It’s A Sunny Life
June 20, 2009
We marine aquarists are lucky in more than one way, and a part of this luck is that our aquariums are always sunny, no matter what Mother Nature has to say about it, wherever the aquarist may live.
Day in, day out on comes the lighting system and, surprise, the sun is shining and does so all the time until dusk when the actinics are on alone. Ok, there are some who have very advanced lighting systems (Led’s) which can simulate cloud cover but for most of us it’s a permanent clear sky.
Of course there are those aquarists who live permanently in a naturally sunny climate. There they are with a coral reef to dive on but then human nature being what it is they are not always completely happy.
A few years ago – cripes, as long as that! – my wife and I were in Barbados for a holiday and were in the process of hiring a car for sightseeing purposes. The garage proprietor was a friendly chatty type and the talk came round to reefs, I was asking which would be the best area for snorkeling. It turned out that he was a marine aquarist. How very widespread this hobby is! Sadly I never got to see his aquarium but he advised he obtained his fish (and corals?) from the reef. I mentioned I was surprised as he had a huge natural ‘aquarium’ to swim in, but he said it was wonderful to see the fish within his home.
When talking it turned out that what he really, really would like was a holiday such as we were having, two weeks or so away. ‘What – and you live in such a lovely sunny place’ was my response. He said he would love to take his family to England. England, very beautiful but well known for its cloudy days and rain.
It just goes to show that perspective depends on many things, one of them at least being what you haven’t got. So my ‘aquarists are lucky’ is probably down to the fact that there aren’t any coral reefs near me and the sun doesn’t always shine.
My soft coral reef continues to do really well. I do the required routine maintenance and spend time admiring the aquarium picture. I still have wars with those xxxxxx aiptasia anemones and have to admit that this is one area where I have not been successful, having failed to eliminate them. However, eliminating these aquatic weeds in a reef aquarium is just about impossible as there are so many nooks and crannies. I attack them periodically when they are small, the reason for doing it when they are small is that I understand (from reports on the internet) that aiptasia anemones are able to release ‘emergency spores’ when they are facing oblivion, as apparently they recognize they are under lethal attack. I don’t know if these reports are correct and scientifically supported. Anyway, if correct I assume small means a lower spore count. Periodic attacks also keep them well under control and prevents them spreading.
Now summer is well and truly with us I’ve tested my 12 inch electric fan, if temperatures raise unduly it will be used for cooling.
Talking about cooling, I’m sure there are a couple of beers in the ‘fridge….
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My Aquarium’s Too Warm!
June 9, 2007
In some areas of the world, including mine, it isn’t often that the words “isn’t it warm” can be heard. Often it is the pitter-patter of rain, or in the winter the howl of winds and the formation of snow drifts.
There are places in the world where it is always or mostly warm (coral reef areas are an obvious example). In the summer the weather can be warm and very pleasant where I live. Well, no problem with that says I! It can be a problem, though, if you keep a [tag-ice]salt water aquarium[/tag-ice].
A tropical salt water aquarium is designed to run at a given temperature, usually between 75 and 80 deg F. This temperature is maintained by heaters. Here’s the scenario – the summer has come with its increased temperatures, so the heaters are not working anywhere near as hard, sometimes not at all. The equipment on the aquarium hasn’t changed, so there is heat going into the water from pumps and power heads, and in addition the water is being warmed by the lighting. Even fluorescent tubes have this effect, but nowhere near the effect that halides have. In addition, a few aquarists have glass covers on their tanks to reduce evaporation and/or prevent inmates jumping out. So the sum total is seawater that is at a temperature above the design temperature. A little above is not too bad, but the temperature can rise too much. This causes reduced oxygen, and the heat can stress the tolerance of corals and other livestock. So we don’t want that.
Right, we could remove cover glasses, and use fans etc to help control the seawater temperature. Some methods work fairly well.
Consider how often the [tag-tec]aquarium temperature[/tag-tec] is likely to rise above the design temperature. This is fairly easy, the weather patterns (temperatures) are known to you. If the period of likely excessive temperature is considerable, consider purchasing a chiller. Remember that when a chiller is operating, the heaters will not be, so electricity usage shouldn’t be increased by the chiller.
A chiller is a device specifically designed to cool seawater temperature. The devices I am talking about are not modified beer chillers etc, but equipment specifically designed to cool overheating aquarium seawater. The contact areas between the equipment and the seawater are of special materials, so the seawater will not be adversely affected.
An [tag-tec]aquarium chiller[/tag-tec] is not for everyone, as they are expensive and fairly heavy on electricity. So there needs to be a good case, that is, the knowledge that they will be reasonably extensively used, before a purchase is made.
They are easy to obtain and come with clear instructions. Be sure that the chiller has the capacity to deal with the net gallonage in your aquarium. When connecting to your system, be sure to adhere to the seawater flow rate recommended by the manufacturer, so the seawater has time to cool. The usual case is that the heaters are set to the design temperature, and the chiller thermostat is set to 2 or 3 deg F above the design temperature. The seawater heats up, the heaters stop heating, the chiller thermostat detects the heat rise and, well, yes, the chiller starts chilling.
So there we are. Overheating problem solved.
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