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Way back in December 2001, Practical Fishkeeping magazine sent a reporter to the home of David Saxby, whose marine aquarium inspires awe (and not a little envy!) in everyone who sees it. The reason? It's huge.

The aquarium itself is an L-shaped affair that is - wait for it - 3m long (that's a little over 10 feet!), 1.2m deep, and 1.5m wide at the widest point. It holds around 1,200 gallons of seawater, along with getting on for a ton of live rock and corals. That's right - a ton of live rock. There is a 200 gallon sump underneath, and the whole is attached to a massive reservoir via a complex system of pumps (all controlled by computer), and the reservoir holds a whopping 2,000 gallons. Total water volume, when the volume of the various filtration units is added to the whole, is 3,700 gallons of actual water. Lighting (for the corals) is metal halide - something like five kilowatts of power consumption for the lighting system alone. The system boasts three protein skimmers (which are 8 feet tall!), two of these being enormous Deltec systems with needle wheels, and these require no less than nine Eheim 1060 pumps between them to drive the venturis. The management system also includes UV sterilisers, an ozoniser (used only when special circumstances dictate the need), and a titanium shell and tube coil heat exchanger, because with 5 kilowatts of metal halide lighting, David's main problem isn't heat, but cooling ... Water circulation for this system is a whopping 17,000 gallons per hour. Not so much an aquarium, more a civil engineering project!

The inmates are equally stunning. A total of three hundred fish. That's right. Most people would choke at the prospect of trying to keep 300 marine fish in a single aquarium, but not David Saxby. But then, with the industrial level of filtration he's invested in (there must be around £40,000 worth of equipment keeping those fish alive ...) he can get away with his stocking levels. There are not many of us who can boast 18 Yellow Tangs in the one aquarium! Not to mention something like 30 Anthias Fairy Basslets. Which manage to coexist with a Poweder-Blue Surgeon, a dozen or so big Chromis Damsels, several Banggai Cardinals, several Pyjama Cardinals, and others too numerous to mention. Oh, and the invertebrate clean up crew includes around 2,000 Turbo Snails ...

There are quite a few public aquaria who would envy David Saxby, given the above. However, as he says in the interview, there are a few drawbacks to this system.

First of all, water changes. The logistics involved are epic in scale. Even with an RO unit going at full tilt, it takes him seven days to make up enough seawater for a 50% water change if it should be needed. "I can only make 280 gallons per day", he sighs.

Then, there's the matter of exchanging the old water for new. Thanks to a neat piece of design, the big reservoir can be partitioned for the purpose, and then brought back into the main system. Even so, a big 50% water change (which takes place every six months) involves the best part of 14 days' prior planning, including the 7 days it takes to make up the best part of 1,400 gallons of new seawater. Using the expensive Reef Crystals brand of salt into the bargain. Which he probably buys in 50 kilogram drums at a time - how else does he make up 1400 gallons of seawater in one go? Even the smaller frequent water changes - a 10% change involves 300 gallons - is more than some people will change in a year on a more typical aquarium set-up.

Everything about this system is outsized. His Caulerpa macroalga refugium is bigger than most other people's full-blown reef systems. But then, he does have a lot of fish. And there is a phosphate remover on his system that contains 36 litres of RowaPhos. The 'back room' for the aquarium housing these systems looks like the engine room on an ocean liner, because the pipework alone holds a total of 100 gallons. Partly because there's a 40 metre distance between the big reservoir and the actual aquarium - the pumps that move this huge volume of water could flood the average living room to ceiling height in about 5 minutes.

David's hints to aquarists with smaller systems make interesting reading. First, skimmers. His advice? You cannot overskim an aquarium. On a smaller system with a correspondingly larger bioload per unit volume, he claims it's even more important. His tip: listen to what people say is the biggest skimmer you'll need, then buy one twice the size. If possible, get one with self-cleaning functions built in (like his). He says: "Skim 1½ times your tank volume minimum per hour. Skim 24 hours per day".

Second, if you're running a reef system, phosphates are more important to eliminate than nitrates. His nitrate readings are typically 10 ppm. Phosphate, on the other hand, is zero. He says: "Remove phosphate from day one - it's a major cause of nuisance algae". He claims that corals suffer more from lack of attention to phosphate management than nitrate management, because the phosphates fuel the growth of slime algae, damage corals even at very low levels, and inhibit coral growth. In his book, anyone growing corals should regard phosphate as a major enemy to be eliminated at all costs, and if the lush growth of his own corals is indicative, he's got a point.

Other hints for the would-be emulator? Make sure your rockwork is solidly cemented. The last thing you want is a rockfall in a system that size - a ton of rock shifting all at once will come crashing through the front glass with ease, and the resulting calamity will give your home insurers a seizure. Do this even in a small system, as it will save potential heartache later. Of course, on a small system, using Milliput to cement the rocks isn't a major problem, but when there's a ton of rock to cement, that's a lot of Milliput.

David's LFS must really love having him turn up at the shop. Can you imagine the scene? "I'll take a 50 kilo drum of Reef Crystals, 25 kilos of RowaPhos and 10 of those metal halide bulbs, please ..." ker-ching. Not to mention how much he must have spent on fish and inverts. Two thousand Turbo Snails? No less than thirty Fairy Basslets? And Anthias aren't cheap to feed once you've splurged a large wad of wonga buying them. My estimate is that running this vast aquarium sets him back somewhere between £5,000 and £10,000 per year. Still, if he has nothing else to spend his money on, good luck to him - wish I could do the same!

Mentally totting up the purchase cost of all those fish and inverts, I reckon there's £25,000 worth of stock in that one aquarium. Minimum. In other words, his fish and invert stock costs as much as a brand new BMW. Puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Now all I need is a Lottery win. Because if I'm going to have an aquarium like his, I'll need a new house to go with it - a castle in Scotland, perhaps?



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Well, after reading about such a spectacular tank, I had to see if I could find some pictures online..

In this [link=link]http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=151" style="COLOR: #ffe303[/link] to his article you can see his school of yellow tangs in the left hand corner of the first picture..

And here's just an article in PFK with one picture of Mr. Saxby sitting in front of his [link=monster tank]http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=83" style="COLOR: #ffe303[/link]

If anybody digs up any other pictures of his aquarium, please post them!!

The school of yellow tangs really shows how big the tank is!

When I looked at the picture, I thought yeah, that's pretty big...but when those tangs looked dime sized, I realized how massive that thing was.

You know what I'm thinking...?

Field Trip!!! We need some inspiration.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Wow, and I thought 180g was HUGE :%)

Last edited by Jag at 07-Feb-2005 05:02