Saturday, December 18, 2010

My nano reef

I like science. I delight in the wonders of the universe. It was therefore only a matter of time before I took an interest in fishkeeping. The time came this year when I started learning about nano reefs. The concept is that you create a microcosm of a coral reef ecosystem in your home. You get live rock (calcified coral skeletons), live sand (filled with probiotic bacterial goodness), janitor critters (hermit crabs, snails, shrimps, etc.), corals, anemones, and fishes. The concept is that these creatures all have important symbiotic relationships and they contribute to the overall health of their ecosystem. Naturally, my feeling about all this is: AWESOME!!!

Here is my tank:

This is the Marineland Eclipse 12, the 12-gallon model from the Marineland line of "Seamless Integrated Aquarium Systems" (read: they're for idiot beginners like me). Marineland says that these systems contain everything you need to get your hobby up and running. And they're right. They have a built-in light, filter and water pump. Just add fishies. However, I've found that you need to kick it up a notch if you really want to do the reef thing (more on that later). Some day I'll have a much bigger tank and the 12-gallon will be my quarantine tank. But until then, this is it.

Here's the roster of critters I have in my tank:
- White Sea Anemone (the dude at the Local Fish Store ("LFS") said this was the most idiot-proof kind of anemone)
- Dr. Shrimp (paging Dr. McShrimpy!)
- Fire Shrimp
- Turbo Snail
- Non-turbo snails
- Two nassarius snails (they live under the sand and poke out their tongues like periscopes)
- Some hermit crabs
- Emerald crab
- Lava star
- Mushroom corals

You'll notice there are no fish listed there. We had a mated pair of Saddleback Clownfish but the male died unexpectedly of a bacterium or parasite so we took the female back to the store for quarantine. Alas. Reef tanks can be a pain in the butt.

1 comment:

  1. Edit: the Emerald Crab up and died. Apparently they do that, which I guess is why they only cost $4. I checked my water and it's fine. Perhaps he was attacked by a shrimp.

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