 2-3 times
per week. Mostly they get fed every other day. Occasionally, I feed
them live food (gold fish, ghost shrimp, etc.).
8) DIY ie, Calcium reactor, stand / hood, skimmer, sump, ect. Any
Do-it-yourself items of interest? Web-sites that you may have
referenced?
None
9) Stand and Canopy
Wood: Cherry wood
Color: Natural
Special Characteristics: none
10) Items of interest: Favorite or unusual Fish, coral, or
invertebrate
Favorite Fish: My blue Ribbon Eel and my Ray
Favorite Coral: none
Favorite Polyps: none
Favorite Sponge: none
Favorite Crab: none
Favorite Worm: none
Favorite Clam: none
11) Can you include a table showing your elemental levels of Ca+,
alkalinity, S.G., temperature, pH and other interesting testables?
I don’t test the water.
12) What experiences and challenges have you had with the tank? Any
lessons learned? Is there anything you do differently than others
(or differently than previously)? If so, why?
This is the tank that I learned “Copper is BAD”. When I first set it
up, I tried to put corals in it. They died. Come to find out, when
it was at my office, the maintenance guy coppered it every time the
fish got a runny nose (figuratively speaking). I’ve been told that
if I replace ALL of the gravel, rocks, bio-balls, etc. and run fresh
water in it for a while, I could probably salvage it into a reef
tank…that’s a lot of money for a “Probable” outcome. |
