John Clipperton

130 litre Reef

           

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Please note that 'Clipperton Island,' a French possession located in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (1630 miles south-southeast of San Diego, California) is named for "John Clipperton" an English buccaneer who led a mutiny against its founder William Dampier in 1708. This reader is an ancestor of John Clipperton and named after him. And of course, Clipperton Island is the home of the rarely collected Holacanthus limbaughi, the Clipperton Angelfish.

I want to thank John for his nice comments about my website and his devotion to the hobby. If you visit his website at pbase.com you'll see several of his aquariums and the beginnings of photo libraries dedicated to various wildlife. - Bob

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HISTORY

Owners Name: John Clipperton

Location: Cheshire, UK

Year the tank was set up: 2003

Size and Volume of the Tank: 32x16x16", 130 litres

Sump Size: No sump, stand alone system

Pounds of Live Rock: approx 44lbs

Sand Type/Depth: 2mm grade aragonite gravel at 1" depth

Type of Biological Filtration: live rock

EQUIPMENT

Main system pumps: 1x400 and 1x900lph powerheads

Additional pumps: 1 x 600lph powerhead with surface skimmer attached

Reactor: None

Monitoring Equipment: Digital alarmed thermometer

Protein Skimmers: Aquamedic biostar 2000lph 'hang-on' skimmer

Wavemakers: None

Dosers: DIY kalk dripper

Chiller: none, fans used.

Refugium: none, but original internal filter box has been left in place and contains live rock pieces, thus acts as an in-tank cryptic refugium of sorts

Denitrator: none

Trickle Filter: none, 'Poly-filter' chemical media run regularly

LIGHTING

Lamps: 2x55watt PCs (12k and 50/50) plus 15watt actinic normal fluorescent for dawn and dusk, plus 5 LED 'moonlight' system. All lights under canopy and cooled with 2 variable speed PC fans on timers.

Photoperiod: Actinic's on for 14hrs per day, main lights on for 12hrs. Moonlights on 24hrs.

CHEMISTRY

Water Temperature: 77 deg F (+/- 1 deg F per 24hr period)

Specific Gravity: 1.025 (evaporation rate is approx 1.3l per 24hrs)

pH: 8.0 - 8.2

Calcium:approx 420 ppm

Alkalinity:approx 2.5 meq/l

Magnesium: 1500 ppm

Nitrate: Undetectable

Nitrite: Undetectable

Ozone: None

Phosphate: Undetectable

Additives: Iodine 1ml added once a month

RO/DI water: Yes, from 4 stage 50 gpd unit

Brand of Salt Mix: Reef Crystals

LIVESTOCK

Fish

• 1 x hawaiian flame angel
• 1 x neon/andaman damsel
• 2 x ocellaris clowns (tank bred UK, 1 black and white, 1 orange and white)
• 1 x orchid dottyback

Inverts

• various snails (astraea, trochus, bumblebee, cerith, stomatellas etc)
• half a dozen scarlet reef hermits
• peppermint shrimp
• randalls pistol shrimp
• sand sifting sea star
• large hitch-hiker brittle star

Corals

• various mushrooms (inc florida ricordeas)
• various zoanthids
• sarcophyton sp. toadstool leather coral (pink)
• sarcophyton elegans sulphur leather coral (yellow)
• red sea pulsing xenia
• clavularia
• nepthea sp. tree coral (gold variety)
• physogyra lichtensteini pearl bubble coral
• euphyllia ancora hammer coral
• lobophyllia sp. (red variety)
• caulastrea sp. (fluorescent green variety)
• tubastrea sp. (yellow, black and orange varieties)
• turbinaria reniformis (yellow and purple varieties)
• favites sp.
• fungia fungites (pink variety)

Others

• purple gorgonian
• elephants ear sponge
• small unknown sand anemone
• caulerpas

FEEDING

Fishes are fed once or twice a day with thawed frozen marine cuisine, emerald entrée, mysis and krill. Frozen food is soaked in vitamin prep for an hour or two before adding. Freshly hatched bbs fed occasionally as a treat. 30mls live phytoplankton dosed most evenings before lights out - skimmer switched off for an hour or so. Sun corals are fed individually using 'jug method' once a week. Fungia is fed using a dip tube once/twice a week.

GENERAL HUSBANDRY:

Water Changes: 15% every 4 to 6 weeks. Caulerpa and Xenia harvested/fragged regularly. Rockwork basted regularly.

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