Tank of the month: August 2018

MAURO AFFABILE

We dedicate August 2018 to the aquarium of our BallingMania friend Mauro Affabile from Naples.

Even though he came to marine fishkeeping only a little over a year ago, he has achieved results worthy of the most experienced aquarists! His long background in freshwater fishkeeping certainly helped him a lot, but he still deserves congratulations for the beautiful tank he has built.
So let's give the floor to Mauro, to tell us his story as an aquarist and describe in detail the equipment and husbandry of his aquarium.

"My story as an aquarist began in 1997 when, having fallen in love with a Betta splendens I saw in a shop, I started keeping them in a 15-litre tank, with no equipment whatsoever and lit by a simple table lamp. In 2003 I bought my first tank, a Juwel Rio 125, in which I kept tropical fish for about 10 years: guppies, platies, neons and so on. Then I increased the number of tanks, moving the small fish to other tanks and keeping the Rio 125 for 7 magnificent angelfish that kept me company for about 6 years. In 2013, for personal reasons, I dismantled everything.
After 4 years, carried along also by the passion of my friend and fishkeeping mentor Mariano Raimo, I decided to take the big step.

I currently have a custom-made 350-litre (gross) tank with a sump, a Deltec SC1351 skimmer, an Ultra Reef algae filter, a SICCE Syncra 3.0 return pump, an Aqua Medic EVO 4 dosing pump (with which I dose Triton Balling) and an AutoAqua Mato-200P auto top-off. I light the tank with two Hydra 26s, to which I recently added 2 ATI 39 watt Blue Plus T5s.
Water flow comes from a Vortech M40 and a small Jebao SW4 behind the rockwork. The temperature is controlled by a TECO TK500.
I keep SPS, LPS and soft corals together, feeding them live phytoplankton (60 ml every day), zooplankton (mostly copepods but also rotifers twice a week), amino acids (Sicce H&O Koral twice a week) and Aqua Medic Coral Fit (once a week).

In the tank I also keep a Zebrasoma flavescens, a Zebrasoma xanthurum, three Nemateleotris magnifica, three Chromis viridis, two black Ocellaris and finally a Pterapogon kauderni, which I feed, in rotation, with live Artemia I raise myself, frozen Artemia, dry food and nori seaweed. Finally, I make a 15-litre change every 15 days with my own RO water and Royal Nature "Ion Balanced Pro" salt.

Now let's look through the beautiful photos and once again warmly congratulate Mauro.