Tank of the month: November 2018

GIUSEPPE MARTINI

November is dedicated to the beautiful aquarium of our friend Giuseppe Martini.
Its simplicity makes it a very elegant tank; every animal is in the right place, which makes the whole very harmonious and lovely to look at. Particularly fascinating is the large Sarcophyton showing itself off in the centre of the tank!
Like many others, Giuseppe started with freshwater aquariums before moving on to the more complicated marine aquarium.

So let's get to know the person behind this beautiful project, and try to discover the secret of his brilliant results:

"Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself: I am Giuseppe Martini, 37, from Montalto Uffugo (Cosenza). I have been an aquarist for 12 years, 5 of them devoted to freshwater.
I had a Berlin-method marine aquarium that gave me quite a few problems (only much later did I find out that it was all due to the rusty magnet of a flow pump), and then I built my current aquarium: 100x55x55 run with a DSB, 220 litres net including the sump.

For the substrate I used 90 kg of calcium carbonate, about 14 cm deep; for the overflow and return I relied on an Xaqua, and for the return pump on an Aquabee 2000/1, which I already used in the previous aquarium; when it stopped working I switched to a Jebao DCT 4000, which I have been using for a good two years without any problems.

Let's go into the equipment in detail! For water flow I use two Jebao RW8s, while for lighting I chose an ATI Powermodule 8x39, whose tubes I strictly replace within 8 months; as a skimmer I use a BM150 Pro, and for the sump I went for a 70x40x40 with a central baffle. Next to it I placed a 30-litre container for top-off. As for cooling, in summer I use a Teco TC10 (a present from my friend Giuseppe Rogliano) and in winter a 250 W Jäger heater: both are controlled by an STC1000 controller, so I have a double check.

For RO I chose a canister-type unit with a 75 gpd Filmtec membrane fed by a booster pump; at the outlet I have two canisters, one loaded with deionising resin and the other with silicate resin.

The tank was started on 25.02.2015 with live rock that had just arrived at the shop. I must say I had very little of an algae phase, just a few days of diatoms; this is probably because I followed a textbook cycling. For two months, every now and then, I added a few granules with the lights off to feed the DSB, and every evening for 6 months I dosed 50 ml of phytoplankton to help the DSB mature and the benthos reproduce. In the third month I added two Archaster typicus to stir the sand; some people are against adding them because they prey on the benthos, but in my opinion this kind of "star" brings only benefits. In the sixth month I added the first fish, and only after the summer the first corals, bought on the advice of Giancarlo Torchia (AquariumHitech).

The first problem with the corals was that they paled, because the water was very lean. To try to solve this I started dosing various products but, as I was very afraid of not dosing them properly, I gave up that practice, as Salvatore Riccardo also advised me. I then added more fish, feeding them twice a day and so increasing the organic load, and dosing every evening the phytoplankton that Salvatore always gave me; I have been doing this for over two years and have found the perfect way to run my tank. This way the corals reacted very well, over time showing excellent colour and remarkable growth.
When the corals started growing a lot, I adopted "Matuta Balling", running it all with a modest Jebao DP4 dosing pump.
For a year now, on the advice of the Pisacanes and Salvatore, I have been using "Aquaforest Balling" with excellent results.
Lately I have been culturing zooplankton which, after a struggling start, seems to have taken off. This Christmas I would also like to add some special corals!

I would like to take this opportunity to share a thought based on the experience I have gained in these years of running a DSB. Many think that after a few years a DSB collapses; I do not fully agree, and here is why: a DSB is like a sponge that sooner or later releases everything, so for those who use products incorrectly, sooner or later there will be trouble. My advice is to use natural products and keep the right number of fish, and therefore food, to get the right ratio between phosphate and nitrate. If you then add phytoplankton at this stage, the circle closes by itself.

In running my tank, as I said, I only use natural things, that is excellent phytoplankton: 125 ml every evening (I buy it from my friend Salvatore Riccardo); hatched Artemia cysts twice a week, and in a month or so I will add zooplankton at least twice a week; then, as always, various kinds of fish food twice a day. In my opinion this way the tank reaches a perfect balance that will last for a long time. Finally, as for maintenance, once every two weeks I make a 10% partial water change, and every six months I do a Triton test to see whether I need to change anything.
The values in my tank are: KH 7, Ca 400, Mg 1250, and phosphate and nitrate barely detectable.

Here is a short list of the animals in my tank:

Blue digitata

Red digitata

Acropora nobilis

Acropora (on the left, I do not know the name)

Acropora valida tricolor

Orange and purple foliosa

Montipora stellata

Milka (still a small frag)

Euphyllia

Trachyphyllia (a present from Giuseppe Rogliano)

Fungia

Three kinds of Zoanthus

Green Sarcophyton (my favourite)

Fish and invertebrates:

1 Zebrasoma flavescens

1 C. strigosus

1 paccagnellae

1 pair of Ocellaris

4 Chromis viridis

3 Strombus

1 Mespilia urchin

2 Archaster typicus

Thanks to everyone, and above all thanks to the BallingMania group for giving me the opportunity to present my tank as November's tank of the month, and thanks as always for the constant support you give me and all members."

On behalf of the whole group I thank Giuseppe and, congratulating him again, I take my leave, leaving everyone to enjoy the beautiful photos of his aquarium.