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Congratulations to Antony Fendt on winning TOTM for April 2009 with his inspiring reef!
Antony is known as Tone on the RTAW Forums and you can read more about his tank in his Tank Journal.
Tone’s Tank
Firstly, thankyou to my reefing buddies and peers who have voted in sympathy for me – I could have become a lot more mean in the forums, LOL. Truthfully, it is humbling to find myself in the great company of the many excellent TOTM’s that have preceded this award. Among them are many true reef-nerds, neurotics, and addicts in far worse condition than I.
We begin somewhere around 1993. After many visits to my local LFS located only a few hundred metres from home, my LFS guy convinced me that freshwater species would be better off if I changed to marine. Believe it or not, in Australia those were very much the pioneer days of marine aquaria … just keeping fish alive for more than a week was an accomplishment.
There was scant information available online back then and only if you had access to academic search engines. It would be fair to say that worldwide the hobby was in the embryo stage of development. So I bumbled along with my LFS guy trying to make sense of things.
1998 was a Rubicon year in my discovery of Reef Central and then RTAW which was still a text based bulletin board … what a relief to discover that it wasn’t just myself and my LFS guy decimating the wild-caught marine livestock. Along with a few other hardnuts we established MASQ in 2000/ 2001 which has grown into arguably the biggest and most active Marine Aquaria society in the country.
Things developed along with the advancement in equipment through a plethora of 3’ tanks to a 5’ter and then the 2000L system around March 2007. The mega-tank plan had been with me for a few years and so I had collected an array of pumps, lights, skimmers, etc., to get going … most of which were now outdated and useless before I started.
So here we are:
Biotope
Reef-crest / Reef-face / Bommie
System Volume
Approximately 2,000L maximum.
Tank
2.85m Wide x 0.90m deep x 0.75m high, euro-braced and 3 x cross-braces.
Custom build by Dennison of Mary-Anne's Aquariums, Brisbane.
Stand
75x25 RHS Duragal framing with 25x25 infill framing custom build by Ri-Co Engineering.
Recycled timber cladding, open faces.
Weir
Full depth end weir 300mm in width.
40mm Durso standpipe, 40mm intake for closed loop; 40mm emergency overflow.
Sump
450mm Wide x 600 wide x 450mm high.
ATJ auto top-up system.
Return pump
Iwaki MX70R feed to perimeter return loop with 8 x ¾” outlets. Soon to be upgraded to Sequence Barracuda and with manifold to drive the various water treating devices.
Refugium
900mm Wide x 450mm wide x 450mm high connected to the sump.
Refugium designed in the ‘race’ style based on A.Calfo’s coral propagation tanks.
4 x 39W x 10,000k T5 lighting in anti-cycle.
Miracle Mud & Caulerpa.
Small DSB in separate compartment.
Cryptic Zone
Weir doubles as a CZ due to its large size.
Lighting
Metal halide:
4 x Lumenbright 20” reflectors 250mm off the water surface.
3 x 250W Lumatek electronic ballasts.
1 x 400W CoralVue dimmable electronic ballast plus one spare.
3 x 250W x 12,000k Reeflux SE lamps.
1 x 400W x 14,000k ‘el Cheapo’ SE lamp (it is surprising good).
Florescent:
Icecap 660 electronic ballast.
4 x 54W x 20,000k Aquaz Pro-Blue.
Moonlights:
LunarTracker auto lunar cycle – 5 LED
Lighting Cycle
Metal halide – 8 hours
Florescent – 12 hours
Skimmer
Prototype Turbo B1gB1tch dual recirculating Beckett; 200mm dia x 1.40m tall overall.
Laguna 16000 recirculation pump.
Eden 155 feed pump.
Water Movement Closed Loop
Sequence Hammerhead pump.
Ocean Motions 8-Way, 8 x 1” outlets feed to 2 banks of 4 x ¾” Locline multi-directional nozzles fitted in bulkheads through the wall of the weir.
Runs 12 hours per day, off at night.
Wavemaking
1 x Ecotec Marine Vortec MP40W
4 x Tunze 6100
1 x Tunze wavebox (no extension)
1 x Tunze 7095 controller
Make-up water
PSI Custom RO/DI water filter, +250L per day.
Aquatec pressure booster pump.
220L RO reservoir – lasts 7 to 10 days on average
Climate Control
Kelvinator 7kw Inverter split unit
Chiller
Aquaone 1200
System Controllers
Milwaukee Meters SMS125 -- ORP and CO2
RTAW ‘Hoozamawatsit’ Excellent DIY System Controller:
- Lights
- Cooling
- Heating
- Timers
- Alarms SMS
Calcium Reactor
Turbo dual chamber 200mm dia x 500mm high recirculated with an Aquabee 2000.
AquaMedic coarse calcium carbonate aggregate.
CO2 run aggressively at +60 bpm.
Ozone
500mg/hr
Cycle 30 mins on / 30 mins off.
UV
80W – seldom used now.
Miscellaneous
2 x 750W Standby power generators
Livestock
Fish
Pseudanthias squamipinnis
Scalefin Anthias (females)
Pseudanthias engelhardi
Barrier Reef Anthias
Cirrhitichthys falco
Dwarf Hawkfish
Centropyge loricula
Flame Angelfish
Centropyge aurantia
Golden Angelfish
Centropyge potteri
Potters angelfish
Pomacanthus xanthometopon
Blueface Angelfish
Amphiprion melanopus
Red & Black Anemone Fish
Chromis viridis
Blue Green Chromis
Coris gaimard
Yellowtail Coris
Psuedocheilinus hexataenia
Sixline Wrasse
Microcanthus strigatus
Stripey
Cirripectes stigmaticus
Reticulated blenny
Atrosalarius fuscus holomelas
Brown Coral Blenny
Siganus vulpinus
Foxface Rabbitfish
Siganus vigatus
Virgate or Scribbled Rabbitfish
Acanthurus pyroferus
Mimic Surgeonfish
Paracanthurus hepatus
Pacific Blue Tang
Zebrasoma scopas
Scopas Tang
Zebrasoma xanthurum
Purple Tang
Invertebrates
Shrimp
Lysmata amboinensis
Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp
Sea Stars
Linckia laevigata
Blue linckia
Sea Cucumbers
Holothuria hilla
Tiger tail
Soft Corals
Xenia spp.
Pulsing Xenia
Lobophytum spp.
Green Leather Coral
Cladiella sp.
Finger Leather Coral
Anemone
Heteractis crispa
Sebae Anemone
Zoanthids
Protopalythoa spp.
Green Zoanthids
Pink Zoanthids
Orange Zoathids
Protopalythoa vestitus
Button polyps
Corallimorphs
Discosoma spp.
Mushroom Coral
Rhodactis sp.
Hairy Mushroom Coral
Ricordea yuma
Hard Corals
Pocillora damicornis
Pink, Green, Magenta
Seriatopora hystrix
Birds nest
Acropora grandis
Staghorn acropora
Acropora formosa
Staghorn acropora
Acropora nobilis
Staghorn acropora
Acropora austera
Branching acropora
Acropora nasuta
Cluster acropora
Acropora granulosa
Bottlebrush acropora
Acropora clathrata
Table acropora
Acropora millepora
Cluster acropora
Acropora gemmifera
Cluster acropora
Montipora verrucosa
Encrusting montipora
Montipora efflorescens
Encrusting montipora
Montipora sp.
Plating montipora
Porites lichen
Plating jewel coral
Porites sp.
Boulder coral
Fungia sp.
Disk coral
Lobophyllia hemprichii
Lobed brain coral
Caulastrea furcata
Candy Cane / Trumpet coral
Favites sp.
Moon coral
Platygyra daedalea
Brain coral
Catalaphyllia jardenei
Elegance coral
Plerogyra sinuosa
Bubble coral
Duncanosammia
Wiskers coral
Natural Filtration
Around 200kg of Live rock.
Some of the LR has been in my tanks since the first day J
Deep Sand Bed
100mm to 300mm deep made up of mainly Calgrit Fine Calcium feedstock, 40kg of Fiji Pink, and 10kg of 3mm marble chip in high flow areas.
The high water flow tends to move the bed around a bit creating areas of exception depth and other areas bare.
Water Parameters
Temperature Range - 24.5C – 27C. Average 26.1C
Salinity - 1.025
pH - 7.8 – 8.3 (low due to CO2 usage)
Alk - 9.2 – 10.8 dKh
Ca - 420 - 450 ppm
Mg - +/- 1830 ppm
Sr - 12 ppm – rarely measured
Nitrate - Not measured
Phosphate - Not measured, would be <0.10 ppm
Additives & Conditioners
Kalkwasser (Builders Lime) - Weak solution in top-up water
Baking Soda / Washing Soda - Occasional use to restore balance
DampRid - Occasional use to restore balance
Bacteria - ProdiBio products – don’t ask!
Vodka / White Vinegar - 50/50 x 10ml x 2’ce per day
Magnesium - Kent Marine Tech-M
Strontium - Seachem – now and then.
Phosphate Remover - Only for experimentation or emergency
Granular Activated Carbon - Carbon Technologies
Husbandry
Generally, I spend ½ to 1 hour a day messing with the tank.
Water changes - 200L / 12 Weeks
Clean glass -Twice per week
Harvest Bryopsis - Once per fortnight
Vacuum sand bed - Never – high water motion plus Coris wrasse to keep sand surface ‘churned’.
Clean skimmer - Overflow cup drained daily. Neck washed twice per week.
Change GAC - 2L per month
Pet hate?
I hate Bryopsis! Infestation has been ongoing for 2 years and it comes back each time just as it looks like it has been killed off.
What would I do different?
I wish I had purchased my own power station when Queensland Government sold them off.
Observations
It is pleasing to see how many more friendly reefers are coming on-line and joining up with their local MASx.
A united and strong representative hobby organisation is hugely useful in peddling influence to protect our natural marine environment and our access to it for the longevity of the pleasure it brings to us.
I would encourage more technical standardisation of setups – less ‘Robinson Crusoe’ approaches to setting up and maintaining a captive marine environment.
I would also encourage reefers to adopt the natural ‘pure’ methods in establishing and maintaining a reef tank and its inhabitants … think more ‘biotope’ for aquascaping and livestock selections.
And finally, but not least
Thanks to my many buddies in MASQ who have been supportive over the years and pretended to listen when I have had something to say.
Also thanks to the many RTAW supporters and other MASx reefers whose banter I continue enjoyed over the years.
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