Jason Brown – My Reefing Journey

Hi, Jason here, also known as @unorthodox_reef on Instagram and I would love to share with everyone my my reefing journey from the beginning failures to my current system.

How the obsession started

My obsession with the hobby started in my teenage years about 26 years ago after my first reef tank sighting. It was just a small simple tank our local LFS had set up in a restaurant, but I was mesmerized by the beauty and invertebrates. I went home that evening to my drab and boring freshwater aquarium and brackish tank and made a decision that I must have a reef tank.

First tanks and failures

Being young and excited I decided to slowly bump up the salinity in my brackish aquarium and ran to the store to buy a starfish. Turns out the gobies I had in that tank like to snack on starfish. They soon perished. So, I went and purchased some books and found the store that created that little reef tank at the restaurant. They sent me home with a bucket of salt, live rock and minimal knowledge. I had a few great and unsuccessful aquariums throughout the years but learned greatly from my mistakes and I believe they are part of the reason I am so successful today.

Creating my dream tank

Life sometimes throws you a curveball. It was the summer of 2020, my father had just passed away and my first son was born. I decided you only live once it is time to set up my dream aquarium. Over that summer I planned every detail out from electrical requirements to aqua-scaping and ordered my custom tank which was built by the end of the year. We slid the aquarium in through the basement window on a ramp and roller system and set it in place. Within a few days, I had the aquarium aqua-scaped and filled with salt water and connected to my running aquarium sharing the same sump. I let them run together and started transferring fish and corals.

Mixed Reef Tank (400 gallon, 1500L)

My mixed reef was designed to be 3 separate bommies. Two for SPS and one for soft and LPS corals. The plan was that they would have minimum contact with the substrate so I could have the flow circulate from the back of the tank going over the corals and rushing back around and under them. In my opinion having proper flow is most important next to husbandry. My coral selections and placements are geared to fit the demands of its inhabitants to create a habitat for them to thrive and graze on and not based on the newest trend. The aquarium has a large fish population that grew over the years as my demand for nutrients raised.

Favorite Fish and Corals

It is really hard to pick my favorite but I have a few corals and fish I am very attached with. For fish I am drawn to angelfish starting with the Madagascar Kingi Angelfish “Apolemichthys Kingi” was a dream fish to acquire, my large Red Sea Regal Angelfish “Pygoplites diacanthus”, Majestic angelfish “Pomacanthus navarchus” and Goldflake Angelfish “Apolemichthys xanthopunctatus” are a few in of my favorite in my system. When it comes to corals, I enjoy corals that branch like staghorns or gorgonians. I feel they add visual appeal, structure, height and territory for fish to swim about.

Maintenance and balance

It is quite challenging to maintain a large aquarium and also maintain a family life balance. I try to make sure to schedule time daily outside of the family hours for maintenance, which is ongoing. I have to ensure I stay on top of everything and keep the aquarium as simple as I can and as hands-off as possible.

If I were to give a few pieces of advice

The biggest of all is to stop overdoing and overthinking. It is really easy to overdue things and overreact or create problems that don’t exist. Reef for yourself, choose your tank based on your needs and your likes not what is the current hype. Be prepared for the maintenance and uglies, It is a delicate ecosystem that you are keeping in your home and at times things wont be perfect and that’s normal, just be patient and enjoy the journey.