Don’t Waste Money On A Marine Aquarium
October 4, 2008
Oh - that really could sound wrong. Waste money on a marine aquarium! Never a waste, it’s a hobby that is absorbing, exciting and educational.
What I’m actually on about is that money can be wasted on equipment and even on the aquarium itself. The marine aquarium, be it fish only aquarium or a reef aquarium, is dependent on electricity and this energy is not cheap. Let’s have a look at one or two things that might be costing money for no good reason.
Most aquarists have, strangely enough, already got an aquarium. However, in the initial consideration stage of setting up, it is a good idea to do the research and work out the running cost of the proposed aquarium. Once the aquarium has been theoretically chosen, the equipment needs can be listed and the cost of the items totaled. If the items are electrical, then the cost of running them can be easily worked out by totaling the overall wattage.
In the first instance, at the very beginning of the project, simply buying an aquarium because it will fit the space available is not a good idea. A bigger aquarium needs more heating, more lighting, and more seawater including that for routine changes. Last but not least it needs more of what it’s all about - livestock. So by choosing an aquarium size that is relevant to the available budget in addition to the available space could save future problems, such as corner and cost cutting to save money. This does not bode well for future success.
As said, most aquarists have an aquarium in place. It is possible that money is being wasted nevertheless.
What about lighting? If the system is fish only, why are metal halides or a bank of T5 fluorescent tubes being used? These, particularly metal halides, are expensive to run. On a system such as this two T5’s or even T8’s will do. What lighting ‘on’ period is being used? A period of 6 hours or a little more should be sufficient as there aren’t any corals to worry about. Of course the aquarist can leave the lights on for 8 hours or so if desired. Are the lights on when the aquarist is at home? The fish are there to please with their lovely colours and the lights are required for this to be achieved.
The reef aquarium, fish or no fish, is a different consideration. The corals need light of sufficient intensity and spectrum. Without this they will not do well. As said in the previous paragraph, lighting is expensive to run; therefore it can be critically examined.
Whether metal halides or fluorescent tubes, or a mixture, are the lights being changed too regularly causing extra expense? Usually the case is they are not being changed regularly enough! However, check the recommendations for the expected life of the tubes/bulbs provided by the manufacturers and keep a notebook so the change time can be accurate, not guessed.
Even with corals, it is possible to restrict the lighting to a lower period. Often it is recommended to run lighting for 12 hours, based on the tropical day. However, the intensity of lighting over the aquarium is constant*, whereas in Nature it is not. As the sun drops lower towards night, or climbs after dawn, the penetrative power of the sunlight decreases and rises respectively. It is only at full strength between about 9am and 3pm. Instead of 12 hours, the lighting could be reduced to 8 at full strength, with ½ hour before lights on and after main lights go off when only the actinics are on. This gives an approximation of dawn and dusk. A lighting reduction such as this represents a substantial saving over time. Remember though, that nothing should be changed quickly. If it is intended to reduce the lighting then a 15 minutes weekly reduction should be made and the corals watched for any adverse reaction.
Heating the seawater is another area for consideration. The first question is - are the livestock protected? If one heater is in use and it should fail in the ‘on’ or ‘off’ position, obviously the seawater could overheat or cool down. Why not use two heaters each rated at ½ the heating requirement of the aquarium. If one should fail, the other will either reduce the cooling of the seawater sufficiently until the aquarist notices the problem, or switch off because the other heater which is stuck ‘on’ is also maintaining the temperature. Using two heaters will help protect the livestock which does represent a large potential saving. Ignoring the fact that life is involved, livestock represents a very substantial outlay and the last thing wanted is that they die of cold or overheating.
Still considering heating, what temperature is the seawater kept at? Clearly the temperature should not be too cool - 75 deg F is the usual quoted minimum. Some aquarists run at 80 deg F or higher. It is accepted that some of these aquarists are advanced and are maintaining the high temperature for a specific purpose, but for the majority of aquarists there isn’t any need. 77 deg F is a good temperature which doesn’t cause problems with fish or corals. Reducing the temperature again means a good saving over time as the heaters will not be on so much. As with lighting, changes should be gradual. A reduction of 1 deg F weekly should not cause any problems, but watch the livestock.
Having heated the seawater to the required temperature, it is obviously desirable to stop the heaters coming on again too quickly because of heat loss. The rate of heat loss is related to the location of the aquarium. In a centrally heated room the loss will be slower than in an unheated room. Whatever the situation is, the loss can be minimized. Make sure, if the aquarium is just being set up, that there is a good amount of insulation for the aquarium to sit on. This is often required anyway to make sure the aquarium structure is properly supported. A 2 inch (circa 5 cm) thickness is not too much, and hiding it from view is straightforward. Similarly, the non-viewing sides of the aquarium could be insulated. If the insulation is of the solid type then the side against the glass could be painted and used as a backdrop. It is easy to fix in place and hide from view.
The point of keeping a marine aquarium is to enjoy all that it represents, and not give more hard-earned money away to another party without good cause.
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Tags: aquarium, fish-tank, home-aquarium, marine-aquarium, reef-tank, saltwater-aquariumCan Natural Aquarium Lighting Work?
October 3, 2008
The wild coral reefs sit under the sun and do well. Everything is correct - spectrum, intensity, photoperiod and the dawn/dusk sequence. Could the aquarist make use of Nature’s original?
For aquariums that contain corals the importance of aquarium lighting runs a close second to seawater quality, so it would seem reasonable to consider using the natural stuff. There are potential problems however.
The first consideration is sunlight and its availability. The skies over wild reefs are often blue but not always, clouds pass over and sometimes storms. Therefore continuous sunshine is not a necessity. However, for most of us in temperate areas the amount of cloud we experience is much more and I wonder how the zooxanthellae (algae within corals) will fare. They need the correct light to prosper and it is probable that the corals would have problems.
There are aquarists in blue sky areas where cloud cover is not so prevalent, and maybe the sunshine periods are not too far off those on wild reefs. So using natural light is more of a proposition. How could the sunshine be directed to the aquarium from the top? Allowing the sun to shine on the front glass of the aquarium could produce excessive algae growth there, thus spoiling the aquarist’s view and causing excessive cleaning of the glass. If the seawater is of high quality with little or no nitrate and phosphate, as it should be, algae growth within the aquarium shouldn’t be a problem, but it always surprises me that the stuff does appear quite clearly on viewing glasses nevertheless. Having said all that, if there is a fairly substantial nitrate and/or phosphate presence then algae could well proliferate much to the aquarist’s annoyance - the word sunlight could well turn into sunblight.
The answer could be to put the aquarium in a room below a low roof where a roof window of suitable proportions has been provided. This would allow the sunlight to slowly hit the top of the aquarium, reach full intensity, and then slowly reduce again. The risk of the seawater overheating would also be much reduced.
I am only aware of two aquarists that have used natural sunlight, and in both cases am not aware of the complete result.
In the first instance the aquarist did in fact have a window in the roof more or less as described and the corals did well for a while. Unfortunately, the area of the world where the aquarist lived meant that the sun dipped towards the horizon as the seasons changed and the sunlight became too weak or missed the aquarium completely. I feel sure the aquarist would have known the sun would do this but he must have miscalculated. What was done about it I don’t know - I’m sure putting the aquarium on wheels wasn’t an option!
In the second case the aquarium was located in a conservatory. There were too major problems, I know that one was fixed but don’t know about the other.
Clearly, in a conservatory with its glass roof and sides sunlight would have unrestricted access. Conservatories when bathed in sunlight can become very warm - this is one of the attractions of them. Unfortunately, this warmth caused problems with seawater temperature stability, usually climbing too high. The aquarist obtained a cooler (chiller) and as far as I am aware this cured the problem. The second problem was as mentioned earlier - algae. This algae not only caused very regular cleaning of the viewing glasses to be required, but caused excessive algae growth in the aquarium itself causing the aquarist to appeal for assistance (generally, not to me personally). I noted the nitrate level was quite high (if I remember correctly it was about 30ppm) but there wasn’t a mention of phosphate so that could have been anything. The aquarist was advised to reduce the nitrate level and reduce and control the sunlight (how?) but didn’t respond further. Perhaps the aquarium was re-located.
A keen advanced aquarist experimenting is great and this is how progress is achieved, and is to be applauded. However, with the hobby in the position it is today the usual path with lighting is better for most.
The aquarist can have lighting exactly suited to his/her needs relevant to the livestock being kept. That lighting can be closely controlled by the use of electric timers and an acceptable dawn/dusk sequence introduced, and the photoperiod adjusted according to need. For the great majority of us electric lighting is the answer.
Tags: Aquarium Lighting, Aquarium Maintenance, Care, Equipment, natural lighting, reef-tank
Introducing - Aqua Compare
September 19, 2008
I am exceptionally pleased to annouce the release of Aqua Compare.
As I mentioned in a previous post I have been actively improving the Aquarists Online Marketplace. The marketplace has been receiving some very good traffic and we have also received some very good feedback about it.
Due to this it was decided that we would improve it. The marketplace was very good and could easily have continued however there were area where we wanted to improve it.
Although it had the facility for reviews to be performed they were in truth not that good and a rating system was not available. The ability to be able to compare products side by side was not available and most of all the search functionality needed to be drastically improved.
Hence the introduction of Aqua Compare.
As you will see this is now hosted on its own domain name with a custom theme applied. Various online stores have been fed into the backend of the system and there are literally thousands of products already in there.
So what functionality does Aqua Compare provide:
- Product comparison
- Product rating and review
- Price comparison
- Merchant rating and review
- Product search
- Price alerts
- Email a friend feature
- And more…
On the old marketplace we had to manually import the data from online stores when they gave us permission to do so. As you can imagine this was a time consuming task and not a lot of online stores had their online products in a format which we could import from. Aqua Compare also has this functionality yet it also has another one. It allows us to scan an entire website of our choice with the owners permission of course and then add this via the back end into Aqua Compare.
The result more merchants and more products to be able to compare.
I have done as many bug tests as possible and have rectified a few that I have identified. There are still some areas which I need to complete however these areas do not stop the site from going live.
Over time we hope to improve this area even more adding more functionality as and where we can to improve the service for our visitors. Any feedback you would like to offer (both positive or negative) would be greatly received and appreciated.
Anyway Aqua Compare is now live. I hope that you enjoy it and find it beneficial.
Aqua Compare | The Aquarists Price Comparison Site
Tags: aquarium, aquarium store, Equipment, home-aquarium, marine-aquarium, reef-tank, saltwater-aquarium
Introducing - The Aquarists Online Store
September 16, 2008
As John always says when he comes around to visit Aquarists Online is what he calls an ‘A - Z’ website. What he means by that is we attempt to cater for everything that aquarists need. Be this information, reviews, guidelines etc.
A short while ago we introduced the Aquarists Online Marketplace which allows you to search various online merchants for prices and reviews to attempt to get the best deal on the internet.
The introduction of the marketplace appears to have been a success especially when you look at the website statistics and see how many hits it gets!
What we have identified however is that this caters only for new products - it does not cater for used or nearly new products.
And the best place for used or nearly new products in our opinion is EBay.
I investigated this to see if I could somehow tap into EBay and add these items to the marketplace. However with EBay’s products revolving as it is an auction this proved to be hard to accomplish. Therefore I looked at doing it another way by creating a new section purely dedicated to EBay. The rest they say is history and the Aquarists Online Store was born.
Probably not the best name for it I know but I honestly could not think of anything better!
If anyone has and ideas let us know.
So what does it do?
Basically it is a very simple concept. It allows us to tap into the relevant categories that matter to us on EBay and display the items which are listed in the relvant categories in what I believe to be an easy format.
If you see an item you like you simply click on it and you are taken directly to the items page on EBay where you can bid, buy it now, ask a question or simply watch it - it’s up to you.
There is also a search function directly on this area of the site which allows you to search the categories we are polling if you are looking for something in particular.
I think that with the marketplace and now the store we have covered both new items and second hand/used items. Both John and I hope that you find it both beneficial and useful.
Speaking of the marketplace well this will also be changing soon into what we hope to be a better more intuitive system where not only can you locate products from various merchants but you will have the ability to compare them, leave reviews, perform price comparison and much more. The new system hopefully will allow us to load more merchants into the system as the current one is a little bit limiting.
Anyway more on that one soon. It’s nearly ready - just a bit more programming to do, then some testing and I will let you know.
There is also another area I have started working on which again I will not go into at this time but hopefully it will assist you with your care and maintenance!
Tags: aquarium, fish-tank, home-aquarium, marine-aquarium, reef-tank, saltwater-aquarium
Have To Fly…..
September 12, 2008
It’s time to go on holiday again, I and my wife. This time we’re flying into Richmond, Virginia, to explore and gape for two weeks.
We have a car and usually cover a pretty high mileage and on previous occasions have been satisfied that we have seen that which needs to be seen. Here’s hoping this one is the same.
I’ve prepared my reef aquarium as usual. A seawater change has been done, pumps etc cleaned, skimmer cleaned, timers checked for the correct time and the like. I’ve also put cover glasses on the aquarium to cut down on evaporation. They aren’t usually on, only when I’m on holiday, the rest of the time they’re in storage.
Peter has kindly agreed to keep an eye on the aquarium. All I’ve done is left plenty of RO (reverse osmosis) water and a jug, a couple of cloths, food, a couple of supplements and a note. Peter doesn’t really require a note but it’s just a reminder of the amounts of supplement to add really. I’m lucky that Peter is a marine aquarist.
One thing I didn’t do is feed the fish ‘extra’ because I’m going away. They have been fed normally - they will only eat normally and the ‘extra’ would just be a pollutant.
Peter will obviously be handling matters on this website on his own for two weeks. He does all the maintenance and computer wizardry anyway. I assist with blogs - Peter also does them. It could very well be that the blogs will slow down for the period, instead of one a day the flow could reduce temporarily. I’m sure everyone will realize why this is.
Going on holiday nowadays is a double-edged sword. Going is great and we really enjoy ourselves, but we don’t see our three grandchildren and we miss them. However, though when the holiday is over we feel a tiny bit ‘down’, we know that on return we don’t have to go to work and we’ll see the family - including three very young much loved children. Can’t be bad!
Tags: aquarium, fish-tank, home-aquarium, marine-aquarium, reef-tank, saltwater-aquarium
The Protein Skimmer And The Nano Reef Aquarium
September 8, 2008
Nano aquariums are small, ranging from the very small of 10 gallons or a little less to around 30 gallons or so. They are popular, at least partly because they have the advantage of being able to fit almost anywhere, so the aquarist pushed for space doesn’t need to do without.
The big thing (if I can put it that way!) with a nano aquarium is they are relatively inexpensive to set up, stock and run. Having said that, all the considerations required for a large or very large aquarium apply, such as heating needs, stocking limits etc. Obviously the choice of livestock is restricted, for example a surgeon fish should not be in a nano.
The equipment considered for marine aquariums includes a protein skimmer. Though some manufacturers have improved, skimmers are often purchased with a capacity of around twice the aquarium net gallonage to make up for any ambitious claims by manufacturers. With some nano aquariums the difficulty would be finding a skimmer small enough.
That is often the problem - finding a skimmer that is physically small enough to fit the aquarium. With an aquarium of, say, 30 or even 20 gallons a hang-on skimmer could be found that will fit. However, the very small nano aquarium will often present difficulties, at least those that are being put together by the aquarist could. If a small nano aquarium is being marketed as a complete piece of equipment, and there are a few available, then perhaps the manufacturer has fitted a skimmer. The aquarist who is putting one together could check to see if that particular manufacturer also sells skimmers of the same specifications as a separate item. If so, perhaps there’s the answer.
Failing to obtain a suitable skimmer locally means trawling the internet to see which manufacturers produce what skimmers. Normally it is a hang-on variety that is used. If none suitable can be found what can be done?
The protein skimmer is an essential piece of equipment, and a great many aquarists support this view including me. This is all well and good, but what if a skimmer just cannot be found that will fit?
The first action that could be considered is the use of activated carbon. This media adsorbs dissolved organics and might be thought suitable instead of a skimmer. However, as I understand it the skimmer and carbon are effective on different organics. Nevertheless, in the absence of a skimmer activated carbon could be used. It should be regularly changed and preferably be in a pumped container such as a small canister filter - this will ensure adequate seawater flow through the media.
The second action is one that should be undertaken with any aquarium no matter what the size is, and that is to carry out routine seawater changes. The normal guideline for starting routine changes is 10% of the system net gallonage (this is often varied as the aquarist gains experience, both in personal knowledge and of the particular aquarium).
A great advantage of the nano aquarium is that it does not hold a lot of seawater, the very small ones as said perhaps 10 gallons or so. Obviously 10% of 10 gallons is 1 gallon. Doing a seawater change isn’t going to break the bank! So if there isn’t a skimmer and the aquarist wishes to minimize dissolved organic concentrations in the seawater, then the amount of each routine seawater change could be increased. This would have to be built up by the aquarist on experience, though there are some difficulties with this, as the test kits for organics commercially produced I am advised do not measure the organics that skimmers remove. Helpful! It should also be noted that seawater changes that are too large are not helpful because the mix is ‘raw’ and disliked by livestock. Generally 25% is the upper limit and this should be much more than enough.
The aquarist should ensure the minimum routine seawater change is completed weekly, and at the same time keep a watch for two things - first, the seawater should not have any slow bursting bubbles and/or oily and perhaps dusty looking film on its surface, and second there shouldn’t be any yellowing of the seawater, even slightly. This yellowing is termed ‘gilvin.’ If pale it is difficult to see and, though not required weekly, an occasional check should be made as follows. Take a white saucer or small plate and place it upright inside the aquarium at one end. Alternatively, tape a piece of white paper to the outside of the aquarium at one end. From the other end looking down the full length of the aquarium, check for any sign of yellow. It is unlikely that there will be if activated carbon is in use.
The protein skimmer is a wonderful device assisting the aquarist a great deal in the maintenance of high quality seawater. However, if the nano aquarium is just too small to make use of one, then the other advantage of the nano can be taken advantage of - very affordable seawater changes.
Tags: Equipment, marine reef, marine-aquarium, Nano Reef, pico reef, Protein Skimmer, reef-tank
Building An In-Wall Aquarium - What To Look Out For
September 7, 2008
Constructing a marine aquarium system is very enjoyable and exciting, with all the research into different types of equipment that will be needed following the decision on what type of system to have - fish only, corals only, or mixed.
As has been mentioned before in other texts the first consideration is, unremarkably, knowing the space that is available to place the aquarium in. There is hardly an occasion when an aquarium cannot go somewhere suitable, as size and shape can be chosen from the commercial products available.
There is another alternative possibly available and that is to have an in-wall aquarium. This is where the aquarium is placed in a specially sized hole in the wall, with the front viewing glass of the aquarium in line with the wall. This alternative is attractive to those who find space to be at a premium and also those who want to have the entire aquarium out of sight apart from the contents. If this is done successfully the end product is a living picture.
The requirements of the actual livestock support system don’t alter. There is still a need of course for bio-filtration, heaters, lights etc. There is also a need to have an electrical output within the cupboard or other space that is to be used behind the wall. In addition, consider the strength of the floor. This consideration is required before placing an aquarium anywhere. The floor must be able to take the weight of the full and stocked aquarium and sump.
It is necessary to give consideration to one or two other matters. There is going to be a hole in the wall. Large or small, this will be only slightly larger than the aquarium itself. However, space has to be allowed vertically for the support under the aquarium, this will extend to the front of the aquarium and so the height of the hole will increase by the thickness of the support. If a ‘soft’ cushion, such as polystyrene, is required then the height of the hole will increase by that thickness as well. Polystyrene is a good insulator so the aquarist may wish to enclose the aquarium sides and back with polystyrene. If so, the width of the hole needs to be increased by twice the thickness of the insulator. There are no worries about ugliness, as a ‘picture frame’ can be placed around all four edges of the front of the aquarium when installation is complete.
Once the position and size of the hole are known, it is necessary to consider the wall itself. Is it brick or block, or a timber framed plastered dividing wall? Whatever it is, consideration absolutely must be given to the consequences of creating the hole. Is the wall load bearing? Will additional supports be required to maintain strength and stability when the hole is created? In a brick wall, a lintel could need to be put in place by removing a row of bricks before the main hole is created. In a timber framed wall, additional timbers may be required above and alongside the hole before cutting commences. If there are any doubts at all, it is best to get experienced advice before any action commences. The construction process is pleasurable, but not if constructional stability problems commence at the start.
Ok, so all is well, and the hole is cut. If the edges are a little ragged this doesn’t matter as they are to be covered at the end by the ‘picture frame’ already mentioned. A check should be made though that the sides are vertical and the bottom horizontal or the seawater in the aquarium could give the game away. The next job is to make sure that an adequate support for the aquarium is made. This has already been taken into account when the hole size was being considered. The support will be in a cupboard or small room that is not accessed for living purposes, meaning that the support need not be a work of art. However, the support must be adequate; an aquarium full of rocks, sand and seawater is very heavy.
When constructing the support consider the possibility of a sump. A sump is recommended as equipment such as heaters and skimmer can be placed in it removing their unnatural presence from the display aquarium. A sump also increases the total gallonage of the system which is good for seawater quality, and on the same basis additional filtration such as a deep sand bed (DSB) can be placed in it. As the sump will not be seen it can be open to view in the cupboard/room and stand under or alongside the display aquarium. There needs to be adequate maneuvering space for the aquarist to carry out maintenance.
The aquarist will have already decided what type of system it is to be. The lighting needs to be considered.
If fish only, then generally two fluorescent tubes running down the length of the aquarium will suffice. The fish need to see and be seen, there isn’t any demand for light other than that. The light spectrum can be chosen to enhance the colours of the fish - one marine blue and one marine white are often used. This enables a ‘dawn/dusk’ lighting sequence to be used as well.
If corals are to be included in a coral only or corals and fish system, then the lighting needs more consideration. This is for two reasons, first the corals special demands for light and second because of heat generation. Consideration of coral lighting demands is covered well in other texts and will not be repeated here.
If fluorescent lighting is to be used such as T5’s, there will be more heat produced. As the lights are in an enclosed space (the small room or cupboard), it is possible that the air will be heated to a sufficient extent that the seawater temperature is affected. This is good as far as electricity consumption is concerned as the heaters will be on less. However, excessively fluctuating temperature is bad, and even worse is a temperature climbing towards 84 deg F or higher. This is quite possible under some circumstances. Though there is usually some small temperature variation, the average temperature needs to remain at the design point.
It may be that the aquarist is to keep hard corals such as SPS (small polyp stony) in the aquarium. Though it is possible with a shallow aquarium to use fluorescent T5’s to reasonable effect, normal aquarium sizes are more likely to require metal halides. Metal halide bulbs emit intense light, but also unfortunately heat up the seawater. Though this is again advantageous in that the heaters are required less, the seawater is usually heated excessively, causing the aquarist to seek means, such as a chiller or electric fans, to keep it cooler. This is in a normal ‘in the room’ situation. In an enclosed cupboard or small room, the seawater is quite likely to heat up even further, as not only is heat being put into the seawater directly, the air surrounding the aquarium is also going to become very warm. This means that the aquarist cannot use electric fans for cooling, but would have to resort to a chiller, not the cheapest device to purchase or run.
So the aquarist needs to consider methods of cooling the seawater if metal halide lighting or possibly multiple fluorescent T5’s are to be used. By all means purchase a chiller if the cost of purchase and running is not a problem. In most cases there are better alternatives.
The room or cupboard that houses the aquarium needs to be looked at. Is there an outside wall to the room/cupboard? Is there a means of getting to one if not?
Once this has been answered the aquarist can easily prepare for any overheating problem. The best solution of all is to use two wall-mounted electric fans. These fans are the ones that sit in or on a hole through the outside wall (these are not big, usually have no constructional stability dangers, and do not present any cosmetic ugliness). If the outside wall is one of those in the cupboard/room, no problem - if not, then flexible ducting can be run to the nearest outside wall from inside the aquarium area. These can go under the floor or where convenient. The restriction is that the fans usually have a limit to how far they can blow or suck the air. This needs to be checked and, if necessary because the ducting is over-long, more powerful fans obtained.
It is best to have one fan that sucks air in at one end of the area and one that blows it out at the other, creating a flow of cool air. It is possible to purchase a unit that has a probe within the seawater - if it climbs to a preset temperature the fans turn on automatically. Keeping the air cool in the aquarium area is good and worthwhile, and will help control seawater temperature. However, lighting systems, particularly metal halide, could heat the seawater excessively despite the cool surrounding air. In this case, air blown across the seawater surface will cool it, and of course the aquarist has made this cool air available.
Depending on the lighting system and the aquarist’s geographical area, it could be found that fan assistance as described is not required at all, or only one fan is needed. Situations vary.
Once the major construction is done, everything else is the same as with any other aquarium.
I have had one ‘in the wall’ aquarium. It was successful and eye-catching, containing a soft coral reef and two fish, a flame angel and a royal gramma. It was closed down eventually purely because the aquarium was small and there wasn’t enough room to place a bigger one. I obtained a bigger one and put it in the living room, closing the hole to make it a normal wall again.
There weren’t any problems in maintenance, except for cleaning the algae off the front glass. To be honest this wasn’t a problem really, it was just that I had to keep going out of the cupboard to stand in front of the aquarium to note if any algae had been missed. When more stubborn algae needed to be removed and several checks had to be made it was a little irritating.
Then my wife, helpful as ever, started to stand in front of the aquarium and give directional instructions. It might sound excessive but actually turned out to be fun.
Tags: aquarium, Equipment, home-aquarium, marine-aquarium, reef-tank, saltwater-aquarium
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