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Danny's Aquariums - Reef Tank Tour
Last updated on November 17th, 2023
Reef Tank Tour - Danny's Aquariums
A large part of reef keeping is to see other tanks you like for inspiration and try to copy their success. As the first reef tank tour article I am writing, we will tour Danny's Aquariums' tanks! Danny reached out to me with the idea of writing about his experience to share with the community and I thought it was a perfect fit! Without further delay, let's learn more about Danny's Aquariums!
Table of Contents
- Introduction - Who is "Danny's Aquariums"?
- Saltwater Aquascaping Considerations
- What Sets Danny's Aquariums Apart?
- Danny's Maintenance Routine
- Danny's Aquariums Parameters
- Interview Questions and Additional Images
Introduction - Who is "Danny's Aquariums"?
Danny, like many of us in reef keeping, started with freshwater aquariums. Danny showed his progress on his YouTube Channel, Danny's Aquariums. In 2018 Danny decided to try his hand at setting up a saltwater aquarium. The rest is history.
In January 2020, Danny started a 10 gallon reef tank and started providing monthly updates of his progress. Quickly growing from there, Danny now keeps a 10 gallon reef, 15 gallon reef, and 40 gallon shallow reef tanks. There is no question that Danny's Aquariums have been successful. Now with over 33,000 subscribers on YouTube, these tanks are gaining visibility across the world! Let's take a look at Danny's Aquariums and what has made them so successful!
Tank Tour - Danny's Aquariums
10 Gallon AIO Reef Tank
First we look at Danny's 10 gallon all-in-one reef tank. This Innovative Marine Tank is home to a number of coral, including Zoanthids, Candy Cane/Trumpet corals, Leather Coral, and even a Hammer Coral.
Some of the livestock include hermit crabs a pistol shrimp, a goby, and even a six-line wrasse at one point for pest control. Danny keeps the focus of his tanks on the coral and generally adds livestock to help prevent or manage pests and algae. This is a lesson we can all take away! Keep your focus on one thing, and do it well! The rest will happen naturally.
Here is a teaser video of the 10 gallon reef tank to peak your interest!
15 Gallon AIO Reef Tank
Much like the 10 Gallon Reef, Danny's 15 Gallon Blue Marine Aquarium is beautiful to watch. Like most of us, Danny started smaller and quickly added to his tanks. Keeping Euphyllia Coral like in the 10 gallon tank, as well as some other LPS and Soft corals.
This video shows the latest update (at the time of writing this) from Danny, showing off his 15 gallon reef tank.
40 Gallon Shallow Reef Tank
Finally, though there are not as many videos about it, I want to draw focus to one of Danny's Aquariums' lattest additions, the 40 gallon shallow reef tank by ILA. This rimless shallow reef tank features 2 SICCE Xstream SDC Wavemaker Pumps. Of the three tanks, this one is my personal favorite! Featuring more fish, such as designer clowns and a large variety of LPS and Soft Coral! The striking colors make it hard to look away!
My favorite part about this 40 Gallon Shallow Reef has to be the Christmas Tree Worms! They are very uncommon in reef tanks and have striking, vibrant colors! I admit, I am jealous of anyone keeping Christmas Tree Worms in their reef!
What Sets Danny's Aquariums Apart?
When watching Danny's videos, there are a few things that sets his tanks apart from the rest. First is the obvious. Rather than upgrading from one tank to another, Danny added tanks as he went. If you didn't notice, they don't use a common sump nor any plumbing. This means three isolated systems. While this adds difficulty in maintenance, it also isolates the problems and pests to their own tank, and not the other two.
The next big difference is the low-tech, low-cost solutions. You'll notice that Danny doesn't use a protein skimmer, dosing pump, any reactors, or nearly any equipment. Again, adding difficulty to the maintenance of the tanks, but reducing cost. In fact, in one video, Danny mentions the total cost of the 10 gallon reef tank was under $750. That's less than one new Radion XR30!
Danny's Aquariums Maintenance?
With the low-tech solutions, there is obviously additional work in terms of maintenance. Looking at the success of these tanks, you can see that this maintenance is working quite well! So what does Danny do?
The first, and likely most important step, in Danny's maintenance routine is to do a weekly 10-15% water change on each tank. Starting by scrubbing the algae off the glass and stirring the sand to remove debris and detritus. Once the algae and detritus all settle, Danny uses a small siphon to remove the waste from the rocks and sand. Keeping the tank spotless!
When replacing the water in these tanks, Danny uses natural sea water from the local fish store. Keeping the coral happy and reducing the complexity of mixing his own saltwater.
Finally, Danny adds the nutrients, aminos, and other additives to keep his reef happy. The products Danny currently uses include:
Currently Used Product(s): Other Products Previously used:- AquaForest Vitality
- AquaForest Amino Mix
- AquaForest Build
- AquaForest Energy
- AquaForest Iodium
Danny's Aquariums Water Parameters
Yet another case where we can all learn from Danny's success. Danny does not chase numbers, nor does he worry about parameters such as alkalinity and calcium. When asked, Danny noted that not only does he not measure his parameters, he doesn't even own the test kits to do so. He simply monitors the reef tanks and acts accordingly.
Though many SPS dominated tanks can't get away with not paying attention to these values, many smaller reef tanks can do this and maintain their parameters using water changes.
Questions for Danny
What would a tank tour be without some form of interview? Though handled via email, I felt that there was a need to ask some questions to help you douplicate Danny's Success!
Question: Do you measure your parameters such as Salinity, Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrate, and Phosphate?
I don’t measure any water parameters, in fact, I have never tested my water before. As long as the animals in the aquariums seem to do fine I don’t want to worry about parameters and chase specific levels.
Question: I see that you do weekly water changes. How much water do you generally change per week?
On all my tanks, I try to do a 10-15% water change every week. Sometimes I skip a week, this usually doesn’t cause any huge problems other than some algae build up on the glass.
Question: It looks like you have very minimal equipment. What equipment do you use?
The goal with my tank is to have as little equipment as possible, I like low-tech tanks. It shows that anything can be achieved with little to no equipment.
Question: Do you mix your own saltwater? If so, what brand of salt do you use?
In all my tanks I use natural seawater, I used to buy synthetic saltwater from my local fish store but when they started offering natural seawater I switched to that and my corals seem to love it! I believe it has more beneficial bacteria in it.
Question: Watching your videos, I noticed there was a time with a significant algae outbreak. How did you solve the algae outbreak?
I’ve had some algae problems in all my tanks at this point, it’s usually a fase. It looks bad and it makes the hobby less fun, but you can pull through it! I tried different methods, manual removal, snails, hermit crabs, blackouts, and even chemicals! It took me a few weeks, at last, I removed as much algae as possible and did a huge water change after that I did a blackout for a few days and the algae seemed to be wiped out completely.
Question: Similar to the algae, it looks like you had Cyanobacteria as well. How did you solve the cyanobacteria outbreak?
During the summer period I had a cyanobacteria breakout in my 10-gallon reef tank, I also experienced some cyanobacteria in my shallow reef tank. I believe this was a combination of bad flow and an increase in temperature. I siphoned most of it out with some airline tubing, adjusted the flow and that seemed to do the trick for me.
Question: Did you solve the aiptasia outbreak? If so, what did you do to stop it?
Aiptasia are very common aquarium pests that can take over a tank in no time. I spotted a few in my shallow reef tank and once I got a few peppermint shrimp they were all gone within one night. In my 10-gallon nano reef, I currently have an Aiptasia outbreak, I want to try some other methods to get rid of these like chemicals (Aiptasia-X) and lemon juice.
Question: What kinds of pests have you faced and have they been in all of the tanks?
Most pests and challenges have been faced in all three of my tanks. Cyanobacteria, Green Hair Algae, Hydroid Jellyfish, Vermetid snails (currently have them in my 15-gallon tank), 2 kinds of flatworms, you name it. I’ve faced quite a few!
Question: What was the biggest challenge(s) you faced with your tanks? How did you solve it (or is it still being fought)?
I think the biggest challenge I’ve faced with my tanks is managing heat during the summer, my tanks are in my bedroom which is located in the attic of our house. During the warm summer days, temperatures rise quickly in my room. My first ever reef crashed due to overheating, this happened in 2019. The room fan I had (not very effective) malfunctioned and the water temperature rose to about 35 degrees Celcius at one point. As you can see in the picture, one side was before the crash and the other side was after the crash. In 2020 I had a 10 and 15-gallon reef tank setup during the summer, with lots of fans and frozen cans of water in front of it I managed to keep the tanks at a decent temperature. I lost a Blastomussa and a Goniopora during this period, but I’m not sure if the temperature caused this. This year I plan on installing an ac-unit so that my room stays at a low temperature and I (hopefully) don’t experience any of these problems again.
Question: I have always been interested in keeping Christmas Tree Worms. How are they doing in your tank? Any tips you can give those of us looking to keep them?
I always liked Christmas Tree Worms and found them interesting. There’s so much life on a Christmas Tree Worm Rock; hermit snails, coral, bisma worms, and other tiny creatures. As my channel grew throughout the year I was able to afford a Christmas Tree Rock. It was sitting at my local fish store for a few months before I finally bought it and it was doing so well at the store! I read a lot about them and most people said they are very difficult to keep and usually die within months. Apparently, they require daily feeding, on-point and stable water parameters and all sorts of things. I noticed that the local fish store didn’t keep it in a stable tank, corals were being moved, sold, and fragged all the time and it lived through a cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates outbreak. This proved to me that it was a hardy piece and I was confident enough to buy it. It seems to be doing really well in my tank for months now, I feed some Aquaforest Phytoplankton every once in a while (usually weekly) and that’s all I do really. My biggest tip for people is, if you can, observe the piece at the fish store for some time to get an idea of how hardy the animals are.
Question: What is your favorite part of the hobby?
I used to keep freshwater tanks, but when I set up my first nano reef I almost immediately lost interest in freshwater aquariums. I switched from making YouTube videos about freshwater aquariums on my channel, Danny’s Aquariums, to only making saltwater aquarium videos. I got rid of my freshwater aquariums and throughout 2020 I set up two other reef tanks. I really like this hobby because there is so much diversity, the longer you look at your aquarium the more things you see. Small crustaceans on the reef, coral growth, corals eating and moving. It’s so interesting, I can look at my tanks for hours!
Question: What is your least favorite part of the hobby?
The least favorite part about the hobby are, in my opinion, the know-it-all reefers. Whenever I posted a picture of my low-tech reef tank some hobbyists came at me for the way I kept my reef. The lack of expensive equipment, how I did maintenance, you name it, everything I did seemed to be wrong. I’m sure this ruins the hobby for some new aquarists who are proud of their aquariums. I still get a ton of these comments on my social media accounts, but I ignore them. In my opinion, this is something the community could improve on. Instead of criticizing, help! The least favorite part about the aquariums is algae! It looks bad and can be stubborn.
Question: Do you plan to set up any more tanks, or larger tanks in the future?
I have a ton of cool plans for future projects. New tank builds and other interesting content! People can find out about these projects on my social media channels as they are launched in the near future.
Question: Anything else you would like my readers to know about your tanks?
One thing I would like readers to know is that every tank faces problems. Don’t give up! In the end, the reef tank will look even better!
Conclusion
I just want to extend a huge thank you to Danny at Danny's Aquariums for tanking the time to share these videos, pictures, and information with me and all of you that read this article. There are many ways to set up a reef tank, and I must say, I am impressed with how amazing these tanks look! I wish Danny, and you, the same continued success moving forward!
If you are interested in following Danny's Aquariums, check out his social media channels below!
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About the Author
John Krenzer
John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.
Today, John maintains an over 300 gallon reef tank system, consisting of a 120g reef and a 210g reef. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.
John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.
If you would like to request an article, tank tour article, or to collaborate, let me know via the Contact Me Page!
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