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temperature got to its target, I placed the bags that held the Hermit crabs and Astraea snails into the tank for them to get to temperature and to begin acclimating them to their new home. This entailed removing small amounts of water from the bags and introducing equal small amounts of water from the tank every ten or fifteen minutes. Drip acclimation is recommended for more sensitive specimens. Over the period of about an hour, I did this and then removed the creatures from the bags and let them loose to do their jobs. The crabs' duty was to clean up any detritus or leftover food; they would be the garbage collectors if you will. And the snails were to keep the tank free of algae.

Once the light was installed and on, I was presented with quite a little scene. At this point, quite a bland little scene, but the beginnings of what I envisioned, a miniscule corner of the Great Barrier Reef. No fish yet. No coral. And it would sit like this for two to three weeks. I would have to put my patience hat on for this project. I sat down on the couch to read my saltwater primer in order to prepare myself for the next steps in the process.

Over the course of the next twenty days or so, I watched, I did the water changes once a week (5% 10% of water volume), I tested, and true to the instructions given to me, the levels of ammonia and nitrate fell. The nitrifying bacterial colonies were establishing themselves and processing the waste material in the tank. PH stabilized at 8.2. My specific gravity was a steady 1.035. Calcium, check. I noted the evaporation that I was told would occur and added the appropriate amount of DI water to level things out. (The salt does not evaporate, so de-ionized water is used to top off the tank) The live rock slowly came to life with plants and tiny creatures of odd description. The crabs and snails did their jobs well, and everything was being picked clean. Ready or not, I was ready to slowly begin to introduce fish to my artificial ecosystem.

In this again, I found a little research to be helpful in making my decisions on the various creatures I had to select from. I would need to decide whether I would be caring for corals or fish only for example. The introduction of some fish species, such as puffers and some angelfish, would preclude me from keeping corals as these fish have a tendency to nip. The order in which I would be introducing fish to the aquarium would also be a factor. I was told that angelfish will become territorial as it

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