| Building a nano reef aquarium seemed to go against | | | | slowly started adding AragaMilk to eventually raise |
| everything that I had learned many years ago when | | | | the calcium level to 450 ppm. |
| I had a 180 gallon reef tank. How could I possibly | | | | I have been running the tank for 2 1/2 months now |
| keep water parameters stable enough to house live | | | | and the SPS corals are already showing signs of |
| corals with a small tank? I had read articles on this | | | | growth. The coralline algae has colored up nicely and |
| subject and decided to give it a try. I also decided to | | | | is also showing signs of growth. I had to remove one |
| keep SPS corals, which seemed even more to be a | | | | of the live rocks to make room for some of the |
| doomed attempt. I purchased the a Current Aquapod | | | | corals at the top. It is easy to keep up with the |
| 24 gallon aquarium with the 150 watt 14,000k HQI | | | | weekly water changes and doesn't cost much since I |
| metal halide and 6 each of the blue and white lunar | | | | only change 2 1/2 gallons per week. I buy distilled |
| lights. A separate small power head was installed and | | | | water for water changes and topping off evaporated |
| comes on twice a day to change the water flow. | | | | water. At $.64 per gallon, it doesn't make since to |
| I started by setting up the aquarium and mixing the | | | | buy a reverse osmosis water purifier for water |
| saltwater. Then I added a two inch layer of live sand | | | | changes. |
| and allowed to settle before restarting the pumps. | | | | Nano reef aquariums are great for SPS coral frags. |
| After running for three days the water cleared and it | | | | To attatch the frags to the live rock, I use |
| was time to add the live rock. The nice thing about a | | | | Marineland's Hold Fast, which is a two part epoxy |
| nano reef aquarium is, it doesn't take very much live | | | | similar to plumbers epoxy. The glue will quickly be |
| rock to fill the tank. After running the tank for about | | | | overgrown by coralline algae or the coral itself. Many |
| a week, I checked the water quality for nitrites and | | | | SPS corals are now aquacultered leaving the ocean's |
| ph level. It was now time for the fun part of adding | | | | natural reefs preserved. |
| corals, fish and invertebrates. Over the next month I | | | | |