Got a Nano Reef Tank

This Christmas Ryan and I decided we'd go in on a present together, rather than buying each other individual gifts. We'd both wanted an aquarium in the house for sometime, so we started looking around for the right one for us. We decided on a 28 gallon reef tank (called a nano reef tank due to the small size). We both love learning new things and decided it would be fun to try.

Ryan has had experiences with saltwater aquariums before, I however have not. I do have some experiences in ecosystems though a field studies class in high school and remembered loving learning about marine ecosystems. In fact, because of that class I had intended to major in marine biology when I started college. That is until I gave into the facts that I get sea sick and I can't scuba dive due to life long inner ear issues. I really wanted to get back into learning about marine environments, so I decided an aquarium was a safe bet for me.

I decided to keep this blog to collect the information I've learned and to document our experience.

First, a bit about our set-up.

Size:
28 gallon JBJ Nano-Cube HQI with stand
25 gallons in the viewable area. 3 gallons in the rear sump (divided area in the back of the tank).

Filtration (a tank needs mechanical, chemical and biological filters):
The rear sump has a mechanical sponge and a protein skimmer for mechanical filtration and activated carbon for the chemical filtration. The purpose of mechanical filtration is to catch the sizable pieces of debris in the tank. The sponge collects the water as it flows over it in the back into the sump. The protein filter produces bubbles in the tank to separate floating proteins that become foamy and collect together into a holding area. The activated carbon removes dissolved organic compounds.

We are going to add live rock and live sand in the main tank area for the biological filtration instead of using the biological rings that came with the tank. The purpose of biological filtration in a reef tank is to reduce ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Ammonia gets into the aquarium from fish poop and is turned into nitrite by natural bacteria, which is good because ammonia kills fish. However, nitrite at high levels kills fish and invertebrates too. So the nitrite is turned into nitrate by another group of bacteria. However, nitrate is bad for reefs, even at low levels. Therefore, it must be removed through regular partial water changes and biological filtration systems like live rock and live sand which contain de-nitrifying bacteria, hence they are "live". It turns out that keeping a reef tank is much harder than a fish only tank for issues like this. Also, with such a small tank the water can go bad very quickly, compared to a larger tank where moer water means more dilution of unwanted elements.

Equipment:
Heater (thanks Eric). This is needed to keep the water temperature consistent, so the reef isn't bothered by swings in temperature.

150W Double-Ended HQI Metal Halide light (14000K ) running on a magnetic ballast. These type of lights are intensely bright and great for reef tanks because they can greatly replicate tropical sunlight. It even makes a cool water halo effect on the floor. The K stands for Kelvin which measures the wavelength of the light (higher Kelvin ratings produce a more blue-violet spectrum which reach deeper than spectrums that are filtered out by the water). However, because they are so powerful, they are also hot and require cooling fans. Don't worry, it should be safe because it also has a thermal protector chip that will shut it off if it gets too hot, and the canopy is flame retardant. We also have cool blue LED lights for a "moonlight" effect at night.

2 water pumps create currents on each side of the tank and a wave maker can alternate the currents.

Getting it Started:
We went to B&B first, and spent way too much money. But we did get a hydrometer (needed to weigh the specific gravity of the water to confer salinity), a thermometer and a water testing kit. As mentioned before, the key to reef tanks is keeping the water within the right parameters and stable.

We also bought a bag of live sand, salt and a water filter, so we thought we were good to start it up. The previous night we filled it with fresh water to test and found it had no leaks. We drained it, filled it with water filtered through carbon and de-ionzer. Then we added salt and let it sit for the night to dissolve.

Water Issues:
The next day I went to a local aquarium shop. They aren't so much a shop as a company that maintains a lot of the large tanks around the area. They open their warehouse to the public in the afternoons for hobbyists, but have odd and unreliable hours. However, they seem to be knowledgeable and told me to throw out the water we had just prepared. Apparently, water is not fit for a reef tank unless it has gone through a reverse osmosis process (RO) as well as a de-ionization process (DI). We had only done DI, which removed chlorine and other elements from the water, but not RO to remove the phosphates. They promised that the first time we added something like live rock, algae would feast on all the phosphates in the water and bloom out of control. We'd spend much more money and time fixing that problem, rather than if we started with clean water in the first place. They recommended we get our our own RO/DI system, or buy water from them (at 50 cents a gallon) until we got one. We debated a long time about this, after all they are trying to sell water, but after much research we found there was a sound basis to their logic. It's like buying a cheap radar detector, paying for the inevitable ticket and then realizing you spent more than if you had gone for the slightly more expensive detector and avoided the ticket in the first place. So we had to empty the tank again (and waste all of the salt we added earlier) to start over with new, RO/DI filtered water.

I'm headed to the shop tomorrow with a few brand new 5 gallon gas tanks to load up on water. The plan is to fill the tank tomorrow night, add salt, possibly the live sand, and let it sit to settle. Ryan found out that the Gulfarium in Ft. Walton Beach sells aquacultured live rock. They grow the rocks themselves on site so that the environment isn't depleted from collectors filling their tanks. We are going to check them out this week and hopefully pick some up, maybe some of their live sand too, which they sell directly from their live sea exhibit.

Once we add the live rock and live sand, we have a waiting period for a "curing cycle" of the tank. During this time the ammonia is turned into nitrite, then nitriate and then eventually levels off and is ready for fish and coral. We have to start slow, so we think we are going to start with a pair of clown fish, and then maybe an anemome (which are hard to keep alive, so I'm apprehensive) and a royal gramma.

Fingers crossed.