SRC Tank of the Quarter Winner - Crispin aka Clee123

[Harlequinmania]

Singapore Reef Club (SRC) is proud to featured this quarter Tank of the Quarter ( TOTQ ) winner . Crispin aka (Clee123) beautiful SPS dominated mixed reef tank to be be showcase .

A SPS Dominated Mixed Reef Tank (The Pasar Malam Tank)

Front View

Back View

Brief history of my tank

Like many reefers and friends out there, I have a dream and a deep desire to own a marine tank with colour corals and beautiful fishes. I could never have imagined my aquarium to be a featured as Tank of the Quarter (TOTQ) as I believe there are better and nicer aquariums around than my humble Pasar Malam tank. It is really honoured for me and I would like to sincerely thank the staff at the Singapore Reef Club for giving me the opportunity to share my tank and experience with the reefing community.

I first started my fish keeping hobby when I was in primary school after catching 'Long Kang' guppies and faked fighting fish from my grandfather's pond in Punggol. This was three decades ago and the hobby had grown into several discus tanks and planted tanks when I was in secondary school and subsequently when I started my working career. The hobby gave way to love affairs and careers on and off for many years until I finally settled down with a family.

I started to pick up reefing as my hormones in marine life and another hobby (scuba diving) grew stronger after spending couples of years stationed overseas during 2006 to 2008. My first marine tank was a simple 2 footer at my apartment in the Philippines where marine fishes and corals were equally affordable. I replaced my fishes and corals almost every 2 weeks as I never managed to keep my corals and some fishes that long.

I came back for good to Singapore in 2008 and had made a deal with my wife to let me "test drive on serious reefing" for 3 months with my 10-years old 5 feet flat hexagon planted tank. The test drive was a challenge for me to see if I can keep up with the passion for the hobby, my busy travelling lifestyle as well as the balance of quality time spent with my family. This turned out to be a small success as many corals were growing and fishes were happy. By then, my 8 years old son started to know more fishes name than I did, I decided to look for an upgrade to my old tank as well as getting a separate marine tank for my son. This was where I found my current 6 footer and my son 's 4.5 footer in the Pasar Malam forum of SRC in Oct/Nov 2009 together with some 70-80% of our equipment and accessories.

Video of tank

[Harlequinmania]

Tank details and specification

My current display tank is built with 12 mm thick glass and located in the center of my basement with a 360 degree full view.

The total gross water volume of the whole system is about 266 gallons or 1010 Litres. Net Water volume after considering the sand bed, the refugium, and the whole aquascaping of live rocks is around 213 Gallons or 808 Litres.

Main Display Tank size - 180cm (L) x 75cm (W) x 75cm (H);

3-in-1 Refugium/Frag/Sump size - 120cm (L) x 60cm (W) x 45cm (H);

Tank system parameter

The main goal of my system is to ensure that I have a stable and healthy marine environment for the corals and fishes to live and grow - preferably the similar nature setting in the wild underwater world. I read a lot from internet about reefing but also learnt from many painful experiences that keeping stable water parameters are crucial to the success of reef keeping. Each system can have its own set of "in range" water parameters but never ever try to achieve the "perfect parameters" as there is never be one for every tank. I've seen so many impressive reef systems with different sets of "in range" water parameters in which they all look very healthy and beautiful.

Tank system profile ( Equipments list and lighting period )

There are many critical success factors required to work hand-in-hand in order to keep a good reefing running seamlessly. In this aspect, having the right equipment such as lightings, skimmer, wave makers, chiller, and return pump are utmost important. The following are a compiled list of equipment and accessory I am currently using:

1 x Skimz SM 251 Protein Skimmer with 2 x Skimz ES5000 18W (960l/h) pumps

1 x Reef Maniacs RZR 624 ZeoLite Reactor (now converted to BioPallets Reactor)

1 x Skimz FR150 (filled with RowaPHOS media)

1 x Daikin Compressor Chiller (1HP)

1 x IKS AquaStar Computer with 2 PH modules + 1 temperture + 1 ORP modules

4 x Vortech MP40w Wavemakers

1 x Resun SP9500 (9500l/h) return pump

1 x Bubble-Magus BM-T101 (3 channels) Dosing Pump

1 x Bubble-Magus BM-T102 (4 Channels) Dosing Extension

1 x Baby Fish (3 Channels) Dosing Pump

1 x Suoer LDA-1000C Uninterruptable Power Source (supporting at least 8 hours downtime of 1000W)

1 x Linksys Wireless-G PTZ Internet Camera with Audio

1 x ATO auto top-off system

1 x Crystal Pro DI Unit

1 X 2ft 4x24w T5 Aquazonic lightset with moonlight LED for Refugium (Reversed Photoperiod)

2 x LemenAqua UltraBrite (1.5W white LED X 80 Chips + 1.5W blue LED x 40 Osram Chips) with adjustable colour temperature for Blue/White LED

1 x DIY LED System 90cm x 42cm (3 x 30W 15000K White LED + 36 x 3W White + 36 x 3W Blue + 6 x 1W

403 NM Royal Blue) with timer, temperature controller , adjustable colour temperature for Blue/White.

2 x 6 Feet T5 4 x 39W Supplementary Aquatic Blue

2 x 3W Blue LED Spot light set (supplementary moonlight)

Filtration

Although Mechanical Filtration such as cotton wool and filter sock are used in the sump compartment, it is the biological filtration that is contributed significantly in keeping my tank water clean and crystal clear. While part of the biological filtration is performed by the live rocks in the display tank and the bio rings in the skimmer compartment of the sump, I also maintain a Deep Sand Bed (DSB) refugium (with reverse photoperiod) compartment in my sump to grow algae as alternative nutrients export as well as to cultivate pods as an nature food source for my livestock. I have no luck in growing Chaetomorpha but lately, as the tank become more matured, I managed to harvest many green grapes and red grapes to feed my tangs.

Protein Skimmer

Another important aspect of keeping the water clean and clear is having an efficiency skimmer in work. Initially, I used a powerful Skimz SM251 Protein Skimmer and a Bubble-Magus NAC6A Meshwheel Protein Skimmer to produce "coffee" like skimmage. Lately, as my refugium becomes effective, I remove my secondary Bubble-Magus skimmer and replace it with a Skimz FR150 fluidised reactor to help in Phosphate (PO4) export. Besides an efficient skimmer and an effective refugium, I have activated carbon in the sump to absorb toxic elements.

[Harlequinmania]

Lightings and Photoperiod

Lightings systems are always the core equation to the overall reefing system. For corals, in particularly the SPS, to be in good colour, strong lighting is a necessity and is not an option. I started with 3 set of 250W Metal Halides lights (using Phoenix 1400K bulbs) and 2 tubes of ATI 58W T5 Blue plus. As more demanding SPS were added to the tank, additional 2 sets of 6 feet T5 light sets (8 x 39W each set) were acquired to provide supplementary lighting. I was using a 4-way timer together with the IKS Aquastar Computer to control the photoperiod with minimum of 6 hours of MH light and 8-10 hours of T5 blue and white light respectively.

I made a major decision in November 2011 to switch to LED technology lightings with the aim to provide a less expensive (in the long run) but flexible and specific lighting environments for the corals. As a safety measure, I also supplement the current LED lightings systems with 2 sets of 6 feet T5 actinic blue lighting (4 x 39W each set).

The current LED lighting system is made up of 2 LemenAqua UltraBrite light sets (with 180W of blue/White LED light for each set) and 1 custom build 312W LED Light set (3 x 30W 15000K Superwhite LED + 36 x 3W White + 36 x 3W Blue + 6 x 1W 403 NM Royal Blue). Hence, based on MH / LED comparison, I am theoretically replacing my old lighting system with stronger 4 x 400 MH lights with T5 supplements at an economical alternative.

However, the major drive for my adoption of LED technology is the flexibility for me to “fine tune” the amount of light and the colour temperatures of Light based on the specific requirement of the corals. This specific lighting configuration can be stored and controlled with the build-in timer and controller to provide different magnitudes of light spectrum at specific timing of the day or night. For example, to obtain the colour temperature of 20000K, I can adjust the capacity of the two rows of white LED at 99% and the single row of blue LED at 39% on the LemenAqua UltraBrite controller.

Core LED Lighting System Photoperiod:

Supplementary T5 and Moonlight Photoperiod:

Water Movement

Water Movement plays an important role to the health of the corals (especially one which is dominated by SPS) and some demanding fish. The water circulation in my tank is accompanied by a main return pump which provides 9500 litres per hour of filtered water from the sump to the display tank and 4 Vortech MP40w wave makers. In order to simulate good water movement with wave motion, two pumps are positioned on opposite side of glasses. One of the pumps was configured as a master driver with pulsing mode to control two slave pumps (with one on the same side and the other on the opposite side of the mater pump) to provide a constant wave motion. In addition, one of the pumps (opposite of the master pump) is configured to run independently from the group to provide further random wave motion at short pulse mode.

I also configured the group of master-slaves pumps and the independent pump to work in conjunction with the moonlight lighting through the IKS AquaStar computer. This allows me to simulate some low/high tide environment in the night.

Backup and Remote Monitoring

As I have a busy travelling business schedules, one of the main concerns during the initial setup of my system was how to ensure the system is running smoothly even when I am not around. I heard a lot of horror and sad stories about many beautiful tanks being decommissioned because or power failures and malfunction of the chillier unit. And I do not want this to happen on me especially with many time and money spent on this hobby.

I believe many of the reefers out there have overlooked this aspect and left out investment on this equally important insurance. I think every family have brought insurance policies for their loved ones might understand the benefits of have a “peace of mind”. For this reason, I had installed a DIY UPS unit capable of supporting 1000 Watts of power output for at least 8-10 hours. A group of 3 MP40w pumps together with the IKS AquaStar Computer and 10 channel s of dosing pumps are connected to the UPS. In addition, I also installed a Linksys Wireless IP Camera so that I can monitor the tank while I am travelling overseas. I also have a standby unit of “aircon converted chiller” as a standby unit for my reliable 1HP Daikin Compressor Chiller. I service my Daikin Chiller every 3 months together with the rest of the air-cons in the house to ensure it is in the tip-top condition.

[Harlequinmania]

Maintenance, Feeding & Supplements

I feed my fishes at least once a day with mainly TetraBits Complete (Yes, the same pellets for my discus) and live brine shrimps (when available in LFS) and Henry’s reefgourmet during the weekend. I also feed my corals with 5-in-1 coral food and CoralFuid twice a week and, occasionally, during the weekend, with Oyster-feast and Roti-feast.

For regular maintenance routine, I usually do a 10-15% water change every other week with NSW (natural sea water) brought from the local fish shop (LFS). As and when I am too free or once in a blue moon, I do water changes with salt mixed using DI water. In the first 18 months of my reefing activity, I checked my water parameters regularly using test kits such as Salifert , API, and Hanna checker for CA, Mg, KH, Pt, NO3, and PO4 a day before and after water change. Now, I check my water parameters by observing the colour and the polyp extension of certain corals in conjunction with the PH value display from the IKS Aqua Controller.

One of the most challenging things for me in reefkeeping is to maintain a stable Alkalinity (KH) level and keeping a Low Nutrient System. To achieve this, I started the Zeovit method - a system which is known to create and maintain the water at very low nutrient levels. In order to keep most of my Zeovit dosing routine in check and at the same time keeping a stable alkalinity and other water parameters, I deployed a 3-channel Bubble Magus dosing pump. Subsequently, additional dosing extensions were added to increase the dosing channel to a total of 10. These had helped me to cut down lots of my daily /weekly maintenance routine and provide me with more time to enjoy the marine life rather than “working for the tank” days and nights. In October 2011, I made a switch from the disciplined Zeovit method to BioPallets and had my ZeoLite reactor converted to BioPallet Reactor. I also use reef BioFeul as the supplementary carbon source with MicroBacter7 in my dosing routines to replace the carbon source for Zeovit method:

[Harlequinmania]

List of live stocks in My tank

The display tank has around 90 different corals with about 70% SPS and 30% LPS and soft coral. Most of my SPS corals were started from small fragments that I brought locally or exchanged with fellow reefers. I enjoyed the process of fragging various small SPS and found them a best location/home and seeing them grow to a sizable colony.

About 40 different assorted hermit crabs, snails, crabs, and various types of shrimp were added to the tank as clean-up crews at different points in time. There are sunken starfishes, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and sand dollars to clean the sand bed too.

Fish List:

• 1 Black Tang (Zebrasoma rostratum)

• 1 Achilles Tang (Acanthurus achilles)

• 1 Chevron Tang (Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis)

• 1 Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)

• 1 Yellow Eye Tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus)

• 1 Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens)

• 1 Purple Tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum)

• 1 Atlantic Blue Tang (Acanthurus coeruleus)

• 1 Powder Blue Tang (Achanthurus leucosternon)

• 1 Powder Black Tang (Acanthurus nigricans))

• 1 Yellow Coris wrasses (Halichoeres chrysus)

• 1 Six line wrasses (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia)

• 1 Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidatus)

• 2 Threadfin cardinalfish (Apogon leptacanthus)

• 2 Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)

• 2 Bartlett's Anthias (Pseudanthias bartlettorum)

• 1 Hawkfish Anthias (Serranocirrhitus latus)

• 1 Seagrass filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus)

• 2 Blue chromis (Chromis viridis)

• 1 Dottyback (Pseudochromis aldabraensis)

• 2 Mandarin Fish (Synchiropus splendidus)

• 4 Black Percula clownfishes (Amphiprion ocellaris)

[Harlequinmania]

Invertebrates:

• 1 Porcelain Anemone Crab (Neopetrolisthes maculosus)

• 2 Tuxedo Urchin (Mespilia globules)

• 1 Bubble Tip Anemones (Entacmaea quadricolor)

• 3 Maxima Clam (Tridacna maxima)

• 2 Squamose Giant Clam (Tridacna squamosa)

• Hermit Crabs (Paguristes cadenati)

• Nassarius Snails (Nassarius distortus)

• Astrea Snails (Astraea Tecta)

• Starfish (Asterina anomal)

• Sea cucumber (Cucuntaria sp)

• 2 Banded boxer shrimp (Stenopus hispidus)

• 2 Fire Shrimp (Lysmata debelius)

• 6 Peppermint Shrimps (Lysmata wurdemanni)

• 2 Sally Lightfoot Crab (Grpsus grapsus)

• 2 Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)

SPS Corals

Acropora:

• A. appressa (green)

• A. cytherea (red)

• A. echinata (purple)

• A. efflorescens (purple)

• A. formosa (green, purple)

• A. hoeksemai (sky blue)

• A. humillis (green, purple, yellow)

• A. loisetteae (turquoise)

• A. loripes (purple)

• A. microphthalma (green with red tips)

• A. millipora (red, green, purple, blue, orange, teal, pink, yellow)

• A. nana (purple)

• A. selago (purple)

• A. subarsonoi (green)

• A. tenuis (green,purple)

• A. valida (Tri-colors)

• A. variolosa (green)

• A. yongei (green)

• A. sp. (pink lemonade) Montipora

• M. capricornis (orange)

• M. digitata (orange, green, blue)

• M. mollis (purple)

• M. setosa (orange)

• M. foliosa (green, purple)

• M. danae (purple)

Others:

• Stylophora pistillata (red, pink with green polyps, green, purple, tri-colors)

• Stylophora subseriata (line green)

• Seriatopora hystrix (pink, pink with yellow tips, green)

• Pocillopora damicornis ( green, pink with green polyps)

• Pocillopora verrucosa (green, purple)

• Cyphastrea decadia (pink)

• Echinopora lamellose (green)

• Oxypora glabra (red)

[Guest]

LPS and Soft Corals

List of LPS and Soft Corals

• Bubble coral (Plerogyra sinuosa)

• Blastomussa coral (Blastomussa wellsi)

• Frogspawn (Euphyllia paradivisa)

• Flower pot coral (Goniopora sp.)

• Sun coral (Dendrophyllia fistula)

• Favia coral (Favia pallida)

• Brain coral (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi,

• Lobo coral (Lobophyllia hemprichii)

• Cup coral (Turbinaria peltata)

• Button polyps (Protopalythoa sp.)

• Zoas (Zoanthus sp)

• Cynarina coral (Cynarina lacymalis)

• Acan coral (Acanthastrea lordhowensis)

• Scolymia coral (Scolymia australis)

• Discosoma mushroom (Discosoma sp.)

• Rhodactis mushroom (Rhodactis sp.)

• Ricordea mushrooms (Ricordea florida)

• Yuma mushrooms (Ricordea Yuma)

• Mushroom Leather coral (Sarcophyton sp.)

• Plate coral (Cycloseris hexagonalis)

• Candy coral (caulastrea curfata)

• Blue sponge (Haliclona sp)

• Xenia (Hippocampus Bildarchiv)

I have been in this hobby for many years and it always amaze me whenever saw an aquarium in the magazine, at shopping mall, exhibition, travelling, visiting friends, or even a street poster. I believe these are all nature in creation, and every living thing has its own beauty. For reefing, I do not have a preference on what types of corals or fishes to buy or to keep as long as they are reef safe and live happily with other fellows in the tank.

However, I do believe you need to strike a balance between the types of corals (SPS/LPS) and what types of fishes you want to keep. For example, to have an ULNS tank with brilliance colour of SPS, you might need to scarify on number and types of fishes you can keep. So, knowing what you want, what you can or cannot do it is very important in reefing – this is also reflect upon how we living our daily life and make our choices.

In term of reefing equipment and accessories, I always believe in "value for money" and how the value actually benefits you and not the others think it is good for you. I never believe in "expensive is good" although it is a technically a true statement. I always enjoy the excitement and satisfaction of getting something that is useful and lasting at a relatively lower price. However, you might pay for the price if you are not careful and greedy.

In my honest opinion, you need to do some homework and understand whether it is what you want and whether it can serve your need now and in the long run before you make the purchase. You need to make a calculated risk, if you are buying a used item. Alternatively, pay for an acceptable premium of insurance, you can a new item from a reliable supplier. This is also true for buying corals and fishes - Impulsive buying is bad and it is always hurts.

Beside reefing and spending quality time with family, I enjoy backpack diving and travelling photography. And I believe these three complements each perfectly and enrich my life time experience with colour and sparks. Reefing has made me to take better pictures in different perspectives and it has also enable me to be a more careful and responsible diver.

In my view, reefing is a commitment and can be very additive and time consuming. It is also very satisfying and inspiriting. For those that are trying or already hooked, I wish you luck and may be the following advice might help - Be Patient - No itchy hands - Read more - Make more reefing kakis - Enjoy this wonderful hobby !!

Final Acknowledgement

First and most importantly I want to thank my beloved wife, for her tolerance and understanding of my passion and this obsession that I have. It is also amazing to see my little son growing up with this great hobby and developing such a strong affection for all fishes and sea creatures.

I want to thank my friends and reefing kakis that are addicted with the same obsession and shared with me so many sleepless nights chasing shipments and provide me many knowledge and laughter.

Last but not least, I want to thank SRC staff and the reefing community who make my dream come true.

** Please feel free to ask any questions to the owner by posting directly in this thread.

[Guest]

Congratulation again to Crispin aka Clee123 for winning the TOTQ

His well verse knowledge in the husbandry skill of keeping such a success mix reef tank is highly admirable !! It's definitely not easy maintaining such a successful setup with these number of fish while maintain the requirement of both LPS and SPS corals .

[wilsontantw]

Another worthy winner!

Congratulations bro!

definitely can learn a lot from your husbandry routine...

[kueytoc]

CONGRATS !!!

[cedricang]

Simply jaw dropping

Congrates bro, your beautiful mix reef tank speaks of your knowledge and dedication

[cool guy]

Nice n sweet... 

Congratulation bro... 

[Eniram]

Woo hoo well done brudder brudder!

Very well detailed tank write up.

[peacemaker]

[jquek]

Truly inspirational!

[dnsfpl]

so many tangs, so healthy sps

impressive

[clee123]

Another worthy winner!

Congratulations bro!

definitely can learn a lot from your husbandry routine...

Thank you bro for your support...

[clee123]

CONGRATS !!!

Thank you bro...see you around...

[clee123]

Simply jaw dropping

Congrates bro, your beautiful mix reef tank speaks of your knowledge and dedication

Thank bro Cedric for the complement..

[clee123]

Nice n sweet... 

Congratulation bro... 

cool...

[clee123]

Woo hoo well done brudder brudder!

Very well detailed tank write up.

Thank you sir Eniram...

[clee123]

[clee123]

Truly inspirational!

[clee123]

so many tangs, so healthy sps

impressive

Thank you bro for the complement...

[Jameshong]

!!!