Today we are proud to present you with Massimiliano Ghelfi‘s stunning Italian reef tank (articolo in italiano)
I met Massimiliano Ghelfi during a bruch organized by Franco from the shop Cinque Stelle in Ferrara on the aquariology study day conference in April last year, where I’ve had the honor to be a speaker for the occasion.
At the time I was trying the Ecotech Marine Radion lamps (here Radion XR30w, here Radion XR30w Pro) and we talked about them for a while. Afterwards Massimiliano showed me some of his tanks’ pictures on his smartphone.
I liked his tank at first sight and promised him I would soon be back to take some pictures of it with as I figured it was really worth it.
And it was.
Massimiliano Ghelfi’s Tank
On a Saturday afternoon Jonathan and I left Rimini to go and see how beautiful this tank was and to prepare our article. We have not been disappointed at all! The tank really is stunningly beautiful as you can see in the following pictures.
The tank base is 130×60 cm just like mine, while the height reaches 60 cm where mine stops at 50.
A tank with a total volume of 576 litres gross, which probably means a system of 450 litres net, more or less.
Above you can observe an amazing Acropora nobilis growing straight from the bottom of the tank.
The first thing you would notice about this fantastic tank is definitely the lighting system, composed by 8 54 watt T5 tubes and three, yes three Ecotech Marine Radion. An incredible lighting power which we will discuss later in the article.
Look at this splendid Montipora undata… next time I am going there I am definitely trying to bring away a little frag from it! Really beautiful.
What about this Acropora aspera? How stunning is it?
I mean, the tank is really beautiful for the overall harmony and the animals choices. Some of them are really worth mentioning and you can tell they have grown in the tank as they give it a natural look which I love seeing in reef aquariums.
Here is a view from the sofa side.
But let’s get to the interview.
Hi Massimiliano, congratulations for your amazing tank! We’ve noticed many animals of impressive sizes, how old is your tank?
“I have been an aquarist for a long time… I feel a bit ashamed admitting that it’s been actually 30 years since I started playing around with tanks. This one was born four years ago, but most of the corals colonies and the fishes are much older, while others are younger. The tank’s core animals have a remarkable age.”
While he’s talking Jonathan and I are amazed by a splendid blue Acropora loisetteae standing out in the middle of the tank. A truly spectacular animal in very good health.
