Not so Pretty on the Outside, but Gorgeous Looking In: Low Budget Reef Aquariums

By Michael J. Gerdes

September 24, 2000 on #reefs

Photos can be found at http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/m_gerdes_092400/m_gerdes_092400pic.html

Tonight I will be sharing my experiences over the last 4 years, with 2 reef tanks that I have maintained. This sort of tank is not for everyone. As the title indicates, it will not lead to a show room quality tank, though both systems were very healthy and thriving.

I would like to start by a run down on the 2 tanks.

The first, which was kept down in Houston, was a 45-gallon hex (and stand both purchased used). Lighting consisted of a 250W 6500K Iwaski (ballast and pendant used), and 2 NO fluorescent bulbs (plain strip lights found at garage sales for under $5). As this tank had a built in overflow, I needed to figure out a mechanism for a sump. I ended up finding a 25-gallon Nalgene container, from a lab that was shutting down. I eventually took the original 5 gallon sump that came with the tank and was drilled and converted it into a refugium, which I lit with 3x13 watt power compact bulbs (fixtures were the type that screw into a normal light bulb fixture, and I was given them from a local movie theater). I put in a 4-5” sand bed, which was seeded with live sand from others tanks. For a skimmer, I made a 4” x 36” air driven skimmer, with most of the PVC tubing obtained from a little dumpster diving at near by construction sites. While I received a few strange looks from the workers, to them it was just trash. Calcium was supplemented with Ball pickling lime, dripped nightly, from a DIY dripper. The regulator came from a generous nurse whom I requested an IV dripper after donating blood. She was happy to give it to me. This tank became the home for 2 pigmy angels (rock beauty and an eibli), a clarkii clown, numerous soft corals and LPS, and a long tentacle anemone. Most of the corals were purchased locally. The biggest mistake that I made while maintaining this tank was that I tried twice to keep tangs in the tank. I believe there just was not enough swimming space for them, and that they were under constant stress. Water tests were done for pH, alkalinity, and calcium. I did them weekly when first starting, and then later, only if something seemed abnormal. This was dictated by the condition of the corals largely.

The current tank that I have is a 30-gallon tank (tank was used and given as a going away present from a friend in Houston), sumpless, that is hooked up to a 15-gallon refugia (tank from a trade). The lighting is a 400W 6500K Iwaski (PFO ballast). I found an oak desk that was being thrown out, and made a hood out of the file drawer. I put in a $15 reflector, painted the inside blue (which helped with the green cast from these bulbs), and suspended the "hood" from the ceiling. This served to help keep the heat down, made it easy to work on the tank, and gave a wider area of light distribution. The stand comes from a pair of 2x4 end tables that I found at a local flea market, and together had the correct footprint for the tank (the tables were finished and together cost less than the wood would have cost me). In this tank, I put in close to 200lbs of home depot sand, which gave a depth of 6". I seeded the sand with one of the seeder packages, as well as sand from a couple of well established tanks. Live rock I purchased locally, from someone who was getting out of the hobby. This turned out to be a real mistake. The rock was kept in circulation, however there was no lighting over it. After about 3 weeks, I had the worst bryopsis algae outbreak in history, The tank was literally a field of the stuff. I was tempted to just chuck all of the rock and start fresh, though I new my girlfriend would be displeased at the wasted money. Through a lot of manual pruning, the help from these snails that hitch hiked on something, and have been continually breeding, and through doses of sodium bicarbonate, the tank has not had a sign of bryopsis for over 10 months. A hang on skimmer was purchased used, found at one of the internet trading sights. A couple of powerheads are used for the circulation, with one of them used to feed the refugium. The refugium has a 4" sand bed; both silica and argonite based sand, which was seeded from the main tank. The algaes that are grown in there are from pruning back 3 macros that grow in the main tank. I transfer them to the refugia, as the dark red turf algae, is a preferred spawning ground for snails, worms, brittle stars, and copepods. This tank is predominantly occupied by 4 different morphs of montipora digitatta. There is also a derasa clam, a few small LPS corals, a couple of unidentified anemones, and a mated pair of captive breed clarkii clowns. With the exception of the derasa clam (which came from one of the clam farms), all of the corals were free, and obtained as small frags that have grown considerably in the last year. Many of the montipora are in other local reefkeepers tanks at this time.

How I managed to cut back on costs:

Buy used when possible. The one exception here are heaters and circulation pumps, which I feel are just too important to take a chance with.

Use cheap sand and seed with live sand. I have found that most live sand from stores has very little actual sand animals. While live from a bacterial standpoint, I do not consider it to be truly live. The best bet is to get scoops from several people’s tanks that have been running for a while. I recently set up a repository for live sand to help locals with this problem. It consists of a 55-gallon Rubbermaid tub, a single powerhead, and about 300 pounds of sand. I plan to make this available to any local reefkeepers, at no charge.

Obtain captive raised frags. This is where substantial savings can be obtained. While they start small, they grow considerably. Many reefkeepers are quite generous, and frequently ask for nothing in return- except that maybe the favor is returned down the road. A great source can come from local societies, if there is one around.

1. Lighting- go with metal halides. They are substantially cheaper in the long run.

2. Run a refugia. It does not cost much to setup, and provides a natural source of filtration as well as food in the water column that can not be substituted for by other means.

3. Provide calcium supplementation by dripping kalkwasser. Buy the lime at the supermarket.

4. Make your own food. It is smelly business, but a half-hours work will give you food that will last over 6 months. I go to the oriental supermarket to pickup seaweeds and raw seafood.

So if you want to cut some costs, here are some of the things required, some of which are a blessing in disguise.

1. Have patience. It may take some time to find things at a good price. In this hobby, patience is one thing that we can never have too much of. It helps with introduction of new live stock as well. Planning ahead will prevent bad purchases.

2. Be willing to compromise. An item in question may not be exactly what you are looking for. Two important questions to ask are: will it serve the purpose, will I regret it later. You do not want to be replacing things over and over.

3. Be creative and improvise. Many things around the house can have a new purpose. An example of this is my kalk dripper, the container for which came from an old breadbox.

4. Some people complain about not wanting to be a slave to the tank. I feel this hobby takes time and dedication, plain and simple. You have to ask yourself doing something yourself is worth the time and effort for a potential cost savings.

5. Be willing to put in a little extra work. You have to ask yourself doing something yourself is worth the time and effort for a potential cost savings. I used to carry water from lab, which was about as good of quality as one could find. I found this to be too time consuming, thus now I re-charge DI resins.

6. No when to walk away from a deal. Trust your gut instincts here.

7. Finally, don't mess up, and when you do, don't panic! This almost always leads to disaster.

Hopefully this has provided a few helpful hints for those of you who may be interested in keeping a reef, but are shyed away by the potential costs involved. If you haven't done so, take a little time to look at the photos, and I’ll answer any questions.

We will now roll into the question and answer session

What seeding package did u use?

The one from IPSF. It was the 9 items for $99, with shipping. All in all I was happy with the order. Though am suprised that some of the things survived being packaged the way they were.

Which internet trading site did you use for your trading?

Originally aqualink. Now I also go to reefs.org as well. I find a bit of overlap between the 2. Newspaper searches and e-bay seem to be good places to look as well.

Which 9 items did you get in the seeding package?

The mud, the grunge, the 2 types of snails, and some hermits from what I recall. Guess it wasn't 9 items. The sand booster and the mud were loaded with life. Also got the spaghetti worms and the bristle worms. I dug up some sand yesterday to give to a travelling reefer, and the spaghetti worm was litterally the sixe of my pinky.

What is a cost breakdown of the 30?

Well the tank was free, so was the hood. The 400W ballast was about $130 or so, the bulb $65-70, powerheads, another $40, Rock and sand about $100. Livestock, about $100. As I mentioned all of the corals were free. It pays to trade corals, and have reefkeepers for friends. I find that the internet has really helped bring people together.

What are your thoughts on aquacultured rock etc and captive raised livestock?

I think it will be the next wave in the hobby, given the continual threats at bans on imports. Wish that the aquacultured rock was more porous though and had more random shapes. The fish I have now are captive raised. Unfortunately, selection is very limited here. From seeing Joyce Wilkerson speak up here, It seems that it is really hard to make a financial turnaround breeding fish.

Do you feel the refugium helped control the bryopsis in the main tank?

No- I set up the refugium after the bryopsis was gone. I do feel that it helps me avoid cleaning the glass though. I usually only need to scrape coralline algae.

Was there any reason for the use of silica sand in the refugium?

The home depot sand that is argonite based can be hard for some to find. The original stuff I picked up in Ohio when visiting my parents. I could not find it here when I set up the refugium. And I suspected that it would not matter. I have seen no adverse effects from using it. The draw back is that it does not look as nice, and does not help buffer.

Can silica sand be used as a total substitute for coral sand?

I believe it can. There are a few people on the internet who use it exclusively, and have reported no adverse problems. I suspect that the word silica has scared people away from it, as we immediately associate silica with the growth of diatoms. In reality, I do not think much dissolves at all.

Did you set your tank up without fish for a while, while it was cycling, to increase diversity?

Yes. I intentionally waited about 6 months before adding fish or corals. I feel that this is important to do. It really gives the infauna a chance to take hold, as well as to let water chemistry settle down. I did feed during this time.

Can you elaborate on the use of sodium bicarbonate to help rid the bryopsis outbreak?

While I am not certain as to how it works, I have dosed in about a tablespoon with in a cup of water nightly. I think that it depresses the CO2 levels, though again, I am a little unsure of the specific mechanism by whhich it works. I have also done this when there was cyano problems in the first tank, and it worked. I tested water chemistry nightly during this time.

Can you tell us more about how you propped that tiny frogspawn?

James, aka, jameso and I have a movie of it. He basically popped it out by going under the bud with a razorblade. They were attached to several types of substrate, ranging from tile to live rock. The one in the photo was on a small piece of live rock. I put it into a hole in my rock, and it has actually grown into the rock. The skeleton is now as wide a a quarter.

More baby frogspawn pix: http://216.90.10.65/newpix/Babyfrog.JPG

Where there any animals in the tank when u dosed the bicarb and did it cause a huge pH swing, or any other swing?

Yes there were in the houston tank. All of the fish mentioned. I saw a slight increase in pH and alk, but not to dangerous levels. I tried to do this slowly over the course of a week. No real change in calcium levels.

Do you have a photo or weblink to a pic of the skimmer you built?

Unfortunatlely not. It was built based on several plans on the web. I used a tetra luft pump and another cheap one for air. The riser tube, which I wanted to see the bubbles in, was made from a gravel syphon tube that was cut back, it was held in place with a rubber O-ring. This and the use of valves on both the intake and output allowed for a alot of control on water and air.

did the bicarb depress other macros growth?

There really wasn't any of the other macros in there at the time, during the bryopsis battle they came along later. I do not recall with the macros in the first refugium, the tank that occasionally had cyano, but the macros were still there- did not die off.

How far do you go into the theorem that everything in a reef system should have a practical purpose and not just look pretty?

I try to keep them as natural as possible, though you still want it to be pretty. Corals are an example. As are most fish that we put in. So in some regards, not all that far.

Well, that is it for the questions and the formal part of the meeting. Thank you very much Michael for taking the time out to talk to us tonight. Great talk!!!