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| Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved. Dave's Aquaria |
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| Article |
| February, 2004 |
| Setting up a 12 Gallon Mini-Reef Aquarium |
| David B. Korzuch Jr. |
| So, you are looking into starting a mini-reef aquarium. Many people are more drawn to the mini-reef aquarium because people think that they cost less, they are not as much work, and that they don't have enough room for a larger tank. People often are surprised when they hear the phrase, "The bigger the tank, the easier it is to take care of." They assume that they have more control over the smaller tank and therefore, it is easier. These theories are wrong. Before you setup a mini-reef aquarium, you are going to have to understand some imprortant points: 1. The phrase "the bigger the aquarium, the easier it is to take care of" is true. It is true |
| because of the fact that, a saltwater aquarium requires an ecosystem to be established. If this echosystem is not establish within the "cycling period" then it cannot support the aquatic life that oceans do. 2. The mini-reef aquarium requires more work then the regular 37, 55,75,90 gallon etc. aquariums because it is alot easier to set the established ecosystem off-balance by water changes and topping off evaporated water. 3. A mini-reef aquarium is small. One inch of fish per five gallons of saltwater is what is required for swimming room. A 12 Gallon mini-reef aquarium can only support about 2 small fish. 4. You have to realize that the tank is going to have to run for 4-6 weeks (estimated) with nothing in it except live rock to esatblish that ecosystem. Please take these points into consideration. The mini-reef aquarium may or may not be for you. To start the mini-reef aquarium, you should first buy the materials. The first material should be the tank. The Nano Cube Aquarium is a perfect aquarium for the mini-reef setup. It comes complete with a three stage wet-dry filtartion unit, a 24 watt compact flourescent light, and a 106 GPH pump to circulate water. You should |
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| put the light on an outlet timer so it turns on and off at the same time everyday. Leave the light on for 10 hours a day. Next, you will need a heater (I recommend the 50 watt Visi-Therm Deluxe Heater.) You may also need some little things like a good thermometer, a saltwater testing kit (pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate), a hydrometer, a net, a bottle of declorinator, and salt mix. You can use many different kinds of substrates. Make sure the one you choose is safe for saltwater reefs. Do not use any type of freshwater colored gravel. If you have a local pet store near you and if they sell live sand, that would be a perfect addition to the nano cube. I recommend about 15 lbs. of live sand or CaribSea Aragonite. Click Next below to find out how to setup your mini-reef. |
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