Robert Gallinoto’s Minimalist Oceanic BC29

During a recent search for minimalist type aquascapes, I came across the superb 29 gallon nano reef of Robert Gallinoto. I quickly tracked Robert down as I had to learn more about this nano reef. Below Robert gives us some more information on his Oceanic BC29. More photos after the Q&A section.

Name, where are you from, hobby experience etc

Robert Gallinoto, West Hartford, CT, and have been in the hobby since 2001.

What size is your nanoreef and how old is it? What make/model is it?

BC29 by Oceanic is 2 years old.

Tell us about the filtration you run on this tank. What type of skimmer etc

Only filtration is an small Oceanic airstone skimmer. No carbon, phosphate media used.

What lighting do you use? Wattage? Spectrum? How long do your lights run for?

Nanotuners 150w HQI retrofit into hood for stock look. Bulb is 20K Current USA. Lights on at 3 pm, off at 10pm. A Current USA 1/15 chiller is used when the tank temp hits 81 (summer), by rarely turns on because of central air conditioning. I am looking to convert to all LED in the near future.

What other equipment do you run? Calcium reactor, aquarium computer, dosing pumps, auottop off etc

No other equipment. To maintain calcium and alkalinity I dose one teaspoon on Tropic Marin BioCalcium daily.

Tell us about your corals. What have you got an how many corals do you have?

I designed the aquascape with simplicity in mind. One large piece of live rock was used. There are no dead spots for algae to grow uncontrollably. Small frags (1-1 1/2″) frags were glued to the live rock allowing plenty of space for growth. Corals include ORA Montipora spongodes, ORA Roscoe’s Acro, unknown teal stag, red chalice, pink stylophora, a few different ricordea morphs, purple/teal favia, and assorted zoanthids.

What about fish?

A pair of brood stock ORA clowns, and Pajama Cardinal.

Tell us about the tank overall, what do you love about it, what problems have you had, modifications made etc

Very few problems with the tank thus far (knock on wood). I lost one coral, an ORA Oregon tort. I just got around to replacing it with the small pink stylo. The fans have died in the hood rendering the HQI useless (retro designed that way), otherwise no problems.

Do you belong to a reef club? Which online forums do you use, (what is your username)? What books do you read for reef knowledge?

I am a CTARS member (Connecticut Area Reef Society). I am know as my2girls on Reefcentral, Zeovit.com, and Nano-reef.com

Anybody you want to thank? Anything else you’d like to say about your tank?

I’d like to thank my wife for her understanding, CTARS members, and my LFS the Puppy Center and Aquarium.