The giant aquarium-grown wall hammer coral atNeptune’s Tropical Fish将近二十年来一直是丹佛地区的礁石水族机构。几代新的和经验丰富的礁石已经在城镇南部的这家不起眼的水族馆商店朝圣，只是为了看看一个巨大的水族馆珊瑚的样子，当您遵循基本的水族馆基础知识时，有什么可能。
我们首先写了关于'world’s largest hammer coral‘ waywayback in September of 2008, at that time the jumboeuphyllia ancorawas actually bigger than it is today. Back then we felt pretty confident that this was in fact one of the largest aquarium hammer corals in the world, but in the intervening years reef aquarium skills have gotten much better, and we wouldn’t be surprised if some big reef tanks at public aquariums are growing a hammer coral that is approaching this size or bigger.
Regardless of its relative size, the giant wall hammer coral at Neptune’s is still a sight to behold, and an ‘ancient’ aquarium coral to be revered. You see, the hugeEuphylliahas actually been this general size since 1998 and it has taken lots of generous fragging to keep this monster coral to a manageable size.
This fateful hammer coral started as a simple colony ofeuphyllia ancoraover 26 years ago in a 55 gallon tank equipped with the standard issue wet-dry trickle filter sump. The hammer coral grew and its tank was upgraded to a 90 gallon to give it more room to grow.
锤子珊瑚的增长更多，在1999年，它首次真正的重大升级到200加仑的丙烯酸水族馆。该设置配备了当天最新，最出色的技术，包括定制的Sealeife的Power Compact，Lifereef的Venturi蛋白脱脂机，并配有厚实的Oolitic沙床。
More recently this aquarium was overhauled again, this time to a deep sea aquatics glass tank of the same dimensions, with a Vortech MP40 as the sole propeller pump in the tank, and four AquaIllumination Hydra 52 LEDs to cover the approximate four by three foot footprint of the coral. The tank still does some things old school though, such as the use of a wet dry trickle filter replete with bioballs, Lifereef protein skimmer and an Iwaki MD-70.
The filtration side of the Neptune Hammer’s reef tank may be somewhat basic by today’s standards, but in all honestly, the mass of tissue of this hammer coral是the filtration of this tank. On a similar note, there is almost no rock in the tank, just enough to prop up the Euphyllia’s huge skeleton making this coral the alpha and omega of the aquascape in this aquarium.
In the video above you can see what this coral looked like in fall of 2008, and this coral looks mostly the same, although the LED lighting brings out more of its internal green coloration and the better glass tank and much reduced sandbed allows this single hammer coral to be even more front and center. If you ever visit Denver and decide to see some LFS in the area, definitely swing by and see this freaky huge aquarium grown hammer coral, as it is well worth the visit.
