A while back we posted about the tank of Marko Haaga, a beautiful skimmerless reef tank which is truly exceptional in it’s appearance as well as it’s execution. Some of you were excited to learn more about Haga’s reef tank so here it is. Marko Haaga lives in Finland and he was kind enough to share some additional details about his inspiring reef aquarium setup. Keep reading for a short interview and the three year anniversary pictures of sReef.
sReef设置三年前的12月8日,200年7. The display is a 78” x 26″ x 26″ tank which translates to around 223 gallons. The tank is illuminated by two, 8x39W T5 ATI Powermodules with a bulb combo of 10 ATI Blue plus, four ATI Aquablue special and two Korallenzucht Fiji Purple bulbs. Water movement is provided by two Tunze Streams putting out around 3,200 gallon per hour each. Additional flow is provided by the Ocean Runner return putting out around 900 gallons per hour. There is around a 100 pounds of liverock total in the system and there is a 1-2” layer of 0.1-2mm sand in both the display and refugium. The refugium is 45 gallons and the sump is 24 gallons. For Filtration Marko uses three and a half cups of activated carbon and one cup of coarse iron based phosphate remover in an Eheim prof II 2026 external filter. 600ml of biopellets is also used. As mentioned beforenoskimmer is utilized.
该坦克主要包含巨大菌落的SPAcropora,Seriatopora,PocilloporaandMontipora。The tank also contains some LPS including aCatalaphyllia jardinei, an over 10 year oldPlerogyra sinuosa， 一个橙子Goniopora,帕沃纳,Galaxea,Hydnopora,Caulastrea,气齿,Euphylliaand three different Fungias. Softies includeSarcophyton,Lobophytum， 和Xenia。该坦克还包含一些戈尔贡人，包括一个巨大的Gorgonia ventalina,RumphellaandPseudopterogorgia。
鱼类坦克储罐有一个卵巢瘤黄酮, twoparacanthurus hepatus, three两亲骨, twoGobiodon okinawae, 14 Chromis viridisand a juvenileCoris gaimard。Invert wise there aretridacna鳄鱼,Tridacna squamosa，四个Holothuria atra,enoplopopus礁龙虾和一些薄荷虾。
How did you get started in this hobby?
I got my first freshwater aquarium when I was ten. I started my first 30 gallon reef aquarium about 17 years ago. The setup including the tank, skimmer and lights where all DIY.
What did you learn from your previous systems?
我尝试了很多不同的技术，并且有很多坦克，我得到了很好的结果。每个成功的水箱中的主要因素都在天然水附近。这意味着主要元素（例如CA，MG和KH）的正常值，足够数量的小元素和微量元素，低磷酸盐以及常规的水变化。我发现使用活性炭也非常有益。
您的目标是什么？
The main goal was a simple, low maintenance and natural reef aquarium.
Do you own any other aquariums?
不，目前不是。我曾经和儿子一起有一个小礁坦克，但我们不再拥有它了。这是我见过的最美丽的礁石之一。（可以找到设置的图片here)
撇渣器s are extremely popular and have yielded good results for many. Why go skimmerless?
设置坦克时的主要目标之一是维护和简单性。那真的没有撇渣器。在这个坦克之前，我至少每周至少一次或两次清洁撇油器。我只是有一天停止清洁，最终将其完全关闭。奇怪的是，我注意到我的礁石看起来更好without撇渣器比一个。珊瑚的成长爆炸了，很快我就跑了出去，所以是时候进行升级了。Sreef是三年前就没有开始的。
您是否觉得没有跑步者的弊端？
A skimmer can be helpful as an additional buffer if something suddenly goes really wrong in your tank. I may or may not save your reef, but it may help. In a skimmerless setup that additional backup is not there. But aside from that, no.
最近，LED在照明水族馆方面取得了巨大进展，而LED现在已经可以种植SPS珊瑚。几乎没有热量和极低的功耗，为什么不运行LED？
I’m not a big fan of LED lights yet. They are without a doubt very promising technology, especially for aquarium lightning, but they are not there just yet. I think most of them are not powerful enough, although the more expensive units may be. The real life time of LED is also yet to be seen. When T5s first came out they also promised much longer lifetimes than it actually is. Another downside of LED lights is that you are stuck with one color spectrum, with T5 it is easy to change tube colors whenever you feel like it. So for now I’m still a T5 fan.
On your website you noted that you saw a huge increase in growth after switching from two part to the Balling Classic system. Why did you switch and why do you think growth increased? How has growth been recently?
Over a year ago I was not happy about growth rate of my corals. The sReef had been up the nearly two years then. I couldn’t find answers to my problem, thinking that it might be due to lack of food items for the corals I tried increasing my feeding and using BioPellets. That did not help. I noticed that right after water change corals would look better and if I did not do any water changes for two-three weeks they looked worse and worse. I was using Two Part from the beginning and thinking it over I realized that using Two part gradually leads to distorted proportions of major, minor and trace elements even with regular water changes. I had two options, increasing water changes to compensate for the distortion or start using Balling classic, which does not change the proportions, or at least not significantly enough. So I started Balling classic and in very short time saw better polyp extension in my corals and much much more growth tips in Acros and other SPS corals. Also consumption of Balling liquids increased. Growth and the appearance of corals has remained very good thereafter.
You also noted on your website that you had problems with adding coral
您系统的食物。你为什么认为那是？
撇渣器less systems have limited export capabilities compared to systems with a skimmer. Almost everything that you put in your tank remains there. Nutrients are recycled in the system, incorporated to corals, algae, fish, microfauna etc. when they grow. Only a small portion is exported by water changes and phosphate remover. So feeding your skimmerless system with care is a must. I feed my fishes only, and only once a day with an amount they eat in 5 minutes. I don’t believe there is a benefit to feeding photosynthetic corals in skimmerless systems. You see much more pods, small shrimps and other microfauna in a skimmerless system than in a tank with skimmer. So there is much more natural food for animals. But I do believe that there is not enough food items to grow nonphotosynthetic corals in skimmer less reefs.
在2008年，您在网站上写道：“高硝酸盐对珊瑚没有负面影响”，您仍然相信这是真的吗？
Yes, I do indeed. With many years of reef keeping with multiple systems I have never witnessed any problem correlated with moderately high nitrate. Problems arise if phosphate also rise or if there is something else wrong in water. I prefer small amount (0,2- 2 mg/l) of nitrate and “zero” phosphate in my reefs water.
您能向我们解释您对这个坦克的维护吗？
It really is I a low maintenance reef. I feed the fishes once a day with flake, granular or frozen food. I clean two front glasses twice a week. Top-off canisters are filled once a week, Balling canisters about once a month or two. Filter is cleaned once a month and 30 gallon water change done once a month.
看来您也对园艺充满热情，如何将其纳入礁石罐中？
好吧，夏季和园艺季节在芬兰太短了。在此期间，我的坦克以更低的维护模式运行。我的主要爱好是礁石的剩余时间。
最后，您认为什么是成功的关键？
正如我前面提到的，成功的礁石保存最重要的是靠近天然水。
Thank you Marko for your taking the time to answer the questions! For more pictures of this tank Check outMarko Haga的网站。
