Jamie (Bandit) with his 3x2x2 tank !
Prizes kindly donated by:
Aquablue Distribution
Jamie has won:
Ocean Nutrition Foods Prize Pack
You can find out more about this tank in his Tank Journal
1) How Long have you been in the hobby ?
Marine...On and off for about 12 years. I had a break when I moved to Dubai for work. I used to keep a FW tropical tank from the moment I moved out of home, so that is about 20 years with a glass box full of water in the house somewhere
2a) What size is your winning tank, dimensions and litres?
Tank is 3 x 2 x 2 with an external C2C overflow at the back... Display tank is 324 litres not factoring in displacement for rock, sand etc.
The sump is 1000mm x 700mm x 450mm racetrack design, 315 litres full to the brim, probably about 200 litres in operational mode. Sorry for the change between metric and imperial but had to try to keep it easy to understand!
2b) Any reasons for that size tank?
I wanted to start small with the lighting... I am going to have a crack at LED, so before I fork out serious coin wanted to see the results first. There are loads of people out there that say they are great, and loads that say they are not.. best to prove it to myself.
Later on (2 years or so) the DT will be upgraded to a 4 x 3 x 2 starfire... so the eqipment has been purchased with that in mind.
2c) How long has this tank been setup?
It's not setup yet! Just waiting on a cabinet maker to clad the outside of the stand and we are ready to go. Will be wet by end of November
3a) What is your goal for this tank?
An SPS dominated mixed reef. Using the term mixed reef very loosely, as there will only be a couple of LPS and flubber in there. The dominant fish will be coral gobies, I love them and have always had them in my tank, the intention here is to have high density coral goby housing!
The other requirement is for as much of it to be monitored and eventually automated as possible. I travel fairly regularly for work, and want the ability to be able to check up on my tank wherever I am in the world!
3b) Have you researched anything specifically to reach this goal?
Nothing specifically, just trying to make sure I have all the bases covered. I am sure I will miss something, but hopefully nothing too big.
3c) BIggest lesson you've learnt whilst planning/setting up this tank?
I procrastinate far too much! Seriously, taking your time has benefits as I have changed my plan for the cabinet and stand multiple times as I have thought of things.
3d) Any tips you'd like to pass on for others to learn from?
Buy the best you can afford with skimmers, circulation and lighting.
Consider all the alternatives, and even do mock up models with the tape measure for cabinet fit outs etc
4) Do you have a sump and/or refugium? If so, what size?
See above... sump will be for all the gear plus a frag area.
5) Filtration eg. amount of live rock, sand bed or bare bottom, mechanical filtration etc?
Live Rock (probably 20-30kg) want a wide open look aka Zeebull
shallow sand bed
will be running Rowaphos and Rowacarbon through FBF's, may throw biopellets on later if the need arises
6) Do you have a skimmer? If so, what?
Yep, a Vertex Alpha 3000, waaaaay over sized, but this means I can load up on fish and feed the crap out of the tank with no concerns at all.
I also got it for a bargain (less than half price
)7) Water flow/movement (power heads etc)?
2 x Tunze 6095 nanos
8) Lighting, type and times?
1 x GHL Mitras LED, going to 2 very shortly after. photoperiod will be from around 11am - 11pm
9) Other equipment such as auto top-off, Ca reactor etc?
Profilux 3.1n measuring conductivity, temp, ORP and pH. SMS module and email to send me parameters every 4 hours.
Hanna Checkers for PO4, Alk and Calcium
Salifert test kits for the rest (incl calcium until I figure out if I can trust the Hanna)
3 x Profilux 6 outlet powerbars
Profilux dosing pump
Profilux Tunze control
10) Water parameter targets?
would like to aim for a good solid parameter base with minimal PO4 and NO3 to encourage the SPS colour and growth
11) Additives and conditioners (kalk, phosphate removers etc.)
Rowaphos
RowaCarbon
Zeobak
Coral Snow
Reef Roids
Amino Acids
dosing Randy's 3 part recipe with Mag hex
12) Fish stock
Pair of yellow coral gobies Gobiodon okinawae
Pair of painted coral gobies Gobiodon histrio
Pair of needlespine coral gobies Gobiodon acicularis
Pair of rippled coral gobies Gobiodon rivulatus
Pair of yellow watchman gobies with commensural shrimp Cryptocentrus cinctus
Six line wrasse Pseudocheilinus hexataenia – purely for bug warfare, will move to the sump/frag area when the mandarins come in
Potters angelfish Centropyge potteri
Golden Angelfish Centopyge aurantia
Colin's Angelfish Centopyge colini
Pair of Black Cap Grammas Gramma melacara
Pair of Picasso/Onyx clownfish Amphiprion oscellaris or McCullochi clowns Amphiprion mccullochi
Pair of Western Australian Mandarins Synchiropus occidentalis
Purple Tang Zebrasoma xanthurum
Yellow Tang Zebrasoma flavescens
School (5-6) of Pictilus Anthias Pseudanthias pictilis
13) Coral stock.
I am going to go fairly hard with the small polyped stony corals… with a couple of very selective lps and even a softie thrown in there as well!
I am going to be extremely picky with my corals… I don’t just want a tank full of filler, so it may take a while to get it all together, through frags or selected wild colonies. Of course there will be an obligatory frag of Dallas acro in there!
Various Acropora spp.
Various Montipora spp.
Various Pocillopora spp.
Various Stylophora spp.
Various Merulina spp.
Various Seriatopora spp.
I'm sure I have missed a few SPS family members there, but for now that will do
Sand dwellers (well in my tank)
Heliofungia actiniformis
Various Fungia spp.
a Couple of select Echinophyllia spp.
Various ARicordiaa spp.
And finally a electric blue Cespitularia… a friend of mine Mark Chapman (diablo on RTAW) gave me a frag of this when I first had my reef and I absolutely loved it, yes it is a softie but I want it… so will have to figure out how to manage it (maybe on it’s own rock island away from everything else!)
14) Other Inverts.
The other thing I love along with coral gobies are my shrimp, these and other inverts will be present
Pair of red line cleaner shrimp Lysmata amboiensis
Pair of blood shrimp Lysmata debelius
Various snails Astrea spp., Turbo spp., Trochus spp. , Cerith sp. snails
a couple of marine hermit crabs
Tigertail cucumber Holothuria hilla
Various clams such as Squamosa, Maxima etc
and an abalone!
And probably the most volatile of this list… a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone Entacmaea quadricolor.. I am aware of the challenge of this little guy in terms of roaming, but will see how I go.
15) Maintenance such as water changes, cleaning etc?
Water changes will be fortnightly, probably 25% using NSW
16) Acknowledgements, thank-you's and any other comments you would like to make that don't apply elsewhere.
Wow where do I start (in no particular order)
Michael Wigan from Reefing Life for all the profilux help
Ben from Age of Aquariums for being a top bloke and listen to me ramble on
Matt (stripes the eel)and Darren from Reef Secrets for their guidance and advice
Pete from 100% Reef Safe
Jack from WIlliamstown Aquarium, Josh from Fantastic Fins and Ernie from Reeflections
Peter from PSI FIlters
Rodney Ridikas (rodneyri) for his sketch up work
Ryan Ridikas (ryanrid), Rod the Reefer, Nathan Crane (ssscuz), John Baker (culturedreef), Clay (peekandboo), Michael Gravenall (mgrav) for their critique and advice
and Damien Raven (damer) for taking longer than I have with his build
