Joe Peck's coral garden.

Just thought as a new CORAL subscriber I would share some information on my system which is an SPS dominated 240-gallon reef. 

My basic philosophy is built around coral "gardening," where I try to grow colorful and natural looking coral heads using only frags taken from fellow aquarists' tanks. 

I think my tank is living proof that beautiful reef aquariums can be built and sustained with little or no input of creatures from our wild reefs.

Tested Target Parameters
Salinity           35 ppt  (D D Saltwater refractometer  1.0265)
Calcium          420 ppm (Elos)
Alkalinity         8 dKH (Salifert)
Magnesium    1300 ppm (Salifert)
pH                   8.1 (Pinpoint)
temperature    79°

Equipment
display tank        240-gallon Glasscages tank and stand (48 x 48 x 24)
sump                  300-gallon Agway livestock trough
frag tank            180-gallon Oceanic tank and stand
display lighting    4 x 400 watt Radiums on PFO-HQI ballsts
                           4 x 48 inch Reefbrite Blue LED strips
                           4 x 48 inch UVL Aquasun bulbs on an IceCap 660 ballast
frag  tank lighting    3 x 250 watt Radiums on PFO-HQI ballasts
                               2 x 60 inch UVL Super Actinic bulbs on an IceCap 660 ballast
Skimmer                MTC HSA 1000
Skimmer pump      Iwaki 100RLT
Main circulation     Iwaki 100RLT - half to display; half to frag tank (1000 gals/hr)
powerheads          dual Tunze Turbelle Stream 6105s
wavemaker           Tunze 7094 Controller
Calcium Reactor   MTC ProCal
Kalkwasser           Deltec  Stirrer
filtration                 2 x Marineland Tidepool II sumps with trays
drain                     DIY modified Stockman
dosers                  Kent Marine gravity feed for B-Ionic 2 part dosing
top off                   Maxijet 1200 feeding from 150 gal RO/DI holding tank (70 drips/min)
heat/cooling          Ranco Controller with dual Jager 500 watt heaters and a standup fan

Berlin System Elements
display               200 lbs live rock various varieties
supplemental     200 lbs live rock in sump
sand bed           1 inch

Mineral Supplements
salt                           Coralife
reactor media           CaribSea ARM coarse media
calcium hydroxide    ESV calcium hydroxide
calcium & alkalinity   ESV B-Ionic 2 part
iodine                        Kent Marine Tech-I

Hard Corals
Acropora tortuosa (Oregon Tort)
Acropora tortuosa  (ORA Tort)
Acropora lokani (30,000 Leagues)
Acropora valida (Tyree Purple Monster)
Acropora abrolhosensis
Acropora gemmifera
Acropora humilis
Acropora millepora
Acropora nana
Acropora plana
Acropora prostrata
Acropora tenuis
Acropora secale
Acropora turaki
Blastomussa sp.
Cyphastrea sp.
Echinophyllia sp.
Favia sp.
Hydnophora sp.
Montipora capricornis
Montipora digitata
Pocillipora sp.
Seriatopora sp.
Stylophora sp.
Turbinaria sp.

Soft Corals
Palythoa (Purple Death)
Ricordea spp.
Zoanthids
Actinodiscus sp.
Gorgonian
Goniopora sp.

Fish
1 Coral Beauty
1 Kole Tang
1 Royal Gramma
1 South Seas Devilfish
1 Tilefish
1 Yellow Tang
2 Banggai Cardinal
1 Longnose Filefish
2 True Percula
3 Red-Striped Cardinals
3 Yellow Clown Gobies
1 Black Clown Gobie
25 Damsels
13 Bartlett's Anthias
3  Squamipinnis Anthias

Invertebrates
1 Bullseye Pistol Shrimp
2 Pinstriped Tuxedo Urchins
2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
5+ Emerald Crabs
10+ Peppermint Shrimp
10+ Red Leg hermits
100+ Blue Leg hermits
100+ Turbo Snails

Lighting Schedule
Reefbrite LEDs     6AM to 10PM (16 hrs)
Aquasun VHOs        8AM to 8PM (12 hrs)
400 watt Radiums    9AM to 7PM (10 hrs)

Maintenance Schedule

Daily: clean glass, feed twice (frozen: brine+, mysis, cyclop -eeze, arctic pods, bloodworms, sushi grade fish eggs), check basement, worry about developing algae bloom, top off sump with RO if not right on, check pH monitor for 8.1 and temp for 80, add 200 ml of B-Ionic 2 part if pH is 8.0 or less.

Weekly: 50-gallon water change (Coralife salt), clean skimmer, clean teeth on overflow, clean anti-siphon hole in return line, pull and inspect Stockman drain, mix next weeks water, clean and refill Deltec Kalk stirrer, add 100 ml Kent Tech-I iodine, siphon barebottom of frag tank.

Monthly: siphon sand bed clean, run 2 trays of carbon or 2 combination carbon/phosphate remover filter pads for 2 days or so to uncloud water, test water for Ca (Elos), Mg (Salifert), pH (Pinpoint), salinity (D-D refractometer), kH (Salifert). Make adjustments as necessary to hit 420 ppm Ca, 1250 ppm Mg, kH 8, pH 8.1, salinity 35 ppt.

Quarterly: Take out the 2 Tunzes and replace with clean standbys, then leave the dirty ones to soak in vinegar for a couple days, take out 2 Maxi-jets in frag tank and replace with clean ones then soak old ones in vinegar, remove and clean stockman drain, clean pump intake screens, vacuum sump bottom, rinse live rock in sump with old tank water saved in 40 gallon garbi can, sell frags and make some new frags.

Every 6 Months: change RO/DI carbon block and 0.5 micron pre-filter.

Every 9 Months: Change VHOs and record date on end of tube and in tank journal

Annually: Change MHs, exchange 2 main pumps for clean pumps and disassemble and clean old pumps for next year using Muriatic Acid, change RO/DI DI cartridge and RO cartridge, 300 gallon water change (usually associated with some major event like plumbing change or re-aquascape or, heaven forbid, a pest treatment or just a major sump cleanout.

When Needed: add sand if bottom shows, run phosphate remover, clean scale off heaters, buy cleanup crew to knock back whatever algae bloom hits; Mithrax for valonia, nudibrancs for Briopsys, etc; clean and refill calcium reactor, exchange CO2 bottle, replace RO float shutoff switch, trim corals or even remove whole overgrown colonies (this happens once a year at least and is always a little sad) change Via-Aqua powerhead on bottom of sump (keeps the surface stirred up).