Congratulations Tony on winning TOTM for June 2011 with your inspirational reef tank.
Tony is known simply as Tone on the RTAW forums and
you can find out more about his tank in his tank journal.
Firstly, thankyou to all of the 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 once again 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 reef addicts in far worse condition than myself.
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. Well done to the crew that keeps it going.
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for a few years and so I had collected an array of pumps, lights, skimmers, etc., to get going … most of which were now outdated and useless before I started.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 - Aproximately 2000L maximum
Tank - 2.85m wide x 0.90m deep x 0.75m high, euro-braced and 3 x cross braces.
Custom built by Dennison of Mary-Anne's Aquariums, Brisbane.
Stand - 75mm x 25mm RHS Duragal framing with 25mm x 25mm infill framing, custom
built 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 x 600mm x 450mm tall.
Profilux Opti-level sensor controlling the RO storage sump pump.
Return Pump - Laguna 16000 fed to perimeter return loop with 8 x 3/4" outlets.
Manifold diverts partial return through the chiller and carbon reactor.
Refugium - 900mm x 450mm x 450mm tall connected to the sump.
Refugium designed in the 'race' style based on A. Calfo's coral propogation tanks.
4 x 39W x 10,000k T5 lighting in anti-cycle.Natural mud & Caulerpa.Small DSB
in separate compartment.
Cryptic Zone - Weir doubles as a CZ due to its large size.
Lighting - LED: 5 x Inwatter 120W LED units
Florescent: 2 x 2 x 54W Ozram ballasts.
4 x 54W x 20,000k Aquaz Pro-Blue.
Moonlights: LunarTracker auto lunar cycle – 5 LED
Lighting Cycle - LED – 12 hours
T5 Florescent – 12 hours
Skimmer - ATB Deluxe ‘Normal’ size up to 3,000L
Water Movement - Closed Loop - Sequence Barracuda 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 - 2 x Ecotec Marine Vortec MP40W
3 x Tunze 6100
1 x Tunze 6250
1 x Tunze Wavebox (no extension)
Make-up water - PSI Custom RO/DI water filter, +250L per day.
Aquatec pressure booster pump controlled by solenoid and a float level switch located
in the RO storage sump.
220L RO reservoir – lasts 7 to 10 days on average.
Climate Control - Kelvinator 7kw Inverter split unit.
Chiller - Aquaone 1200
System Controller - Profilux 3e
• pH monitoring.
• ORP monitoring.
• Temperature monitoring.
• Management of chiller.
• Management of heaters.
• Control of fans.
• Management of LED lights.
• Opti-level return water level management.
• Management of display water circulation.
• Other things I know nothing of.
Calcium Reactor - Decommissioned in favour of 3-part dosing regime.
Ozone - 50mg/hr continuous through skimmer.
UV - 80W – seldom used now.
Test kits - I generally prefer Salifert above others although the LaMotte Alkalinity kit that I use is
superior.
Phosphate – Hanna low range photometer.
Alkalinity – Hanna Checker and LaMotte.
Calcium – Hanna Checker enroute.
ORP is monitored by the Profilux 3e.
Fe, Sr, and Mg - Salifert
Don’t measure ammonia, nitrite or nitrate … long past that stage.
Miscellaneous - 2 x 750W Standby power generators.
Livestock - Fish (25) or so
5 Pseudanthias sp assorted Anthias
1 Cirrhitichthys falco Dwarf Hawkfish
1 Centropyge loricula Flame Angelfish
1 Centropyge aurantia Golden Angelfish
1 Centropyge potteri Potters angelfish
1 Pomacanthus xanthometopon Blueface Angelfish
2 Amphiprion melanopus Red & Black Anemone Fish
1 Coris gaimard Yellowtail Coris
1 Psuedocheilinus hexataenia Sixline Wrasse
1 Microcanthus strigatus Stripey
1 Cirripectes stigmaticus Reticulated blenny ?
1 Atrosalarius fuscus holomelas Brown Coral Blenny
1 Siganus vulpinus Foxface Rabbitfish
1 Siganus vigatus Virgate or Scribbled Rabbitfish
1 Acanthurus pyroferus Mimic Surgeonfish
2 Paracanthurus hepatus Pacific Blue Tang
1 Zebrasoma scopas Scopas Tang
1 Zebrasoma xanthurum Purple Tang
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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 my
first days in reefing.
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.
Next time around I would not use the marble chip nor the Fiji-Pink as the silica in
the aggregates scratches the display glass.
The high water flow tends to move the bed around a bit creating areas of
exception depth and other areas bare.
Top up with a cup or so of mangrove mud every so often.
Water Parameters - Temperature Range 25.3C – 27C. Average 26.1C
Salinity 1.025
pH 8.05 – 8.3
Alk 9.2 – 10.8 dKh
Ca 420 - 450 ppm
Mg +/- 1750 ppm
Sr 12 ppm – rarely measured
Nitrate Not measured
Phosphate 0.08 – 0.12 ppm
Additives & Conditioners - 3-Part Dosing with Kamoer 7-station dosing pump
Alkalinity – Focus ‘pHBuffer’ swimming pool chemical +100ml per
day, 840g in 10L of RO water
Calcium – Calcium chloride hexahydrate or Focus Calcium swimming pool
chemical +100ml per day, 735g in 10L of RO water
Magnesium chloride hexahydrate also use Kent Marine Tech-M to
check bryopsis
Probiotics - ProdiBio
Bioptim – 6 vials per week
Biodigest – 6 vials per week
ReefBooster – 1 vial per week
Vodka / Sugar / Vinegar - Currently suspended
Phosphate Remover Lo-Chlor ‘Starver’ 40ml per day in a 100ml solution
of RO water dosed into the skimmer intake and discharged into a
100um sock
Brightwell Iodine 1ml x twice per week
Brightwell Strontium 1ml x twice per week
Koralien-zucht Coral Snow I dosing per week
Koralien-zucht ZEOzym 1 dosing per fortnight
Phol’s B-Balance 1ml x twice per week
Phol’s K-Balance 1ml x twice per week
Phol’s XTRA special 1 ml x twice per week
Granular Activated Carbon Carbon Technologies 2L of granular in a reactor
powered off the return line changed once per month.
Husbandry - Generally, I spend ½ to 1 hour a day messing with the tank.
Water changes - 200L / 4 - 6 Weeks
Clean glass - Once per week
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!
What would I do different? - I wish I had purchased my own power station when Queensland
Government sold them off.
Observations - 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 enjoy.