Tank of the month: May 2019

FRANCESCO FESTANTE

For our monthly appointment with the tank of the month, today we want to break the monotony (so to speak!) of tropical paradises and look out onto our own doorstep. In fact we are hosting the beautiful tank of our friend Francesco Festante, dedicated to Mare Nostrum, as the ancients called it... A Mediterranean aquarium, in short!

We leave the description to Francesco:

"The tank has been running for about 8 years and measures 120 x 60 x 55 cm (about 400 litres), with extra-clear glass. Inside I placed about 60 kg of light, very porous live rock. I got the rock from fishing boats' nets, which allowed me to choose pieces very rich in fauna and to avoid the die-off from transport that happens with live rock shipped across the ocean. On the bottom I laid a mix of aragonite and medium-grain gravel. Lighting comes from an Aquatech Slim light unit, fully dimmable via Wi-Fi (sunrise, sunset and so on), with OSRAM LEDs that can be adjusted separately within a range between 2500 K and 18000 K.

The rest of the equipment consists of a Deltec MCE 300 skimmer, a Hydor Professional 350 external filter loaded with filter wool and activated carbon, which I replace every 4-5 days, and a CUV 207 UV steriliser (switched on occasionally as a preventive measure). Water flow is handled by 2 JEBAO OW 25 pumps.

Every two weeks I change about 50 litres with water made from a top-quality synthetic salt, Tropic Marin. The main values of the tank are:

Temperature 22 °C

Salinity 1027

Calcium 450

pH 8-8.3

KH 8

Nitrite absent

Nitrate 10-30 mg/litre

Ammonia absent

Phosphate 0.2-0.3 mg/litre

Silicate 0.2-0.5 mg/litre

Iron 0.05 mg/litre

Iodine 0.5 mg/litre

Strontium 7-10 mg/litre

The animals kept vary, because they are collected in the wild and later released. I have hosted a small school of mullet, crabs, blennies, shrimps, urchins, spider crabs and hermit crabs. The tank is completed by wonderful specimens of Actinia equina and Anemonia sulcata in different colours.
We leave room for the photos and say goodbye to Francesco. Happy reefing!