Nano Reef Aquariums, as easy as 1, 2, 3! [Part 2]

04/15/2009

Nano Reef Aquariums, as easy as 1, 2, 3! [Part 2]

This is part two of four of Captive Aquatic Blog's Nano Reef series. If you haven't already, read part one here.

Now that your initial setup is complete, your tank as water, live rock, and sand, and is finished cycling, the fun begins!

Part two: Stocking

Stocking options for a nano aquarium may seem limited, but there is a wide variety of corals and fish that can be kept in your nano, as long as your purchases are carefully planned. Because nano reefs have such a small water volume, take care not to place too much bioload in such a small system, and take care to ensure all livestock is compatible and has similar habitat requirements.

Small fish such as some clownfish, damsels, dottybacks, basslets, sixlin wrasses, and gobies will fit well in a nano reef. Pick one or two small fish to enjoy, but resist overstocking!

Most soft corals make excellent nano corals, including mushrooms, xenia, ricordea, zooanthids, and leather corals. Some LPS coral also thrive in nano reefs, including acanthastrea, tubastrea, blastomussa, and open brain corals. Be careful of frogspawn, hammer, or bubble coral, as these corals are highly allelopathic (excrete poisons into the water in an attempt to harm nearby corals) an have very aggressive sweeper tentacles that sting surrounding corals.

Some of the all-in-one nano aquariums have enough lighting so that more advanced aquarists can stock ‘SPS’ (stony) corals, and other light demanding invertebrates. While not recommend for the beginner, success is certainly possible for a knowledgeable aquarist.

Part three: tank maintenance and water quality

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