First of all I would like to say thanks to Ultimate Reef and everyone who put my tank forward for tank of the month!

I would also like to say thanks to Sarah (wife) for looking after the tank when I’m away working!

I have been into marines for approx 12 years or so now, this is my 3rd tank, I started with a small 30" x 12" x 20" tank then moved onto a 5ft x 20" x 22" and now this.

Good thing about this hobby is there is always something new to learn, I still learn lots of things today!

Yes there have been lots of ups & downs, and sometimes I have thought about throwing it all away, that's part of life!

I do love gadgets, I have taken most in with the tank by talking to others, not much of a book man but love to look and explore what others have and what it does, the best way for me to learn, I also don't use any Latin names for the fish, I'm just a basic fish keeper, what I have got has taken lots of hard work as anyone with a tank will know!

The animals in our tanks rely on us to provide the best environment for them to live, I have and will always do my best for them, I work hard and love to spend time in front of the tank, just sitting there for hours watching and learning how the fish react with each other. I have just installed a web cam on the tank so others can sign in and watch it, it has preset position so you can go in and look at the different corals, I love when people come round and see the tank it give you pleasure that others can enjoy it as well, there are lots of tanks on here that gave me ideas with the tank!

The tank is 12ft x 30” x 36” and has been running for approx 20 months, it has a centre weir where I have 2 x 2” pipes to take the water to my sump which is located in the garage approx 15ft away, it returns back to the sump via a 1 1/2” pipe which is then reduced to 1”.

Having the filter in the garage has some great benefits for your system, it will cut the noise down, but most important is you can have the tank lower in the room, this makes viewing from a sofa very good as before having the tank taller to accommodate the skimmer would always make you look upwards. I can sit down and see the sand, plus being 3ft deep it’s not a hard job getting in and down near the bottom with your hand. The other great reason is not having to lift water or siphon out of the tank as you always have spills oh and you can tuck yourself out in the garage for hours on end!

At the moment I have 3 x 400w & 2 x 250w Arcadia series 3 halides on the tank, 400w are in the middle and to the right-hand side and the twin 250w is on the left, this was done when setting up the tank the SPS were going to be more at the right-hand side, then I increased the amount and slowly moved down the tank!

But I’m now about to change the lighting out (twin 250w & single 400w) for LED’s, this will half my wattage which in today’s climate is a good thing, I’ll be testing the LED’s to see if they are as good as the halides, then if they are I will change the twin 400w unit out, to start I will have 5 x 24 LED light units and depending on how they perform I may need another 4 or 5? I have also purchased a PAR meter to map the tank out, so I know how much light I have around the tank which will help in the placement of the corals.

I have a sequence 15,000 l/p/h for my main return from the sump to the tank, I also have a Tunze TS48 kit in the tank so this gives me around 60,000 l/p/h in the tank, I haven’t seen any problems having this amount and the corals seem to like it, although some say this isn’t enough but my results show otherwise! I have also installed a sequence 10,000 to feed the skimmer, I may also 'T' this off to run the frag tanks and rowaphos reactor as this will take away another 2 Eheim pumps from the sump!

Is done via a 7ft x 28” x 28” fibreglass sump, I have a 3 sock TMC unit to filter all the water returning from the tank, under this is where the skimmer is fed from, skimmers are a Deltec AP703 and a TMC PSW 5300, from here the water goes over my DSB with Calerpa then through a live sand bed with approx 100 kg’s of live rock. Also fed from the filter is a 4 tank frag system with various corals in, a Deltec Kalkwasser stirrer / Calcium and 5kg rowaphos reactors, the returned water then passes through a 5 x 55w UV and then back to the tank, I also use a 400mg Ozone unit on the TMC skimmer. In the tank I have around 800kg of live rock and approx 200kg of sand with another 100kg of sand in the filter, I don't get any nitrate reading what so ever! Phosphate is a little high due to the 70 to 80 odd fish but I'm using the rowaphos to keep this under control!

At the moment I have 3 x 300w heaters as the temp does seem to be stable, although with really hot days in the summer I use an on the wall air conditioning unit which helps with cooling but I’m hoping the change to LED’s will help with this also?
The extension where the tank is in is new and has very good insulation requirements so the room is also warm!

Not much apart from Calcium & Magnesium, I believe the way to go is water changes!

I have also moved to the Deltec H2ocean salt which I think has made a great improvement in the corals, they seem to come out more and to be more vibrant!

I have also just tried some of the KV range which also seems to help in the colours of the corals!

I do have a Profilux computer with LED’s and wireless Lan but to be honest never really got to use it apart from have the LED’s and the external display for Redox / Temp & PH nothing is controlled by the unit as all the equipment sits in the garage!

I always watch the tank for any signs of problems, I used to get involved in display readings but they were not always 100% so looking at the tank now tells me a lot more than worrying about a strange reading!

I have started to feed New Era foods which seem to show more colour on the fish, I also feed frozen Cyclops for the corals mainly, my gorgonian loves it!

I have 2 Eheim auto feeders on the tank, which spin 2 revolutions 4 times a day each, this gives most fish a chance to get some food, I also put one sheet of seaweed a day!

Most of the maintenance is done by water changes, I do 100 gallons every few days when I’m home for 2 weeks, so I tend to get around 3 x 100 gallons changes done!

Then it’s clean the glass which only takes a few minutes each time, with ozone I find the glass stays cleaner for longer so I only do this 3 or 4 times every 2 weeks! You may have the odd coral that needs moving but in all I don’t spend that much time!

Just sit back and enjoy!

Not much in the way of problems, just my Atlantic blue being a little bit naughty and knocking the odd coral over, Mushrooms attacking SPS & LPS so I try and keep them back, with a lot of tangs keeping the water tip top and good quality food is a must!

You always get a little water leak somewhere mainly in the filter room, a float valve may stick, pump go down that sort of thing, it also seems to happen when I'm away, haven't had a power cuts but I did purchase a little generator just in case!

Anthias / Chromis / Yellow tangs x 14 / Powder blue tang / Scopas / Purple tang x 3 / Chevron tang / Regal tang x 2 / Atlantic blue tang / Coral beauty / Flame angel / Multi coloured angel / Mystery wrasse / Cleaner wrasse x 2 / Cigar wrasses / Twin sot wrasse / Red fairy wrasse / Green wrasse / Pair of mandarins / Scarlet hawkish / Tangerine goby / Algea blenny

I prefer the mixed reef setup rather than being dominated by just one type of coral.

I have a real mixture of SPS, LPS and softies in the main tank. It’s hard to list all the species and types of corals that I’ve added over the years.

I do love the LPS corals like frogspawns / torch / hammerheads, my montiporas are doing very well also, everything is growing like mad, it's great to see how the reef has come on over the 20 odd months and will be great to see how it will look in another 12 months time!

Not many really, some starfish and various red legs crabs / turbo snails / cerith snails

I think the world of reef keeping is just like the world you live in today! But we tend to understand the world we are in but not the reef?

The hobby as given me more than I could ever ask for, this world I have in my house is just amazing, the way they react / grow just keeps getting better and better!

The equipment is getting far more advanced to help in the upkeep of the tank!

We all learn things and sometimes we don't treat those who do not know as much the way they should, maybe it's down to being human?

I also think the future is looking good in a way with lots of technology coming our way, LED's is one big thing that if they work will benefit us ALL.

I just hope I can enjoy my reef tank for years to come, see lots of things going on in the tank, frag more corals and create a massive coral garden like I have seen on here, it's great to see others tanks, I can get just as much enjoyment from a smaller tank than a bigger one, seeing how it all works!

Can I also say thanks to you if you have commented on my thread, taken the time to read my tank of the month post and a big thanks to Ultimate Reef!

I would like to thank all the efforts put into the Ultimate Reef forum and help given by the members!

One big name I would like to mention is Rob (was Rob's marines) he has given me so much help in the past it was great to visit his shop as he was always trying something new!

Thanks to my LFS for getting me the equipment!

Sarah (her in doors) for putting up with the tank but most of all looking after it when I'm away!

Those I call on when I'm on holiday, as they also have a massive responsibility in looking after the tank!

And the people out there who go that little bit further and help you, show your tank hold your head up high!

The last thing is, I don't think we spend enough time looking at the tanks, I mean sitting back and just looking at what's going on and take in what you see, I didn't for such a long time!

Thanks, one very proud reef tank keeper
Glen