Continued from page 1

I spent countless hours looking in all of LeRoy's tanks, turning over grunge and live rocks, whatever tiny animals I found I went running into my office and glued these animals were I wanted them. In the very first month I could tell this tank was going to be remarkable and no artist could paint a more perfect picture, yet the one thing we all lack is the patience it takes for these animals to come into their own.

I would add a handful of GARF's janitors once a month and throw in a little grunge to my tank when some new stuff came in. I never went through any bad algae stage and my janitors keep the rock and glass so clean that this setup is really maintenance free.

If you enjoy gardening at all you should really try your hands at a reef aquarium. They bring so much pleasure, love, peace, and beauty. Another interesting fact is that for people who have a hard time fighting depression when the light hours decrease this is a wonderful source of light supplement for those who suffer.

I really want to encourage all of you to just make that first attempt. If you are concerned that you will lose something start with the easiest animals and graduate slowly. Some of your loses may not be your fault at all it could be that the animal was very stressed before you placed it in your home aquarium. I would also like to extend to anyone that I will help with any questions or concerns you may have. You have to know who to trust when you ask questions otherwise you may be stuck with a reef that will never work for you.

There are many things that I have accomplished with my tank that I was warned I could not do (I guess everybody loves a challenge) and to everyone's surprise it grew and grew and grew. I would add a handful of GARF's Janitors once a month and throw in a little grunge to my tank when some new stuff came in. I never went through any bad algae stage and my janitors keep the rock and glass so clean that this setup is really maintenance free.

This is the right end of the 55 gallon reef

My tank is one year and 5 months old to date and has grown and made several babies which have found homes all round the US. As for any environment that man is trying to duplicate the most important factor is trying to find the perfect balance and I know that you need to pay attention to the animals themselves. I now have over 165 different species of corals living in my 55 gallon reef. I have to pay close attention that nothing is touching each other or stinging each other, or something hasn't knocked something over, or they get enough light and so on.

It took me forever to be able to keep a Xenia coral alive, but through trail and error I now have 5 different species and I affectionately call them weeds. It takes time to find the best condition for your coral, but you can move them around and I suggest doing so. I have my hand in my tank daily and it never looks the same from one week to the next because I move my animals around in my tank.

We have increased my lighting to 7 watts per gallon and in the next week will be increasing that even more. We now have 2- VHO 4' bulbs and 4 - 4' 40 watt bulbs. We will change this to 4 - 4' VHO and 2 -4' 40 watt because so many sps corals are growing now.

It is my belief that lighting is extremely important for most animals and that you need to provide caves and shading for the animals that don't require so much light, because they can live in the same environment. I noticed that when I figured out what additives worked best for my system that if I did it on a regular basis, meaning the same time and the same day of the week, I saw the best results. It is so important to keep your system as stable as possible. If your water evaporates then your salt content will increase, temperature increases and so on.

I have a water box on the sump in my system that drops water into my tank when the water level goes down. (SEE FIG.1) This box needs to be filled only once a week, but I believe it is one of the reasons my system remains so stable.

I am also committed to - when something works why change it? It took me a long time to come up with the right additives that would work for my system and believe me I lost a few things along the way trying!

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