The Coral Reactor in The Cathedral of Light and Knowledge

The Coral Reactor!

A mixed-reef, no-coral-from-the-Ocean project.
I started out with a custom re-purposed Plasma reactor custom fit with LEDs and old vacuum tubes. The tank is a 29 gallon Biocube with refit LED and T5 lights, a custom micro-refugium growing Chaetomorpha macro algae, 20lbs of aragonite live sand and about 45lbs of live rock. Est. Jan 2016.   The goal of this project was to house only 3rd generation tank aqua-cultured corals and IUCN least concern fish where tank raised was not possible.  The result is a gorgeous coral reef in the heart of USF Engineering which does not have any negative impact on wild reefs.

Primary occupants are 4 fish, a dozen or so inverts, and the mostly complete coral list is below…

Coral List:

Pink Birdsnest Seriatopora hystrix
Green Star Polyp Briareum sp.
Meteor Shower Cyphastrea Cyphastrea sp.
Bird of Paradise Seriatopora sp.
Duncan Duncanopsammia axifuga.
Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone Entacmaea quadricolor
Trumpet coral (4 morphs) Caulastrea curvata spp.
Green Plate coral Fungia repanda
Frogspawn Euphyllia divisa
Bi-color Galaxea Galaxea fascicularis
Jedi Mind Trick Montipora sp.
Mystic Sunset Montipora montipora tuberculosa
Pulsing Xenia Xenia elongata
Palys Palythoa spp.
Mushrooms (3 morphs) Rhodactis spp.
Hammer Coral Euphyllia ancora
Red Cap (2 morphs) Montipora Montipora capricornis
Green Slimer Acropora Yongei
Golden Tip Torch Coral Euphyllia glabrescens