I was first drawn into this hobby by the vibrant and colorful fishes that I see so frequently in documentaries and started a modest 2ft FOWLR tank with a couple of clownfishes and some damsels back in 1998. As I learnt and progressed in this hobby, I gained confidence and decided to go for something that I always wanted, my personal piece of the ocean.

The chance to upgrade came when I moved to a new place (late2003) and found the right location to place a 180 gallon tank with a 80 gallon sump.

My aquascaping ideology was mainly 2 rockhills on each side of the tank and some minimal rockworks in between to link the 2 rockhills so as to provide more swimming space for my fishes and a “central” communal area for the fishes to interact.

I was bored seeing many colorful reefs out there that seemed to have something missing. Life.

And thus, I set out to make my reef full of life and yet making sure that the livestock have a good environment to live in. To me, fishes are the most important part of my reefing and corals are secondary. Corals add colors to the tank but do little to interact with me. The joy of seeing my fishes interacting with me during feeding times is a joy and sight to behold.

I know that with the number of fishes I have, I would need a powerful skimmer to remove organics before they enter the ANN cycle, which was what my DIY skimmer was able to provide. Together with my matured deep sand bed in the refugium/sump, I am able to maintain a thriving reef bio-system.

I hope my tank would bring the emphasis of reefing back to the wonderful world of fishes and let the corals take a backseat for a while.

Water Circulation

• Iwaki MX100 magnetic pump as return via 4 outlets longitudinal
  to the tank length, as well as teeing off to feed Artica
  1/2hp chiller which returns to the tank.
• tunze TS07 wavemaker that pulses between mid-max setting.
• Eheim 1262 external pump which feeds my backup Daeil 1/2hp
  chiller which returns to the tank.

Lighting

• 3 150W DE retro-fit pendants, running Phoenix 14KK bulbs
  (10hours)
• 1 54W T5 DIY fixture, running ATI Blueplus tube (12 hours)
• 1 150W DE Giesemann pendant, running BLV 10KK bulb lighting my refugium (reverse lighting cycle)

Additional Equipment

• DIY quadruple beckett skimmer (over 2metres tall)
• DIY calcium reactor
• Artica ½ hp chiller (main chiller)
• Daeil ½ hp chiller (backup chiller)
• PH monitor

Failsafe

• APC UPS that provides power to my tunze TS07 wave-maker for over 5hrs in a power outage.
• The Artica chiller is set at 27.6 degrees Celsius….which means it kicks in at 28.0 and stops at 27.2…..under normal circumstances…..temperature will not rise above 28.0 degrees Celsius.

The Daeil chiller and set it to 27.8, meaning it will only kick in should temperatures reach 28.2 and then stops its operation at 27.4 degrees Celsius.

Maintenance

• I feed pellets, mysis and Cyclop-eez every day. I occasionally feed Golden Pearls and DT phytoplankton.
• Every now and then, I harvest macros from the refugium by feeding them to the fishes in the tank.
• I run rowaphos in a fluidized reactor and occasionally run carbon as well. Water changes are done every 5-6 months.
• I test my water parameters regularly with Salifert test kits for calcium, alkalinity, nitrates and phosphates.

Livestock

Fish

• Achilles Tang
• Jewel Tang
• Juvenile Atlantic Blue tang
• Black Tang
• Chevron Tang
• Sohal Tang
• Sailfin Tang
• Small school of Bartlett anthias
• Sunburst anthias
• Neon gobies
• Blackcap gramma
• Royal gramma
• Flame angels (paired)
• Goldflake angel
• Coral beauty
• Golden angel
• Elbi angel
• Cherub angel
• Flameback angel
• Rusty angel

Inverts

• 4 fire shrimps
• 4 cleaner shrimps
• Various snails, tubeworms
• Red bubbletip anemone

LPS

• Hammer coral
• Candy canes
• Lobophyllias
• Heliofungia
• Red Scolymias
• Cynarinas
• Blastomussas

Softies

• Assorted unique mushrooms and Ricordias

Acknowledgements

I wish to convey my thanks to everyone in my local as well as the international reefing community for the immense amount of reefing information and knowledge that are so freely shared and available in the internet.

And also the support of my fiancee Serene who has helped me in many ways when it comes to my hobby. Hopefully I will have her support for an even larger tank when the time is right.

Lastly, thank you for reading my article and allowing me to share the wonderful world of fishes.