Today on BRSTV we will show you one of the easiest ways to get your first reef tank up
and running.
Hi I'm Ryan your host of BRSTV where each week we cover a new topic related to reefing.
This week we have a special episode for newer reefers who want to learn the basics of reefing
and get an affordable easy to maintain reef tank up and running.
Inside of seven minutes we are going to show you how easy it is to set up and maintain
a reef tank with less than an hour of set up and thirty minutes of maintenance a couple
times a month.
I’m going to use this new tank kit which includes a 20 gallon Nuvo tank from Innovative
Marine but you could apply the information in this video to basically any similar sized
tank, especially those in the Nuvo lines which are designed around making things easy for
newer reefers and attractive at the same time.
The kit includes a heater, sand, rock, salt mix, fish food, glass cleaner and a bottle
of bacteria to get the filtration started.
First step is to find a nice spot for the tank which is level and can hold a couple
hundred pounds like a countertop, sturdy cabinet or table.
Keep in mind whatever you put it on is likely to get wet occasionally.
Try to place the tank in a spot where it won’t get a lot of direct sunlight.
Next add your rock.
Try and stack it in a way that keeps the rock a few inches from the sides and top as well
as stable.
Pour in the sand and spread it around the base of the rock.
Mixing the salt water is easy.
Rubbermaid Brute brand trash cans are the most common reef safe containers used to mix
saltwater in.
Just add the salt to the water and look through this tool called a refractometer to measure
the salinity.
The scale inside measures salt in parts per thousand or specific gravity.
More or less just dissolve the salt, add a few drops of water to the window, close, wait
20 seconds or so and look through the eye piece.
It should read 35ppt or 1.026.
Once you have the correct salinity use the included dechlorinator to make the water safe
for the tank.
While you are waiting for the salt to dissolve, take a moment to check all the tubing connections
on the pump and get familiar with the back of the tank.
This area in the back is used to house equipment like pumps, filters and heaters where they
are out of the way.
Go ahead and mount the heater, make sure it is placed fairly low so it will stay submerged
at all times.
Once you have everything situated pour your mixed saltwater and plug everything in.
Since we are dealing with water the ideal outlet has a GFI like one you would find in
a bathroom or kitchen or a power strip with a GFI built in.
At minimum make sure you arrange the cords in a way that will cause drips to fall off
safely rather than travel down the cord to the outlet which is called a drip loop.
Pretty much every electrical item in the tank will show a quick diagram on how they suggest
doing this properly.
The tank shouldn’t leak but if it did this will help keep your home safe
Now that water is circulating we just set the heater to 78 degrees, replace, Install
our lights and the tank is set up.
This literally takes less than an hour to do from start to finish.
All we need to do now is wait a few weeks for the beneficial bacteria to build up and
start filtering our tank which is called cycling the tank.
You probably noticed we don’t have an actual filter on the tank like you might expect.
That’s because the filtration is primarily done on the surface of the rock and sand where
beneficial bacteria populate and process the excess food and fish waste for you.
Really don’t have to do anything special to maintain this type of filtration, in fact
there really isn’t much you could do in a normal reef tank to prevent these bacteria
from populating and filtering your tank for you, really is that easy.
While the bacteria would populate on its own over time, new tank owners typically aren’t
that patient and there are a couple of things which are going to speed the process up in
your tank.
First we used live sand which contains live dormant bacteria which will help cycle the
tank.
Second we are going to use a product called Biospira which helps cycle the tank quickly.
After that you can go get your first fish.
The Biospira and live sand will provide the filtration needed to protect your fish but
it is always wise to select something pretty hardy like a clownfish as your first addition.
After that give your tank a month to stabilize with the lights off before adding anything
new.
Keeping the lights off will help reduce algae growth common with new tanks.
As a general rule of thumb I find it is wise to never more than double your fish load in
a single month meaning next month add another fish and possibly two the month after.
Some of my favorite new reefer fish selections for a tank like this are standard clownfish,
purple or red fire fish, shrimp and goby pairs, lawn mower or Midas blennies or an orchid
dotty back.
Once the tank is stabilized around your fish population.
You can add some interesting elements like snails, crabs and shrimp.
Nassarius and Astrea snails are popular as well as small hermits, emerald crabs, cleaner
shrimp, peppermint shrimp and pistol shrimp.
After that some easy to keep corals as well.
The lights that come with the kit are strong enough to keep some low light corals, as a
beginner is also wise to select some that don’t require much effort like soft or even
some LPS corals.
Zoanthids, mushrooms, ricordia, polyps, candy canes, duncans, torch and frog spawn.
Now that the tank is set up there are a couple ongoing maintenance steps to keep the tank
healthy.
First is feeding the fish.
These little guys always look hungry but don’t let them fool you.
Their bellies are tiny so a few pellets each is a sizable amount of food.
Easy to keep fish like the ones I just mentioned only need to eat once a day at the most, many
people feed even less.
This is a pretty critical point on a small tank like this.
Keep in mind that while the fish need to eat, food is the primary thing that pollutes the
tank and promotes algae growth.
You will also need to top the tank off with freshwater every couple days.
Keep in mind that while water will evaporate the salt doesn’t leave the tank so topping
off the tank with new water to compensate for evaporation should always be done with
fresh water not saltwater.
We recommend picking up a few jugs of reverse osmosis or distilled water from your local
grocery store for this purpose.
Less frequently, you will need to clean the glass; this Tunze Nano Magnet Cleaner is a
great for a tank this size.
You will also need to change the water regularly in a small system like this meaning every
other week.
Water changes are the primary method of removing broken down food and other elements which
can pollute the tank over time.
Water changes will also be a new reefers primary method of replacing elements consumed by the
corals in the tank.
We want to make sure the water is the same temperature as the tank and the salt is fully
dissolved before we do the change.
The kit includes a small heater and pump for this.
I find it easiest to take a minute or to do this the night before I do my water change
but it could be done a couple hours in advance as well.
For a tank this size I would probably do close to five gallons.
All you do is remove the water from the tank and then replace with your heated, freshly
mixed saltwater.
There are a hundred ways to maintain a successful reef tank but I can tell you something for
absolute sure, if you are careful about the amount of food you put in the tank and good
about your water changes you are almost certainly going to have a lot of success and enjoy the
hobby.
This video was intentionally pretty high level and provides the elements you absolutely need
to know to be successful with your first reef tank.
If you have a desire to set up larger more advanced tanks and understand the science
and equipment at a deeper level we have hundreds of other reefing videos and don’t be afraid
to ask us a question in the comments below or even give us a call.
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See you next week with another episode of BRSTV.