From: jamescho@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Cho)
Subject: re: [M][R]  Small Reef Tanks
Organization: CIS, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 18:41:10 GMT


> From: gt6441c@prism.gatech.EDU (Jon Edwards )
> 
> I would like to hear from anyone out there with *small* reef tanks.
> (small means <=20 gallons)  The latest(?) AFM has an article by Tullock
> about small reef tanks that is quite interesting.  He recommends (as
> an example) a 20g, 40 watts of light (actinic/ultralume), and a skimmer,
> after that he states that hammer coral, elegance, and tridacnas should do
> OK in it.  He also _recommended_ a Skilter.....  
> 
> Anyway, the article revived my interest in small reef tanks (hey, 
> they are economical). I would like to here about successful (and 
> unsuccessful) attempts at small reef tanks.
>
> Thank you
> 
> Jon

	tank:	20g tenecor plexiglass tank with built in wet/dry
	filter:	mini blue bioballs
		polyfilter (or polypad or something like that)
		chemipure
		sander's picollo protein skimmer (their smallest)
	pump:	402 powerhead	
	lights:	2 9w 5000k osram lights
		2 9w Blue osram lights
	rocks:	~35lbs of live rock from pisces (see fama)
	subst:	about 1/4" of gravel
	corals:	purple and metallic green mushrooms
		medium size elegance (8" when extended)
		medium leather coral (6" tall 4" across)
		green and brown star polyps (just moved to other tank)
		zooanthus polyps
	fish:	none
	invert:	small abalone
		snalls
		black long spined sea urchin
	chem:	reef crystals
		ca(oh)2
		kent marine strontium and molybenum
		kent marine iodine

i got this tank about a year ago (this was my first salt water tank).
the size tank is ideally suited for students and people without much
room.  the filtration seems adequate.  the protein skimmer is pretty much
worthless, it requires constant adjustment and is doesn't allow much
bubbles/water contact but it was the only one which would fit into my
w/d.  i think that a 402 (270 gph) was more than enough to provide for
water circulation.

i have had some successes:  my elegance and leather coral
are doing very well and have increased in size slightly.  my
mushrooms have all been propogating and i would suspect that i have
about twice what i had originally.  my green star polyps had been
expanding and spreading to my tank walls.  i saw my abalone go to
the top of the tank and spew milky fluid into the water (i don't
know whether it was sperm or eggs or both).  a few months later
i found several tiny little abalone in my tank.  i'm not sure if
these were offspring.  unfortunately they didn't survive.  i have
lots of purple coraline algae grow on bowl rock (like lava rock) as
well as hundreds of small tube worms growing on them.

and some failures:  a fight between my elegance and branch (?) coral
resulted in the branch losing.  i lost a small clam.  the muscles
attached some rocks don't seem to survive long.  the green star polyps
which had been doing so well before is not doing so great now.  i think
the reason for that was because of poor water quality.

you notice that i don't have any fish in this tank.  this was not always
the case.  i was not able to show self control and bought a small moray a
few months ago.  unfortunately he required a lot of food.  i think that
this as well as infrequent water changes was what caused the poor water
quality.  i am of the opinion now that no or very little feeding of a
reef tank is critical in keeping the water quality good.

jamescho

__________________________________________________________________________
James S. H. Cho h: (415) 494-8344 o: 725-3649 o _   _ _  _   _  _   /   _
Center for Integrated Systems, Elec. Eng.    / /_\ /\/\ /_\ /_ /   / \ / \
CIS-038, MC-4070, Stanford, CA 94301     \__/ /  //   / \_  _/ \_//  / \_/
From: booth@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (George Booth)
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1992 18:50:09 GMT
Subject: Re: AquaClear vs UGF
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Loveland, CO