The second concept aquarium, and really the first true concept reef tank at the Reef Builders Studio is the Montipora dominated Red Sea Reefer Peninsula aquarium. A few weeks ago we shared with you the setup of this reef aquarium system and now at barely five weeks old the tank is already half filled with corals.
The corals are mostly either Montipora or closely related Anacropora with just a few ‘flowey’ corals mixed in to add some much needed movement to the reef scene. All of the corals in this aquarium are frag grown, although as you can see some of the colonies got their head starts growing in other aquariums.
After being up for just a month we’ve got the chemistry fully automated with four dosing channels of additives, a kalkreactor keeping the pH between 8.25 to 8.45 (although we’ll try to inch that a tad higher) and a float valve is taking care of evaporated water. For this reef aquarium system we’re going to play by the Red Sea Reef Care Program handbook which prescribes somewhat high parameters and we’re almost there with 462 ppm Ca++, 10.0 dKH and Magnesium is extra high at 1550ppm because Montis crave this element like nothing else.
Since the tank is barely over a month old the dissolved carbon and nutrients in the tank are quite low which has resulted in an unintended ULNS condition, with many of the corals exhibiting a pastel coloration. This is not our favorite so now we’ll be generous with the feeding and trace elements to get the corals to brighten up to a more vibrant hue and saturation.
It’s very rewarding to have one true reef display finally up and going in the Reef Builders Studio and all we have to do now is sit back, plant a few more Montis, and perform regular maintenance to keep everything on track. We hope you are as excited as we are about the documentation of this beautiful reef tank with a focus on Montipora corals and it’ll be very interesting to see how it develops over time. If you don’t want to miss any updates on the Red Sea Peninsula Montipora reef tank be sure and keep it locked to Reef Builders and subscribe to the hottest reefing channel on YouTube if you haven’t already.
