Reef Builders - The Source for Reef Keeping Information

by Holle Abee

Think of all the divers who go to such lengths to visit saltwater reefs for a view of the amazing sea life that inhabits the area. Now imagine that you can have a little corner of that magic in your own home. With a saltwater reef tank, you can have the mezmerizing tranquility and the brilliant natural beauty of a tropical sea, all vividly displayed in an aquarium.

A reef tank isn’t just a regular saltwater aquarium. The key word is “reef.” The main focus of the tank is the soft or hard corals. Colorful fish, sea stars, eels, anemones, urchins, shrimp, and sea horses can certainly be added, but everything should revolve around the coral itself.

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If by chance you live or plan on visiting Madrid Spain, you might want to drop by and say hello to Enrique Mora who runs a spanish blog about his 90 gallon setup. For those of you who don’t speak Spanish you can read his thread about his 90 gallon wonder of a tank. Among his vast array of corals (mainly SPS) he uses a deltec Bubble King protein skimmer no less. Times must be really hard good over there in Spain. He uses the Zeovit method with a twist. I am guessing to mean he makes the equipment himself and just buys the Zeovit “food”. Anyways get your drool pan ready if you haven’t already started to with the teaser pic.

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MEET ‘Lobzilla’ the supersized lobster who was saved from the chop because he was too big to fit in the saucepan. The three foot long lobster, who is SIX times bigger than most, was destined for a dinner plate after he was delivered to a stall at an indoor market.
But kind fishmonger John Adams, who has a stall at Birmingham’s Indoor Market, took mercy on the 8lb mammoth crustacean and donated him to an local aquarium instead.

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This was written by one of our own RB members, this is a step by step guide on how to setup a reef tank. Enjoy!

The best words I have to describe a coral reef is a “lush wasteland.” By this I mean many extremely different types of life inhabit a coral reef, yet it is incredibly nutrient poor. Reefs rely on powerful sunlight as an energy source and lifeforms concentrate in a very complex web. All the nutrients in a coral reef are tied up in the living biomass of the inhabitants. Since a reef aquarium is an enclosed system it has only the capability to mimic the biofilter of a reef, and is by definition a micro-habitat. We are unable to mimic the flow of millions of gallons of water flushing and refilling a coral reef. We can only create “reef soup”. However, this should not allow you to become discouraged. Through knowledge of what you are trying to mimic we can do an amazing job of allowing a captive reef to thrive and flourish. I hope my tiny guide helps anyone get interested in this fantastic hobby and allows you to be at ease with a little knowledge about how to prepare. With that let’s get our hands wet. I have written this set-up guide with the understanding the reader understands the nitrogen cycle (cycling) and other such beginning concepts.

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If an aquarist desires to have a captive reef in their aquarium, it is essential that they try to include all levels of a normal ecosystem. Our little reefs are really small artificial ecosystems and to avoid problems, all the components and functional parts of a normal ecosystem need to present. While ecosystems may be immense, they also may be miniscule; a small puddle can be, and has been, considered to be an ecosystem. So, it makes some sense for an aquarium to be thought of in this manner.

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So I got in a new blue Linkia sea star (or star fish). He’s been in my tank for over a month now. The strange thing is I noticed him last night eating my aiptaisa anemone that had latched onto my now dead superman montipora? Anyways, that picture above states it all. Thats where that anemone was and now he’s moved off. I did not know that Blue Linkia’s would eat aiptaisa anemones? Not that I mind! I checked this morning and that aiptaisa is no where to be found.

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If you are just starting out in your new tank I’m sure you thought about adding an invertebrate to your system. One such one you can have is the common Cleaner shrimp. These guys are very easy to take care off, will easily eat frozen Mysis Shrimp which you can buy at PETCO, Petsmart or even online. These guys also help with infections of ich in fish. Cleaner shrimp like to clean other fish in the aquarium which is very interesting to watch. I named him Jaque.

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I bought a Blue Linkia Star fish. This was the prize of my aquarium and one of my favorites creatures in my main display tank. I can remember when he arrived from the online vendor I purchased him from and I was super excited. I even named him Ralph. Well that was one month ago.
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