My Little Tank - A Rock Flower Anemone Garden

One of the best sources of information on keeping a small reef tank is Nano-Reef.com. It’s a forum with thousands of members who post pictures, links, equipment reviews, questions, answers, and observations on their reef tanks. It has become my go-to for all things reefkeeping!

Main Forum page at www.nano-reef.com

There are a few members there that keep multiple rock flower anemones (RFAs) in mixed reefs, and even some that have RFA-only tank. These members are the ones who inspired the “theme” of my smaller Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 10 gallon tank.

April 2016

In it, I have a total of 16 anemones that I have collected from a couple of vendors. I also keep tall, skinny, branching corals - called gorgonians - in the tank as well. I’ve found that gorgonians and rock flower anemones can live together peacefully and won’t sting or hurt each other. Also in the tank is a piece of purple plating sponge that also gets along with the anemones and gorgonians.

April 2017

This tank even won "Nano-Reef Tank of the Month" in May 2017 - you can read more about my tank here!

My favorite thing about these anemones is how many varieties of colors they come in. This also means there is a large range of prices for them as well. Very common or plain colored anemones can be found for as low as $20. And the rarer, more colorful ones can be hundreds of dollars!

$20 RFA from www.vipreef.com

$125 RFA from www.tidalgardens.com

They are generally easy to keep, though sometimes they have a difficult time in shipping. Overall they are one of my absolute favorites!

My Lagoon Tank - A Mixed Reef

The bigger of my two tanks is an Innovative Marine Fusion Lagoon 25. I picked this tank because I like it’s larger footprint with a shallow height - I’m short and having to reach into a deep tank for maintenance isn’t fun. It was the biggest hassle when cleaning my old Bio-Cube, and I would constantly end up with wet t-shirt sleeves.

November 2016

I have all of the basic equipment: lights, heater, return pump in the back, circulation pump in the display, and a media basket with a few things to help keep my water clean. Most saltwater aquariums will have these things, but not everyone has an auto top off. One of the more expensive optional pieces of equipment, it’s something I don’t think I could go without now that I’ve had one! It helps keep my salinity on point, which is essential to a happy and healthy tank.

July 2017

The reef in this tank is a mix of many different kinds of corals. Photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic. Soft, stony, large polyp, small polyp… Many of these corals have been with me from the beginning, when I didn’t know how many different coral options there were!

January 2018

The longer I have my tanks, the more I feel like i want things to head in a certain direction. Over the years, I’ve learned that some corals do better in my tank then others. Some types thrive, some types loose colors easily, some even fight or kill each other off!

This year, I want to really focus on changing up the reef and filling it in with soft, swaying corals - they are the ones that do better for me. I already have a number of leather and euphyllia corals, and I want to expand that collection.

Euphyllia corner

What about you guys? What corals do you find to be easy? Which ones are more difficult? I’ve heard that sun corals are super hard to keep happy, but I’ve found easy success with the two I have!

My Journey Into Reefkeeping

I always thought it would be pretty cool to have a saltwater tank, but considered it too difficult, figuring it would take a lot of hard work and patience to have a happy salty environment. 

Well, over three and a half years ago, I found a great deal ($100!) for a 29 gallon BioCube - an all-in-one system that came with tank, lights, pumps, sand, rocks, a couple snails/hermit crabs, a few corals and an urchin. It had been neglected for a while, was low on water, and the sand was extremely dirty.

Small urchin

I was so nervous those first few months! When I got my first fish (two clownfish I named Lenny and Squiggy) I was so concerned about their happiness and well being, I gazed at the tank for hours making sure they looked ok and hoped they enjoyed their new home. I made sure to clean the tank every week, and siphoned the sand diligently to help get it (and keep it) clean.

Lenny (left) and Squiggy (right)

As it turns out, it's not terribly hard to take care of saltwater tanks, and I found it really enjoyable. Once a week I changed out 20-50% of the water. Once or twice a week I scraped the glass, and every couple days I fed my fish. So, after a year of getting used to the routine, I decided that one tank wasn't enough, and got a second tank I turned into a "biotope" - filling it almost exclusively with Rock Flower Anemones. Such beauties! 

Rock Flower Anemones

Another year went by and it was time to move. I traded out the BioCube for a shallow 25 gallon tank, and got a smaller tank for the RFA's. After a bit of an adjusting period, everything really settled in.

My Two Reef Tanks

Of course, it does take some work and patience. I have lost a few fish and corals along the way, but that comes with the hobby. But in general my tanks are rather healthy! 

I hope you'll hang around on follow me on my salty journey. Though I've been keeping reefs for almost 4 years now, I still have a lot to learn! You can also follow my adventures on YouTube and Instagram!