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Originally Posted by Spayed
this is really cool something i will for surely do when i'm settled down
20 minutes a week? i feel this is an understatement but then again i know nothing about this. i'm most curious
and what kind of maintenance does this involve?
changing the water?
keeping salinity constant?
do you ever need to remove the reefs in order to clean the tank?
are there any plants in there?
if not, CAN you put plants in there? i know green plants can be really good for the water in a standard fish tank
what would you say the startup cost would be for a similar set up? $100,$500,$1k?
how do you get the reefs started? put some coral in there and let them do their thing or do you get a small reef and let it grow?
have you made any big mistakes worth mentioning?
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These are big, in depth answers that I can only answer simply at the time. My advice to you if you are serious about starting one would be to read as much as you. Sites I recommend are nano-reef.com and reefcentral.com, and read the book Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman . I have a background in biology, but I read immensely for about 4 months before I even looked into buying a tank.
A lot of debate on the method of how to efficiently filter the waste that is made from feeding, fish and invertebrate excrement (coral included). I personally have found a complete biological approach to this to be the best as that is what the ocean natural uses, and it allows for a lot of suspended materials for the ecosystem to build itself that would normally be removed mechanically in other filter mechanisms (suspended foods and minerals that are needed for healthy growth).
salinity is kept in check via an auto top off unit that replenishes the tank with fresh water by a float switch (don't want to top off with saltwater before as saltwater evaporates, the salt is left behind).
I do normal maintenance here and there when I see things out of place. Some of these animals are incredibly fragile and pretty much only experience will tell you how to handle them correctly, although again, research here is key.
Plants are extremely beneficial for filtration and macroalgae like chaetomorpha and caleurpa (seaweed essential) I believe, is crucial for long term survival of the tank as there are periods of time you may have to be away from the tank for awhile and do not have time to clean. These plant life feed off the waste of the reef animals and their growth is dependent on this. Mangroves are large saltwater trees that are extremely beneficial to coastal areas to decrease erosion.
Your looking at at least 1k for startup, even for a small tank like this... tanks, lights, pumps, heaters, rock too is even expensive because of its filtering power as it matures (microorganisms), livestock (some tiny pieces of coral can go for over $150), but much coral can be bought cheaply as "frags" or cuttings of mother colonies, they will grow out into vast colonies over a year or 2. Much of the coral in my tank was started from tiny frags.
Much of the success of this tank is my experience in foreseeing problems, such as power outages, heater malfunction, and also being able to observe the health of the reef and take necessary steps to remove disease and decay. The reef is an incredible interconnected super-organism that has taken me a few years to understand, but of course I failed originally.
My advice is to find someone locally you know in the hobby that you can trust. A lot of people out their will try to swindle you into buying things you don't need.
Vid of my coral reef tank
Re: Vid of my coral reef tank
Re: Vid of my coral reef tank
Re: Vid of my coral reef tank
