Equipment

Below you’ll find a list of the equipment I’m using now that I’ve moved to a 29 gallon tank. (Equipment used for my initial 2.5 gallon picoreef is mentioned in the First Attempt category. Changes to that equipment when I moved to a 10 gallon tank are mentioned as they occur in Nanoreef Journal.)

Equipment List

  • 29 gallon Top Fin all glass aquarium
  • Glass canopy (winter)
  • Egg crate canopy (summer)
  • Corallife salt mix
  • Sea Clone 100 protein skimmer
  • Penguin Power Sponge Filter, 170 gph, model 660R, hang-on-back filter, run without venturi air valve (too many microbubbles)
  • Corallife Lunar Aqualight, 30 inch fixture with a 65 watt compact fluorescent actinic bulb, 65 watt compact fluorescent 10K bulb, 2 3/4 watt LED moonlights, one cooling fan, with legs attached.
  • Carib Sea Aragonite, Aragamax Select, substrate, size approx. 0.5-1.0mm, two 15 lb bags.
  • Seachem’s Tidal Marine Meridian 00lithic aragonite (.25-.5mm) One 20 lb bag.
  • Some substrate from the established nanoreef which preceded the mini-reef.
  • Hydrometer. 8 inch floating hydrometer
  • Algae-scraper
  • Floating magnet glass cleaner
  • Distilled RO water
  • Small fan positioned nearby used during during warm months to cool the tank water.
  • Silent Air B11 backup pump

I also use a 3 gallon bucket for water changes, a sealed plastic container that holds 5 gallons of salt water for mixing up replacement water, a small pump, airline tubing and airstone for aerating the replacement water, and a small siphon with a bulb to pump to start the siphon when doing a water change.

Equipment used in the 10 gal. nanoreef, not used in 29 gal tank:

  • Home Trends 4 inch high velocity fan. (Problems. Replaced with another type of fan for the 29 gal tank.)
  • Klipp Task Light, inexpensive low-wattage clip-on LED penlight used as a lunar light. (rusted out)
  • Neptune 50 watt heater, submersible (not needed in 29 gal tank, even in winter)