We all love reef tanks, and to some degree, the alchemy involved with keeping all the parameters of lighting, flow and chemistry appropriate for coral growth. But what if you could cut out all the water testing, most of the dosing, and reduce the the filtration to a quarter of its typical size and still have an awesome reef?
That’s precisely what Jaime Andueza has done with a very eclectic, and very original reef tank in his home. On the surface the tank looks like a typical, mixed community reef aquarium with a very wide diversity of livestock. The tank uses powerful propeller pumps to keep the water flowing really well, and second generation Radion LED lights are still soldiering on even after all these years.
But it’s not until you inspect the filtration system underneath the tank that you realize there’s something out of proportion with the abundance of fish and corals in his tank, and the size of the filtration system – his tank is over 200 gallons yet the sump, refugium and protein skimmer all seem to be sized for a 75 gallon tank, so what’s going on here?
The full explanation is in the video below, but as a hint we’ll tip you off that it hearkens back to our ‘experiments’ with EcoReef One oh so many years ago. His unique and drastic aquarium caretaking method aside, there’s no question that Jaime’s tank is a very original piece of the reef, and it really seems like he spends a lot more time enjoying his aquarium than fiddling with all the bells and whistles.
