Welcome to Sho Tank Aquariums. We are in the business to make your aquatic hobby enjoyable and affordable. The main goal of any hobbyists is to create an environment that can support any form of life that you wish to keep. The hobby has made several advancements over the years to enable the average hobbyist to create a thriving ecosystem. The key to these advancements stems from the understanding of water chemistry in a closed system. In the early years, hobbyists relied on the use of expensive filtration to replicate the natural resources of the ocean with very little success. Today there are several different ways to maintain and grow corals in a natural environment.
Like most when I first started there were many questions and I was confused with all the conflicting advice. It seemed one question had 10 answers which made problem solving a real trick. After buying and reading several books from a variety of authors I found that there are many ways of maintaining an aquariums and the key to long term success was to marry a methodology and stick with it.
We are a small brick and mortar shop located in the far north suburbs of Chicago. Our current facility is also 2000sq’ of floor space and half is dedicated to the fish room. We do have freshwater and marine fish, corals, inverts, and live rock. Our coral system consists of 24- 24x18x13 oceanic tanks, they are double stacked and 2 tanks share the same light hood consisting of (3) 110w VHO bulbs on electronic ballasts with 2 actinic and one white actinic URI bulbs.
The anchor of the system is a stocked 210gl custom drilled SPS dominated reef with 300lbs of Tonga live rock. The lighting system currently consists of a 400w 20k Radium bulb dead center and a pair of 250w 12k Reeflux MH bulbs on either end and four 165w URI VHO actinic bulbs. All drain pipes feed into a 100gl Rubbermaid stock vat with felt filter bags to ensure zero transfer of any unwanted from spreading in the system. Water is returned back to the displays by a Hammerhead Reeflo pump. All skimming is done by a PM XL-2 Skimmer fed by a Panworld 200PS pump. Most top off water is supplied via a 200gl Spectrapure RO/DI to a PM KR622 Kalkwasser Doser which is serviced every other week.
Just below the coral tanks sitting on the floor are the cured live rock. This system consists of (6) 75gl glass tanks all with corner drilled bulkheads and are lit by (2) 40w URI Fluorescent bulbs. All water is drained to another 100gl stock vat that has four drains and (2) felt filter bags’, skimming is done via an Aqua Euro PS400 and pump backed with a Reeflo Dart Pump. Directly behind the rock system we cure all rock in (4) 100gl Rubbermaid vats skimmed by a PM Bullet 2 Skimmer driven by a magdrive 18. These vats are drained and refilled every third batch of rock.
Our fish system is 24’ long by 4’ wide 3-tiered racks. System totals 1200gl with a biological, mechanical and refugium wet/dry sump. Powered by (2) hammerhead pumps with a custom 8’ skimmer and (2) 120w sterilizers. The fish are separated in individual cubes to ensure health and feeding, all fish are quarantined in the system for 3-10days or longer per request. We do run a low level of copper to ensure zero transfer and a low salinity between 1.015 and 1.018. We find this combination the best for ensure a disease free fish. We will NOT sell a fish that is not healthy or eating. We do recommend that when purchasing livestock that u follow OUR acclimation technique of 50% water changes on the bag every 5 minutes till you reach your specific gravity. All fish have a 5 day guarantee.
On the main showroom floor we have (2) 300gl reefs tanks. One is a standard 96”x24”x30” acrylic tank with (5) 250w MH both 10k and 12k and (4) 165w actinic both blue and white. This tank is composed mostly with a mix of corals and 650lbs of Tonga and Fiji live rock and currently bare bottom. Water is filtered by a 100gl Refuge/sump and a PM Bullet 2 Skimmer and KR622 Kalkwasser doser for top off. Circulation is provided by a Reeflo Barracuda pump running (2) discharges with (5) outlets and a rio2500 pump at the bottom rear for bottom flow. The whole package is concealed with OUR custom made oak enclosure. The other 300gl is 60”x33”x36” see thru acrylic tank, mostly composed of soft corals and reef predator fish. Light consists of (2) PFO parallel reflectors with (4) 250w MH and (6) 110w URI VHO bulbs. Filtration consists of a 60gl refuge/sump with a custom 5’ countercurrent skimmer and a PM KR622 kalkwasser doser. All flow is handled by a Reeflo Barracuda pump. The tank is aquascaped with 500lbs of Tonga live rock viewable from both sides.
