Setting Up A Nano Reef Tank

Small 30 litre tank was chosen for its lovely curved edges and clean look.

Lighting: WAVE Solaris 18w 50/50 Marine

Filter and Flow: Unbranded 600lph hang on filter


































































Throw it all together...

a. Attach your filters to the tank
b. Attach heater in a suitable position where it will get enough flow and does not look too obtrusive
c. Attach your lighting unit
d. Add your washed substrate
e. Add live rock and aquascape





After a few months of careful slow stocking and allowing the tank to mature

Red Coris Wrasse

Red coris wrasses are colorful marine fish from the Indo-Pacific. They are commonly found off the coast of Hawaii. Like the other wrasses, they belong to the family Labridae.

The red coris wrasse is also commonly called the yellow-tail coris or the clown wrasse.

Red coris wrasses grow quite large for aquarium fish, reaching an adult size of about 14-16 inches (36-41 cm). Due to their large size you will need to provide them with a spacious aquarium (at least 90-100 gallons (341-379 liters)).

As in several other species of saltwater fish, juvenile yellow-tail coris look much different than the adults. Juveniles are orange with white spots that are outlined in black. As they mature they take on the adult coloration as shown in the top photo.

They don't make good reef fish because they normally feed in reef invertebrates. This means they will eat your ornamental shrimps, crabs, and molluscs. In captivity they need to be fed a variety of meaty foods - chopped seafood, marine aquarium fare for carnivores, mysis shrimp, ect. They have large appetites, especially as juveniles, and need to be fed often.

Longnose Hawkfish

The Longnose Hawkfish has a red checkerboard pattern on its white body with a very long nose.

Minimum Tank Size: 20

Level of Care: Easy

Diet: Carnivore. Provide meaty foods such as fresh chopped seafood, mysid shrimp, brine shrimp, table shrimp, preparations for carnivores, and most flake foods.


Natural Origin: Indo-Pacific

Sizes-Approximate: Small-Large 1.5 - 3 inches

Boxfish Longhorn

Boxfish are generally peaceful and they definitely require peaceful, slow moving tankmates like themselves, do not house them with aggressive eaters. As mentioned earlier, they are capable of releasing a lethal toxin when they are stressed so “bullies” in the tank need to be removed.
Be cautious when introducing them in a reef tank since they will often nibble at tubeworms.

TankConditions: 72-78°F; sg 1.020-1.025; pH 8.1-8.4; dKH 8-12

Compatibility: Butterflies, Cardinalfish, Chromis, Clownfish, Damsels, Dartfish, Dragonets, Eels, Filefish, Foxface and Rabbitfish, Gobies, Grunts and Sweetlips, Jawfish, Hogfish, Lions and Scorpions, Parrotfish, Pseudochromis, Squirrelfish, Tangs and Surgeons, Wrasse, Live Corals, Live Rock and Sand.

Salt Water Gobies

Gobies are mainly bottom dwelling fish and are found in tide pools and shallow waters near coral reefs throughout the world. Some species can be quite colorful while others are drabber and covered with spots and stripes to blend in with their surroundings.

Gobies feed on a variety of things including algae, plankton, and small invertebrates.

Gobies do best in an aquarium with a lot of rocks and crevices to hide in. These fish are jumpers so the tank should have a secure cover. They should be fed a good variety of fresh and prepared foods that consist of both protein and vegetable matter.

The Pleco Fish

The plecostomus is a peaceful species that can be housed in a community tank as a single member of its species. As an adult, it is extremely intolerant of its own kind, although two can be kept together if they are added simultaneously as juveniles and allowed to "grow up" together.


The pleco is a vegetarian in nature, so its diet should be duplicated as closely as possible in the aquarium. It will accept a wide variety of the many catfish foods available, such as algae wafers and pellets, as well as flake foods with a high vegetable content.

Discus Fish

All Discus fish variants originate from the Amazon region in South America. They prefer lakes, deep puddles and smaller rivers and streams. The water in this region is acidic and you should therefore provide your Discus with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. It is also important that you keep the water in the aquarium soft, 0-3dH is recommended. Discus cichlids like to stay in the shadow during the day and the ideal water temperature in the aquarium is 25-29°C (77-84°F).

Discus cichlids are not very competitive and if you place them in the same aquarium as more assertive fish species, e.g. Angelfish, your Discus might be without food and starve or suffer from malnutrition. More docile species are therefore recommended as tank mates. Keeping several Discus cichlids together is a very good idea since Discus cichlids feel more at ease when in a group. A small group consisting of 6-8 specimens is ideal if your aquarium is large enough. You can also keep Discus with schooling fish, e.g. characins, since their presence will have a calming effect on the Discus. It should however be noted that Discus can consider smaller fish as food if it has not been brought up together with small fish.