I was more than a little shocked when I got a message from Maidstone Marine saying my tank had been voted as Tank of The Month, I was absolutely delighted that others have been enjoying the tank as much as I do. So thank you to anyone who voted.

This is my second marine tank, my first was a nano I ran for about 3 years, prior to that I kept discus for about 5 years (I still have three !) overall I have been keeping and breeding tropicals of all sorts for about 25 years.

The tank size was limited by the alcove in my dining room and is 42” x 18” x 24” (l x w x h), to fit into the house, the cabinet needed to be smart and is in light oak from the classic cabinet company, the sump under the tank is 30” x 12” x 16” . After displacement I would estimate the system to be about 650 litres.

This caused me a dilemma I knew I wanted to keep SPS and clams, so halides looked the best bet, but was torn between the spread of a twin 150w or the better intensity of a single 250w on this size tank. I figured a twin 250w would cook a tank of this size. In the end I got an Arcadia series 3 single 250w with twin 18w T8’s. I would say it has just about worked, giving me a bright zone and slightly more shady corners, though now the growing SPS are starting to make the shady corners pretty dim. I think adding some twin T5’s in front and behind the Arcadia might now help. I run glass covers over the entire tank at all times.

Lighting times are:

Cool weather:
- Actinic T8’s = 13:00 - 23:00
- Halide = 14:00 - 22:00

Warm weather:
- Actinic T8’s = 17:00 - 3:00
- Halide = 18:00-2:00

The sump return is an Ocean runner 3500, and in tank movement was initially a Tunze stream 6101 on a singe controller, pulsing from 100-50% in 30 second cycles. After a year I added a Tunze nano stream, which was replaced a year later with a Vortech MP40 running in reef crest mode, maxing at about 75% to limit the noise. I hoped I could run with just the Vortech and remove the Tunze, but there is just not enough flow. I would like to swap the Tunze for a Vortech, due to it being less intrusive, but the tank is just too close to the wall. Taking into account the settings on the pumps and the head on the return I would estimate my turnover now to be in the region of 30-40 x per hour.

The tank is run on the ecosystem principle, I have about 45kg of live rock in the tank, and a Miracle Mud sump with a mixture of different Caulerpa species, with some Cheto also. The sump was lit 24/7 with an Interpet 55watt power compact for almost 3 years, but now is lit by a single 18watt T8. Growth in the sump has always been fairly poor, and I harvest very little, I should probably do more. I like the life generated by this system, but it has never controlled Nitrate and Phosphate effectively - possibly due to poor growth and lack of harvesting. If I had my time over I would add an underpowered skimmer prior to the sump to get the best of both worlds - if thats possible.

I use a small handful of carbon in a bag in the sump and now run Rowaphos in a homemade Phosphate reactor T’d off the return pump. For 3 years I put Rowaphos in a bag in the sump, but my phosphates slowly crept up, hence the switch to a reactor which is hugely more efficient.

The tank is heated using a single 200watt heater in the sump. The tank is next to south facing french windows, the extra light is no doubt beneficial to the SPS and clams, but in the summer is a right pain. Putting the lights on during the evenings and running fans connected to a Habistat cool control, on the sump and tank usually keep the temperature below 30 degrees C, but in the summer of 2009 I got caught with my lights on and the tank hit 32 degrees C which bleached a few corals which took 4 months to recover. Unfortunately I do not have the space for a chiller, so I fear I will always walk a tightrope with the tank in its current location in hot summers.

I use a V2 600 calcium reactor which I struggled to run efficiently until I bought a better quality CO2 regulator than the single one they sell with the reactor. During this time I dabbled with topping up calcium, alk and magnesium levels with balling light, but have been more impressed with the corals since I backed off balling and have been running the reactor more efficiently. I now top up and fine tune calcium levels by dosing calcium chloride daily using a peristaltic pump connected to a plug in timer. I also supplement alk levels using Tank Tests reef buffer in my top up water, by monitoring evaporation levels and adding buffer appropriately I have been able to achieve stable levels. I don’t seem to need to dose magnesium anymore - don’t ask me why ? I found cleaning the reactor and media regularly in RO also helps with keeping the reactor efficiency high.

I dose Sera Marine Iodine once a week. I don’t find the test kits available very satisfactory but have had symptoms of Iodine depletion which were cured by dosing iodine so I go for a low level maintenance dose and careful observation rather than testing and aiming for a level.

The only real automation is the evaporation top up which is done using an Aqua medic system. I have replaced the float switch several times due to the reed switch burning out, when the system cuts in and out too frequently. To cure the problem I run the system on a plug in timer, so its only able to add water for 3 hours a day in small segments and rarely sits with the float switch bobbing on and off. This does act as a simple back up as three hours of top up water on the timer is about right for evaporation top up in any case.

I feed heavily and a real mixture of frozen and flake. Most days I thaw 2-3 cubes of mysis, 2-3 cubes of enriched artemia and a piece of Cyclopeze frozen bar in a cup of tank water, I pour a splash in every half an hour between 18:00-23:00. A couple of days a week I feed New Era marine flake again a pinch every hour over the evening. If I go away I use New Era in an auto feeder. I don’t wash the frozen food, I think the small bits and juice might feed the corals, - though this is supported by absolutely no evidence at all beyond pure speculation, I don’t feed the coral specifically !

I designed the system to be as low maintenance wise as possible, also I choose to use a simple regular routine I know I will stick to rather than be over ambitious and then let it all slip. Anyway this is my routine:

Every other day:
- Clean the front glass using algae magnet.

Weekly:
- Fill up top up water.
- Test Calcium, magnesium, alkalinity and phosphate once a week using Salifert kits, adjust as necessary by fiddling with amount of alkalinity in top up and calcium chloride doser.
- Check the bubble and drip rate of calcium reactor.

Bi-Weekly:
- Water change (25 litres), I added a hozelock connector Tee’d off my sump return so I could turn a tap and dump 25 litres into an empty jerry can pretty easily. I still syphon the fresh water into the sump though, I couldn’t figure out a way of simplifying this - or find a pump small enough to poke through the neck of the jerry can.

Monthly:
- Clean cover glasses.
- Give front glass a going over using an Easy Blade attached to the algae magnet. This magnet mounted blade is the best 6 pounds I have spent on my tank, I no longer snap the SPS using a blade on a stick !

Six months:
- Clean and top up calcium reactor.
- Clean powerheads and pump impellors.

Nine months:
- Change bulbs.

I have had the usual problems, low alkalinity, algae issues and explosions of Asterina starfish but the three that really spring to mind are as follows:

Low iodine:
This was the most frustrating problem I had, the acropora frags that had been growing well started to slow down and the tips started to thin and erode. Not all were affected to I wrongly thought it could not be water quality issues. If I had not stumbled on Simon Garratt’s Reef Eden page on iodine I would not be keeping SPS now. I had similar symptoms to Simon and had lots of heavy iodine users: clams, pulsing xenia and caluerpa. Dosing iodine turned the problem around in less than a week and I am indebted to Simon for his informative articles !!

Inappropriate fish:
A blue and gold comb tooth blenny I had in my nano lived happily with SPS for about 18 months, then started to scrape tissue off them gradually more and more, I was amazed at the amount of damage a 1 inch fish could cause and nothing stopped him. After trying nets and traps I resorted to stripping and emptying one half of the tank behind a divider to catch the little blighter. In retrospect I now wonder if it was related to the iodine depletion, further reading has led me to believe that iodine in coral tissue imparts a bad taste to coral tissue and helps to prevent predation. This may explain why the blenny lived happily with the coral for 18 months before becoming a rabid coral muncher !

Palythoa polyps:
A transfer from my nano reef these have now spread over the whole tank and I have yet to find a cure ! In my view they are worse than aiptasia, they sting pretty much anything else they come into contact with and spread on a base that is impossible to remove. The only remedy is to shade them out with SPS, (though even then they just retract into a dormant state) or prune them with scissors.

Coral beauty (Centropyge bispinosus)	Fire fish x2 (Nemateleotris magnifica)	Chromis x6 (Chromis viridis)
Royal gramma (Gramma Loreto)	Splendid leopard wrasse (Macropharyngodon bipartitus)	Possum wrasse x2 (Wetmorella trilineata)
Randals goby (Amblyeleotris randalli)	Yasha goby (Stonogobiops yasha)	Banggai cardinals x2 (Pterapogon kauderni)

I suppose I must be an SPS fan since my tank is dominated by these corals, but in truth its the structure of the SPS that I like and my favorite individual corals are probably LPS. I try to have multiple pieces of the same coral in different locations to get a more natural look. Stock list is as follows:

SPS
10 x Acropora (including A formosa)	5 x montipora (including M hirsuta, M digitata and M foliosa)	Pink birdsnest (Seriatopora hysterix)
	Green birdsnest (Seriatopora guttatus)
LPS
4 x Large trumpets (Caulastrea echinulata)	2 x Duncans (Duncanopsammia axifuga)	Branching hammer (Euphyllia parancora)
2 x Lobos (Lobophyllia hemprichii)	Moon coral (Favites sp.)	Goniopora (Small polyp sp.)
2 x Acans (Acanthastrea lordhowensis)	Oxypora lacera	Echinophyllia aspera
Others
3 x mushrooms (Discosoma spp)	2 x zoanthus	Green star polyps
	Pulsing xenia

Cleaner shrimps x 2	Black footed trochus x 5	Ceriths x 5
Snails x 5 (Astralium calcar)	Scarlet serpent star (Ophioderma squamoisissinum)	Small hermits (red, blue & calcinus) x 8
Pistol shrimp	Sand anemone (Phymanthus spp)	Tridacna derasa
	Tridacna maxima x 3

Like most people I suppose I have a hankering after a bigger tank, and next year I am hoping to upgrade to a 4 x 4 x 2.

I enjoy the form and texture of corals as much as colour, so what I would really like to do with this new tank would be to grow the corals I have now, but much bigger and in groups of colonies rather than have ‘one of each’ colour/type. Taken with my love of small reef fish, especially in groups (I don’t think I will have any tangs) which I hope will give me a more natural look to the tank.

Also I would like to learn from my mistakes in terms of coral growth, aggression and compatibility and think through the placement based more on what will happen after 3-5 years of growth, rather than how a frag/coral will fit on day one.

I would like to acknowledge the support of Rebecca who must get bored with walking round fish shops, the constant dripping of water through the house and the occasional flood, yet she has never once complained. I would also like to thank Dan and my dad as the only friends I have who are happy to listen to my constant tank drone and never seem to get that glazed over look !!

Finally I would like to thank my Local Fish Shops without who this would not be possible at all. So first Interfish in Ossett who’s friendly, no nonsense and jovial staff got me into the hobby. Second (not so local) but Reefworks for some nice SPS frags and friendly advice on them. Finally, if Carlsberg made fish shops, they would probably have made ‘Ocean Corals’ in York, which although new and quite small, is certainly the best marine shop I have been too, perfect, colourful and healthy stock and a relaxed friendly atmosphere. In particular I would like to thank the owner Paul who’s knowledge and enthusiasm has rekindled my love of this hobby.