Tank of the month: May 2018

FILIPPO MARIA DENARO

This month we decided to review a very special tank. It is an aquarium we could call "wild". Very different from the airy, constantly rearranged tanks you see around lately. Here Nature is in charge, with its own laws and rules. The result is a labyrinth of corals in which the weakest gives way to the strongest!

Filippo Maria Denaro, the passionate aquarist from Naples who owns this tank, explains his story as an aquarist like this:
"my relationship with and passion for the sea is in my DNA. From my very first year I spent 3 months a year in Sicily, in my father's home town, in direct contact with beaches, the sea, fishermen and all kinds of fish. So from an early age it was natural for me to know the sea's inhabitants, to go fishing, even for large fish, and to try keeping small tanks at home, where I put little fish, stones and algae. Of course, at 6-7 years old, they all lasted a very short time. Decades later, when I was spending less time in Sicily, my feeling for the sea pushed me to have something here in Naples that resembled it, and clearly simple photos would not do. Twenty years ago the systems were very approximate and expensive, allowing at most some fish keeping. I decided to try the then brand-new Beachworld systems, which I kept successfully for several years. Then I had the chance to have a nano tank, and I realised that new technology made it possible to keep such a wide range of animals that you could think of a complete ecosystem. It was a journey that in 2010 led to the current tank, which has been running ever since with its original equipment and the DSB set up then".

Now the equipment: the acrylic tank measures 150 x 55 x 70 (h);

lighting comes from a 120 cm Giesemann programmable Moonlight light unit fitted with two 250 W HQI and 4 x 54 W T5s; water flow is provided by 2 Koralia 3 and 2 Koralia 4 pumps controlled by a Wavemaker 4; an SK150 skimmer fed by a New Jet 800 pump; the connection to the sump is through two Xaqua in and out overflows fed by two New Jet 1700 pumps, one of which also feeds the RC 170 calcium reactor; there are also 2 AQ80LF fluidised bed filters, also fed by a New Jet 800 pump.

All the equipment is managed and monitored by an Aquatronica system.

As for husbandry, Filippo tells me that his main aim is to keep the DSB efficient. To this end he
doses 100 ml of phyto every 2-3 days and 250 ml of zooplankton every 4-5 days, taking the cup off the skimmer for several hours. He also rotates KZ amino acids and PCV, alternating them with Reef Booster and powdered DuplaRin.

He makes weekly water changes of 30 litres, dosing bacteria (alternating Biodigest and Zeobak) and Prodibio food.

As for the fish, the tank currently has an A. sohal, a Z. xanthurum, a C. hawaiiensis, a P. imperator, a P. diacanthus, an A. allardi and a C. altivelis, plus some wrasses and an S. splendidus. The fish are fed once a day, rotating freeze-dried, granular and frozen foods, algae and live food when possible; he also regularly gives garlic and vitamins.

There are also several starfish... some have been in the tank for 9 years!

In the tank there are Seriatopora and Montipora of various kinds, among which several Acropora grow, such as aculeus, austera, cytherea, echinata, formosa, gomezi, granulosa, hyacinthus, inermis, loisetteae, loripes, lokani, rosaria, suharsonoi and tenuis, as well as some Millepora. There are also Stylophora and Pocillopora of various kinds.
As LPS there are animals such as Euphyllia, Blastomussa, Caulastrea, Favites, Fungia, Goniopora, Pavona, Pectinia and Scolymia.

Now we leave room for the photos of the beautiful corals in the tank, taking our leave of Filippo Maria, who thanks the whole BallingMania staff and in particular its founder, Ciro Murino.