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Setting up a Reef Aquarium PDF Print E-mail
Written by eddie hayes   
Monday, 31 March 2008

Setting up a Reef Aquarium . . .


The following Article is a only A LEARNING GUIDE to setting up a Marine Aquarium, It will give you a BASIC UNDERSTANDING on how to achive your goal but don't just read it and off you go! you need to READ READ READ as much info you can get your hands (Books,internet,people etc) on and also ask people that have Marine set ups as much as you can, information is key to this hobby!

Week 1: Assemble the Aquarium and Cure the Live Rock

You will need:

46" Stand
46 Gallon Aquarium (including built-in filtration)
Ultra daylight and actinic lamp, or a comparable fixture
100W heater
Timer for lights
20lbs of Indo Pacific Black Sand or Live Sand or Similar 
50 gal mix of Tropic Marin salt or Similar
40lbs mixture of live rock
Pour the sand into the bottom of the aquarium.
Fill aquarium with dechlorinated water.
Add salt and mix until the specific gravity measures 1.025.
Arrange the live rock as desired.
Install the heater and hood.
Wait 4 weeks.

Week 4: Add your First Inhabitants and a Protein Skimmer

You will need:

Prizm Skimmer,
Algae Attack Pack (various snails and crabs)
Install the skimmer per the instructions.
Use the timer to set the lights to go on and off in 12-hour increments.
Acclimate and release your new inhabitants into the aquarium.
Wait 2 weeks.

Week 6: Add your First Corals

You will need:

50 gal mix of Tropic Marin salt
Beginner Coral Pack (Contains Button Polyp, Yellow Colony Polyp, Hairy Mushroom Coral, and Bullseye Mushroom Coral)
Prepare fresh water by dechlorinating it, mixing in the salt, and pre-heating it.
Perform a 10% weekly water changes.
Acclimate the corals and place them onto the live rock as desired.
Wait 2 weeks.

Week 8: Add Aquacultured Corals

You will need:

Silver Branch Pumping Xenia
White Starburst Polyps
Colony polyps
Cauliflower Colt Coral
Taro Tree Coral
Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral,
Spaghetti Finger Leather Coral,
Green Starburst Polyp
Acclimate the corals and place them into the live rock as desired.
Wait 2 weeks.

Weeks 10 and 12: Add Fish

Add 2 Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, 3 Hawaii Feather Dusters, and a total of 6 fish. Choose from:

Ocellaris Clownfish (Multiples ok),
Fridmani Pseudochromis (Only 1),
Six-line Wrasse (Only 1),
Green Chromis (Multiples ok),
Kaudern's Cardinalfish (Multiples ok),
Prepare fresh water by dechlorinating it, mixing in the salt, and pre-heating it.
Perform a 10% weekly water changes.
Acclimate the fish and add them to your aquarium.
Feed thawed frozen food, twice daily.
Wait 2 weeks.
Follow steps 1 - 3 above and then add your choice of 2 of the following fish:
Carpenter Wrasse (Only 1),
Flame Hawk (Only 1),
Coral Beauty (Only 1 - Small),
Sailfin Algae Blenny (Only 1 - Small)
Feed thawed frozen food, twice daily.
Maintaining your New Ecosystem

Perform 10% weekly water changes
Feed a variety of foods to your fish such as: Mysis shrimp, Ocean Plankton, Mega Marine Algae, Tetra Marine Granules, and Sea Veggies.
Add the following to maintain healthy corals:
Phytoplankton (for feather duster)
Iodine
Calcium
Buffer
Strontium/Molybdenum
Each day there will be new things to discover and an unending diversity of changes to witness. KEEP IN MIND, reef aquariums need considerable time to balance themselves! And for god sake DONT RUSH THIS HOBBY!

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Last Updated ( Monday, 31 March 2008 )
 
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