I began developing
this tank in September of 2002. After visiting a few LFS's,
I decided to do a saltwater tank. I liked the idea of a clownfish
and a host anemone. I am not new to fish tanks; in fact, I grew
up with tanks all over the house. My mother loved freshwater
fish, and had guppy tanks here, there, and everywhere - newly
hatched fry trying to hide in the fake plastic green floating
plants!
When I first started
my saltwater tank, I thought I knew what I wanted. I liked the
look of the 12 gallon Eclipse. It seemed to have everything
I wanted. Small footprint, clean look, and I was told at the
LFS how easy it was to set-up and maintain a saltwater tank.
I bought it and filled it with a very nice-sized piece of blue
coral. I also purchased 15 lbs of crushed coral, and what I
thought at the time was a "way too cool" collection of
four very realistic pieces of plastic saltwater plants. The
next day I added my three clownfish from the LFS and wondered
why they died within a few days.
I eventually learned
about the cycle of the tank. And with many water changes and
lots of testing, I made it through without too many subsequent
tragedies. I then discovered nano-reef.com and the nano forum
on reefs.org. It was amazing - sites dedicated to the art of
nano reefs (which I belatedly learned I had) and how to actually
keep them alive. I proudly showed off the pictures of my nice
blue coral rock and plastic plants and was surprised when no
one was impressed.
Proud
sponsor of this column
Proud
sponsor of this column
Then I started to
read. I became obsessed with the posts. I looked at the
pictures of the nano tanks and knew that I could do that too.
Lighting was my
main concern. Thirteen watts of lights on a 12 gallon is just
not enough to keep many corals alive. I soon got a 32W retrofit
kit. It worked well for a while, but now I was hooked. I wanted
more; a brand new 2x32W PC was installed. I loved the dusk/dawn
feature and was quite happy with it and my softies loved it
and were growing nicely.
In the meantime,
I had pulled out a sock filter, added an Aquaclear 150 for circulation,
added 2 small ViaAqua powerheads, and a 12" Aquafuge for macro
algae and growing 'pods. The SPS bug then hit me. After trying
a few frags and not getting good results, I knew I had to start
all over from scratch.
I read and read,
researched, and read some more. I knew what I wanted and a year
and a half later, I started to put together my dream tank
Size was a concern.
I had a 24" width limit, so my choices were between a 15gallon
long or a 20 gallon high tank. I chose the 15 because of the
height. I like the 12" vertical reach. It was great for light
penetration and easy to work in. The footprint is 24"x12"x12".
I decided everything from the Eclipse was to be transferred,
including the AQ150, Aquafuge, and the powerheads. The only
thing missing was the lights. The only option was metal halide.
The question then was 175watt or 250watt. I also wanted to supplement
with some actinic. I wound up with a PFO pendant with 2x32W
actinic PCs and went with a 175W Icecap ballast and 10kK XM
bulb. New lights, newly painted 15gallon AGA, and I was ready
to go. (I have since switched out the 175w ballast to 250w Icecap
ballast and 250w XM MH bulb).
Proud
sponsor of this column
Proud
sponsor of this column
Equipment:
15 gallon AGA
24"x12"x12"
PFO Pendant
250W Icecap new
style ballast
250W 10kK XM
bulb
2x32W True Actinic
PC bulbs
12" Aquafuge
with 13W 10kK Jalli Light
2 x Via Aqua
320 powerheads
Fish:
False Percula
(1 year old)
Purple Firefish
(1 year old)
6-Line Wrasse
( 6 months Old)
Very tiny Molly
Miller Blenny
Inverts:
Rose Bubble Tip
Anemone (E. quadricolor) ( 8 months old)
Skunk Cleaner
Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
4" Blue Maxima
Clam
2 small Emerald
Crabs
1 Turbo Snail
10 Nassarius
Snails
6 Astrea Snails
4 Blue hermit
Crabs
1 Scarlet hermit
Crab
Corals:
LPS:
Green Open
Brain
Red Blastomussa
Green Blastomussa
Blue Candy
Cane
Green Branching
Hammer
Softies:
Red Mushrooms.
Green Hairy
Mushrooms
GSP
Pulsing Xenia
Orange and
Green Zoos
Orange and
Purple Zoos
Green PE Zoos
Teal, Orange
and Neon Green Zoos, with brown skirts
SPS:
Blue Millepora
Rose Millepora
Green Millepora
Green Bali
Slimer
Orange Montpora
Cap
Oregon Blue
Tort
Purple Montipora
Digitata
Purple Tri-Color
Acro
Maintenance:
2 gallon water
changes weekly with Oceanic Salt
Dose 15ml of
Ocean's Blend daily ( 2 part additive similar to B-Ionic)
Dose 1ml SeaChem
Iodide weekly
Test Mg, Ca,
and Alk weekly
Test Salinity
monthly
Test Results:
Ca 460 Salinity
1.026
dKh 10.2 Alk
3.66
pH 8.3 Mg 1380
Temp 80F
I feed the fish
once a day usually with Ocean Nutrition Formula One flake. I
also feed Formula One, PE Mysis Shrimp, Brine Shrimp Plus, Silversides,
Cyclop-eeze, DT's. The above are fed 2 times per week, all soaked
in Selcon.
Right now the tank
is pretty much running itself. I have to trim the Xenia and
red mushrooms every few months because they grow so fast. I
now have the beautiful, thriving community I wanted. It took
a lot of work and self education, but it was worth it. Let me
encourage you to contact folks in your area with nano reef experience,
or use the forums so you can avoid the time consuming mistakes
I made and reach your goal even faster.
The majority of
my corals came from a LFS here is Denver, CO. Some came from
online vendors and I have also received some great frags from
the local reef club. A very special thanks to the Rocky Mountain
Reef Club, and John, Joe, Malcolm, Freaky, Nathan , Steve, and
Andrew for adding to my tank.
If
you found this article worthwhile, help support future
AAOLM publications with your generous contribution.
