mini: I'm thinking of setting up a 10 gallon mini reef tank with NO fish. I am very confused as of what to put in the tank after reading into this, like whats compatible with what. Can someone explain a few setups like with hard and soft corals and anemones. ThanksWhat is the difference in a mini reef aquarium and a coral tank? Is it the same thing?The term "mini-reef" or "miniature reef" does not pertain to the "size" of the aquarium you use. It expresses the term of duplicating a "small part" of the ocean inside an aquarium. You can have a mini-reef in a 10 gallon aquarium or a 1,000 gallon aquarium. Corals should be chosen for their compatibility and grouped in different ways as may be found in nature such as shallow water (bright white light), or deep water (less intense, blue light) reefs. Another example is a higher nutrient reef with more leather corals, as compared to a low nutrient reef with more hard coral species that tolerate low nutrient conditions.What is the difference in a mini reef aquarium and a coral tank? Is it the same thing?That is a lot of explaining to do. But a mini reef is a coral tank just mini. Some call it nano reef, mini reef, small reef, small coral, whatever same thing. Its just a coral reef tank thats small. A 10 gallon reef will really limit you to putting many or any fish in the tank so choosing species should be well though out. for setting up a small reef tank it really depends what you plan to keep. first i will list what you should get for either a soft coral or stony coral set up. 1 tank 2 live sand for 1-2inches of coverage on the bottom 3 1lb-1.5lbs of live rock per gallon 4 Filtration (mechanical, chemical,and biological) 5 test kits (pH ammonia nitrite nitrate) 6 power heads for water current 7 cleaning supplies ( sponge, algae magnet, gravel vac 8 possibly a protien skimmer 9 lighting Ok so that cover the basics, lighting is where things a little different depending on what you wish to keep.Soft corals can get away with less light so using VHO compact pc flourescents will be ok. Stony corals and anemones should have metal halides as well as 03 actinic flourescents for the best and healthiest LPS SPS and anemones. You may be able to get away with an anemone under compact pc's but it isnt whats best for them. Either way a 10 gallon tank is really small for any anemone. Assuming it thrives in your system, they can grow to virtually the size of your tank or larger. Most corals are compatible as long as you spread them apart far enough so they dont overgrow each other and or have their sweeping tentecles be able to touch one another. Smart move with no fish btw but id say no anemone as well in a 10 gallon. You should also use reverse osmosis water for a reef tank. This will be the purest form of water so you will have to add trace elements back into the tank for the corals to stay healthy in your tank. This leads to having to get a few more test kits other than the ones stated above such as calcium and dKh. Thats about the simplest i can say this but if you have any other questions id be happy to help so feel free to email me. Addition: aaprt from all that you will need to let the tank cycle and mature befor being able to add corals. You will also need a good cleaner crew such as various snails and invertabrates. some species are not reef safe so ill list a few that would be safe in a reef tank Shrimp 1 skunk cleaner 2 peppermint shrimp 3 fire(blood) shrimp Snails 1 nassarius 2 turbos or mecican turbos(i like the mexicans better) 3 nerite snails Crabs 1 sally light foot crab 2 emerald crabs 3 red leg or blue leg hermit crabs (try to limit these cause they can crawl on corals making them close and not feed)What is the difference in a mini reef aquarium and a coral tank? Is it the same thing?you should NEVER put an anemone in a 10 gallon tank. Other corals are fine though.