Feature Aquarium: The Aquarium Of Bar Chaim: Bar Reef

by Bar Chaim | Jun 15, 2004 | 0 comments

I originally started in the reef hobby about 15 years ago. Over the years, I, like most reefkeepers, have had various size tanks. I have had a 1500 liter (400 gallon) sps dominated tank, a 200 liter (50 gallon) tank, and have now settled on my current 700 liter system (185 gallon). This is my best tank.

Editor’s Note: This article’s photo album has additional photos of this awesome tank.

I am a moderator of a forum in Israel that deals with all aspects of aquaria and ponds, including freshwater and ponds. You can view my webpage and the forums at http://www.dag.co.il .

The tank is glass, set up in-wall, for optimal viewing. The current tank was started in August 2003. The tank is 120 x 70 x 80cm. The sump is 60 x 40 x 60cm (40 gallons) and used to be used as an algal scrubber with Caulerpa and mangroves, although that has recently been removed. The return pumps are (2) Aqua medic 3500 and a Quiet One.

I run a DIY, HSA 1000-style skimmer with a Beckett injector. The skimmer is 138cm (54 in) in height and runs beautifully.

This tank is driven by 2 tunze pumps on a multicontroller as a wavemaking device.

Lighting is (2) 250 watt Metal Halides running 10000K Coralvue bulbs run on electronic ballasts. I use Spiderlight reflectors to increase the output of the halides. I also have (2) T8 36 watt actinics as supplement. The lighting schedule is actinics on for 14 hours (11am-1am) and the halides on for 9 hours (3pm-12am).