1. UltraMarine’s
U lT i m aT e a q U a r i U m s
F e a t u r i n g P i e t e r Va n S u i j l e k o m f r o m V l a a r d i n g e n , R o t t e r d a m
By Jon Brydon & Scott Booth.
All images © Scott Booth
“The whole methodology behind
T his huge aquarium is owned by a
chap, who in certain circles is known
as ‘6 metre Pieter’ (no, not those kinds of
with us as a souvenir, turned over a price
tag and made a comment along the lines
that we have always preferred radiators.
the world over. But enough about all that,
the discerning UltraMarine reader wants
facts and figures, so here goes!!!
this tank was to create a natural
circles), whom has built this system on
looking piece of reef, so that
the first floor of his business premises the The main shop floor hosts this display The back pane of glass measures
‘Open Haarden Centrum’. The ‘OHC’ tank, also a lovely 1000 litre cylindrical a whopping six metres (that isn’t a
the livestock added would fit
is a very flash looking bespoke fireplace azooxanthellate tank, several stunning misprint and explains the dodgy nick-
showroom in Vlaardingen near Rotter- fire places (obviously) and a bar -yes, name) in length, or in old money, 19.7
into their surroundings easier
dam. We fancied bringing a nice a bar, complete with beer fridges and feet. Each end panel is 165 cm wide and
marble hearth optics from which Pieter has been known 90 cm tall, the left end of which is a view-
and act as naturally as they
back to hand out Heinekens of an evening ing window all by itself. To look down
stating: ‘When in the land of Heineken, you the length of this tank is quite bizarre.
would in the wild. To be fair,
must drink Heineken’. It’s not often you get the chance to look
into nearly 20 feet of reef tank. The tank
we think he has cracked it. “
Pieter is a very nice narrows significantly in the middle due
down to earth to the curve of the front pane and is made
bloke who is more out of 26 mm thick glass. The tank’s
than happy length was decided upon, not because
to entertain of the space, not because of running
the odd reefer costs, but because six metres was the
coming in off the longest that a single piece of glass could
streets to dribble on be curved by Pieter’s aquarium installers.
his carpet and stare in
disbelief at what he has cre- Pieter tells you all this in a very ‘matter
ated. His guest books runneth of fact’ fashion as if everyone encom-
over with complimentary passes these problems when setting up
comments from visiting reefers a reef tank. Oh how the other half live
eh? The front pane is actually two sheets cially designed 19 metre long structural
of 12 mm float-glass laminated together piles had to be inserted in to the ground
with 2 mm of resin; this you can only tell through the foundations of the building,
by looking down upon it from above. The reaching up and giving much needed sup-
above:
glass had to be 26 mm thick, firstly due port to the first floor.
to its unique shape and secondly, as it is
a small selection of Pieter’s fish
holding back 5,800 litres in the display The top fascia of the tank is fixed on
alone. Once you add in the volume of the both ends to sliding runners not dissimilar
stock, including some beautifully
sumps and a tiny-in-comparison frag/ to those found on kitchen drawers, only
seahorse tank you find the total volume industrial size. The whole top fascia panel
coloured anthias, Parrotfish,
for the whole system is 7,850 litres. is made from sheet aluminium and slides
Hubba hubba! forward with ease to exactly one metre
and a Copperband butterflyfish
from the glass. Below the curved view-
To support such a huge tank which ing pane, stretching the entire length is a
weighs well in excess of 8 tons, two spe- steel hand rail that has a large solid wood

2. a truly stunning example of colour and
form. The tank was initially filled with
natural seawater, which was pumped in
via a road tanker (see the other article on
Arie DeJong in this issue). Over the first
few months the normal problems of algae
blooms and brown sand occurred, which
is somewhat comforting. No matter
how large the project or big the budget,
everybody has to be patient at first and
let nature take its course. Makes us feel
slightly less inferior for never encounter-
ing the ‘can’t make glass big enough’
problem.
Before long the various cycles and
blooms had cleared, and the tank showed
no adverse affects. All parameters were
spot-on and ready for life to be intro- I n t h e w i n d ow, i s Pi e te r ’s f ra g /s e a h o r s e t a n k . W i t h s t a b l e p a ra m e te r s ,
duced. But hang on, aren’t we forgetting
something, how does it all work? Ha ha, reduced flow and great feeding, the seahorses in this tank are in
fear not, we are just coming to that!
remarkable condition. There is driftwood in this tank to provide
Four Red Dragon pumps with a
combined capacity of 48,000 litres per shelter and a gravel base. In the end of this tank Pieter has put zeolite
hour are mounted inside the tank for
internal flow. These pumps are hidden stones. There is a Scolymia in this tank which is almost impossible to
from view by the rockwork exceptionally
well; there’s a reason we couldn’t get photograph. It is identical to any of the ones we find regularly in the
a photo of one of them. Another large
pump, we are told, is situated under the UK, except, due to no predators, stability and high feeding, this coral
tank in a closed loop giving an additional
30,000 lph of alternating flow, changing has inflated to nearly 15 inches across, and it is absolutely stunning!
direction every 120 seconds. The return
pump from the sump pushes out 19,000
lph, and this water is divided via four
outlets exiting near the surface on the To supplement the artificial lighting the a result, 6 x individual 400 watt metal
rear pane. tank was built along a wall housing three halides and 3 x individual 1000 watt
The canopy above the aquarium is removable to allow full access to the complex lighting system large external windows all in a row, pendants are suspended from the ceiling.
It is worth noting that on occasion, the about 2 metres up from the floor. Al- These units are immense, each one on
fish are fed by placing frozen food into though every little helps, and in the sum- its own hanging mechanism for ease of
counter on top of it. This provides a glass was brought in, put into position of anything other than rock, but still the sump tank allowing the return pump mer months of course the sun is stronger maintenance and manoeuvring. For ad-
platform which, when combined with and sealed, the tank as we know it was leaving an open structure to assist flow to blast it out of the inlets on the display. and for longer, this in no way lights ditional actinic light, 4 x 140 watt actinic
the open fascia, means that a person can finished; all that was left to do before and crud removal. It took 2 men working The fish are well tuned to this method and the tank sufficiently to keep a reef. As fluorescent tubes are employed.
walk along it to feed the fish, add a coral filling was to fix PVC rods vertically non stop for 18 hours to build and when the feeding frenzy that surrounds these
or take photos. It also stops grubby little along the rear pane. These rods were finished, 1100 kg of live Rock had been outlets is the only real way of knowing
mitts from reaching up and banging the placed purely to aid the construction used comprising of 900 kg of uncured that they are there. As you can see from
glass. We won’t do it again, promise... of the rockwork forming the reef wall. rock and 200 kg of established rock from the pictures, the ‘feeding frenzy’ is an
Pieter’s old system. insane firework display of colour akin to
This whole dream began life back in The rock was attached by drilling small one of those Sony Bravia TV adverts, only
2005 so has been running for, as near as holes through each piece and then cable Apart from the feeding frenzy, every- without the bouncy balls or council flat
makes no difference, 3 years. When the tying them to the rods to hide any sign thing blends in with seamless ease. It is covered in paint. Anyhow, we digress...
Red Mushrooms The protein skimmer Custom-made filter rack S o m e o f Pi e te r ’s Ac r o p o ra s Feeding Frenzy

3. Pieter changes his halide lamps every drawers are fitted with removable drilled Above the main sumps is a 500mg
6-8 months to ensure that he is getting the trays, each of which is packed with sheets Sander Ozoniser which steadily adds
most from them, with the delicate stock of filter floss which is removed and dis- 200mg of ozone per hour. To the right
he has and the colours he maintains, who posed of weekly. It works very well indeed of the sumps stands the monstrous
are we to argue. It’s clearly a regime that as the sump tank that this contraption sits H&S P20 protein skimmer. At over 2
works well for him. All lighting times over is spotless; free of mulm and detritus. metres tall this is one mean mother of
and sequences are controlled by an Aqua If only we mere mortals had the room for a skimmer. Thankfully, the cup has
Medic lighting computer. such things. a self-cleaning head which jet washes
itself every 3 hours and rinses directly
If the tank is the heart of the building The sump that sits beneath the ‘thingy’ is to the drain. Pieter also employs a large
then the sump room is most certainly the constructed entirely of fibreglassed ply- fluidized sand filter on this system: again
nerve centre. The amount of care and wood panels and is split into two separate it’s 2 metres tall and is running round the
design that has gone into this room beg- vats. The one on the left is for water enter- clock. When we visited Pieter he was just
gars belief. Water from the display enters ing the system, the one on the right for the about to rip out his large Deltec calcium
through pipework appearing from the return pump and skimmer feeds. It also reactor in favour of a specially designed
ceiling and goes straight into a made-to- houses the heaters and of course a hell of one-off construction from Belgium. It
measure filter rack thingy. Yes, thingy: a lot of water. It is into this tank that the was installed a few weeks later and from he likes them. The Deltec reactor was result, Pieter employs Richard Westdorp “We hope to one day
a cabinet containing several drawers frozen food sometimes goes to feed the what we gather should help to maintain melting down coral skeleton as fast as he full time to assist in its running. Rich-
through which the water flows. These main display. his calcium levels at 450ppm, just where could pour it in. Well not quite, but you ard is a great guy who really knows his see it again, hopefully
get the idea. onions as well as this system, inside and
out. Both men talk fondly of this tank soon; as every time
Two 1000 litre water storage tanks are and both men should be rightly proud.
used, one a top-up reservoir, the other for What they have created and maintain we go back we are
water changes. Pieter changes 1500 litres is nothing short of paradise. We would
of water per week, every week and has like to thank both guys equally for the absolutely fascinated
cleverly built a full drainage system guided tour we got and for answering
below the tiled floor of his sump room. our questions, though it was clear to see by this stunning tank.”
With this much water splashing about, that it was no hardship for either party.
flooding and spillage is an every day Seeing this tank face to face and compil-
occurrence. To keep the tank looking as ing this feature was an honour, and we
clean as possible Pieter swaps the sand in got the distinct feeling that showing it off
the display for fresh sand every 3 months. to us once again was as pleasurable for
He states very clearly that the sand is them as it was for us.
purely there for aesthetics and is not part
of the biological filtration. His nitrates We could have spent days not only
and phosphates are totally undetectable looking at this tank but attempting to
on any kit you throw at it. This system compile an accurate stocklist. In such a
works, and works well. large, busy tank it would have been akin
to searching for a needle in a haystack.
Running a very successful fireplace The charts on this page together with the
shop and maintaining this tank to this pictures hopefully give you an indication
level just isn’t possible for one man. As a of some of the stunning inhabitants. 
Fish Stock 2 Apolemichthys trimaculatus Others: 1 Valencienna sexguttata Caulastrea furcata (grey & green) Seriatopora caliendrum
2 Centropyge multifasciatus 1 Lo upsi 1 Oxymonacanthus longirostris Herpolitha limax Acropora formosa
Surgeon Fish: 2 Centropyge loriculus 1 Scarus quoyi 8 Chromis Viridis Turbinaria reniformis Acropora granulosa
1 Acanthurus achilles 2 Centropyge aurantia 2 Amphiprion occelaris Favia sp. Acropora suharsonoi
1 Naso literatus 10 Opistognathus aurifrons Corals Favites sp. Acropora jaquelinae
1 Nao elegans Anthias: 1 Halichoeres chrysus Physogyra sp. Acropora gemmifera
1 Naso flamingii 52 Tuka 9 Macropharyngdon bipartus LPS: Lobophyllia sp. Acropora humilis
4 Zebrasoma xanthurum 2 Tiara 1 Chirrhilabrus Flavidorsalis Plerogyra sinuosa Pectinia sp. Acropora sp.
4 Paracanthurus hepatus, (yellow belly) 4 Parvoritris 1 Chirrhilabrus lineatus Euphyllia ancora Pavona sp.
2 Zebrasoma rostratum 5 Lori 1 Gomphosus varius Euphyllia parancora SPS:
16 Evansi 1 Calloplesios altevelis Euphyllia divisa Montipora digitata Along with:
Angels: 46 Bartlettorum 2 Pseudochromis fridmani Euphyllia paradivisa Montipora capricornis
2 Apolemichthys xanthopuntatus 39 Dispar 2 Pseudochromis porphyeus Euphyllia sp. Montipora sp. Tridacna maxima, T. crocea and
1 Chaetodontoplus melanosoma 6 Pleurotaenia 4 Apogon leptacanthus Goniopora stokesi Psammocora contigua T. squamosa. Both photosynthetic
1 Pomacanthus imperator 8 Flavicauda 1 Salarias Goniopora sp. (red, blue, green) Porites sp. and non-photosynthetic gorgonians,
1 Holacanthus ciliaris 14 Squamipinnis 3 Amblyeletris randalli Fungia spp. Poccilopora verrucosa Capnella sp., Xenia and Anthelia sp
1 Holacanthus africanus 6 Ventralis 2 Gobiosama genie Tubastrea sp. Seriatopora hystrix