I would first like to say that it was a complete surprise to find out I had won tank of the month. My tank is nearly all made up of soft corals and I am so used to seeing SPS tanks win tank of the month. I’ve been interested in fish all of my life and was brought up keeping tropical. I got my first marine tank around ten year ago. This was just a little 3 foot system. When I got my own house I bought a new 5x2x2 tank but after 3 years, was running out of space and ready for an upgrade. My current tank was custom built in oak and measures 96x24x27.

My previous tank never seemed very sturdy so as I was upgrading, I had to put 2 nine inch solid block walls under the floor. I fabricated a steel stand which was just cladded in place.
I had the tank made with black silicon, centre weir, and single dorso. As I needed it tight against the wall I have the return coming back up through the weir with 2 outlets either side. My sump is 48x20x15. I also run a 20x15x18 frag tank, this is just something to play about with! These are all piped in together.

I run 12 T5’s with 80w bulbs. There are 6 aquablue+, 4 pure actinic and 2 actinic+. I also have 3 blue aqua rays which I run on a night as a moon light (just for a couple of hours after the other lights have gone off).
Times - I have the blues on at 1pm , the rest on at 2pm. These go off at 9pm and the blues go off at 10pm.

I have a Koralia and a MP40W which I run on reefcrest random. I’m quite happy with the flow I have now. I previously had 2 Tunze which created too much of a jet rather than a nice flow.

In my sump I have live rock rubble in baffles either side of miracle mud. I have caulerpa which I keep lit 24 hours a day with 3 T5’s. A bit overkill I know.. but its just what I had! I have a V2 1000 calcium reactor, a Deltec reactor which I run rophos in, a V2 UV steriliser, and Deltec TS1060 skimmer. I run 2 Eheim 500+ return pumps. I also run carbon.

I run 2 300w heaters - one is just a back up. The temperature of my tank is quite stable.

I have never felt the need to add anything to the tank, I just change 60 litres of water every 2 weeks.

The only real monitoing I use is a PH controller and my thermometer. I also have my RO unit on an auto top-up with a float switch.

I feed my fish twice a day. I give them New Era herbivore flake in the morning, then frozen food in the evening. I use a variety including brine shrimp, marine cuisine, vegetarian. I also feed the tangs a sheet of seaweed every other day.

I clean the glass on a daily basis, then scrape the back and sides of the tank around every two weeks. I change rophos, carbon and floss every two weeks. The pumps are cleaned out approx once a month.

Only had the tank running for a matter of months and had no major problems. Got a few flat worms at the moment. Also suffering from a small bloom of cyano.

Quite alot of my big corals a been transfered from my previous tanks. I've had two of the big softies since I started out 10 year ago. I'm a big lover of tangs as you will see in my pictures, there are still a few fish I'd like to add to my system in the future.

Threadfin Anthias (x3)	Spotted Mandarin	Pair of black and white clowns
Pair of Percs	Neon Goby	Pair of Pajama cardinals
Potters Angel Fish	Coral Beauty Angel Fish	Flame back Angel Fish
Sohal Tang	Yellow Tangs (x5)	Regal Tang
Purple Tang	Yellow Eye Tang	Blue Spotted Tang

2 x Knobby Sea Rods	Finger Coral	Cabbage Coral
Green xenia	Brown xenia	Leather Coral
200+ mushrooms in various colours	Various Button Polyps	Various Zoas
Christmas Tree Coral	Ricordea	Elegange Coral
50 head Duncan	Sun Coral	Trumpet Coral

2 x Red Bubble Tips	Feather Dusters	Boxer Shrimp
2 Cleaner Shrimps	Sand Sifting Starfish	Various Snails
Red Legged Hermits	2 x Black Brittle Stars

I'm really happy with how my tank is looking considering it has only been running for around 7 months. However, as always.. there is always scope for improvement. I am hoping to get some ATI lights in the near future along with a couple of special fish I would like.

I would first like to thank my wife for paying the electric bill.
I'd also like to thank Martin and the team from Calico Aquatics which is where most of my stock and equipment is from, I have received great help and advice from these over the years.