It all started with interest in fresh water aquariums. I always thought that keeping a saltwater aquarium was very exspensive and difficult. I did some reasearch on the web and came across Gil and Lisa's 7gal nano reef and Nano-reef.com , I found some interesting beutiful small reef tanks and I had to have one. My tank was than set up on July 19,2003.The advantage to these Nano Reefs is the cost and maintainace that is very affordable.
32 Watt CSL Smartlight PC Retrofit
Custom Made Canopy
Mini Jet 404 Power Head
Penguin 125 HOB
8 LBS Ultra Show Kealini Live Rock
5 LBS Course Hawaiian Sand
Inverts and Fish
1 Large Mexican Turbo Snail
3 Astrea Snails
3 Narsisis Snails
3 Red Leged Hermit Crabs
1 Hawaiian Feather Duster
1 Clown Fish
Corals
Gold Poylps
Brown/Green Poylps
Spotted Brown/Pink/Green Poylps
Orange/Purple/Green Zoos
Green/Purple Zoos
Peach/Green Zoos
Brown/Yellow Spots Zoos
Green Star Polyps
Pulsing Xenia
Finger Leather
Fox Coral
My first major decision was deciding on what tank and size I wanted to go with. I really wanted a 7 Gal Mini Bow but no LFS had any so I had to settle with a 5.5 Gal. It was perfect because I just wanted to see if I could keep a reef alive.
Lighting and Conopy
Now it was time for deciding on what light I wanted to use and after researching over the web and noticed good results from the CSL 32watt retro fit. So I went searching agian for light at LFS and no one had them so I had to mail order it from Marine Depot. After a few days went by waiting for my light to arrive I got out my saw started on my custom canopy which could have turned out better if I took the time to make it but it does the job well and when the lights arrived it fit right into the canopy. The back of the canopy was left open so that the hot air could be vented out through the back. Lights are on a timmer for a 12 hour cycle on at 10am and off at 10pm
Water and Water Flow
Water flow is provided with a penguin 125 HOB with no media and no bio wheel. Also to add more water flow is a Mini Jet 404 PH which adds more than eonought flow into my small tank. Water I decided to use Reef Crystals salt water mix. The salt level is kept at 1.024-1.026
Filteration
I decided to go with live rock and sand for fitlering the water. Now it was deciding and what kind of rock and where to buy it from. After researching and making a few calls I decided to go with 8 lbs of Dr. Macs CoralsUncured Kealini rock which was of great quality. Dr.MAc was very helpful and sells great quality rocks. My sand was no problem was it was a drive away at the local beach which I got from kind of deep water about 5 lbs of sand straight out of the ocean.
Maintainace
My normal maintainace is water top off every day. every 2 or 3 days I clean the glass of algee but most of the time my clean up crew does its job. A weekly one gal water change is done every Saturday and I vacume usisng a rigid airline tubing to suck waste and algee up.
Waikiki Aquarium Photos
Local Fish Store Guide In Hawaii
Ohana's "Freinds" Nano Reefs Photos
Do It Your Self.
Great place to learn, share and ask qeuestions about Nano Reefs
Hawaii Starts Here.
