SPS Corals - Are They For The Beginner?

More than two decades ago the marine aquarist would be pleased if fish survived in the aquarium, never mind corals of any type. The aquarium would have a fairly deep coarse sand bed, and underneath the sand would be an under-gravel filter plate. Another filtration method was a canister filter.

Canister filters can still be put to good use but for the most part under-gravel filters have seen their day. However, the advance of aquarium technology has changed a lot of things. No longer are marine aquariums decorated with white dead coral skeletons on a sand base, they have rock structures (often live rock) with just fish, or contain a full captive reef.

Having a living reef in an aquarium was an impossible dream to those earlier aquarists. Now, though, aquarists can achieve water quality at a high level by using commonly available equipment, and just as important can keep the quality high. Many of the captive reefs that are kept by ordinary aquarists are stunning, whatever the size of aquarium. They are so good that potential aquarists see them and are often persuaded to go to the local marine store to see what is available. Once at that point they are very nearly committed.

So should a potential aquarist consider corals at all? If so, should SPS (small polyp stony) corals be considered?

The ideal answer is ‘no.’ For the sake of the livestock, it would be better if the new aquarist obtained experience before moving to corals. This does not prohibit the keeping of marine fish - in fact, with a fish only aquarium the aquarist could keep some fish that are unsuitable to the captive reef, and also more of them. A really colourful and interesting display is obtainable.

The important point about keeping fish only is that it permits time for experience to develop - experience in maintenance. Ongoing maintenance is essential for success with an aquarium of any type, and particularly with a reef of SPS corals and their particular demands. It allows the aquarist to experience feeding techniques, one area that is more than likely to cause grief with seawater quality. All the required maintenance will become routine and used to, and that other essential will also develop - patience.

However, as said, the above describes, to my mind anyway, an ideal world, having fish only to start with. In the real world, the new aquarist is faced with enormous temptation. All the equipment available suggests that ‘it isn’t hard’, and indeed it isn’t - all things into consideration. The one thing that will never change is that no matter how much sophisticated equipment there might be, if the basics understood by the aquarist are lacking, which of course includes the necessities of husbandry, there are going to be problems or even failure.

So let’s consider the aquarist who is looking to set up a reef tank and cannot be dissuaded. Fair enough.

From the outset it needs to be understood that the fish that could be kept will be restricted. The types kept must be ‘reef friendly’, but there are plenty of those. The number of fish in the aquarium needs to be restricted, and this restriction applies to size as well as actual numbers. There could be, say, two largish surgeons or four small 2″ or 3″ size other fish. (This is not a guideline, just an ‘out of the air’ example.) Larger fish in ones put pressure on seawater quality equivalent to smaller fish in greater numbers.

Ok, so the aquarist wants to keep corals and accepts there will be restrictions on fish numbers. So SPS corals?

Again, I would attempt to dissuade the newcomer from taking the plunge into SPS corals. Look at the unarguably beautiful soft corals with their lovely pastel shades, different shapes, and how some sway so attractively in the currents. Many aquarists prefer soft corals to the hard types (including me). The great thing about soft corals is that they are generally easier to keep (there are exceptions) and have a better chance of surviving the mistakes a beginner could make. Soft corals are generally available and make a very attractive display.

At this point most newcomers will have got the message. There will be some who are adamant that it is to be SPS corals or nothing. Ah well, ok.

I’ll now appear to contradict all that has been written above - there isn’t any reason why SPS corals cannot be kept by the beginner. But, the aquarist must be willing to sit down and learn and hopefully have a mentor, such as a friendly local experienced aquarist or a local dealer (who is genuinely interested in livestock welfare and not just sales). This is a good thing for any type aquarium system, but particularly so for what some see as the pinnacle of the hobby.

SPS corals make the most demands. The aquarist carries sole responsibility to meet those demands (as with any aquarium type). Just a couple of examples - to start with, seawater movement needs to be strong, so powerful and possibly more pumps or powerheads are required. Seawater quality has to be high, and within this there is a requirement to maintain, for example, a high calcium level. This will mean in a smaller aquarium using supplements, or in a larger one employing equipment such as a calcium reactor. This equipment needs maintenance and of course costs additionally in the first place. Then there is the lighting. This will need to be powerful, so metal halides will usually be employed. If the aquarium is a deep one, then higher wattage bulbs will be needed to permit sufficient light penetration. Along with heating, metal halide lighting is hungry for electricity, and electricity becomes ever more expensive.

There are those newcomers who have come into the aquarium hobby and made a success of it from the start. I bet they got down to it and did a lot of research and checking before making the final commitment.

There are also those newcomers who follow a list and set up an aquarium system, or buy a full system that is ‘plug and play’. All is fine at first, then problems arise, get worse, calls for help are made and after stress and possible livestock losses things are sorted out. The aquarist’s experience suddenly increased, at a cost.

Or there are those who join the hobby, do the research and find it straightforward. There may be the odd problem but it is sorted out. There may be the odd livestock loss. Overall, the aquarium is thought to be successful. Then it declines and is sold off. This is often because it is decided that the hobby is not for the aquarist. The ongoing maintenance becomes boring or gets in the way of other more tempting activities. Or, or maybe and, the cost of running the aquarium, mainly electricity, is high and perhaps too much.

I, along with other aquarists, want more newcomers to come into - and stay in - the hobby. The hobby is growing and that is a very healthy situation.

If experience is gained by advancing in steps, then the likelihood of problems is much diminished. Moving forward in steps reduces the danger to livestock - how sad it is that livestock is lost under any circumstance, there are considerable losses within the hobby and the majority of those are probably with newcomers. The newcomer will have found by experience the cost generally of running an aquarium and the effort required to maintain it and is more able to decide if the system should be upgraded to deal with more difficult livestock.

It is a personal opinion of course, but the answer to the title is “No.” Aquarium requirements seem to be confusing to many newcomers anyway, and, based on that, the ‘higher up’ the difficulty ladder the more confusion is going to arise.

Whatever marine system is set up, there are going to be demands. It is essential the aquarist understands the needs of the livestock and this means research and also experience.

It has been said that ‘knowledge is everything.’ It has also been said - ‘don’t build your house on sand.

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Tags: aquarium-fish, aquarium-livestock, Corals, marine reef, marine-aquarium, reef-tank

T5 Aquarium Lighting - Suitable For Which Corals?

Aquarium lighting for a reef aquarium is very important. It is second in importance only to seawater quality. The lighting system needs careful consideration if corals are to prosper.

In a fish only system the lighting is not particularly important. The fish need to see and also be seen, that’s all. Two fluorescent tubes¸ one white and one actinic blue are sufficient. Two tubes are required in order to create a ‘dawn and dusk’ cycle. Of course, the aquarist could use more tubes if desired.

For the reef aquarium there are options. The aquarist could choose metal halide lighting¸ which is the most popular at the moment. This popularity is likely to change because halides are expensive to run and give out a lot of heat which can affect the seawater. The light of the future is the LED array though at present these are expensive to buy. They do not put heat into the aquarium and are much cheaper to run. There are also fluorescent tubes which have been available to aquarists for many years, which don’t develop the heat of a metal halide and are again cheaper to run.

Fluorescent tubes have developed over the years - T12 tubes, then T8’s, and then T5’s which are the current type. All types are still available though it is the latter one that is of most interest to aquarists. The numbers 12, 8, and 5 refer to the diameter of the tube.

The development of fluorescent lighting has included spectrum. Aquarists can choose tubes of differing spectrum. For example, a marine white tube will give a spectrum of around 10000K (K=Kelvin which is a measure of colour temperature). White is an important and much used colour in the aquarium. Another is blue actinic which is used by perhaps the majority of reef aquarists.

The reason why colour output is so important is because in the sea colours disappear at various depths - red disappears quickly¸ blue penetrates deeply so the corals are used to certain colours and require them (this is a generality). Within the flesh of most corals kept on a captive reef are zooxanthellae which are single celled algae. These algae require light of the correct type to flourish. This in turn means the coral will be healthy.

T5 tubes could be used for any coral as they can be obtained with the correct colour output. However, there is one more consideration and that is intensity.

Metal halides are powerful and can ‘punch’ light to the bottom of deep aquariums. T5 lights do not have as much ‘punch’ and this is the area where particular care needs to be taken. The aquarist who has decided to use T5 lighting should be aware of this limitation.

If the aquarist wishes to keep hard corals (SPS) then the aquarium needs to be shallow, or at least it does if the hard corals are to cover the reef. A depth of around 12” is probably the limit, though even then the aquarist will have to watch that corals lower down are settled. Not all corals require as much light so those that are happy with less can obviously be placed lower. It is probable that most success will be obtained in the top 6″ or 9″ from the surface.

Most aquarists will not be happy with an aquarium of 12″ or less depth. Most are 18″, 24″ or even more. If the desire is to have an entire reef of hard corals (SPS) then T5 lighting will not do, though blue actinic lighting can still be used.

If the aquarist wants to have a mixed coral reef, that is some hard corals and also soft corals, then T5 lighting could be used. As above the hard corals that need a lot of light will need to be placed in the top 6″ or 9″ from the surface. The rest of the reef can house corals that will accept less light such as many soft corals. Even so, the lower areas will be the place for corals that can settle with low light levels, there is a fair choice. Some aquarists do not like an arrangement as described as it could appear too stratified and unnatural. In this case the choice is really soft corals and those hard corals that can survive without high light intensity, though they will probably still require to be in higher areas of the reef.

Soft corals are generally easier to place, though once again care is needed to ensure that they receive sufficient light.

When fitting T5 fluorescent tubes it is advisable to use reflectors and to fit as many as possible lengthwise. These tubes need electronic ballasts and types that can drive two tubes are available which makes for more convenience. The tubes should be equally divided between marine white and actinic blue. Lay them out white then blue then white etc so that there is a good and even spread of both. If the tubes total an odd number, make the additional one a white. In addition the tubes should be fitted as close to the water surface as is practical to ensure maximum light availability. Creating a ‘dawn and dusk’ cycle is easy, just wire the blues and whites separately and make use of two electric timers.

T5’s are the latest incarnation in fluorescent lighting. The aquarist who makes use of them will have a good choice of lighting tube lengths and colours, and will also know that they are less expensive to run than metal halides. A number of tubes as described when housed in a close fitting hood generate quite a lot of heat so the aquarist should be aware of any effect this may have on seawater temperature, though any problem is not as great as with metal halides.

Success can be achieved with T5 lighting as long as the restrictions, mainly to do with depth of aquarium are taken into account. It is also important to change the tubes every 6 months to a year, the latest being a year. This is to minimize light intensity reduction and spectrum shift.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, Equipment, marine reef, marine-aquarium, metal-halide, reef-tank

Do Fish Drink?

As far as I know all life needs water to survive. Doesn’t matter if it is a cactus in a desert or a tree in a rain forest, it needs H2O.

What about fish though? They’re surrounded by the stuff, absolutely gallons of it.

Fish are life forms of course and so they too need water.

The type of water that surrounds them plays an important role in how the fish obtain the stuff. The water can be fresh or salt.

Fresh water fish absorb water through their skin. They also have methods of ridding themselves of excess water without losing the important salt within their bodies.

Marine fish are the same in that they need to keep a certain concentration of salt in their bodies. Of course, marine fish are surrounded by salt and water. What they do is drink the seawater and the gills process the water removing the salt. In marine fish it is the retention of water that is the problem, and to combat this some of them have inefficient kidneys or do not have kidneys at all.

Anyone wants to read a bit more here’s a link:

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1996-12/847855291.Zo.r.html

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Tags: Coral Reef, coral-fish, marine reef, marine-fish, reef-fish, saltwater-aquarium

Thank You To Our Sponsor

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Tags: aquarium, home-aquarium, marine reef, marine-aquarium, reef-tank, saltwater-aquarium

Two Corals To Avoid

When an aquarium is ready for coral stocking, or is up and running and additional coral stocking is being contemplated, a trip is usually taken to the local retailer to decide on what to purchase. On arrival, more often than not there is a large range of corals on display of both the hard and soft varieties, though the latter may be in higher numbers.

The choice can be bewildering. What to choose? It is said over and over again that research into potential stock before purchase is very important. Inappropriate corals are still purchased though. Many, maybe most aquarists do it. I did.

The corals look so splendid, but there are some that stand out. There are others that really stand out, and it is with these that the aquarist is overcome. So they are bought.

The first is a soft coral. Soft corals are supposed to be ‘easier,’ and so they are generally. There are always exceptions, and this is one of them.

The coral is commonly known under several names- carnation coral, tree coral, strawberry coral and cauliflower coral being some. The proper name is Dendronephthya. There are perhaps 250 different  types under this banner. They are really colourful, coming in purple, red, yellow, white, green, pink and orange. Without doubt they are beautiful - attractive is to do them an injustice. I feel quite certain that they will sell quite easily simply because of their visual appeal.

So what is the problem? Most corals help the aquarist by having symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae), which, with adequate light, greatly assists in the maintenance of the coral by providing food and ridding the corals of waste. Dendronephthya do not have this algae. They obtain food by capturing it. To survive a high level of phytoplankton and possibly zooplankton are required. This means, in a closed system, a great danger of pollution. Also the corals require fairly strong currents to bring the food to them which may not suite some other corals. On introduction to the aquarium, some do not even re-expand. Even if they do they are likely to perish quite quickly. As said, if sufficient food is provided it is likely that the tank will be polluted and then more than this coral will be negatively affected. The only good thing about the coral (apart from its beauty) is that in nature they are found in areas of very low light and also, but less, in areas of sunlight. Therefore it may be that they can tolerate many positions in the aquarium. However, be that true or not, they are not going to survive anyway.

The second coral that requires a mention is for the same reasons - difficulty of maintenance. This coral is possibly even more attractive than the one already mentioned. This is the one that I purchased (once) years ago.

In this case the coral is commonly known as the flowerpot coral or daisy coral. The proper name is Goniopora, and they are hard corals. They can be brown, green, cream, pink or yellow. Their beauty comes not only from the colour but also from the long stems of the polyps, hence the common names. These do look like flowers in a vase, and they sway in the currents in a really attractive way. They can easily be the centrepiece of any aquarium.

They are often sold as a round ball like rock, with the coral covering most of the upper and uncovered surface of the rock. The ’skin’ of the coral seems to be stretched tight over the surface of the rock and this is the first danger. The aquarist can unwittingly damage the coral when putting it into the aquarium if the support rocks are sharp, or there is insufficient support and the coral falls. Great care needs to be taken when handling these corals and their placement pre-checked.

They prefer low to moderate currents because of the long polyp stems, and also bright light. So in an aquarium lit by fluorescent tubes the coral needs to be placed high on the reef.

The second problem is with feeding. It is reported that Goniopora cannot survive on their zooxanthellae, therefore supplementary feeding with phytoplankton is said to be required. So the same problem can occur as with the first coral if due care isn’t exercised - pollution.

Even if all apparent requirements are being met it is likely that the coral will fail. It may last a month or longer, but the high probability is it will die. This happens slowly, the first indication being that the polyps, or some of them, are not expanding as much as they used to. Eventually, the polyps hardly expand at all, and more and more fail to open.

Some aquarists keep Goniopora for a ’long’ period (’long’ in terms of the expected captive lifespan of this coral) which could be 6 months to a year. In my case it was about 8 months. My coral didn’t die because of failure of the polyps, though they were quite short and, if I recall correctly, some didn’t expand at all and some polyps didn’t open, it died after a fall from the rockwork. There wasn’t any obvious damage, but the coral  became covered in a jelly-like substance and that was it.

Very advanced aquarists who may wish to experiment with the captive care of the two mentioned corals could be of great benefit to all of us. Experiments with feeding, water currents and light could be undertaken.

For the rest of us, the corals should not be purchased, and the magnet of their undeniable beauty resisted. As far as I am aware they are not threatened in the wild, but surely it is wrong to sell or buy corals that are very nearly 100% certain to die. Better to leave them to survive with nature until the secrets of keeping them in good health in captivity are known.

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Tags: coral, home-aquarium, marine reef, marine-aquarium, reef-tank, saltwater-aquarium

Should You Run Your Protein Skimmer Full Time Or Part Time?

The protein skimmer assists in the removal of dissolved organic compounds (DOC’s) from the water column. The protein skimmers manufactured nowadays are normally exceptionally efficient - as long as they are kept clean!

So what do I mean by running your protein skimmer full time or part time?

Well basically a protein skimmer which is run full time is turned on 24 hours a day 7 days a week whereas a part time skimmer is on for less hours in the day - 12 for example.

So why would anyone consider this?

You have to look carefully at what you are keeping in your saltwater aquarium. If you are keeping fish only then I would recommend without hesitation that the protein skimmer be run fill time. Fish produce a lot of waste and we have to feed them so the protein skimmer assists in the removal of these items as well as others from the water.

If you keep a coral only or a mixed reef tank then perhaps it could be different. I say the word perhaps as you need to look very closely at what you keep in your aquarium. The reason for this is that we are interested in the load on the aquarium i.e. how much waste is being produced which the protein skimmer can then process. In a coral only aquarium then very little bioload should exist as corals put very little strain on the system. This does not mean that you do not need a protein skimmer as I personally would never have a saltwater aquarium without a protein skimmer installed.

In a mixed reef aquarium then you obviously have corals and fish, therefore like the fish only aquarium the fish are being fed, due to the feeding waste is produced which could easily impact water quality. Yet, how many fish are in the aquarium? How large are the fish?

What you can do is review your protein skimmer over a couple of weeks. Ensure that you have optimum water quality and then check your collection cup at the end of the period and see how much waste has been produced. If the cup is over half full then realistically you probably need to keep the protein skimmer running full time to ensure that everything is removed. If the cup is less than half full then faesibly you could potentially use a part time skimmer.

Of course this is not set in stone as each aquarium system is different. The decision ultimately comes down to you based upon your particular setup.

So why do it?

There is a lot of debate as to how much good is removed by a protein skimmer as well as bad. As protein skimmers have evolved over the years they have become more and more efficient. Due to this efficiency they can remove a huge amount from the water. This is great in one way as it assists us in both creating and maintaining the water quality which our aquarium inhabitants require however what else is removed?

Personally I have absolutely no idea. I am not a scientist and do not have the tools, skills or knowledge to be able to analyse the output from a protein skimmer and see what it contained. All I know is that it is brown and exceptionally stinky!

It is believed that some of the items potentially removed by the protein skimmer is used by corals as food. Corals receive the majority of their energy from the lighting which is provided to them, however they do receive a good amount from food captured in the water. This could be the likes of phytoplankton, zooplankton etc. Have you ever watched a documentary on the television about natural coral reefs? Have you seen how many particles are floating about in the water? Loads aren’t there - in the aquarium we do not have this amount as we have to use man-made devices in order to keep the water clean.

So potentially if you run the skimmer part time some of this life will not be removed and can be used by the corals as food.

There have been reports that when this is performed it has been noticed that the corals appear to have better colour and better polyp extension.

Another method is by actually feeding the corals yourself. You can purchase various ready made containers full of coral food which you feed to the aquarium. There are also various methods you can follow to make your own coral food. I will cover coral feeding in a future article.

Would I do it? - maybe but only if I was absolutely positive that it was not detrimental to water quality and I would be testing the water all the time.

Would I recommend the beginner do it? - Probably not - not just because they are new to the hobby but the aquarium is also new and needs to age a bit. Perhaps if only corals were being kept but even then I think that it should be run full time until the aquarists gains experience.

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Tags: aquarium food, Aquarium Maintenance, Care, Corals, Equipment, marine reef, reef-tank

What Causes Coral Bleaching?

The keeper of an established and carefully maintained reef aquarium usually does not need to be concerned about coral bleaching. The corals have been in situ for a lengthy period and are well settled. A change in environment can upset this idyllic situation.

Bleaching is popularly linked to hard corals, but is applicable to soft corals also.* ‘Bleaching’ is a term given to describe a particular situation, and the term is pretty accurate. Many, possibly the majority of corals, harbour symbiotic algae, known as zooxanthellae. This algae is of benefit to the coral. For several reasons the coral may expel the zooxanthellae, leaving the coral looking white or jelly white. Anything from 50 to 90% of the zooxanthellae is ejected.* The coral is still alive, it has lost the colouring algae within.

As said, there are several reasons why a coral may bleach, and the following demonstrates
this:

Bacteria, chemicals, ciliates, coccidians, darkness, fungi, heavy metals, higher
temperature, hypersalinity, hyposalinity, lack of water movement, light,
medications, noxious agents, physical stress, red spectral light, sedimentation,
starvation, stress, temperature change, and increased ultraviolet radiation.*

Reading that lot could make an aquarist wonder if it is worth starting a reef in the first place. Well, it isn’t as bad as it sounds. It is very much like reading a gardening book - the pests and diseases that can afflict a plant species are a long list.

If the aquarist is careful in selection and placement in the aquarium, minimising handling, then stress is minimised. Stress is not only created by handling though. If there are continuing fairly large fluctuations in temperature, and/or the specific gravity similarly fluctuates, then the corals are going to be stressed. Stability should be maintained. The water should not be full of sediment, if it is there is something amiss with the set-up and the husbandry - it needs correcting. Sediment can settle on a coral, reduce light, and cause stress. No aquarist is going to put anything in the aquarium that is dangerous to corals, for example metals, insecticides etc, and if reverse osmosis water is used then this danger is minimised. Oxygenation of the seawater is very important, if there is plenty of oxygen then the water movement could be adequate, but note that the guideline for movement in a soft coral display tank is 10 times per hour, and in a hard coral display 20 times or more an hour. If not, it needs correcting. A lack of light can cause stress, the algae need light and a lack will cause problems. The light should be of adequate power (watts) and suitable spectrum. Metal halides are the normal lights used for hard corals. They emit ultraviolet light but the bulb or canopy normally includes a UV filter. This doesn’t cover everything in the list but all that is probably necessary.

It follows that if a well designed reef system is stable then all should be well. The aquarist should not suddenly increase or decrease the temperature because it is thought a different temperature is better, it should be achieved slowly over time. Likewise specific gravity. The power (watts) of metal halide lighting should not be suddenly increased. If there is a reason for doing so, then the output from the lights should be controlled by raising the bulbs further away from the water surface, and over a period of time slowly                        lower them. Fluorescent lighting changes should not be as problematical, but watch for spectrum changes in the tube output, and whatever the lighting, watch the corals.

Corals as part of their normal life eject zooxanthellae* and the aquarist will not usually notice. These ejections are because the algae is becoming too numerous, or it is old and is being replaced.

Though there is argument about whether wild bleaching is a natural cycle or not, large bleaching events take place on coral reefs. Bearing in mind the list of possible causes, some of it is probably the result of pollution such as sedimentation, heavy metals, insecticides etc that are in land run-off.

The aquarist may hopefully never see bleaching. In all the years I have kept soft corals under fluorescent lighting, it has never occurred. Nor has it with Peter and his hard corals, lit by metal halides. Do maintain the system properly, then simply enjoy.

(* Reference: Eric H. Borneman. Aquarium Corals)

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Tags: coral, Coral Reef, home-aquarium, marine reef, marine-aquarium, reef-tank