This month’s TOTM by ReefCentral has deservingly been awarded to Eric Yao’s vivid SPS reef. This Hong Kong based aquarium is the result of careful animal selection and a well balanced coralscape.

Eric’s 175g reef utilizes powerful skimming via a Bubble King 250 Internal and enhanced nutrient export via ZeoVit. Specifically, Eric doses ZeoStart, ZeoBac, Amino Acids, KZ Coral Vitalizer, and K Balance. Additionally, this reef  receives Calcium and Alkalinity additions using the Balling Lite method controlled by a Bubble Magus dosing pump.

Despite the number (and growth) of his Acroporids, Eric has managed to put together a coralscape in which every view, photo crop, and coral can arguably stand on its own. There are no filler pieces in this glassbox. Check out the full tank profile on RC.

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This stunning 200g reef (~60x36x26″) was illuminated by five MT-250 (250w) DE Metal Halide lamps; 3 of which were a 20-25K lamp (Coral Lamp used in the MT series), the remaining were 14K BLVs. In addition to this core lighting Yasuhiro utilized 3 Superkaru 150w metal halide spotlights, two deep blues (50K) and one pink.

Love it or hate it, the Blue Lagoon is worthy of appreciation

That’s not all. In addition to the metal halides, 50w and 75w warm Ushio Halogen spotlights and 8 CFL Spotlights (4x 20w & 4x 27w) were then used to pop highlights into the varied blue spectrum. The effect is captured beautifully in the first photograph. After learning about this tank, I remember saying to myself..  I must get a rimless aquarium and metal halides spotlights!

Yes the lighting is overkill, but Yasuhiro showed what can be created in the confines of a glassbox and opened my mind into an entire new world of lighting. Aquarium lighting has historically been extremely limited, misleading, and often times ineffective. Thankfully times have changed and new developments in spectral / PAR analysis and metal halide reflector design have created vast improvements over the once standard 400w 6.5K Iwasaki and Spider reflector.

Mr. Komatu’s Blue Lagoon emphasized to me the importance of planning in advance for the aquascape and coralscape. During this time period, I was frequenting the popular Chicago store Reef Dweller, run by RC legend Menard. While I had a beautiful collection of colorful  and rare SPS filling an entire 125g tank… I realized the big picture was not where I wanted it to be. It was not a display tank, it was a coral tank. For some that’s okay, but for me I realized I needed to balance the pleasure gained of keeping these animals with the optical experience of viewing a final product.

I haven’t heard from Yasuhiro in years now, and I fear this system is no more. Hopefully these photos that I’ve kept with me will inspire you during this reefing “off-season”. If anyone has any updates on this beautiful tank, let us know.

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If you’re reading this site you’ve likely heard his name before–John Coppolino, or Copps, is a top notch aquarists with a knack for landing some of the rarest fish available and for growing some impeccably colored corals. He’s also the biggest angelfish lover in the industry and a good friend of mine.

A few weeks back I got to see John’s reef in person, along with his scores of other tanks (easily one of the most impressive private rare fish collections in the world). It’s easy to see why Julian Sprung added John’s angel dominated reef to the French release of Kiyoshi Endoh’s Angelfishes of the World. Copps’ reef is equal parts Acropora display and equal parts Angelfish display. If its not the trio of Regal Angels catching your eye, it’s the Collin’s pair, or maybe the large Blueline. But then there is also that fiery red trio of Hawaiian Flame Angels, or those Semis’… oh yeah, and the Joculators!

While there I had the chance to briefly capture John’s main reef display tank with photos and video. The tank is not at its former greatness, as it was when Julian photographed it for Les Poissons-Anges. Since Julians photos, John ripped out many large coral colonies to allow fresh growth. In no time it will be better than ever. Enjoy.

Watch the video in a larger format here.

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We previously showed you Yoon Yeo Kwang’s beautiful 100g aquarium, and now ZEOvit.com is putting it in the spotlight again with its Dream Tank of the Quarter Award. With its attractive aquascape, coralscape and coloration, Yoon’s aquarium is a deserving winner.

A brief equipment and additive profile is included below, but be sure to check out the full ZEO write up here.

ZEOvit Products:

• KZ Activated Cabon: 0.4L monthly)
• Zeobak(3drops daily),
• ZeoStart2(3drops x 2 daily)
• Pohl’s Xtra(1ml daily),
• AAHC(2drops x 2 weekly)
• Zeozym 1 tea spoon bi weekly
• B-Balance(3drops x 2 weekly)
• Coral Vitalizer(3drops weekly),
• Sponge Power(3drops x 2 weekly)
• PIF1(3drops x 2 weekly)

EQUIPMENT & MAINTENANCE

• Ca / KH addition: GEO612 Reactor+ARM+MG MEDIA
• Reverse Osmosis: RO/DI+TDS meter
• Water Circulation: RD48 Return pump
• Cooling System: DBM250 chiller 26.5Degree – crossfan 26 degree
• ZEOvit Reaktor: Model 7
• Protein Skimmer: ATB Small Cone Skimmer

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Tank Specs:

• Cadights Artisan series 50 gallon Starfire glass aquarium

Stand:

• Cadlights Artisan series stand in Walnut

Lighting :

• Nanotuners 21 watt PAR 38 lamps left side is 12K with 40 degree optics and the right side is 20K with 40 degree optics
• 2x Neo Arm  clamp style multi-position arm light fixture

Filtration:

• Sump was custom made by Cadlights
• Skimmer: Bubble Magnus NAC-6
• 1 liter of Fauna Marin Ultra-Lith in a mesh bag
• Ultra Bio, Bak, MinS

Circulation:

• In tank: Vortech MP40W set to 100% on reef crest mode
• In sump: Tunze 1073.04

Feeding

Daily

Using a fishmate auto feeder, the following dry foods are added: Ultra Seafan, Ultra Clam, Ultramin F. This is fed 4x a day, over a 2 hour period of time. (All three foods are mixed into a large container then 1/8 teaspoon is added in each compartment of the autofeeder).

Daily 7am

• FM UltraMin D and FM UltraMin S

Daily

• Reef Nutrition ArticPods at 6:30am and 6pm dosed manually
• Reef Nutrition OysterFeast at 7am dosed manually
• Reef Nutrition Shellfish Diet at 7pm dosed manually
• Reef Nutrition Rotifeast at 9pm dosed manually

Daily at 6pm & 9pm

• frozen mysis shrimp

Mike also houses the rare Red Stripe Perchlet (Ellerkeldia rubra) shown above,  and Centrogenys vaidiensi.

Daily at 8pm

• frozen cyclops
• frozen H20 foods coral food

Water Changes:

• 25% every Wednesday & 25% every Saturday using E.S.V B-Ionic Seawater System salt mix.

Hats off to Mike for the effort and cost involved in keeping these colorful animals. To stay updated, check out his tank builds on the following forums:

• Reef Central
• Nano-Reef.com
• Ultimate Reef
• Manhattan Reefs

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Mark Poletti recently shared this video of his incredibly vivid SPS reef. The clip may be a bit shakey and the music will put you to sleep, but the corals will surely get your attention.  The tall aquascape and coralscape separate this aquarium into a category reserved for the best in the world. Keep an eye out in the video for Mark’s jocose pair of Centropyge joculator.

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Large mature corals. Elegant and natural aquascaping. Stunning colors. There’s really not much else to say about Hu Haiwei’s reef which is one of the best in the world. Hu, better known as Welles,  uses 3 x 400w XM 10K metal halides to pop reds and yellows, while also packing enough PAR and blue wavelengths to maintain the solid blue and purple acroporas. He has recently experimented with VHO actinic and LED additions for extra pop. Welles has thankfully begun a build thread on RC, and was also crowned RC’s October TOTM.  Be sure to check it out for more eye candy and inspiration. Well done Mr. Hu Haiwei!

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We previously showed you Mariusz’s sun coral dominated LPS reef aquarium. Since then Mariusz has been working on an upgrade, but he did not want your typical rectangular or cube tank. Given his taste in azooxanthellate corals he opted for a split level, drop off tank to mimic a reef wall. The aquarium is roughly 71″ long with a 16″ height difference between the two levels of the aquarium.

Mariusz has stuck with his orange dominated theme, extending to the fish and corals–with subtle highlights of blue and purple in sponges, tube anemones, chromis and anthias. He has become a popular discussion topic among LPS keepers for the reported 40 cubes of mysis he feeds his sun corals each day! To cope with this waste, a large  Deltec AP 703 skimmer is used.

This aquarium is relatively new, with most of the inhabitants being transferred from a previous system. Unfortunately Mariusz has had a host of issues with the tank itself due to poor construction, which lead to a leak and a host of other headaches. We wish him the best of luck to resolve this, and to continue working on this tank–pending the outcome we’ll have more updates on this unique aquarium.

For more reef wall inspiration be sure to see Philippe Grosjean’s drop off reef.

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Pieter van Suijlekom is better known in the reefing world as Pieter Six Meter for his stunning 1,500 gallon, 6 meter curved glass display tank. This aquarium was constructed using 2 sheets of 12mm glass that were bent in a large oven separately and then bonded using a special resin.

This labor intensive process is just the starting point for the exquisite reef that features excellent aquascaping, coralscaping and one of the most diverse private coral and fish collections in the hobby. Enjoy the video from Zeewaterforum. For more information see his ’06 TOTM article.

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