Matt Chamberlain's Mini Reef Tank
A set of pages that illustrate my experience in keeping and maintaining a Mini Reef Tank environment.
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I have been reef keeping since 1995 when I set this mini reef tank up
The Tank measurements are 4ft. in Length by 15inch Wide and 15 inch High giving a capacity of about 36 Gallons with the rock displacement. The Tank is filtered by an Eheim Professional 2227 Wet/Dry Canister filter. In addition, a smaller Eheim 2211 canister filter is also employed which can be filled with carbon, nitrate and/or phosphate sponge. Inside the tank three mini jet power-heads provide ample water circulation.
Lighting is provided by three coralife tubes. A trichromatic, 50/50 and Actinic tube are all used. A coralife tube reflector is used within the hood to increase the light reflection. The lights are timed to come on at different times during the day giving a total light up of about 10 hours. The Actinic is the first and last light on.
The Tank Set-up ( A page which shows my whole tank with the filters underneath )
All the rock inside is Live African rock. I cured two boxes of this myself prior to setting up the tank. The rock was cured in my garage for about a month in a large plumbers vat. Although the smell was pretty foul to start with, I can certainly recommend you curing your own rock. You get to see lots of little creatures and it gives you the opportunity to weed out the undesirables such as Mantis shrimps and bristlenose worms. Each day I would siphon off the large amounts of foam caused by the two large air stones. A quick scrub of the rock was also performed a couple of times a week. After about two weeks of the curing process, I did a complete water change in the vat. This enabled me to get rid of all the gung in the bottom and really clean off the rock. To begin with the rock was quite white, but there were several patches of pink and green coraline algae. This has later flourished. Once the smell had gone and the test results showed the ammonia was safe, the rock was ready for my tank.
The diverse range of shapes to the rock enabled me and a friend to set the tank-up with numerous caves and features, however I sometimes feel a little extra height in the tank would have been better. I originally used this tank to house tropical's. What with the high price of the live rock, my budget just couldn't run to a bigger tank. After a day or so the water had cleared, leaving a clean looking tank. I had fitted a spray bar along the bottom back of the tank with a power head. This is timed to come on about two or three times a day. It basically pushes all the rubbish forward enabling me to siphon it off.
The first additions to the tank were a dozen turbo snails. These helped keep the rock clean in the early stages. After a week or so once all the water parameters were correct, I added my first corals. These were two medium soft corals, an African bush coral and a finger coral. I later added a beautiful large white feather duster which lasted for about eight months. Other additions in the early stages included a Soft Leather coral, various assorted mushrooms, yellow polyps and some green xenia.
Moving onto the fish additions, the first fish I introduced was a Pyjama wrase. This lasted about three months before mysteriously disappearing. The next addition was a Cherub Angel, which I still have today. Later additions included a pair of Percula Clowns, although not introduced by myself. I was golfing one Saturday afternoon, only to return home and find that my parents had bought these clowns. I still have the pair today. I have also included a Yellow Tang. However, my first attempt at keeping a Tang failed with the fish dying shortly after introduction with white spot. This prompted me to add a UV light to my Tank Setup, and I'm happy to report that this piece of equipment has done the trick with no further outbreaks of the disease. My new Yellow Tang is fine and feeding happily. My fifth and final fish I currently have, is a Neon Goby, although it does not have a blue stripe, but a bright gold stripe.
Further additions on the invertebrate side included more soft leather corals Sarcophyton Latum and Lobophytum Crassum. Various assorted mushrooms Caribbean 1, Caribbean 2, and Coloured mushrooms. Another coral that has done quite well is the Clove polyps. I have actually pulled single polyps from the main colony in order to start new colonies. I have recently added a Sea Whip, this is a form of gorgonia. On the hard coral side, I have added a Sun Coral, and recently a Comb coral. The Sun coral has not done brilliant and has started to decline. This particular coral needs regular feeding to do well.
Other residents to the tank include about a dozen turbo snails and various hermit crabs. These scavenge on any un-eaten food and anything they can get their claws upon. Thus, they are a valuable addition in the up keep of the tank. Another occupant in the tank is a Cleaner Shrimp. I believe I also have a Pistol Shrimp, however I cannot confirm this as I've not actually seen the creature that clicks every night. I don't think it's a Mantis Shrimp, as you tend to see Mantis Shrimps from time to time if you have one. I previously had a Mantis Shrimp, which I successfully captured. I use to see this Mantis regularly. I have read that Pistol Shrimps are much more recluse than the Mantis. On the subject of how I caught my Mantis Shrimp, I simply watched which piece of rock it went into, before removing the rock and placing in another container until the little blighter appeared.
On the maintenance side, I perform a five gallon water change every two or three weeks using RO water. I started using Kent marine salt but have since switched to Reef Crystals. This has an excellent calcium content and has helped keep my coraline algae spreading so well. Other additives which I add weekly include Kent Coral-vite, Strontium and Iodine. Furthermore, I also add Kalkwasser via an aspirator system. I drip this into the tank over night very slowly as not to raise the Ph too quickly. I add about a gallon of Kalkwasser every week, although this is increased in the summer when I get more evaporation due to the heat. During the summer months I employ a large fan which blows across the water surface. This causes a lot of evaporation, but is effective in keeping the temperature down.
I feed the fish once a day and try to vary their diet. I feed all sorts of frozen foods such as brimeshrimp, spirilina, plankton, as well as flake and lettuce.
Now the tank has matured, I don't really perform any regular tests. I only check the Ph, salinity and Alkalinity from time to time. I'm a great believer in that if the tank looks clean and healthy with all the occupants out, there is not much wrong with the tank. However, regular testing is recommended in the tank's early life.
If I could give some tips on successful reef keeping I would say :-
Speak to as many people as you can that have experience of keeping reefs, you will learn so much.
Take things slowly to start with, add new additions slowly, be patient.
Minimise the number of fish you keep.
Keep your hands out of the tank as much as possible.
Stick to a regular routine of doing things.
Hope you've enjoyed reading about my reef tank, I thank you and wish you good Reef Keeping.
Mini Reef Tank Pictures and Thumb nails
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