Thank you to every one who voted for my tank to be June's TOTM. When I received a PM from Chris I could not believe my eyes it truly is a great honour.

I have kept fish on and off for the last 20 years starting out with a pair of gold fish that my father bought me, this was a compromise for a dog I wanted at that time and needless to say it worked.

The first time I seen a reef tank was in 2002 in a Chinese restaurant it had beautiful tangs, angels and a lovely snowflake eel that they fed prawns to while we where there. Since that moment I knew this was what I wanted.

My present tank is an off the shelf betta 1500 that I have had for the last 2 and a half years.

The tank dimensions are 5x2x2 with a 24x18x18 sump made in 12mm glass that was kindly given to me by Seahorse Aquariums when the original sump had broken while I was pumping the zeovit reactor, a word of warning to anyone with this tank as the base of their sump is only made of 6mm glass.

The tank I have today started out with a double 250w metal halide light unit I then changed to t5 about a year and a half ago and have not looked back. I change the bulbs out every six to eight months.

For lighting I am using a 8x80w Korallen Zucht t5 light unit that is set to work on timers with the first pair of superblue coming on at 12am and off at 12pm.
At 1:00pm the second pair of t5’s come on and off at 11pm these are Fiji purple and with out a doubt one of the best t5 bulbs out there to add colour to any system.
At 2pm the remaining four coral light new generation bulbs come on and off again at 9pm.

Recently I have added two TMC all blue LED strips set on the new aquaray control unit that can control sun rise, sun set and lightening storms. I find these LED's great and they add a little shimmer back into the tank.

Water circulation for me is very important. I believe good circulation is needed to acheive a strong and healthy reef so circulation is taken care of by 2no:Tunze 6305's and two 6205's run by a 7095 multi controller set on pulse 30% to 100%.
I also use the night mode function that throtles back all pumps to 30% during lights off.

In addition to the Tunze pumps I have added a mp40 to help with the extra growth and to free up any dead spots.

For the return I am using a Ocean runner 3500.

For filtration I use a Deltec TC2060 skimmer that is fed by the return pump in addition to the skimmer the main filtration is taken care of by using the zeovit method using 2 litres of stones in the zeovit reactor.

In the past I have tried most methods from DSB miracle mud to Berlin and although I had some success with these systems the zeovit system was the one system that was able to give me the results I was after.

Heating is taken care of by two 300w visi therm heaters that keep the tank stable at 26.5 during the winter months and with the aid of a fan during summer months it stays fairly stable at 27.5.

These will be set up on my new aquatronica in the next few days.

The main elements that are a must for coral health and growth if kept stable in my opinion are calcium Alk and Magnesium, at the moment my Deltec PF601 calcium reactor is taking care of these but I find I am always having to check on it daily to make sure all is well and find myself always adjusting it. Over the next few days I am going to be setting up my aquatronica that will be taking care of my fauna marin balling salts as I believe this is far more precise and more reliable once set.

The rest of the additives I am using are from zeovit, my dosing regime never stays the same as I am still learning all the time of what to add and when to add it.

At the moment my dosing regime is as follows:

DAILY: Start3 0.3ml morning and night TWICE A WEEK: 7 drops zeobak 7 drops sponge power 14 drops coral vitalizer

ONCE A WEEK: 10 drops stylo-poci glow 7 drops amino acid 7drops jod komplex 5ml b-balance 5ml pohl's xtra 1ts zeozym

Water changes are done every Saturday using d-d salt with 80 litres being changed out each time

Feeding usually consists of new-era flake twice a day with one or two cubes of frozen food twice a week.

At the moment I basically run my whole system on timers the good old fashioned way but this is all about to change in the next few days when i set up the aquatronica.

Apart from that I control my streams with a 7095 multi controller and have a tunze auto top that is fit straight to the RO unit so no need for a water container.

This is the part of our hobby that I actually enjoy and i think it is the most important.

In the past I have got lazy with testing certain perimeters and going by the old school of thought that if the corals look well all must be well... I think this is bad advice and I have learned the hard way. I now test daily for Alkalinity and weekly for Calcium, Magnesium and salt grade I also test for potassium monthly and for me these are a must for a healthy colourful reef if kept stable.

• Other than my water parameters I drain the skimmer cup once a day and clean the head every Saturday.
• Check calcium reactor daily as if this is off line my ALK can drop two whole points in 24 hours.
• Clean glass daily and back wall every Saturday.
• Water changes every Saturday 80l with D-D salt
• Every six months I change all filters on my 6 stage RO unit except for the membrane.
• Every six to eight months I replace all the t5 bulbs.

The main thing I am trying to achieve with my system is consistency. I try to make no sudden changes and I try to stick to my routine as best as I can.

Apart from the base of my old sump cracking I have been fairly lucky with this system. My kH dropped to 250 due to being lazy with testing for it and as a result I lost two very nice stylopora and one s.calindrum.

I also had a bad out break off green slime algae that covered most of the live rock. I put this down to over feeding as at that time I was putting up to eight frozen cubes into the tank daily and relying to much on the zeovit system.

I have to admit I am a sucker for angels and I was lucky enough to acquire two that have been well behaved now for well over a year.

Apart from that I do love my pair of picasso clowns that I waited a long time to get.

And in an unfortunate twist as I find myself writing this article today i found my beloved algae blenny dead on the floor today after many years of loyal service.

picasso clowns x 2	six line wrasse	green chromis x 8
male mandarin	orchid dottyback	powder blue tang
goldflake angel	regal angel

This would have to be my main passion with SPS corals being my first choice. I love the challenge of trying to get the best out of these corals.

A.vermiculata	A.tenuis	A.granulosa
A.millepora	Stylophora	S.caliendrum
Milka	Seriatopora hystrix	Digitata montipora
Plating montipora	Plating acropora	Pocillopora verrucosa
Pocillopora verrucosa	Acropora tricolour	Acropora nana

Cleaner shrimp x 2	Boxing shrimp	Fire shrimp
Turbo snails x 5	Sand starfish X 2	Peppermint shrimp X 2
Sea hair	Blue hermit crabs x 2	red bubble anemone
coral crab	tube worm

I think my next step will be to upgrade to a bigger system, nothing too big or should I say not too much bigger than what I have. I would like a wider tank so no rock touches the walls of the tank and maybe a foot longer than what I have.

Also if I were to give any advice to a newcomer it would be to look up all you can through books and the internet to try to find a tank that stands out to you maybe its a tank of the month on UR or on zeovit or where ever then try copy that system as best you can because that is what I did.

First of all I would like to say a big thank you again for all who took the time and voted for my tank to be TOTM. It really means a lot to me.

I would also like to thank James in Fishantics for always looking after my tank while I’m away and Robbie and Shane for the photos and good advice.

And last but not least a big THANK YOU to Karen for putting up with me and this mad obsession I have!! And thanks for not complaining as much as you should.