SRC Tank of the Quarter Winner - Darren Sim (Oct 2016 ~ Dec 2016)

[Singapore Reef Club]

We are proud to share with you this quarter showcase of Darren's beautiful reef 3 feet reef tank. Congratulation !!

Brief introduction of tank setup from Darren

First up, I am delightful about being nominated for Tank of the Quarter. I never thought my tank would be worthy for this title but other hand I am thankful to have the opportunity to share my experience with the community. I have always looked up to those previous Tanks of the Quarter for inspiration and I am honored to be part of the list.

I have kept freshwater tanks since I am young, but I was always was intimidated to try salt water. However few months ago I decided to give it a shot and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have gone through most new reefers experience trials. I started with a 3x1.5x1.5 crystal glass with a canister filter that I used for my freshwater aquarium. After 1 week I find out it's hard to maintain a saltwater tank with just a canister filter so I decided to go bigger and gotten a 322 tank with sump and cabinet from a reefer in Sgreefclub for affordable price. After several weeks I realized that the tank with 2 feet height is too high for me. I have to tip toe on the top of a chair in order to reach the bottom of the display tank to do my maintenance. In order to prevent any unnecessary accident from happening my last resort is to change a lower tank. After several days of considering, I went on to customize my own tank for my room. That's my current 3x2x1.5 tank from AA. That's when my journey started!!

Within 2-4 months I changed 3 tanks so I advise reefers to plan properly ahead before committing to the hobby because I really didn’t do much research before jumping to saltwater. Read more and seek more advices before jumping into this hobby.

Tank specifications

Salinity: 1.022 ~ 1.023

Temperature: 25.5 Degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit)

Ph: Never measure

Calcium – 420ppm (Salifert)

Alkalinity– 10dkh (NYOS)

Magnesium – 1260ppm (Salifert)

Tank: Hardware

Skimmer: Skimz SV203 Oval

Mechanical filtration: Filter Sock

Calcium Reactor: Skimz CM122

Chiller: Hailea HS90A

Biopellet / reactor: Skimz RR113 Recirculating

Chemical filtration: Activated carbon

Biological filtration: 2x Marine Pure block, Biohome, Bacterial king, Siporax medias

Main return pump: Jebao DC 12k (Main return), Eden 135 (Chiller pump)

Wave maker: Vortech MP40, MaxSpect Gyre XF 150

Lighting: ATI SunPower T5 06 X 39W

Lighting period: 10am – 9.30pm (3x Blue plus, 1x Purple plus), 1pm – 7pm (2x Coral plus)

Addictive used

So far I am only using Aquaforest Pro Bio S for bacteria growth. Dosing 3 drops a day at my medias section of the sump.

Tank maintenance

Daily

- Feed my fishes twice a day when i woke up and during dinner time. (Each 5 cubes of mysis, 1-2 drop of goldpods)

- Clean the tank glass

- Drip 3 drops of Aquaforest Pro Bio S

- Check for any corals that drop on the sandbed

Every 3-4 days

- Empty my skimmer and clean it's neck

- Give my filter socks a good scrub

Weekly

- Check all my parameters

Monthly

- Water change around 40% and suck out the dirt on the sandbed and sump

- Change the carbon

Every 6 months

- Check for clog in my RR113 biopellet

- Wash my wavemakers

Every 8 months

- Change all the ATI tube

Live stocks – Corals

To be honest I really don’t know most of my corals name except for those common ones like Rainbow stylo, Strawberry short cake, Green and Purple stags. These are the names I know. Normally I will buy corals by looking at their colors. If their corals strike my eyes then I will normally get it.

Live Stocks - Fish:

Currently:

* Purple Tang

* Blue Tang

* Golden Midas

* 5 x Blue eye anthias (1 male, 4 female)

* 4 x Chromis

Some personal Q & A questions 1. How long have you been reefing?

1. How long have you been reefing?

Ans: I have been reefing for about 8-9 months ago. 2. How did you get into this hobby?.

2. How did you get into this hobby?

Ans: Keeping a marine tank has always been my childhood dream but the cost and maintenance of it makes me think twice but once I get into my National Service I decided to give it a goal and *poof* here I am now.

3. Are you a fish guy or a Coral guy?

Ans: I love both fish and coral because I believe in a reef tank i need these two to complete my “Dream Tank”

4. Any dream fish or coral you wish to own one day ?

Ans: I wish to convert my whole tank to mainly SSC but this will definitely be a heavy damage. My dream fish is Gem tang , Black tang and Achilles tang. One day/Hopefully I can keep all of them together.

5. What is your main concern when looking around for your reefing equipment?

Ans: My equipment are mainly from reefers that I bought from Sgreefclub. I always will look for those reliable and reputation equpiment. For example brands like: Vortech, ATI etc. I believe in spending more in good equipment than save a few dollars to get a lousy equipment because a good equipment will definitely benefit you in the long run. 6. What is your favorite past time

6. What is your favorite past time

Ans: Normally is just lying down my bed and enjoy my tank and going Local Fish Store with my sibling and girlfriend. 7. What is the satisfaction you got from this hobby?

7. What is the satisfaction you got from this hobby?

Ans: What I really get/feel after all my effort and money spent in this tank is remarkable. It’s just beyond words. I really love seeing my fishes and corals PE swimming and waving when I come home. It makes me feel so relax after a long day of work but my BIGGEST Satisfaction is my girlfriend (CFO) loves my tank too! HAHAHA

8. Any advice for newbie in this hobby?

Ans: PATIENCE and PATIENCE. You must really have the patience when setting up a marine tank. Read more members’ tank from Sgreefclub, understand their system, and understand what kind of problems you will encounter and how to solve it. There are a lot of systems in the market like Auqaforest, Zeovit, Fauna marin and Triton. All of these systems do create amazing tanks but don’t just blindly follow. I will always make time to head down reefers house to look at their tanks and also ask for their experience. Experience is what money can’t buy. Understand the basics and happy reefing!

First and foremost, I really want to thank Leon (“SubzeroLT”) for my tank. Without his guidance and experience I won’t get what I’m getting now. Thank you for being so patience, answering all my nonsense questions. Another two important person to thank is my late mother and my Girlfriend. Without their support and contribution everything won’t even happen. I also want to thank “Reef Manic” they also played a big part for me to understand reefing. Last but not least, a Big Thank you to SGREEFCLUB moderator for nominating my tank and also created such a good website for newbie to learn reefing and for experts to sharing their reefing experience!

 

“There are a lot of amazing tank around Singapore and I am not the best. Everyday I’m learning new things from reefers/gurus so never stop learning and Happy Reefing!!”

 

More photo can be found on the Gallery album HERE

[Singapore Reef Club]

Darren will get to win himself prizes sponsor by Gemsurfs .. 

[Mike Stone]

Gratz Darren !


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[Admiraltian]

Congrats bro!!

[Kumar 1981]

Nice tank bro darren!master!!

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[tec]

Siew

 

[SantaMonica]

Well I'm a fan of the great number of blue pastel colors you have.

[sharonleong]

Nice nice..

Darren may i know what outside of your tank i can see two reactor.

[Darren Sim]

On 05/10/2016 at 1:11 PM, Mike Stone said:

Gratz Darren !


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Thank you bro! 

On 05/10/2016 at 5:27 PM, Admiraltian said:

Congrats bro!!

Thank you bro! 

On 06/10/2016 at 11:11 PM, Kumar 1981 said:

Nice tank bro darren!master!!

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app
 

Thank you kumar ! 

On 15/12/2016 at 0:34 PM, SantaMonica said:

Well I'm a fan of the great number of blue pastel colors you have.

Thank you so much! 

On 15/12/2016 at 2:28 PM, sharonleong said:

Nice nice..

Darren may i know what outside of your tank i can see two reactor.

My reactor is calcium reactor with co2 tank. 

[Bunster]

Congrats bro!

[sleexox]

nice 

[Suman]

Nice tank bro

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[ezman]

beautiful setup with very healthy corals!!

 

[andrewsoh]

Sadly his tank crashed sometime back....


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[sleexox]

What happened? Pump failure?

[sleexox]

What happened? Pump failure?