Amazement, astonishment & surprise were all the emotions that I felt when I received the PM from Chris informing me that my tank had been voted TOTM for October.

I was overwhelmed to think the members of UR thought my tank could compare with the previous TOTM's and all those tanks on the forum worthy of the accolade.

I have kept fish off and on for the past 30 years, mainly freshwater tropical and the occasional small pond.

My first brush with marines began a couple of years ago when I started a Nano, this led me to UR and Craigg who lives in the same town, I invited myself over to see his reef tank and the rest is history as they say.

The main display was setup 18 months ago. It is a 5’x2’x2’ all glass tank built using 10mm glass coupled to a 48''x18''x17'' 3 section sump.

The sump is fed from the weir via a 40mm downpipe topped with a Durso to minimize the noise.

The tank, sump and cabinet were manufactured by Seashell, the cabinet finish is Pamploma.

The lighting has changed more times than I've done water changes, OK that may be a slight exaggeration.

I decided that LED's units were the best option for the tank and to minimize electricity consumption, so ten Aquaray 500 units were fitted.

These were quickly joined by two more but I was never really satisfied with the growth or colour of the corals so I added two 54w T5's.

I still wasn't completely happy with the result so I added four more T5's. This gave me six T5's and six Aquaray strips all mounted on a DIY frame mounted on the top of the tank, this made any maintenance on the tank a challenge.

The coral growth and colour seemed slightly improved but it still didn’t give me the results I wanted and felt the tank was capable of. Then, whilst browsing the Tank Specs forum on UR I came across a thread describing a similar tank to mine but with an ATI Powermodule for the lighting, it looked just perfect. I wanted one!

A few days later my new 8x80w Powermodule arrived but rather than just mount it over the tank I decided to strip it down and improve it!

I replaced two ballasts for dimmable ones; this allowed my GHL to control the outer pair of tubes on either side.

The lighting cycle:

The rear pair of tubes switch on at midday and are at full brightness by 1pm; the front pair of tubes switch on at 12.30 and are at full brightness by 1.30pm.
The 4 centre tubes switch on at 3.15pm and turn off at 9.15pm.
The inner & outer pairs then start dimming down at 10pm with the last pair being fully off at 10.40pm.

I use a GHL full weather stick and a GHL simu spot for sunrise & moonlight illumination.
Sunrise starts at 06.30am and is the only illumination until the main lights come on at midday.
The moonlights are on from 10.30pm, they reach full brightness at 11.30pm and then they slowly dim until sunrise.

T5 tube configuration:

The outer & inner pair are one each of the ATI BluePlus and AquaBlue Specials.

The 4 middle tubes are a combination of 2 BluePlus, 1 AquaBlue Special and 1 Fiji Purple.

One of the biggest decisions I had to make in the planning stage of the tank was what would provide the circulation in the tank, closed loop or powerheads.

After a lot of thought and with the help of UR members I decided to go with powerheads for two reasons. Closed loop systems would be more expensive to buy and run, together with space requirements that the pipework and the pumps would need.

So it was going to be powerheads- what to use, Tunze, VorTechs the list is endless.

After a lot of research I decided on VorTech and began with a pair of VorTech MP40's. These gave me good water movement and were aesthetically pleasing.

As the growth of the corals increased this restricted the flow in the tank creating a ‘dead spot’ along the back wall, so I added a MP10 to act as a reeflush.

I have improved the system with the addition of an ES controller to the MP10 and it is now wirelessly controlled from the MP40's.

My future plan for the VorTechs is to control them through the GHL with the addition of the interface that has been developed in collaboration between GHL and EcoTech Marine.

Filtration, by that I mean control of the basics, mechanical/biological/chemical pollution, is one of the most crucial aspects of a successful reef tank, without it a whole manner of problems can materialise, from nuisance algaes to poor coral colouration. I have attempted to keep it simple and use the tried and tested means to control Nitrates and Phosphates.

My sump is a simple 3 section design, the inlet from the display passes into the first chamber via a filter sock, I like to swap between 100 & 200 micron socks, these are changed twice a week. Currently I am using Osmotics nylon socks, I find these easier to clean than the traditional wool type socks.
This first section has a 1200lph pump which supplies the Deltec 851 skimmer which sits in a cupboard behind the tank, the skimmer return is fed back to the first chamber.

The middle section contains a 6'' DSB with Chaeto & Caulerpa above, this is lit 24/7 by a 125w 6400k Envirolite.
The depth and density of the macro algaes keeps the DSB almost in the dark.

The third chamber, the return, contains a 3000lph return pump, an Eheim 1260 which supplies the chiller and a FR509 Phosphate reactor which is supplied by a T off of the return supply. There is also an 800lph pump feeding the Deltec 39w UV unit.

The main display houses approximately 75kgs of live rock which was aquascaped to allow water flow around the tank and to give the fish plenty of swimming space.

The heating is by 2 x 300w heaters in the sump, the tank temperature is set to run at a constant 26.5°C, this only needs one of the heaters even in the winter, but the second heater is there as a back up, it is controlled by the GHL and is set to operate if the temp falls below 26.3°C.

During the summer months the temp rarely falls below 26.5°C. When I changed my lighting to the ATI Powermodule I noticed that the temp rose higher than I thought acceptable, so I invested in a Hailea HC-500A chiller, sourced through the classifieds on UR.

The chiller is located outside in a vented shed which I acquired from davethefish.

Water is constantly fed to the chiller by an Eheim 1260 from the sump return chamber, it returns to the same chamber. The GHL controls the chiller with it set to operate if the tank temp exceeds 27°C.

I'm using the Fauna Marin Balling Light method for maintaining the Calcium, Magnesium and Alkalinity levels in the tank, I've been using this method from day one and apart from the minor tweaks to the dosing amounts to balance the growth of the corals it has served me very well during this time.

With this system and using the Trace B's I maintain my Iodine level at a steady 0.03ppm.

I’m adding 120ml of the Calcium solution per day which is 48g of the Balling salts.

I add 480ml of Sodium Bicarb solution per day, this equates to 48g of the salts keeping the tank in balance.

Magnesium, I’m only dosing 10ml per day, so only 4g per day of the salt.

Using this method I have maintained stable parameters throughout and I feel this has been a big factor in the health and growth of my corals.

Like most of you reefers I have a busy life and felt I needed to automate a lot of the functions associated with running a reef tank, giving me more time to just sit and enjoy it.

After seeing Craigg's system I opted for a GHL to control and monitor some of the functions.

I started with a Profilux Plus II but I decided to upgrade to the EX model to give me the option for Ozone control.

A further upgrade to the PIII at the start of this year now allows me to control the unit from a number of locations.

The GHL controls the lighting, Ozone, dosing pumps for Balling Light, heating & cooling and monitors the pH.

The only function it isn't controlling is the auto top up which is done using a Tunze Osmolator, (I had the Osmolator before I invested in the GHL and it was only a couple of months old).

I like to keep all the livestock in the tank well fed and I think my routine meets all of their needs.

I feed New Era flake every morning, depending on the 8 week cycle I follow this is either Marine Flake, Aegis I or II. I add New Era Herbivore Flake into the Marine Flake to give a varied diet for the fish.

In the evening around 6pm I feed a cube of frozen food, this is pre mixed from a selection of Krill, Brine, Mysis, etc, I defrost a few packets of frozen food every so often, mix it all together, rinse in RO then freeze it in clean trays so it is more concentrated than in normal cubes.

I also add a sheet of Nori to the tank at the same time.

At about 8pm I feed either two teaspoons of Rotivits (concentrated Rotifers) or concentrated Copepods which are rich in carotenoids or Oyster relish.

At 9pm I feed a few New Era algae pellets which most of the fish seem to enjoy.

I have just started feeding UltraMin S daily at a rate of 0.2ml per day, it’s still early days and I haven’t seen what difference, if any this makes to the stock.

Monday & Friday I dose KZ Coral Snow at lights out and give the tank a treat of Phyto a few nights a week.

Oh and I melt a bar of Cyclop-eeze in the water every Sunday, well not a full bar but enough to give the tank a good feed.

For me this is the fun bit of the hobby, most evenings I will be tinkering with something or other and checking the stock for any signs of change, be it good or bad.

I carry out a weekly 10% water change (60 litres) using D-D salt on a Saturday, at the same time I clean the skimmer cup and change the filter sock; the sock is also changed every Wednesday.

The glass is cleaned every other day, including the back glass, I like the back to be clean as it is painted black and when it is clean I feel this shows off the colours of the corals and fish and adds a sense of depth to the tank.

I carry out water tests on a Sunday evening to ensure continuity of results, plus this is the day after water change so I can record any abnormalities and correct them if needs be.

I very rarely test for Phosphates these days, I can usually guage the level by the algae growth rate on the glass plus I find the test kit very hard to read.

Based on past experience with the test kit readings and knowing how my tank performs I replace the RowaPhos every 7 weeks.
Carbon is replaced every 4 weeks; this is in the first chamber of the sump in a mesh bag.

The VorTech wet sides are cleaned in a vinegar solution roughly every 6-8 weeks, I have a spare MP10 & MP40 wetside which allows me time to let the dirty ones soak overnight without any pressure to get them clean.

I aim to clean the return, feed & skimmer pumps every 6 months.

Thankfully there haven't been too many problems with the set up.

In the early days I did lose a few LPS & a Derasa Clam which I attributed to the LED lighting I was using at the time.

I have also lost a few fish whilst in QT, a Yellow Tang and a Yellow Tail Purple Tang were on their last day of being QT'd when they went down with suspected Nodavirus (often called VENN, Viral Encephalopathy and Nervous Necrosis). For me this demonstrates the importance of QT'ing new fish!

I also lost a shoal of Anthias in the QT, after doing some research I think this was caused by an Ammonia burst in the QT, interestingly this didn’t show up on the testing I did on the tank and I was only able to make the connection by looking at the symptoms afterwards.

As you will know by reading the sections above I am a fan of GHL and the automation it affords me, I did have a power pack failure for the dosing pumps which I only noticed after a couple of days with a drop in pH, luckily I keep a spare power supply so I was able to bring the parameters back up, the Alkalinity had dropped by over 2dKh. Fortunately I didn't lose any stock.

Whether it is through luck or judgment the fish I have live very peacefully together, the rock placement gives them a big area in which to swim and secluded areas for them to rest.

I have to admit to having a soft spot for Tangs, for me they are so graceful and add a real sense of presence to the tank.

The current fish stock is::

Rosy Scaled wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis)	Starry blenny (Salarias ramosus)	Common clowns x2 (Amphiprion ocellaris)
Green chromis x5 (Chromis viridis)	Banggai (Pterapogon kauderni)	Clown goby (Gobiodon okinawae)
	Six line wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia)

Then the 4 Tangs

Bariene (Acanthurus bariene)	Vampire (Acanthurus tennenti)
Tomini (Ctenochaetus tominiensis)	Yellow Tail Purple (Zebrasoma xanthurum)

The tank started out life with softies and a few LPS, the softies consisted of Zoanthus, Green star polyps, Rics, various colour morphs of mushrooms and two Sarcophytons, both of these have been moved on because they were taking over the tank as they grew.

I still have most of the original LPS; these include Duncans, a Sun coral, various Euphyllia, Candy cane, a large Fungia, an Acan & a Lobophyllia.

As the tank started to mature I began to add the SPS starting with a couple of Monti digitata & plate frags.

The majority of the plates are red and green and I have recently added a purple frag, once this establishes itself I will frag it and distribute it around the tank for greater effect.

The other SPS I have are various Acroporas, Hydnophora, Pocillopora & 2 Seriatopora hystrix, one pink, and one yellow/green.

The CUC consists of 10 Turbo snails, a couple of Red Leg Hermits and about 6 Blue Leg Hermits along with two Brittle Stars and two Orange lip conch (Strombus luhuanus)

There are four White banded cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis), six (at the last count) Peppermint shrimps (Lysmata wurdemanni) and a Harlequin Shrimp (Hymenocera elegans) who was introduced to cull the rising Asternia population.

I have two clams, a Derasa (Tridacna derasa) and a Maxima (Tridacna maxima) which both reside on the substrate.

This has to be one of the most challenging and rewarding hobbies that is possible to do in the comfort of your own home.

Everyday brings a different experience, whether it is a snail or a clam spawning, my Harlequin with his prey or simply whiling away time watching the tank observing the activities of the stock and enjoying what I have.

First and foremost I would like to thank all the members of UR who nominated my tank for this accolade, without the members on this great site none of this would be possible.

I have used a lot of information I have found on the board from the numerous threads I have read and have adopted a lot of your ideas to achieve the set up I wanted.

Special thanks go to Craigg for all his help in time of need, Steve at Reefdreams for the countless conversations on GHL and general reefing topics, Robin, Lisa & the team at Coventry Aquatics for being my LFS and Chris for all his help in putting this article together.

Last but not least my wife for putting up with the constant time (and money) I spend on the hobby.