Aquarium Software To Assist You With Your Aquarium Maintenance

Maintaining the aquarium is an important aspect to this hobby. Fail to properly maintain the aquarium and ultimately it will quickly start to decline ending in livestock which is either unhappy or ultimately near to or at death.

Both John and I are both strong believers in having a proper aquarium maintenance regime and also recording the relevant details so that trends can be identified and potential problems identified prior to them becoming serious.

Personally I record the relevant information in a notepad when I am taking the relevant readings and transpose them into Microsoft Excel. From the records maintained and recorded throughout the month/year I am able to graph them and also perform other calculations.

I also record other information such as dates when fish and corals were purchased, when equipment was purchased, when certain aspects of equipment are to be replaced and also how much electricity I am using.

A lot of aquarists do not record any information at all. They simply take the readings and if they are ok forget about them until next time. If a reading is incorrect then they probably attempt to rectify the solution until the reading is correct and then again forget about them.

At the moment I am attempting to find a developer to assist me in the creation of an online maintenance/logging system. If we do go down this route then we are hoping to add this to Aquarists Online Social as a free service for all of our visitors to use. Hopefully this software will do everything I currently do in Excel but with a bucket-load more functionality. This is something which we are researching and not something which we are definitely going to be doing but I believe that there is a huge gap for an online multi-user aquarium management, recording and tracking system. Perhaps there is one out there in the vast world of the internet but so far I have not been able to locate one.

I believe that this is a tool which could and should be used by a lot of aquarists. Not just saltwater aquarists but also our coldwater and freshwater friends.

There are quite a few aquarium maintenance software tools currently available on the internet so I thought I would make a list of some of them so you could decide for yourself if you wanted to use such a tool or not.

It needs to be noted that some of these are free and some of these have a charge associated against them.

Aquariogest
Aquarix
Doctor Aquarium
Micro Marine Software
Aquarium Lab
My Aquarium Log
Aquarium Instruments
Automated Aquarium Systems
Aqua Log
ReefCon Pro
Tank Keeper
Aquarium Fish 2.0
AquaTrax
Maquarium
Tcquarium

There are probably others which are also available. If you know of one which is not listed then please either contact us so that we can add it or leave a comment below.

If you do not decide to use software to assist you with recording various aspects of your aquarium then I hope that you will at least choose to utilise at least a notepad.

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Tags: aquarium, Aquarium Maintenance, aquarium-software, Care, Equipment, water-parameters

Ph In The Marine Aquarium

The quality of the seawater in the aquarium is of paramount importance. There are basic parameters that need to be correct and stable, and one of these is pH.

There isn’t going to be any scientific mumbo jumbo here, but the foundations of pH need to be understood. pH is a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the seawater. On the pH scale, 7 is neutral, 0 is acid, and 14 is alkaline. (Just for interest, sulphuric acid measures 0, and sodium hydroxide measures 14.)

The pH area that the marine aquarist is interested in is from pH 8.0 to 8.4, so it can be seen that our seawater is on the alkaline side. The often quoted ‘perfect’ pH measurement is 8.3, and aquarists do achieve this. However, if the seawater is not 8.3 there isn’t a need for concern, for successful marine systems can run at the stated 8.0 to 8.4. In fact, a few successful systems run at 7.9. The important part is stability. The pH shouldn’t see-saw greatly as this is detrimental to the livestock.

The life functions of the livestock creates pressure on the stability of the pH. This pressure is pushing the pH towards the acid side of the scale. In the confines of the aquarium this needs to be monitored and controlled.

To find out the pH of the seawater is simple, and requires the purchase of a pH test kit suitable for seawater. These are easily obtainable and should be one of the test kits in use weekly at least.

There is another reason why the pH can fall, and this is because of the day/night cycle. During the day the pH is at the highest point, and at night, when the lights have been off for a few hours, it is at the lowest. This is not always the case - in my aquarium the pH is a constant 8.0, day and night.

Any fall is easily discovered, just do a test after the lights have been on a few hours and after they have been off a few hours. If the fall is slight, there isn’t a problem, but if it is large then action can be taken. Many aquarists use a sump and plant it with the macro algae Caulerpa. The Caulerpa is lit when the main aquarium lights are off and this helps counteract the pH fall.

As has been said, the pH is under pressure to move towards the acidic side of the scale. There is resistance to this pressure by what is termed the buffering capacity of the seawater, or the alkalinity. This alkalinity is mainly because of the carbonate and bicarbonate content of the seawater.

The aquarist should be completing routine seawater changes, as this helps to maintain the alkalinity and thus helps stabilise the pH. However, some aquarists find that they need to protect the pH from falling by additional methods. This is simply done by using a commercially available dry powder, mainly carbonate and bicarbonate, and often called ‘pH Buffer’ or ’Alkalinity Booster’ or similar. The instructions provided should be adhered to. There are other ways which will not be covered here.

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Tags: Aquarium Maintenance, Aquarium Water, Care, Water Quality, water-parameters, water-testing

Magnesium - Why Is It Required In A Reef Tank

Magnesium is an element in the aquarium which is often neglected, however it is very important.

The topic of magnesium can be a very large and at times complex subject however in this short post I hope to provide only the information you need at present so you will know why magnesium is required and what levels you need to aim at maintaining it at. Read more

Tags: alkalinity, calcium, Calcium Reactor, Water Quality, water-parameters

Tap Water - Is It Ok To Be Used

The new or not so new aquarist may be puzzled by the repeated advice to use purified tap water. So tap water is purified, use that. No.

The water coming out of the tap is purified by the local water authority. Regulations advise the amount of additional substances that are permitted, and, hopefully, the water authority meets that criteria. However, this is for human consumption. We can tolerate an amount of nitrate, phosphate, heavy metal such as copper etc. Obviously we can, we drink it, and clean our teeth with it. Our children do likewise. So what is this need for purification of the tap water for use in a salt water aquarium?

As already mentioned, tap water contains amounts of nitrates, phosphates, and heavy metals etc which are tolerated by humans. The water companies also insert additions such as chlorine and chloramines for cleaning purposes. These additions are not good for the marine aquarium.

The oceans and seas where the livestock of our aquariums originate is stable. The fish and corals have become accustomed to this stability over thousands of years. With some variance, they cannot tolerate much change. For their health and vitality, the aquarist needs to produce the same stability and purity that the livestock is accustomed to. So the introduction of anything into the seawater that will upset the status quo should be avoided. The aquarium is less than miniscule compared to the sea and oceans, and it is fairly easy to upset the balance of things.

Another reason to avoid introducing unwanted additions to the seawater - the sea salt itself. This sea salt is used by the majority of marine aquarists, for the initial fill, and for routine water changes. If the content information on the pack is read, it will be found that there are lots and lots of constituents that make up the salt, some of them present in trace amounts only. The salt manufacturers have taken a lot of trouble to provide, as far as they can, a correct mix that goes a good way to duplicating nature’s own. Then along comes the aquarist and mixes up the salt with tap water, with all the additions that are in the tap water. It makes good sense to mix the carefully proportioned dry salt with water that is as pure as possible, so that minimal changes occur. After all, that is why routine water changes are done, so that the reduction in purity is reversed to an extent by the introduction of new pure seawater.

There is yet another reason why tap water should not be used. The nitrate and phosphate content of tap water varies by location, but it is usually there. Nitrate and phosphate are the culprits in undesirable algae growth, in some cases undesirable algae explosions! No aquarist wants the aquarium in that state. So why introduce it in the first place? Again, have a look at the salt mix packet, it will probably state ‘nitrate and phosphate free’. So again the manufacturers have gone to some trouble on the aquarists behalf. Why negate their help?

The usual way to purify tap water is by using an R/O (reverse osmosis) unit. Put simply, the tap water is forced through a tiny access in a membrane. Pure water is retained and the rest disposed of. The ratio of pure water to the rest is around one in four or five. The purity achieved is from around 95% to 98%.

An R/O unit is rated in gallons per day (occasionally per hour) of purified water, so it is easy to select one that is suitable. They don’t cost a lot, particularly when the cost of livestock and live rock, plus the routine water change sea salt mix, is taken into account.

We’re all trying to furnish the best environment for the life in our aquariums, aren’t we?

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Tags: Aquarium Water, reverse-osmosis, reverse-osmosis-aquarium, saltwater-aquarium, water-parameters