Spy AKA Prodigal Cube is a Filipino Reefer living in Dubai with a reef aquarium style that is uniquely his own. His 90 gallon tank uses a very dynamic aquascape to maximize the number of corals he can keep, and boy does he have quite a catalog within these restricted dimensions.
Everywhere you look in Spy’s Reef there are bouquets of zoanthids, clusters of lords, groupings of Ricordea and a real heterogenous mix of corals of all types. Living at a crossroads of cultures in Dubai means that Spy gets his hands on some pretty original corals including Rhizos, Dendros, unique Micro lords but if he’s got one specialty it’s for the branching montiporas. One strain that is locally known as Spy’s red monti appears to be a very thin branching Montipora hirsuta or M. stellata but with near setosa-levels of red coloration.
What’s great about the Prodigal Cube aquarium is that it has a decent variety of bells and whistles but the assembly of his gear is pretty straightforward. The use of minimal rock, no sand, good water flow, a decent protein skimmer and two types of carbon dosing has also allowed Spy to rarely do water changes – this tank works on balance.
We were very fortunate to visit Spy at his home to see this eclectic mix of corals and reef gear, and we went ahead and documented the experience so you can both enjoy Spy’s reef tank and learn a thing or two from his Filipino style of reefkeeping in Dubai.
