Welcome to Ecoreef Zero, population 1

By Jake Adams on Sep 29, 2011

Forget everything you know about reef tanks – this is a coral tank. What you see is the very limit of what a coral needs to survive and thrive, neatly packaged into a setup we call Ecoreef Zero. This nano coral aquarium has been running like this for three months over which time the tank has remained immaculate and the elegance coral has looked impeccable. This four gallon ADA tank holds a six inch elegance coral which has already grown 300% since it first started life in this aquarium when it was Ecoreef One.

Over the last two years, corals and rock have been slowly removed to create this monospecific elegance coral habitat, which is supported only by a two year old EvilC LED spotlight, a ten year old duetto internal filter and a small marineland nano heater. Besides top off for evaporation, the only maintenance is a complete water change performed about every six weeks and a light scrubbing of the glass which stays mostly spotless in this low-ecology coral aquarium.

The population of Ecoreef Zero is not exactly one, but the biomass is mostly one big coral. There are a few flatworms living in balance with the elegance coral, as well as a single sexy shrimp and a wing-oyster which has grown considerably attached to the base of the Catalaphyllia jardinei. Only very recently has purple photosynthetic sponge been added to the aquarium to add to the view since it can grow right next to and under the tentacles of the elegance coral without getting stung.

Ecoreef Zero was set up to learn precisely how little corals need to grow and thrive. As the success of this elegance coral shows, apparently corals don’t need very much. The recipe for Ecoreef Zero could easily be replicated with similar slower growing LPS corals, zoanthids and mushroom anemones but if you wanted to keep faster growing SPS corals you would at least need to plan on replenishing calcium and alkalinity more deliberately. As previously stated, Ecoreef Zero is not a reef aquarium, it is a coral aquarium. The bare environment of Ecoreef Zero may be strange for seasoned reef keepers to look at, but if keeping happy healthy corals happy is your thing, you may consider a simpler setup for your next aquarium.

The wing-oyster and a large sexy shrimp live on the base of this elegance coral, giving it some scale in the photo.

http://reefgeni.us Jestep

Do you do any feeding, or is growth 100% from the light and whatever might be in the tank by chance?

For a long time I’ve been a pretty strong believer that overdoing livestock is what causes most of the problems in our reef tanks. Even a single fish has a bio-load of probably hundreds or thousands of times what a coral of the same size would have. In a 4 or even a 40 gallon tank, that’s something to consider when you’re having nitrate and nutrient problems.

I can’t even imagine 6 week water changes on a reef tank, no less a 4 gallon reef tank. Great experiment.
http://www.nanocustoms.com/ clive@nanocustoms

Looking nice Jake. With the dark surrounding area, and the coral being the only highlight, it looks almost like a museum piece. I’m totally with you on the minimalist aproach, but when it comes to me setting up tanks, I can’t get my brain to not want to use sand or rock. Maybe one day.

Glad to see you are still getting some good use out of one of my lamps.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001443324671 Patrick Jewell

I really like this set up. I will try this with SPS. Perhaps a motipora cap. A nice green one.
Marcos Adeliño

This is the single best idea I have seen in 2011. Keep it up!
http://www.madhatterreef.com/ MadHatter’s Reef

Living Art!
http://www.madhatterreef.com/ MadHatter’s Reef

Living Art!
Justin Farabaugh

Awesome. Please post some more pics as I was to see the entire setup. Something like this would be great for a office tank.
Justin Farabaugh

Awesome. Please post some more pics as I was to see the entire setup. Something like this would be great for a office tank.
Justin Farabaugh

Awesome. Please post some more pics as I was to see the entire setup. Something like this would be great for a office tank.
Anonymous

Just did
Anonymous

I occasionally hand feed a small pinch of flake food to the coral, and I feed it a little a dash of frozen food a few days before doing the complete water change.
Anonymous

I occasionally hand feed a small pinch of flake food to the coral, and I feed it a little a dash of frozen food a few days before doing the complete water change.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3PQR2S2EAZUDJKVYUCKLCWJ37Q Micheal

Pretty snazzy Jake… however they’ve been doing this “low frills” tanks for years, they call them frag tanks No rock, no fish, just corals (and maybe someway to mount them)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3PQR2S2EAZUDJKVYUCKLCWJ37Q Micheal

Pretty snazzy Jake… however they’ve been doing this “low frills” tanks for years, they call them frag tanks No rock, no fish, just corals (and maybe someway to mount them)
jon d.

Heading into EcoReef One had you planned to remove all but one (main) specimen? Or was it an issue of adapting the tanks philosophy as time went on? Either way, both tanks are/were awfully nice.
Anonymous

Ecoreef One was my first foray into seeing how little I could get away with, that being no live rock and using just a ceramic piece instead. Once I kinda hit a plateau and a comfort level with One, I decided to see how much further I could push the concept with Zero. The next step is to sep up a tank from scratch like Ecoreef Zero and see if it stays as stable over time, and also to attempt a larger tank with just a canister filter and see how that goes.
Anonymous

I like your thinking, I am moving along that same path as well. My 75G I have done all the bells and whistles.. over sized skimmer, dual media reactors, dosing pumps, ATS, carbon dosing/bio-pellets, etc etc… it just got to be too much so my newest tank, a 60G given to me, I decided to use only an ATS as its filtration to see how little/cheap I could go and still have success. To my surprise, not only is it working good, it is working better than my 75G and my SPS corals are doing much better in the 60G tank.
Anonymous

I like your thinking, I am moving along that same path as well. My 75G I have done all the bells and whistles.. over sized skimmer, dual media reactors, dosing pumps, ATS, carbon dosing/bio-pellets, etc etc… it just got to be too much so my newest tank, a 60G given to me, I decided to use only an ATS as its filtration to see how little/cheap I could go and still have success. To my surprise, not only is it working good, it is working better than my 75G and my SPS corals are doing much better in the 60G tank.
http://twitter.com/Reef2Reef David Hammontree

Jake that is just awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Anonymous

Ummm– that is extra crazy super bad a**. I’m at a loss. Just too damn cool, Jake. I will be copying you on this one. Shamelessly. This is so pioneer.
http://www.facebook.com/Sammy.San Samuel Gonzalez

wow can you imagine a Coral Museum? A few tanks clean like this with single colonies in each! Awesome
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TY62P4IMCIOGM5T3WOGV625FII The Jesus

Great idea and a true piece of art.
http://twitter.com/Berlinico Nico Schultz

Hi Jake
this is an awesome idea! It gives this beautiful coral much more focus than in a normal setup. I have two Qs about the setup:
I’m trying to understand what your internal filter is doing: Is it just for flow or do you actually have filter media in there?
Since you removed rocks from the tank you probably had a cycle before with LR. How would you start a tank like this if you had to start new? adding some LR for the cycle?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=3207171 Alex Lee

I wish you had worked on your Ecoreef concepts a year earlier when I was planning my first tank! Beautiful and yet highly practical and informative concepts. I take it that your complete water changes are still with ESV B-Ionic saltwater. Since you said that the water change is your only maintenance routine, are you also saying don’t have any filter media in the duetto to worry about?

I have been noticing that my corals in quarantine seem to do just fine (and in some cases better) in a bare-bones setup. I would love to see updates on long term stability ’cause I may start shifting towards a radically simpler system. I can learn to let go of live rock, but I may have trouble letting go of sand because of my love for sand-dwelling invertebrates. Please, please keep us updated!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=3207171 Alex Lee

I wish you had worked on your Ecoreef concepts a year earlier when I was planning my first tank! Beautiful and yet highly practical and informative concepts. I take it that your complete water changes are still with ESV B-Ionic saltwater. Since you said that the water change is your only maintenance routine, are you also saying don’t have any filter media in the duetto to worry about?

I have been noticing that my corals in quarantine seem to do just fine (and in some cases better) in a bare-bones setup. I would love to see updates on long term stability ’cause I may start shifting towards a radically simpler system. I can learn to let go of live rock, but I may have trouble letting go of sand because of my love for sand-dwelling invertebrates. Please, please keep us updated!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Yongchan-Gil/584701938 Yongchan Gil

I’d also like to know more details. Filter media? flow? how often are the water changes. This might be something I might do considering that I live in a college dormitory.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Yongchan-Gil/584701938 Yongchan Gil

I’d also like to know more details. Filter media? flow? how often are the water changes. This might be something I might do considering that I live in a college dormitory.
Ziyaad Bayat

I would also seriously like more details as well. is there any sort of filter media in there at all? flow?
http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Sanderson/100000632379283 James Sanderson

Great concept and beautiful execution! One question though- how long do you think this super simple tank will hold your attention? I appreciate the showcasing of a single coral but personally what has kept me in this hobby for so long with the same tank is the constantly changing interactions of the different inhabitants. I was initially very excited by this tank but after thinking about for a few hours I realized it would not hold my attention for long and would probably fall into neglect, for the same reasons I can’t keep house plants alive.

What has been your experience so far and where do you see this tank in a year? I’m not being critical, I’m genuinely interested in your honest opinion. Thanks!

BTW, I subscribe to the “simpler is better” approach. I have done nothing but water changes to maintain my 30g reef for the past 3 years.
Piotr Rowinski

Nice coral but such an aquarium must be really boring in a long run. I could consider such a thing as one of my “aquariums”.
Piotr Rowinski

Nice coral but such an aquarium must be really boring in a long run. I could consider such a thing as one of my “aquariums”.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OABJFVWUMQWKZV6F4HZ6LTTWHM Brandon

Its really important to keep update pics going on a great design like this one. It appears last discussion was 3 mos ago, can we have a link to an updated shot? This is a notoriously tough coral to keep in a nano reef long term, especially without the support (feeding) of the surrounding substrate. I do think strong feeding can keep it alive, so update pics sometimes soon will be relished~
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OABJFVWUMQWKZV6F4HZ6LTTWHM Brandon

We need updates.com

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