What is A Reef tank & how does it differ from a saltwater?

Re: reef tank?

Simply put... A reef tank refers to a tank that replicates the life and look of a reef you would find in the ocean. Live rock, corals, fish, and inverts.

It's still a saltwater tank, it just contains more elements than a basic saltwater fish tank.

 

Re: reef tank?

You're going to want about a 2-3 inch sand bed. That should come out to about one and a half pounds of sand per gallon.

 

Re: reef tank?

On that recommendation Anthony, I would suggest either keeping it 2" or under, or going over 5", with the research pages available and my being in the saltwater hobby for years, they tend to say that 2.5"-4" doesn't quite make it, although I know people that use those figures and have decent luck with it, most say that the proper ammount of beneficial filtration cannot be obtained, not can the ammount of microorganisms develop. Just my opinion, not intended to being a know-it-all.

 

Re: reef tank?

Regardless of it's age, it may be informative to someone else that might be interested in starting a reef tank.

 

Re: reef tank?

+1 on this.

If it's under 1.5", oxygen properly penetrates the entire bed, and nitrifying bacteria have what they need to efficiently work. Once it crosses past 2", there are unstable areas that don't have proper oxygen penetration and there's a die-off and struggling between arobic and anarobic bacteria (denitrifying bacteria) which will cause weird fluctuations in water quality over time. When it's 4"+, there's a good stable steady patch of non-oxygen for the anarobic bacteria to hang out at the bottom so they aren't "come and go".... that way the upper levels will convert ammonia->nitrite->nitrate and the lower levels will convert nitrate->nitrogen gas (concept's typically referred to as DSB or deep sand bed)...

Hopefully I'm not coming across as a know-it-all either, but thanks for bringing it up

 

Re: reef tank?

I wasn't going to get so technica; about it. But thanks. I myself rely on the DSB, plus refugium to supply my filtration, most think I overdid it with the skimmer, but I love watching it work.