| |  |  | My first reef tank began as a 29-gallon setup but turned out to be too unstable for me, as a beginner, so I moved to a 50-gallon setup on September 15, 2002. This tank was last used to house a large population of African Cichlids and had several large piles of Lace Rock. Before learning of the Berlin and Plenum Method of keeping Reef Tanks I began with a typical fish-only saltwater setup. Afterwards (Day 31) I found that I had already begun a reef setup using something close to the Berlin method. So, I removed the Marineland Penguin 330 and upgraded the Berlin Air-Lift protein skimmer to a Marineland SeaClone 100. After a year and a half of success, I moved to a smaller apartment and had to downsize again. I was able to transfer everything, except some rock and sand, to the new 29-gallon setup, including shortening my 48" CF light to 30". With the sump and refugium from my 50-gallon setup, that added enough water that, together with my experience, I have been able to keep a stable population. All goes well as I continue to build my Little Reef which is now old. |
|  | | | 29-gallon All-Glass aquarium 30" wide x 18" tall x 12" deep. No built-in overflow or plumbing. This was a freshwater tank for over a year and has served me well. I use a standard glass cover, which allows the best light transfer. | 
3 days after setup
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3 days after setup
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| | Substrate
Live Rock
& Decor |
| | 4" sand bed, 1-part medium aragonite sand, 2-parts Southdown Playsand (fine). 20lbs of Fiji Live Rock. I prefer the size, shape and color of this rock at my local dealer. |
| | | | My current lighting consists of a 2x65w Power Compact SmartLite (50/50). The Refugium also has its own 18" 15W 10,000K CoralLife NO fluorescent bulb. These are all set on timers to simulate sun rise, full daylight and sunset lighting. Heating is handled by a 100w Ebo Jäger submersible heater in the sump. I haven't had need of cooling with this setup, but I do have a fan on the top cover of the sump that can be turned on when needed. |
| | | | Primary filtration is handled by an Amiracle SR50 wet/dry sump with a Surge 3500 return pump. Secondary filtration utilizes an Aquaclear 402 in the sump to feed the Refugium.  Protein skimming is done with a Marineland SeaClone 100 skimmer placed in my sump. While certainly not a workhorse of the trade and though it has a bad reputation, it does a job worth its price.
Additional water movement in the tank is accomplished with a Zoo Med Power Sweep 228, which does a fine job of setting up alternating currents across the corals. |
| | | | A Refugium has several definitions but mine is used to populate flora and fauna away from predation and to absorb nitrates. Feather Caulerpa absorbs nitrates, phosphates and heavy metals and increases oxygen levels in the water. The Refugium also has 1½" of aragonite sand (fine 1-2mm), crushed coral (¼") and Live Rock (3 lbs) to promote the breeding of arthropods, copepods and other fauna as a food source for my fish and corals. This is a DIY hang-on Refugium modeled after the CPR Aquafuge and has been running successfully for over
now. Seeing a price of $120 - $145 for the 24" model I decided I could do a decent job myself for a lot less money. I accomplished this at about $75 and a lot of labor. Since my model does not include a power head, and based on the labor involved with building this unit, I would recommend that the Aquafuge is worth the money and is a valuable addition to your system. None the less, here is how I made mine: |
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