Tank of the Month May
Trido's 65 gallon
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| Owner Duane Oestreich (trido) Tank Size My tank is a standard 65 Gallon AGA tank with a single DIY 1” overflow. When I first set it up I cut out the center brace and replaced it with a piece of tempered glass which after two years refused to stay in place. I’ve been using it in a variety of situations with no center brace for three years now. Lighting I built a DIY 60 emitter LED fixture with DIY 4-channel Arduino lighting controller. The fixture is comprised of blue, royal blue, 4500k white, 10k white, green and red emitters. The light slowly fades from a 50k up to a 10k look and then back throughout the day. I can add a lightning and cloud simulation to the controller if I ever feel like I want to. |
| Filtration The sump is a DIY. My 29 gallon display I broke down is now the sump. I have a large refugium filled with feather caulerpa and a DSB. The skimmer is an Eshopps PSK-75 HOB that I custom designed the sump to accommodate. There is an Eheim 1260 return pump and the tank circulation is comprised of six Hydor power heads set up on a reverse gyre. There are three power heads on at a time making for a 51x turnover. In this tank I found that a 102x turnover was a bit too much. I guess I should add that I also have a Neptune AC Jr. that controls the heating and power heads. |
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| Live Stock I currently have a juvenile Atlantic Blue Tang, a Royal Gramma, a Flame Hawk, a single Skunk cleaner shrimp and possibly a pair of Peppermint Shrimp if the Hawk Fish hasn’t eaten them. The tank also has a sand-sifting starfish and a typical cleaner crew consisting of a handful of snails and Blue-Leg Hermit Crabs. The tank is predominately SPS with a mix of LPS, a few softies and a single Deresa Clam (it could be a Squamosa). |
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| Date Tank Was Started This tank was upgraded three months ago from my 29 gallon that was running for a year. How Did You Get Into This Hobby? I’ve been keeping fish tanks for 25 years. Seven years ago I started the planning of my first 120 gallon in-wall salt water tank. I’ve been a reef keeper ever since. A couple of years ago, I broke down my tank, but I never really left the hobby as I custom built a couple of systems for others. |
| What Was Your Favorite Part of The Build? My favorite part of this tank was building the LED light fixture. While it was tedious, it was exciting because it’s such a new technology in the hobby. I’ve considered adding three magenta emitters to the lighting some time this summer. Dosing and Schedule. My only dosing right now is my Kalk stir which is hooked to my ATO system. As my SPS start to mature, I’m sure I’ll have to start dosing a two-part supplement or add a Calcium reactor. |
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| Feeding (Fish and Coral) and Schedule. I recently started feeding about two square inches of Nori every day to ensure the Tang’s proper health and I feed a half-cube of a variety of frozen foods once each day. The frozen foods are heavy with rotifers, mysis shrimp and cyclopeze which feeds the corals and small fish. |
| Do You Have a Favorite Fish and Why? Currently the Atlantic Blue Tang is my favorite because he has the most personality in the tank. I would like to add a wrasse this summer because along with all the tangs, they have the most personality of any fish I’ve kept over 25 years in the hobby. What Is Your Favorite Type of Coral? My favorite type of coral is SPS coral. Currently my Cali tort is providing me the most pleasure because it’s growing fast and has great color. |
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Link to trido's Rebirth of the 65
