Tank of the month: June 2021

GILBERTO GIORGI

Picture Italy in the Seventies, when smartphones did not exist and children played with toy soldiers and toy cars. Picture one of those children who, besides toy soldiers and cars, had fish at home. Colourful little fish watching him from the three or four aquariums belonging to his dad, an old-style enthusiast at a time when our hobby was still in its infancy. "Well yes, if you ask me how long I have had this passion, I'll tell you: since I was in my mother's womb", says Gilberto Giorgi from Florence, proud owner of June's "tank of the month".

Do the maths. Gilberto is fifty-six; he was born when there were already aquariums at home, and he set up his first "personal" little tank, one of those with an iron frame and putty, in his bedroom in 1970 or thereabouts. All told, Gilberto Giorgi has more than half a century of fishkeeping behind him. And it shows. Because I have rarely seen a tank among our members as beautiful as his, which, by the way, has much of its equipment home-made: our friend is lucky enough to be a technician specialised in industrial plants, which does not hurt when it comes to fiddling with electrical wires and pipes. "The roller filter, for example, I made myself", he says.

Let's go back to the old days, Gilberto. Don't tell me you have never given up this passion since that first "childhood" tank.

"I will tell you, because I think the only time I was without an aquarium was during my military service. I have set up dozens, both freshwater and marine. Just think, before getting married, when we were designing the house, I made it very clear to my wife that we had to plan space for a nice big tank. And I am talking about more than twenty years ago, before my son was born. Needless to say, I later took down and set up other tanks too".

Tell us about the one you have now, which frankly is a masterpiece.

"I set it up three and a half years ago. It measures 100 by 75 by 55 and is run with the Berlin method. Inside the home-made PVC sump there is the roller filter I mentioned, connected directly to the tank drain, a Vertex Omega 150 skimmer with a Jebao 3500 pump (much quieter than the original one), a fluidised bed with activated carbon that I replace every 15 days, and an ATS filter, needless to say also made by me".

How do you light it? And the flow pumps?

"Until February I had an 8 x 39 W T5 light unit; now I have two ATI Straton units, which I find excellent. As for water flow, it is provided by three Jebao SLW30s, two on the short sides and one under the rockwork".

Let's come to husbandry.
"I make a 30-litre change every fortnight, using Tropic Marin or ATI Absolute Ocean. I also rely on ATI for Balling, but not the Pro. I prefer the three-part one, which lets me manage the triad better. As for bacteria, I have no particular preference; I rotate those by Korallen-Zucht, Prodibio and Daphbio Bactoreef".

How do you feed fish and corals?

"For the corals I am using Easy Reef Evo SPS, which I dose with the dosing pump. To dissolve it properly I send it into a small magnetic stirrer, made by me of course. As for the fish, I feed them mainly various frozen foods, as well as dry food".

To finish, let's dive into your metre of coral reef.

"As you can see, I love very natural, and therefore "messy", scenes. As corals I have mostly SPS plus some LPS; there is a bit of everything, growth is exceptional, so I should frag every now and then, but I try to do it as little as possible. I am a fan of very full tanks. As for fish, I have about thirty in all, including an olivaceus, a xanthurum, about twenty wrasses and some Anthias. That's all, I'd say. But I am already thinking about going bigger. I have been changing aquariums for fifty-six years, although actually, thinking about it, this one is so beautiful it would break my heart to take it down".