Tank of the month: December 2018

FERDINANDO CRISTIANO

With the review of this beautiful tank we end 2018 in style. We do so by publishing the tank of our friend Ferdinando.
We chose his aquarium because, despite his limited previous experience, thanks to his tenacity and his great passion for this hobby he has achieved great results in a short time, both in husbandry and in keeping the animals in his tank.

Now let's give the floor to the protagonist, so he can tell us about his experience as an aquarist.

Hello everyone, needless to say I am very proud that mine was chosen as December's tank of the month by the BallingMania group.
Let me introduce myself:

my name is Ferdinando Cristiano, I am 39 and I live in Sant'Arpino, in the province of Caserta.
I have always loved marine flora and fauna since I was little, and about a year and a half ago I decided to make my little dream come true.
Before starting this adventure I began gathering information on how to manage and run a marine aquarium, and that is how I came to know the big BallingMania family, which has been a real source of first-hand experience and absolute competence for me, thanks to a staff that is not only expert in handling all sorts of problems but loves the animals we keep as much as I do. So I decided to treasure what I had learnt and, with great humility, began to build my castle brick by brick.

So I bought a 200-litre aquarium which, because of poor maintenance, unfortunately chipped on the bottom, bringing everything down: after about 50 days of cycling, everything was going to pieces!
I was very down but, when I shared how I felt on the BallingMania Facebook group, everyone stood by me and encouraged me not to give up and to start again!

Once the initial disappointment had passed, I started again with a new project: I bought a 120x60x60 aquarium with 15 mm glass, about 430 litres, plus a 60x50x40 sump.
The stand is in 90 cm high box-section aluminium, with glass doors.
Between the stand and the tank I put a neoprene mat, so as not to rest it directly on a structure at a different temperature.

As for equipment, I tried to buy only reliable items, asking for advice and reading posts in the group about people's experiences.
For the return I chose an EcoTech Marine Vectra S1, managed with Reeflink.
For top-off I have a tank of about 60 litres managed by a Hydor auto top-off.
Water flow comes from two Vortech MP40s, mounted 25 cm below the surface on the short side, also managed by Reeflink, with varying power that simulates tides around the clock.
On Ciro Murino's advice I bought a brand-new Deltec i1000 for skimming, which really impressed me both for how quiet it is and for its skimming power. I clean the pump every 2 months.
To run Balling I have a 4-head Reef Doser One dosing pump that adds Triton Core to the tank.
I also fitted an AQ Engineering double fluidised bed filter with valves, one loaded with carbon and the other with phosphate-removing resin, which I open and close as needed.
To prevent and treat some kinds of diseases and parasites, I installed an 18 W Newa More Mirror UV lamp, with its own switch that I turn on as needed.
For lighting I currently rely on Hydra 52 HD units, fully managed over Wi-Fi, with a photoperiod of 13 hours FULL and 30 minutes of sunrise and sunset.
Jäger 300 W heaters.
For cooling, a Teco TK 500.
I have a 5-stage RO unit + anti-silicate resin, with a booster pump.

The tank started with 50 kg of live rock bought with CITES papers. As salt I use Instant Ocean, Red Sea and Korallen-Zucht, alternating them as needed.
After building the rockwork, arranged as three islands, I started straight away with the full 12-hour photoperiod, which sped up the cycling considerably: in fact, after about 2 weeks the NO2 had disappeared and so I began adding the first herbivores: 4 Turbo, 4 Gratilla, 2 Mespilia and a Dolabella.

After about a week the algae were gone and I added the first fish: a flavescens, a xanthurum, a loriculus, a hepatus, 2 Chromis, 1 polylepis, 4 Ocellaris and a vulpinus; once I had checked the organic load... I began adding the first SPS corals and some Euphyllia: all animals from friends' tanks, including Luigi Marino and Matteo De Benedictis, whom I warmly thank for the beauty of the animals.

I manage to keep the values more or less constant:

NO3: 0-2

PO4: 0.00-0.02

KH: 7.5/8

Ca: 480

Mg: 1350

pH: 8

Temperature: 24/26

The fish are fed twice a day, alternating granules, flakes, freeze-dried and live food, and at least once a week nori seaweed for the herbivores and surgeonfish.
To feed the corals I use only phyto from my friend Ilario Iorio and live zooplankton. I also regularly dose Korallen-Zucht amino acids and Coral Vitalizer, also by Korallen-Zucht.

With that I think I have really said everything. I am very proud to be part of this ever-growing family, which professes and shows its love for this hobby by being at everyone's service!

I want to thank all the people in this group. "A big hug to everyone.

Congratulating Ferdinando again on his results, we send him our warmest regards.