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Everyone who goes to the seaside for a day out or a holiday and has a paddle or a swim knows that a mouthful of water is salty. This saltiness is important, and the level of it. Livestock that comes from the wild reefs is used to stability, and this stability requirement also applies in the aquarium.
This is not a complete scientific discussion or description of alkalinity. It is simply intended as a base, as there isn’t a requirement for an aquarist to be a scientist and understand all. A basic understanding allows the aquarist to ensure the seawater in his/her aquarium is at the parameter desired and why.
Water hardness in the marine aquarium is important. The term ‘water hardness’ is maybe too general. It would probably be better to call it carbonate hardness. Another term that is perhaps more recognised in marine hobby circles is alkalinity.
Fresh water is used constantly by the marine aquarist, first when the aquarium is initially filled and then for ongoing routine water changes. Of course, an appropriate amount of dry salt mix is added. Fresh water is also used for evaporation top-ups. On the face of it using tap water seems reasonable - but is it?
…and I don’t know why. I’ve live rock and everything seems fine at the moment, but I’m worried.. These words are quite understandable. Over and over again mention is made of seawater quality and how important it is - in fact seawater quality is the number one requirement, ahead of lighting (for a reef aquarium). So concerns in this direction are quite correct.
The salt water aquarist runs tests to ensure that the water quality in his/her aquarium is up to scratch. One of the tests should be phosphate, particularly in the case of a reef system. Phosphate (PO4) is measurable in the sea and is a requirement of living organisms. It is present in a very small amount, 0.03 ppm (parts per million).
Mother Nature provides the habitat for the livestock that we aquarists keep in our fish only aquariums or reef aquariums, and this, of course, is the wild reef. Mother Nature is also the provider of the other obvious essential, and that is seawater. Having written the above it would seem absolutely wrong to state that natural seawater is not recommended. So it would be - natural seawater is recommended.
Calcium is a building block on the reef and is essential. Many corals, invertebrates etc depend on it. Let’s discuss parameters first, then look at how calcium can be provided. It is generally accepted that in a home marine reef aquarium a calcium reading between 350ppm and 450ppm is acceptable. A calcium level in the aquarium which is higher than 550ppm will normally precipitate out of solution. This means the water becomes calcium saturated and no more can be held. Because of the water being saturated the calcium forms calcium carbonate. This is not a state of affairs that we realistically want.
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Amino Acids are quickly becoming one of the most popular additives to any serious reef keeper’s arsenal. There are many different reasons why they are being used and many why I suggest everyone should use them.
Many aquarist’s have been bit by the red bug, or the monti nudibranches or flatworms etc etc. In this article I will explain a few ways to prevent these mishaps.
As an aquarium professional I would like to discuss the pressure our hobby as put on the worlds reefs and what we can do to minimize damage. First and foremost we must promote responsible reef keeping by learning and researching these wild animals we wish to care for out of their natural environment. Management through collector and consumer education as well as captive farming and aquaculture we can make this hobby sustainable.
The seas and oceans cover the majority of the planet surface. Within those seas the wild reefs have grown and all of their needs are met, be that calcium or whatever
Most marine systems are set up to house tropical livestock, which means that attention has to be given to maintaining a moderately high seawater temperature
…..I need a very basic list of needs for the basic marine system There are a lot of individual items about setting up a marine aquarium in the blog and article areas on this website, but nevertheless flicking around locating topics for a beginner who has little idea of the basics could be confusing. So an ‘in a nutshell’ list could be of help. We’re told it will be anyway, so here goes! Remember this is basic. At the end I’ve put article locations which could be of use.
Whatever type of marine system is kept lighting is important. With a fish only aquarium the fish need a day cycle and of course need to see where they are going.
Disease in the aquarium is one of the main fears of aquarists. Once the presence of a disease is known the aquarist’s stress level shoots up and quite understandably so – at the worst there could be a full aquarium wipe-out.
These lovely and strange life forms are very endearing and become a household pet very easily. Children in particular seem to be fascinated by them. The care of seahorses is not to be undertaken lightly. They need very similar maintenance to a fish only marine system, so the requirement to carry out maintenance regularly needs to be accepted.
There is understandably great fascination with some anemones, mainly because of their well known association with clownfish. Seeing these colourful little fish nestling in among what are normally dangerous tentacles is amazing.
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A deep sand bed is probably one of the most common additions to live rock filtration utilised within the marine aquarist world at the moment. The other is called a plenum which I will cover in a future post. A lot has been discovered over the years in relation to sand beds perhaps the biggest of which is the importance of the sand particle size and the depth of the bed. Let’s concentrate on the sand particle size first of all.
The aquarist has a responsibility in his/her aquarium to maintain stable water conditions, and this applies for fish only systems and also particularly for reef systems. The stability referred to here is the continuing maintenance of appropriate levels of pH, alkalinity, calcium and the like, and also the maintenance of appropriately low levels of phosphate and nitrate. What must also be included in water parameter stability is the aquarium temperature.
These lovely and strange life forms are very endearing and become a household pet very easily. Children in particular seem to be fascinated by them. The care of seahorses is not to be undertaken lightly. They need very similar maintenance to a fish only marine system, so the requirement to carry out maintenance regularly needs to be accepted.
If you have an aquarium where it is all self contained ie. all the equipment is installed in the main display aquarium then you wont have to worry about any plumbing - with the exception of course of external protein skimmers, canister filters, denitrators etc. If, however you have decided or are in the process of deciding whether to have an external sump, refugium etc then you are going to need to get the water down and back up again - this is where aquarium plumbing comes in.
There is a variety of equipment to assist in the maintenance of a marine aquarium. Some are essential such as the heater/thermostat, others are supportive for example the auto top-up system. The calcium reactor is often supportive, but in some circumstances it can be argued that it is essential.
Disease in the aquarium is one of the main fears of aquarists. Once the presence of a disease is known the aquarist’s stress level shoots up and quite understandably so – at the worst there could be a full aquarium wipe-out.
I thought I’d jot down what I consider to be the five major sins of a marine aquarist, be that for a reef tank or a fish only tank. They are not in any particular order. The list is not just aimed at beginners to the hobby who are just starting a saltwater aquarium but at aquarists of any level.
In Part 1 stocking a fish only aquarium was considered. This time the reef aquarium will be looked at. Whatever the type of salt water aquarium, fish only or reef, water quality is important. In the reef aquarium, water quality needs to be excellent. Again, it is assumed that the aquarium is fully set up with suitable equipment, and the biological filtration (probably a ‘live’ rock reef with maybe a sump containing further filtration) is settled and adequate.
Over and over again I have said that research is imperative prior to starting your first home marine aquarium and I still stand by that it is and I am sure that lots of other people would agree with me. However with research comes the belief that the costs may be higher than they actually need to be. One of these such costs is the calcium reactor. For some reason there is a belief amongst many people that a calcium reactor is required right from the offset. A calcium reactor is a great device to install into the aquarium to ensure that the calcium requirements etc of the aquarium inhabitants are met and maintained.
When you start a saltwater aquarium and have purchased your live rock or whatever decorations you are going to use then there will probably not be that much coralline algae in the system (especially if you have chosen not to use live rock!) If you are using live rock then dependant upon the quality of the live rock you should have some coralline algae of some type or other.