SPS tank from England 156 us gallons

[Tony B (UK)]

very nice tank!!!

Thanks

 

[Tony B (UK)]

What is your mechanical filtration , did you use filter sock ?

No filter socks, the filter system is as follows:

• A deep sand bed
• P04 remover & a small amount of carbon housed in RO filter housings, running a very slow flow
• Protein skimmer

Tony

 

[jbanks]

Another incredible Reef with a minimalist approach! Tony.. Good show Bro! If you were asked to point to one particular aspect of your husbandry that you feel makes a world of difference with the success of your system, what would it be?

 

[Tony B (UK)]

Another incredible Reef with a minimalist approach! Tony.. Good show Bro! If you were asked to point to one particular aspect of your husbandry that you feel makes a world of difference with the success of your system, what would it be?

Thanks for your compliments, they are much appreciated.

Consistency.

You have to choose a route, a method, select one that is within your capability and more importantly, also choose something that fits in and around your life. Then apply it consistently. Try and not miss a beat, try not to drop the ball.

It's not fancy potions or additives that make wonderful reefs, it is stability and good husbandry applied day in day out, month after month, year after year. Getting it right and keeping it so month on month is what provides tiny incremental improvements; a bit more growth, better colour and vitality. Each of these tiny monthly improvements amount to a more significant improvement after a year or two has passed, it's that simple.

Consistency.

My reeftank gives me great pleasure, I enjoy sharing pictures and showing people my tank in person, I like seeing other people enjoy my tank - I also love looking at other people's tanks too!

Regards,

Tony

 

[29reef]

Looking good sir.

Do you trim your coral for growth, appearance, or out of necessity?


My last few tanks I've given up cutting corals after the first year or so and was pleased with the appearance over all. This time I've moved all of my montipora to the bottom and stags to the back of the tank. I'm hoping this will result in a more natural appearance with the full look without having corals killing each other; at least thats the plan. After 9 months it's getting there...

I'd say you hit the nail on the head with your above advise!

 

[OCREEFLOVER]

Love your tank. What bulb combination are you using?

 

[Tony B (UK)]

Looking good sir.

Do you trim your coral for growth, appearance, or out of necessity?


My last few tanks I've given up cutting corals after the first year or so and was pleased with the appearance over all. This time I've moved all of my montipora to the bottom and stags to the back of the tank. I'm hoping this will result in a more natural appearance with the full look without having corals killing each other; at least thats the plan. After 9 months it's getting there...

I'd say you hit the nail on the head with your above advise!

Thanks for your compliments and question.

I trim out of necessity. Once corals hit the surface, a trim is needed, sooner rather than later.

Also when corals grow into each other, most often there's one stronger which will start to eat and grow over it's neighbour. I have let most of the corals grow into each other and this has demonstrated to me which ones need help and which ones will eat everything if given the chance.

My acropora abrotanoides and acropora millipora are my two most aggressive corals, growing towards neighbours, extending their guts, eating their neighbours flesh and polyps, then encapsulating their neighbours branches with their own flesh. It's like the Borg; resistance is futile, you will be assimilated!

Of course when I do trim, I look to take more off fast growing or highly aggressive/successful corals, trim others where needed whilst trying to retain some semblance of a natural developed shape (it would look funny if my hysterix was cut like a hedge into a cube shape ).

Thanks,

Tony

 

[Tony B (UK)]

Love your tank. What bulb combination are you using?

Thanks for your compliments.

I am using, from front to back:

Narva blue
Aquamedic reefwhite
Narva blue
Aquamedic reefwhite
Kz fiji purple
Narva blue
Aquamedic reefwhite
Narva blue

 

[toothman]

I like the rock work, every time I re aqua scape my tank I take rock out. I was thinking it would be nice to just have almost no rock at all. The lack of rock would highlight the coral. nice job!

 

[sahin]

Consistency.

You have to choose a route, a method, select one that is within your capability and more importantly, also choose something that fits in and around your life. Then apply it consistently. Try and not miss a beat, try not to drop the ball.

It's not fancy potions or additives that make wonderful reefs, it is stability and good husbandry applied day in day out, month after month, year after year. Getting it right and keeping it so month on month is what provides tiny incremental improvements; a bit more growth, better colour and vitality. Each of these tiny monthly improvements amount to a more significant improvement after a year or two has passed, it's that simple.

Consistency.

Tony

Thats the kind of advice that seems so bloomin obvious; but most (myself included) just didnt realise until quite some time into our reefkeeping time. Its only after trying so many different methods and a lot of time or even years spent trying to get those awesome colours that we begin to realise this basic idea is and sticking to this routine is all thats needed generally.

Tonys tank is a clear demonstration of this; a fairly simply and basic system; yet probably one of the best tanks in the UK! :beer:

 

[Summey]

If I had to authority to give you the TOTM title, I would. Every month for the past year.

Simply amazing!!

I haven't seen you mention your sump capacity and flow rates. Also, I'm curious about your total tank flow. Would you mind sharing?

Thank you!

 

[nsyahron]

thanks for sharing...

 

[labiris]

mamma mia
your tank is awesome

I could see more photos of abrotanoides?
my favorite coral

thanks a lot

 

[Tony B (UK)]

I like the rock work, every time I re aqua scape my tank I take rock out. I was thinking it would be nice to just have almost no rock at all. The lack of rock would highlight the coral. nice job!

Hi Tothman,

Thanks. When I first started reefing, I filled my first tank up with rock, the when corals started to grow I realised my mistake - that was about 8-9 years ago.

I had a vision for this tank, I knew what I wanted to do and how to get there, I knew what corals I wanted and how they would grow, the rock is kind of like a foundation on a building, the corals make up the visual display - as interesting as aquascape is, I prefer looking at corals rather than rock!

Tony

Thats the kind of advice that seems so bloomin obvious; but most (myself included) just didnt realise until quite some time into our reefkeeping time. Its only after trying so many different methods and a lot of time or even years spent trying to get those awesome colours that we begin to realise this basic idea is and sticking to this routine is all thats needed generally.

Tonys tank is a clear demonstration of this; a fairly simply and basic system; yet probably one of the best tanks in the UK! :beer:

Hi Sahin,

Like many things in life, we can often miss the most obvious, simple and best path.

This hobby is full of products and equipment, there's so much of it which is just not needed.

Tony

If I had to authority to give you the TOTM title, I would. Every month for the past year.

Simply amazing!!

I haven't seen you mention your sump capacity and flow rates. Also, I'm curious about your total tank flow. Would you mind sharing?

Thank you!

Hi Summey,

Ahhh you make me blush! Thanks for your kind words

My sumps are very simple, three black plastic water tanks (from the DIY), each 25 gallons. One is empty, with just water and a pump, the other holds my protein skimmer and the last sump houses a deep sand bed. The flow through the sumps is taken care of by a laguna pond pump, I think it's about 3000lph.

I have two frag trays, xenia in the top tray with cheato and the lower tray houses my sps trimmings.

Here's two of my sumps, the third is at the back of the tank:

[/IMG]

The tank has three modified tunze streams, two 6025 and one 6080. All have every other brace removed on the intake strainer.

If you would like to know more feel free to ask :wave:

Thanks,

Tony

thanks for sharing...

Hi Nsyahron,

You're welcome :wave:

Tony

mamma mia
your tank is awesome

I could see more photos of abrotanoides?
my favorite coral

thanks a lot

Hi Labiris,

Thanks for your compliments!

The abro is one of my most prized corals, I love it, I will try and provide some more photos of this for you in the very near future :thumbsup:

Thanks,

Tony

 

[jbanks]

Thanks for your compliments, they are much appreciated.

Consistency.

You have to choose a route, a method, select one that is within your capability and more importantly, also choose something that fits in and around your life. Then apply it consistently. Try and not miss a beat, try not to drop the ball.

It's not fancy potions or additives that make wonderful reefs, it is stability and good husbandry applied day in day out, month after month, year after year. Getting it right and keeping it so month on month is what provides tiny incremental improvements; a bit more growth, better colour and vitality. Each of these tiny monthly improvements amount to a more significant improvement after a year or two has passed, it's that simple.

Consistency.

My reeftank gives me great pleasure, I enjoy sharing pictures and showing people my tank in person, I like seeing other people enjoy my tank - I also love looking at other people's tanks too!

Regards,

Tony

Great philosophy Tony. I'm right there with you Bro. Please stop by my
Homepage any time. Would love to get your critique of my system.

Thats the kind of advice that seems so bloomin obvious; but most (myself included) just didnt realise until quite some time into our reefkeeping time. Its only after trying so many different methods and a lot of time or even years spent trying to get those awesome colours that we begin to realise this basic idea is and sticking to this routine is all thats needed generally.

Tonys tank is a clear demonstration of this; a fairly simply and basic system; yet probably one of the best tanks in the UK! :beer:

LOL. I am totally guilty myself Sahin. With my first tank, I really struggled with color.. this time around, the experience has been much better due to lessons learned and understanding the detriment of doing way too much at times.

 

[sahin]

Tony, I know you lost that Aussie Echinata a while back. Did you manage to pick up any other Echinata (either the Aussie (blue and white) or the Icefire variety (blue and green))? If you did, have you managed to keep it alive?

I managed to pickup wild frags of both the Echinata and the Strawberry shortcake. The SSC is doing really well; polpys out and looks very healthy. Colour has faded a little, but that is expected with a wild sourced coral.

The Echinata, is doing so so...no polpys are out. Its only been a few days though. The whole frag is a pale cream, with a tinge of green on some of the branches, and the tips are blue. I really hope this survives.

In time I'd like to send frags of both your way for two reasons; 1: to hopefully get a few nice frags from you, but more importantly, 2: if you dont have these, I'd like them grown in a large system such as yours so that at some point they can be supplied to other members of the UK reefkeeping community.

With my small tank, I can only have corals for my own display. I dont have the time or space to culture them.

I have started to see the UK get some nice bits of SPS in, but the distribution isnt anywhere as good as the US. And that is what I'd like to see change.

The other good thing about sharing very nice SPS is that should you lose something, you can always get it back from someone if you've shared it amongst friends.

 

[Tony B (UK)]

Hi Sahin,

No I've not sourced another bit of the aussie echinata, but I've not tried either (to obtain it), although I could get another from a couple of sources I know.

If you'd like to do a swap I'd be happy to add to my collection and of course, sharing frags and increasing the distribution and availability is something I strive to achieve with all of my corals.

Please post up some pictures, I'm interested to see them

Tony

 

[Tony B (UK)]

Video taken earlier, sorry for poor quality taken using my Dell Streak:

http://youtu.be/lyYHTjAPFTM

 

[Tony B (UK)]

A few pictures taken earlier today, any comments, good or bad are welcomed

I've taken quite a few.... There's loads..... So feel free to say stop if you get bored :uhoh3:

Hope you enjoy:

 

[Tony B (UK)]