First of all I would like to say a big thank you to those of you that voted my tank TOTM. I never thought it would ever get TOTM that’s for sure! I was truly shocked when a received the PM to say my tank had been chosen by the masses and then started to panic on what on earth to write! I’ve now been in this fantastic hobby for nearly 3 years and this is my second tank, the first being a 100 litre nano which spurned me to change my current tank from a Cichlid set up to what it is today.

The tank is a Juwel Vision 180 with a bow front which, after displacement, holds around 160 litres of water. Dimensions are 36” x 16” x 21”. The tank is sumpless, this choice was mainly down to me wanting to get the tank up and running over two days whilst my wife was working nights. If there was one thing I would go back and change it would have been to slow the build process down and have the tank drilled and sump installed.

Lighting is provided by a 4 x 39w ATI Sunpower unit running 2 x ATI Aquablue Specials and 2 x ATI Blue plus. Attached to the unit is a 2ft blue LED strip for moonlights. My lighting schedule is:
0800 – 1200 Moonlights
1200 – 1300 2 x ATI Blue Plus
1300 – 2100 2 x ATI Blue Plus and 2 x ATI Blue Special
2100 – 2200 2 x ATI Blue Plus
2200 – 0000 Moonlights

I have recently upgraded my Vortech MP20 to an MP40 Ecosmart Wireless. This is my main pump which is situated on the left hand side of the tank and runs on Reef Crest mode at about 60% power. Additional flow is provided by a Koralia 3 hidden in the right hand bottom corner behind the rock work and a modified Koralia Nano for assistance with surface agitation on the right hand side. This gives me a nice mixed flow which seems to suit the tank well. All in all around 60x tank volume turnover per hour.

The tank holds just over 20 kg of live rock. Due to having no sump I run an Aquamedic Turboflotor Multi SL 1000 as a hang on skimmer. A Tetratec EX600 external filter is used for running Rowa Carbon, filter floss and Seachem Purigen. The external is T’d off to provide feeds to an inline phosphate reactor (containing Rowaphos) and a TMC Vecton 400 UV filter (ran on a timer between 2200 and 1000). The external is rinsed out with RO and the floss is changed for new every water change. I use small amounts of both carbon and rowaphos which are changed every 2 weeks on alternate weeks, the Purigen is changed out for fresh every 2 months.

1 x 300w Rena smart heater controlled by an ATC 300

Automated dosing is done via a GHL 4 pump independent dosing unit. I run Balling light using Fauna Marin Balling salts and the 3 Trace B elements. The GHL also doses 5ml of Vodka/sugar mix (200ml Vodka/1 level tablespoon sugar) every day.
Manual dosing consists of 0.4ml Fauna Marin Ultra Min S, 2ml KZ Coral snow and 6 drops of Pyhto concentrate Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. I dose 2 drops of Fauna Marin Ultra Bio on a 4 days on/4 days off basis.

I monitor pH with a constant pH monitor from Reefdreams, temperature is monitored by an ATC300 and top ups are taken care of by my Tunze Omsmolator.

The fish are fed on the New Era Marine/Aegis flake range on the 8 week feeding program as well as the occasional treat of frozen marine mix and mysis. The corals get indirectly fed by 3 different liquid feeds – Oyster Relish, Coral Pods and Rotivits.
Fish are usually fed twice a day except the days where I use the liquid feed. The liquid feed is split between AM and PM, each feed being a different bottle.
I also culture my own pods/rotifers which I harvest every 2 months and add to the tank. The culture tank is fed 4 drops of Phyto concentrate 3 time a week.

10% water change with Seachem Reef Salt every 8 days, filtration maintenance as mentioned above, skimmer cup and airline to skimmer pump cleaned twice a week, skimmer pump and other pumps stripped and cleaned once a month, all filter tubing fully cleaned every 6 months, UV bulb changed every 6 months, T5’s changed every 6 months, tank is tested prior to water change and 24 hours post water change and keep a check on the amount of mixes left in my balling tank.
Since dosing vodka I only have to clean my glass around once a week and even then it’s minimal.

My word, where do I start! I’ve had all sorts of issues to contend with.
A raise of too much Magnesium too fast led to some corals bleaching (they are all fine now), persistent battle with Bryopsis and a few other pest algae’s which seems to have been brought under control with the Vodka dosing, dosing pumps sticking, skimmer overflowing drenching the carpet, pumps giving out at the wrong times, Torch coral recession for no apparent reason, Lobo recession, auto top up stopping working. I’m sure there is a lot more to this list as most of this stuff tends to happen when I’m not there to sort it and results in a heated telephone conversation with my wife trying to calm her down and talk her through how to sort something!

The tank is mixed reef and I’ve had a few different species of fish, some of which I have lost over the duration the tank has been up and running which is never nice for anyone, especially the ones that die for no apparent reason.

Current fish stock:

1 x Clownfish	2 x Talbot Damsels	1 x Flame Hawkfish
1 x Yellow Watchman Goby	1 x Midas Blenny

There a quite a lot to list so here some of the corals I have:

Variety of Acropora	Montipora	Pink Birdsnest
Seriatopora Guttatus	Echinopora	Variety of Zoanthids
Green Star Polyps	Torch	Frogspawn
Trumpets	Duncans	Cataphyllia
Trachy	2 species of Bubble coral	Fungia
various mushrooms	ricordias

Banded Serpent starfish	Fromia Starfish
Boxing Shrimp	Fan worm

The amount of times I must of thought to myself ‘Why do I bother’ or ‘That’s it, I might get rid of the tank’ is unbelievable however, when you look at what your actually achieving in your own front room (or wherever your tank maybe) it’s quite a rewarding feeling.

I would like an upgrade at some point, nothing too big, just something with a sump but for now I’m happy with what I have. I think too many people turn to an upgrade before they give the tank they have a chance to come alive. I don’t think bigger is always better, nurture what you have and you will be just as happy.

Definitely my wife Sarah (who thinks the tank comes before her which isn’t true at all) for keeping an eye on everything when I’m away at work. Chris Ehlert (former Bluzoo manager) for all his help over the past years. Everyone who has helped out answering questions from me on UR and everyone who voted my tank for TOTM.