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The tank was installed in 1995 by Reef Systems
as the house was being built. It sits on a cast
iron and plywood frame which, in turn, rests
on a cement slab floor behind the Viewing Room
wall. My guess is that the complete set-upwith
live rock weighs over 2 tons. By the way, raising the tank to eye level puts
the top of it at a little over 6', not counting the hood. In order to reach,
let alone maneuver up there (I'm 5-9…maybe), I was provided with a sturdy
aluminum 'catwalk' which runs the entire length of the tank. I access this
catwalk via stepstool. And although it is configured so it can be folded away
when not in use, I never have. It actually makes a good clothesline from which
to soak and hang the micron socks.
The tank was first 'fired up' in 1996. It was originally designed as an 'LPS/Softie'
tank and as such, started with only 175W halides and much less turnover. The
cured live rock (I can't recall the amount) was secured and shipped by Reef Systems
and was placed in the tank over a period of two tortuous weeks (also another
LR order had to be placed). Then finally it was finished. But before it could
finish cycling, I heard the first dreaded 'click' of a mantis shrimp. Then another.
This led to a complete tear down of the rockwork as it was sorted into several |
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in hopes of finding the pests. I found three.
Then, the reef structure was rebuilt, recycled,
and populated with the first few corals sent
from CA.
It was 1997 and I was going back
and forth to Los Angeles with great regularity
so things with the tank were going much
more slowly than I had hoped. It was also
before one of these trips that I noticed
the first few cysts of Valonia (Bubble Algae)
on a few of the rocks but there were so few,
I didn't take it seriously.
When I got back, a couple MONTHS later
however, the reef looked like a Valonia
wholesalers tank after a new shipment
had come in. I really wish I had a
shot of this to show you as it was
truly an amazing sight. Of course,
I was far too discouraged for that
and as there was no way of controlling
this stuff now, I sold off the few corals that I had and againstripped
out all the rockwork. What followed was a painstaking process of scrubbing
each affected rock individually until it was clear of Valonia which
my wife and I did over a period of
an entire week. At this point, I was
giving serious thought to just making
this a 500 gallon terrarium and tossing
in a Boa Constrictor or something. But cooler (wiser? dumber?) heads
prevailed and
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