Eddie's Aquariums

Hey everyone, I’m Eddie. Just joined the NJReefers Community and wanted to introduce myself. I moved down to New Egypt from Boston in December and have been an active member of the Boston Reefers Society for well over a decade including being on the BoD several times and was VP for a year.


I’ve been keeping aquariums since I was 5, starting with a 55-gallon freshwater community tank. Over the past 29 years I’ve kept just about everything—from neocaridina shrimp to arowana and a whole lot in between. Right now, I’m working on building a breeding rack with nine 10-gallon tanks to focus on neocaridina shrimp again.


I’ve been in the reefing side of the hobby for the last 16 years and never looked back.


Here’s a rundown of my current reef setup:

• Display: CADE S2 2100 with 200 lbs coarse aragonite and probably at least that in LR for the display
• Skimmer: Red Sea Reefer RSK-900
• Return: Dual Vectra L2s
• Lighting: Six Radion X30 G6 Pros, hung front-to-back to help reduce shadowing and support front-to-back and vertical growth
• Controller: GHL Profilux with 3x GHL Doser 2.2, KH Director, and soon an ION Director
• Heaters: 2x 800W Finnex Titanium on Inkbird temp controllers
• UV Sterilizer: On hand but not yet hooked, not a fan but I'm being cautious with the high fish load
• Circulation: 2x MP40s and 2x MP60s
• Sump: 150-gallon Rubbermaid feed container
• Refugium: A 57-gallonrefugium tank plumbed inline off the display overflow lit by 2x AI Prime 16HD and a grow light—most flow goes to the sump, but a portion hits the refugium first to let some nutrient-rich water bypass the skimmer
• Plumbing: Each section of the system (display, refugium, sump) can be isolated if needed
• Mixing Station: 2x 300-gallon water storage containers—one for RODI, one for saltwater
• Frag Tank: 7-foot shallow acrylic frag tank lit with 2x Mitras LX7s—testing them out after a recent issue where my Radions reset to 100% intensity and nuked most of my colonies. Things are stable now, and I’ll be adding more frags soon.

Current Livestock:

• 2x Yellow Tangs
• 1x Purple Tang
• 1x Blonde Naso Tang
• 1x One Spot Foxface
• 2x Black Storm Clownfish
• 2x Mandarin Dragonettes
• 1x McCosker’s Wrasse
• 1x Grade A Maxima Clam
• A harem of Lyretail Wrasses (1 male, 4 females) and an Ornate Leopard Wrasse—finishing QT and going in Wednesday

I dose B-ionic 2-part daily, along with iodine, potassium, iron, and the Red Sea trace elements. ATO and AWC are fully automated through the Profilux system, and the skimmer is set to kick on only if the pH dips below 8.4—my local water is pretty hard, so this helps keep things balanced.


Water testing happens every other week. I haven’t added any coral since the move, but that’s about to change. The base rock in this system is a mix of cured Marco rock (24–30 months) and rock from my old Waterbox Infinia Frag 125.4, so it's ready to go. I’ll be adding a bunch of new frags this week—expect photos soon.


Frag tank still isn’t hooked up but should be by the end of the week. I’ll post an update once that’s running.


Also, I owe you guys better pics of the sump and mixing station. I’ll snap those as soon as I get things cleaned up a bit. Stay tuned.

Looking forward to learning and sharing with everyone here. View attachment IMG_5314.jpegView attachment IMG_5234.jpeg

Beautiful system, congrats! What will you be using for calcification demands?

Welcome Eddie!! We are always here to help.

The Gooch said:

Beautiful system, congrats! What will you be using for calcification demands?

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I am dosing 2 part for the time being, I have a CaRx on standby that i'll slowly integrate in if dosing 2 part becomes cost prohibitive

beauty!

Fun fact about this aquarium:

I won this aquarium as part of a prize for the supporters' raffle on reef2reef. I won the model lower and was given the option to pay the difference for this, it was a no brainer!

Wow! Heck of a setup! Welcome aboard.

Mark_C said:

Wow! Heck of a setup! Welcome aboard.

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Thanks! A lot of time went into planning and building this system.

Fun fact: I’ve been studying coral breeding for years and plan to give it a real shot this coming fall. My background is in biochemistry and cellular/molecular biology, and I was once on track for a PhD in genetics. I’d love to finally put that knowledge to use in this hobby—beyond just the basics of keeping things alive.

I’ve got a spot near my mixing station where I’ll be setting up the breeding system. I’ll start sharing updates as the project comes together.

Looking forward to sharing the journey with you all.

Welcome! Awesome setup!