Introduction

So you want to create a nano reef? Cool, it really isn’t that hard. This small guide will give you advice on how to get setup and cycled. Before you start this guide please take time read the disclaimer and warning above, do not perform these steps if after reading you feel that you are not up to the job. If you haven’t kept a marine or reef aquarium before please do some research first.

Inventory

• Aqua 40 Tank
• 2 x 18 watt Interpet T5 Starters
• 2 x 18 watt T5 Bulbs
• 1 x 25 - 50 watt heater
• 3 - 4 Pieces of quality Live Rock
• Backing Paper or Paint
• Additional Circulation Pump - Suggest Maxi Jet 600lph
• Aragomax Sugar Sized Sand (optional, you can go bare bottom if you wish)
• Thermometer (To measure temperature)
• Hydrometer (To measure specific gravity)
• Salt (Kent, Aqua Medic or Instant Ocean, up to you)
• Drill, Screwdriver & Saw

The total cost of this equipment and materials should be between £100 and £150 and most can be purchased online or from you local fish shop.

Preparing the Tank

When you get your tank you will need to:

• Decide where it will go. (Great on a desk!)
• Do a fresh water test, to test for leaks
• Remove the filter media from the Aqua 40 pump
• Get equipment ready and have a drill and saw on hand.

Modifying the Lights

First of all the light that comes with the Aqua 40 is no good for keeping corals so you will need to invest in 2 x 18 watt interpet bulbs and starters, these fit in to the hood nicely and do not require any electrical modifications.

The lid is easily modified. First of all make sure that the light is NOT plugged in. You should then be able to remove the lighting unit with the use of a screwdriver. You may find it easier to detach the plastic hood from the tank while you are working on the lights. The two plastic hinges that attach to the tank come off. Use the screwdriver to unscrew the see-through plastic light cover on the inside of the hood. Unscrew the lighting unit, you may need to cut a wire to pull it out completely.

Next you will need to mark the positions of the plastic clips for the new Interpet T5 light, check without drilling first to make sure they fit. Once you are certain of the positions you can drill the holes with the relevant drill bit - the hood shouldn’t break and the holes aren’t that noticeable you can sand them down afterwards.

Put the lights in, you may need to saw an extra cap for the wire as I have done on mine, see the photo. Test them, and then screw the water guard back on.

Getting Everything Ready for Water

Next you will need to get everything ready.

The Aqua 40 filter/pump:
If you decide to keep the filter pump supplied you will need to assemble as per instructions inside. (Make sure you remove the filter media supplied). It is recommended that you invest in another pump also such as a Maxi Jet 600lph.

Sand:
If you decide to have a sandbed, add the sand before adding the water as it will stop the water from becoming very cloudy.

Backing:
It is recommended to cover the back of the tank with a suitable background - plain ones always look better. This will hide the wires and just generally make the tank look tidier.

Electrics:
You will need to be absolutely sure where you want the tank to go, it is not recommended to move it once it is all setup. Check that you have enough sockets, if not get a suitable extension lead. You might want to get timers for your lights - they should be on for approximately 8 hours a day - you can get them from B & Q or other hardware stores. The analog ones tend to be more reliable than the digital ones. Make sure all wires have a drip loop and that the plugs are kept away from water at all times.

Preparing the Salt Water

You will need to get some salt from you local fish shop, a good salt brand is Kent or Aqua Medic (which I use at the moment).

Once you have got you salt home you will need to mix it with RO water. You can either buy your RO water from you fish shop or buy a filter to make your own which will work out cheaper in the long run. You will need 25l of RO water.

(We usually find that one mug of salt will give you the correct amount need for 10l of water.)

You will also need to get the temperature to the correct level (25 - 27c)

Once you have the correct temperature and the salt has mixed in you can measure the specific gravity or salinity. There are a number of instruments you can use to measure the specific gravity, a cheap one is an Hydrometer although sometimes they are not reliably. You would be better off getting a Refractometer as these aren’t very expensive either.

The specific gravity should be ideally be around 1.023 - 1.025, choose what you want to keep yours at and stick to it. I keep mine at 1.024.

Once your water is ready, add it to the tank and turn on your pumps. If you added sand it may be cloudy for quite a while but will clear eventually.

Temperature

Depending on what heater you are using it may take a while to get the temperature correct, to monitor the temperature it is best to use a digital thermometer These can be purchased from you local shop for around £10.

The temperature should be between 25 - 27c, you should aim to keep it steady at all times so it shouldn’t rise or fall more than 1 degree.

Live Rock

Once you have your temperature correct you can add your live rock. When choosing live rock you should get it fully cured. I use 3 pieces of live rock and a skeleton of an anchor coral in my tank which is covered in beautiful calcius algae.

When aquascaping you should keep a few things in mind:

• Is there room for inhabitants to hide.
• Have you left places and room to put corals?
• Is it safe or could it fall over. (There are underwater reef safe glues & fillers you can get from your fish shop. I good one is called Reef Construct).

Cycling

Once you are happy with the positions of your live rock you should leave the tank to cycle.

You will now need to go and buy some test kits: Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. You will need others in the future including calcium and phosphate. A good brand of test kits is Salifert and ca be purchased from most fish shops or online.

Your tank will take up to 2 weeks to a month to cycle, only when nitrite & ammonia read 0 on multiple occasions should you start stocking. (Ideally nitrate should be as close to zero as possible.)

Maintenance

On a weekly basis you will need to:

• Top up evaporated water with fresh RO water (not salt water)
• Perform a 10% water change with ro water and salt. (Get to the correct temperature and mix properly before adding to the tank)
• Siphon any detritus off the sand and rocks.
• Clean the pumps.
• Clean the Glass (you can buy magnetic glass cleaners that float now which are very good)
• Perform tests to make sure that levels are correct.

On a daily basis it is recommended that you feed inhabitants and generally monitor the equipment and tank to make sure all is well.

Stocking

Once your tank has cycled you can start stocking very slowly! Research all stock before you buy!

Cleanup Crew

The first tank mates you should get are cleanup critters. These usually consist of a variety of snails, hermit crabs and other invertebrates. You should get a couple of cerith snails to keep the sand bed clean and a few turbo snails to keep nuisance algae under control.

You can get red leg hermit crabs which are generally snail friendly and will eat the left over’s and nibble around at scraps etc.

You might also want to get a shrimp of some kind, the skunk cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp are good additions although you should only keep one in this sized tank.

Corals

You can keep a number of corals including toad stalls, leathers, softies, mushrooms, zoos and star polyps. Basically anything that isn’t to aggressive or hard to keep.

It’s not recommended to keep SPS as these are very hard to keep. You can keep LPS but make sure you don’t have more than one aggressive one in such a small tank.

Fish

In such a small tank many decide not to even keep fish. I like to see at least one fish swimming around so I purchased a Damsel. I don’t recommend keeping any more than 1 or 2 small fish. A pair of clowns would be a really nice touch. Do not even think about putting in Tangs, Puffers, Lion Fish, Angels or Triggers.

Summary

Well that’s it from me. I hope you have found this guide useful and I hope you really enjoy your new nano reef.

Below is a list of my favourite reef keeping related websites that have helped me get up and running.

- Ultimate Reef - www.ultimatereef.net

My favourite forum, although I don’t do a lot of posting I do a lot of reading! It’s probably the UK’s largest marine fish forum. In general the people are very friendly (although you do get a few stupid ones, like with any forum), very helpful and lots of photos of others tanks.

- Reef Land - www.reefland.com

A US based reef site, a friendly online community. Probably one of the more mature places for reef keepers. Not as active as some of the others but is full of information if you search.

- Reef Central - www.reefcentral.com

The largest US based reef, thriving with information and very active. New users may get lost easily.

- Nano Reef - www.nano-reef.com

A US website dedicated to keeping Nano Reefs, includes useful articles, a gallery and a discussion forum. Nice site.

- Fish Base - www.fishbase.org

Find information on practically any fish.

- Melevs Reef - www.melevsreef.com

A great personal US site. Lots of interesting information, especially about setting up your own sump filtration system.

1. The first thing you need to do is research. Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. Buy a book or surf the net for useful information. Don’t rely on your fish shop to tell you everything, after all they are trying to run a business, not a library.
2. Sign up at one of the reef keeping forums & don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t forget if your trying to find something, you can usually find it with a search tool. Nearly every forum has a search tool, if all fails just google it.
3. Plan ahead, think about what equipment you want to buy, what stock you are planning to keep and read before you buy anything.
4. Once your sure you know what you want, go out and get it from a reliable supplier. Remember in most cases it’s actually cheaper in your local fish shop than on the net, unless of course you get a good deal off ebay.
5. Don’t rush. These things take time and can’t be accomplished in a night or weekend etc.
6. Once you are ready to fill your tank make sure you use RO water and get the specific gravity and temperature correct. You can buy RO water from your fish shop or you can get an RO unit to make your own. (Which would work out cheaper in the long run as you will need it for water changes weekly)
7. Assuming your having live rock (you would be stupid not too). Choose your live rock carefully, make sure you get large pieces that will be good for aquascaping. You should always buy cured live rock, you can ask your fish shop if it is cured or not.
8. If you are going to add sand make sure you create a rack to put your live rock on so that the rock doesn’t site on the sand.
9. While your tank is cycling just be patient, it is not recommended to try and speed up this process. Only when your ammonia, nitrite and nitrates are at zero repeatedly should you think about stocking.
10. Stocking. Start slowly & research before you buy. You should get a variety of snails and crabs as these will become your cleanup crew, they will eat unwanted food and generally keep the tank tidy.