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Shane Graber aka Liquid has been an aquarist for many years.  He currently maintains a 40 gallon tank with plenty of nice inhabitants.  He has also been a member of the #reefs community for many years.  Thanks everyone for coming tonight. :) I hope that you find the information presented here informative and that you come away from this talk tonight with a better understanding of some of my husbandry practices and my tank setup. Background: I’ve been keeping tanks on and off since I was a small boy living on a farm in Ohio. I can remember my parents setting up a 10 gallon tank that housed guppies when I was 7 years old or so and that got me hooked on aquariums and fish. After college, I was visiting Todd Crail’s LFS (aka FarmerTodd) and he showed me all these neat saltwater tanks that housed fish and corals and I was hooked. There was no turning back for me! :) For those of you who would like to check out my website, it’s available for viewing at http://liquidreef.freeservers.com and I will be covering various highlights from there. I will apologize to the Netscape users in advance as I’ve just been notified of some compatibility issues that I will resolve after this talk. Current Setup: The current tank is a 38 gal All-Glass (dimensions 3’x1’x22" tall). A recent picture of my tank can be found at: http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/images/panorama2.jpg . The hood is custom DIY with an 8" open back housing 2x95 watt VHO actinics run by an IceCap 660 and 1x250 watt K Iwasaki bulb run by a dual PFO ballast. Currently I’m only using one of the two ballasts on the dual PFO ballast and I’m not running the IceCap 660 at full capacity as I made the purchases with the end in sight – which was a larger tank sometime in the future. :) A pictorial index of my equipment can be found at http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/equip/2000-10-24/20001024_cat.html or by clicking on the Equipment link on my webpage. This system is currently sump-less, which goes to show you that you don’t need a sump (they’re a nice addition though). After I got into reefkeeping more, I realized that I could really use a sump and a refugium on the system so I could house some of my hardware (skimmer, heater, carbon, etc) in there and use the refugium for nutrient export but the stand that the tank came with was really not conducive to adding a sump and there was no way I wanted to add a hang-on overflow in the room which the tank was being kept. My wife would kill me if the overflow lost siphon and ruined our hardwood floors. It’s good to keep your wife happy. ;) The tank has 45 lbs of Fiji live rock along with a 3" deep sandbed comprised of a bag of Caribsea Special Grade Aragonite and a bag of Caribsea Special Grade Aragonite. The sandbed was activated from various detrivore kits that I got from Todd along with some live sand from Tropicorium. I typically recharge my sandbed 1x to 2x per year when funds allow (which reminds me it’s about time!). :) A BakPak 2 skimmer powered by a RIO 600 RVT pump currently skims the system. After upgrading my lighting to the halides a year ago, I found that I needed to skim more heavily as the increased light caused some algae / cyano issues. To increase my skimming, I followed the advice from the boards and added a 3" lime wood airstone along with a Tetra Luft air pump to the skimmer to help it along. This modification seemed to help the problem quite a bit. As an interesting side note: I can physically tell in my tank within 24 hours if my RIO pump is plugged and / or my lime wood airstone is plugged as cyanobacteria will begin to creep its way onto my sandbed. 24 to 48 hours after cleaning my pump / replacing the airstone the cyano’s gone. For circulation, I have about 900 to 1000 gph flow provided by various MaxiJet powerheads, one of which is pointed at about a 30° angle to the surface so that there is some surface agitation going on to help with gas exchange, evaporation for kalkwasser additions and temperature issues. The heater on the system is a 150 watt Ebo-Jagger. Periodically (maybe 1x to 2x per year) I pull my pumps and heater off one by one and clean all the coralline algae from the surfaces using a dilute muratic acid solution and 4x per year I soak my MJ impellers in a dilute solution of muratic acid to clean off any calcium deposits that might be decreasing their performance. I’ve had a number of impellers seize up on me if I don’t keep to this maintenance schedule. Cleaning in dilute muratic has not been a problem. I just make sure that I clean off everything real well before I put it back in the tank. If it’s just the impellers, I just wash them well in tap water. If it’s a powerhead, I might soak it in tap water along with some DeChlor to play it safe before returning it to service in the tank. I have also tried vinegar but the results were a lot slower than with dilute muratic acid. Tank Parameters: I typically run my lights for 12 hrs VHO actinic and 10 hrs metal halides. There’s been a couple times during the summer that I have to decrease my photoperiod as my tank sometimes has the tendency to overheat even with a fan blowing into the hood. This is due more to my inability to get good evaporation due to the high humidity here in the Midwest. I have also begun keeping the hood open about 4" to aid in heat removal. Temperature typically runs around 82°-86°F and salinity is kept at 1.025 sg (approximately 35-36 ppt). I use Instant Ocean salt exclusively. PH typically runs from 3 (morning) to 8.6 (evening) and is monitored via a PinPoint pH meter that is calibrated monthly. Calcium and alkalinity are supplied to the system through a DIY 20 gallon pickling lime tub that resides in the basement. An index of my kalkwasser dosing setup can be found at: http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/equip/diy_kalk/kalkdoser_cat.html   A powerhead stirs the tub 2x per day for 15 minutes and a Pulsa chemical metering pump (the manufacturers of the ReefFiller pump – http://www.pulsa.com/products/chem-tech/cti_001.html ) is used to dose kalkwasser for 12 hrs per day at night from my basement. At this point, I have pushed my kalkwasser / evaporation to the maximum and I have had to resort to adding a small amount of vinegar (3 mL vinegar / liter kalkwasser) per Dr. Bingman’s article ( http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/oct/bio/default.asp ) to the kalkwasser tub in order to maintain my calcium and alkalinity demands. The vinegar tweak is definitely not for everybody but it sure helped me out when I couldn’t push my evaporation any further due to pH constraints. Currently I feed rather sparingly as I need a sandbed recharge and I also need to get my system back in check after an RTN and fish death event that happened while I was on vacation which I will cover a little later. Before the event, I was feeding a quarter sized chunk of Formula to the tank daily along 2 scoops of ESV spray-dried phytoplankton. I also fed the fish with flake food 1x to 2x per day. Every 1 to 2 days I would feed my Tubastrea with a nickel sized chunk of frozen brine soaked in Selcon. Here’s a pictorial index of the foods that I currently feed: http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/foods/20010803_cat.html or you can click on the Foods link on my webpage. In the near future I plan to begin rearing my own baby brine along with growing my own phytoplankton and feeding the tank with these items and cutting back on the prepared foods somewhat. For the phytoplankton station I plan to try a scaled down variation on Dwayne Sapp’s phytoplankton station: http://www.reefcentral.com/diy/culture_station.htm . No other additives are used other than 25% waterchanges every month or two with Instant Ocean salt. Inhabitants: The primary inhabitants of this setup are soft corals as I rather enjoy the colors and movement compared to a tank full of twigs. ;) However I do have a couple hobby frags of Acropora sp, a Hyndophora sp., Pocillopora sp., and Porites sp. I would have to say that my favorite corals in my tank would be my orange Ricordea florida ( http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/corals/2001-03-09/r-florida-mh1.jpg ) and my Sinularia (http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/corals/2001-03-09/sinularia1.jpg ). The scourge of my tank currently is my Pachyclavularia violacea (green star polyps) ( http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/corals/2001-08-01/competition5.jpg ). They overgrow everything and they’re very hard to remove from the rock once they’ve attached. I’ve had them sting my Anthelia glauca colony almost to the point of extinction in my tank. A full index of my corals from various times in my tank’s existence can be found in the Corals section of my website for further reference. Currently (as of 3 weeks ago), I have one Chromis viridis which is the sole fish in my tank. Before that I had 3 Chromis and 2 tank-raised Amphiprion ocellaris clowns. Unfortunately I went on a 4 day vacation and came back to 4 dead fish (the clowns and 2 chromis) and a nasty RTN event that all but wiped out 95% of the flesh on my Acropora’s and Pocillopora ( http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/corals/RTN%2008-14-2001/20010814_cat.html ). The tank is still recovering from the experience and I’m going through a dinoflagellate bloom currently as I was unable to find 2 of the 4 fish bodies. The only thing that I can think of that happened was that a temperature spike somehow hit the tank while I was away (I’m guessing the same day I left) and caused the deaths. Sometimes I really wish that I had the money to invest in a control system for my tank and/or some experienced reefkeepers near by. :/ One of the cool things that happened in my tank this past December was that I had a massive bristleworm spawn occur when I was doing some routine tank maintenance. Fortunately I had a camera near by and captured the entire event. If it ever happens again I’d like to get a digital video of it. An index of the pictures from this event can be found at http://liquidreef.freeservers.com/inverts/2000-12-28/20001228_cat.html or in the Invertebrates link on my websites menu. Conclusion: As I conclude this tank talk, I’d like to primarily thank Todd Crail (aka "FarmerTodd") for all the help that he’s given me when I started out in this hobby and over the years. I would guess to say that about 50% of the corals in my tanks came from frags from his display tanks. Also, without his help I’m sure that I would be nowhere near as educated about reefkeeping husbandry as I am today. :) I’d now like to open the floor for any questions that people might have. Thank you. what do you think about the tank maintenance "set off" your spawning event? i talked to Rob Toonen about it right after the event and his best guess was that something in my sand stirring cued the bristleworms to mass spawn.  i have talked to other reefers that have had the same experience some have it when they prune their macro's, etc Did your bristleworm spawn have any ill effect on or cause your corals to retract any? I did not observe any ill effects from the spawn and from what Dr.Shimek has said on reef-l, it's good food for the tank. :) Do you use a uv filter on the MH's UV filters? Nope, I have never used a UV filter on my halides. I've had them 5" from the surface of the water for over a year now and have had no problems to date. Which method of nutrient removal do you prefer to advocate harvesting of algae or intensive skimming or both? When I setup my new system in a couple months, I plan to incorporate a good skimmer along with a healthy sized refugium on the system as i feel that both types of nutrient export have their place today. However, I do not advocate using Caulerpa sp. macroalgaes as they go sexual, put down holdfasts, etc I would prefer to use Chaetomorpha sp, ulva, halimeda, etc What do you think are the benefits of using phytoplankton, etc in your system? I checked the particlesize of ESV phyto per Toonen's WMC paper and the ESV phyto as i mix it tends to give me more of a rotifer particlesize which I have found to be of some benefit to the microcritters in my tank. I have also noted many of my soft coral polyps such as my Sinularia sp and Nephthea sp. "pulsing" occasionally during feeding. Primarily I use it to feed the microcritters tho. How dilute do you make your muriatic acid solution? What strength is safe? Heh, being a chemist you would think I'd do it more scientifically but really all I do is add maybe 1/4 cup to a liter of water.  I then either soak my powerhead impellor or the entire powerhead in the solution and let it run for a little while until it's clean. However, I do recommend wearing gloves and possibly eye protection to play it safe. :) Did you find when you upgrading to mh lighting, your corals and system seemed to do alot better? Oh yeah. My Sarcophyton, Nepthea, Palythoa, Zoanthids, etc really took off. I personally like the 250 watt 6500 K Iwasaki's that I'm running. Some people complain that they look "yellow", but color is perceived differently by everyone so some may like the color, others may not. I went with the 250's as they allowed me the most "flexibility" when it came to bulb choices. what are you doing to battle dinos? Ah, dinoflagellates. Currently I'm not doing anything as they just reared their ugly heads. If it doesn't go away  I plan to kill the lights for 2 days while blowing out the tank with either a turkey baster or weak powerhead and heavily running carbon. I'm also currently dripping kalkwasser which is also another recommendation to get rid of them as there's some anecdotal evidence that elevated pH tends to help rid a system of them. FWIW, there's an article by Todd Crail on http://www.reefs.org/library about dinoflagellates and what he did to get rid of them and that's pretty similar to what I'm going to do if they don't go away.

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