The idea for a truly long term micro/pico reef (for this article, one gallon or less) came to me as I was graduating college and searching the early internet forums for ideas on small reef aquaria in 2000-2001 to see what was possible and establish the current limitations of small marine aquaria. The smallest I [...]

Ever since the whole Japanese trend of reef aquariums rolled into the west, we’ve been seeing a large amount of hobbyists opting for what is currently reffered to as a ‘rimless’ aquarium. And this trend is affected all parts of the hobby, nano reefs, 100g-200g reefs and even some larger  systems. I’m sure we can [...]

Do you remember the age ole’ saying that if you’re going to setup a marine aquarium you should aim for the biggest you can afford? Well, seeing as the world’s economic climate is still in a mess that means most people can only afford to setup a nanoreef. But don’t let that be a negative… [...]

The amount of colour morph’s within the Chalice coral collective will always amaze me. I stumbled across this post on Reef2Reef by iReefer and the coral he has named, Bleeding Apple Chalice (BAC). All I can say is, “Whooooah!” – it sure is a gem. What do you think?
There are apparently five frags of this [...]

They are all the rage, they come in just about any colour combination, they command crazy prices – this is the group of corals known as the Chalices and they are ideal corals for a nanoreef (if you can afford them).
Today it is almost impossible to see a photo of a reef tank (nano, medium [...]

Heres the deal — the sea hare is a member of cleanup crew member — only really talked about as a last resort.
Difficult to keep alive — but with a worthy reputation.
I have a closed loop system. As such I rely on my live rock filtration to do my managing of nasties and goodies in my [...]

One of the most important items any reef aquarium hobbyist can spend money on is a good book. Yes it might be true that the internet offers just as much useful information that books do these days, but you have to admit, there is nothing like sitting down in your favourite chair with a nice [...]

Right now the 12g is looking really sad, it’s kind of like a glassbox of frags… Perhaps it’s the number of frags I have that is causing my aquascaping blues? In an attempt to gather some fresh aquascaping inspiration, I headed over to Flickr.com to see what eye candy was on offer.
The following photo by [...]

With the number of all in one nano reefs tanks available to the hobbyist these days it seems as if there is no need to go the custom route, or is there?
The aim of this post is to try outline the pros and cons of the off the shelf options. Hopefully these points will help you with your [...]