What makes a reef tank
- Thread starter rblovell
- Start date
a&m aggie 04'
Active Member
corals, inverts???
T
thomas712
Guest
The attempt to duplicate the natural reef, in a little glass (or acrylic) box.
Thomas
Thomas
azonic
Active Member
That's a very good question.....trying to come up with some sort of philosophical response but it just ain't happening. 
Personally, my tank looks like crap in my eyes....It's a reef supposedly and right now has 90 pounds of rock and a few fish and a couple coral....I think it looks like crap....I work on it constantly but I don't consider it a "reef tank" yet by any means. When I look at some fellow members tanks, such as broomer5, NM Reef, Bigmac, ryebread and others I see all the pinks and purples and the plethora of corals and inverts and in my eyes THAT'S a reef tank. So I guess...make your tank look anything near as beautiful as their's and IMO you have a reef tank.
Personally, my tank looks like crap in my eyes....It's a reef supposedly and right now has 90 pounds of rock and a few fish and a couple coral....I think it looks like crap....I work on it constantly but I don't consider it a "reef tank" yet by any means. When I look at some fellow members tanks, such as broomer5, NM Reef, Bigmac, ryebread and others I see all the pinks and purples and the plethora of corals and inverts and in my eyes THAT'S a reef tank. So I guess...make your tank look anything near as beautiful as their's and IMO you have a reef tank.
azonic
Active Member
Live rock is the base of the entire "reef" aspect of the tank. It's what you need to place all the corals etc onto...so yes it would be needed....or some sort of base rock could be used I guess.
I'm just wondering to myself but....why are you asking this question? It seems kinda..well, odd.?
I'm just wondering to myself but....why are you asking this question? It seems kinda..well, odd.?
ophiura
Active Member
It is a tank whose focus, IMO, is on the invertebrate life of a reef, rather than the fish. While people certainly still have fish, the load tends to be less. The emphasis is on the health and growth and structure of corals, anemones, and the various other animals whose lives are often overlooked, yet without their presence, a reef would not exist. In some ways, it is one of the most natural saltwater systems, because it tends to eliminate large cruising fish whose life in the wild can really not be approached in captivity. Rather, a reef tank often focuses on smaller, often territorial fish, as if one took a small section of a reef face and put it into a glass box. Thus, clowns, anthias, basslets, gobies, blennies, dwarf angels, etc become the primary fish, just as they would in the wild if observing a small section of the reef. It is a tank that draws the observer in, to look at the little animals in the cracks and crevices, both day and night, rather than a tank to be observed from a distance, like (IMO) FO or predator tanks. But this is my bias as an invertebrate zoologist.
LR alone does not a reef tank make. Just like sinking a ship does not automatically make a true reef, IMO. While fish are drawn to structure, it is those animals that colonize the surface that make the reef, IMO. Those that grow and in turn support the other animals that live there.
LR alone does not a reef tank make. Just like sinking a ship does not automatically make a true reef, IMO. While fish are drawn to structure, it is those animals that colonize the surface that make the reef, IMO. Those that grow and in turn support the other animals that live there.
