That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Have you ever gotten bored with your house and completely re-arranged your furniture just for fun? We here at That Fish Place/That Pet Place do it with our display aquariums. We get tired of looking at the same old tanks and get ants in our pants to re-model them. The most recent benefactor of this behavior is the 350 gallon acrylic cylinder tank in our Custom Aquatic Design Studio.

Over the first five years of operation, the display cylinder has had a few different themes as far as the fish that we had in the tank. For the last couple years its been a brackish community with puffers, scats, monos and catfish.

The decoration in the tank has been largely the same over this time, and was fairly limited because of the design of the tank. The tank itself is 4’ tall, and 4’ in diameter. Pretty big, however, there was a center overflow box in the tank that dominated the design. We hid the box as much as possible with a few hundred pounds of hand carved lava rock, but it was still the dominating feature.

The first thing we decided to do as part of the display’s extreme makeover was to remove the overflow box. We changed the filtration method from an overflow box wet/dry to a closed loop system. This would open up the tank visually, as well as add approximately 50 gallons to the total volume. To accomplish this, the overflow box had to be cut out. With the help of a few power tools and couple of busted knuckles later, the box came out without too much trouble. With the overflow removed, the interior of the tank was wide open, so I took advantage of the opportunity to repair some of the scratches that were on the inside of the tank. Anyone who has an acrylic tank can appreciate how easily they scratch.

Seriously limited in available space for filtration under the aquarium, I needed to come up with a system that would give us good performance, at the same time take up as little space as possible. What I decided on was a combination of a Aqua Ultraviolet Ultima II canister filter, and a series of Pentair aquatics Lifegard modular filters. The Ultima II filter will handle the mechanical and biological filtration. The Lifegard modular system includes a mechanical canister for water polishing, a chemical canister for activated carbon (or other chemical media), and a heater module. A 15 watt Aqua Ultraviolet sterilizer rounds out the filtration, and is the only carry-over from the original filtration set-up.

To really change the appearance of the aquarium, we kept the furniture to a minimum. A large
piece of driftwood is the centerpiece of the new decor, and it also acts as a cover for the central filtration return. Some strategically placed rocks and artificial plants hide the rest of the internal plumbing, as well as provide some cover and habitat for the new fish.

The new inhabitants will primarily be schooling tetras, and other South American community fish. The new, open design of the aquarium will be really spectacular as the numbers of schooling fish increase and mature.

One of the interesting aspects of cylindrical aquariums is the visual distortions that are created by the curved surface, everything inside looks much larger that it really is. Without the overflow box in the middle, everyone’s immediate reaction is that the tank looks much bigger than it used to, now that you can see all the way through the tank. This effect will really show off the brilliant colors of the tetras and other fish as they mature. So far the makeover has been a big hit.

Hmmm, what can I tear apart next?

I’ll let you know when I decide, so stay tuned for the next project!

Thanks,
Dave

Hi, Craig here with some cool stuff about Bristleworms.

It’s late in the evening, you have gotten home after the lights on your reef tank have gone out. Walking by the tank you look down and notice a little fuzzy worm poking out of the rocks. Startled, you press your face close to the tank and …ZIP!!… the little worm is gone. Thinking to yourself that you have a cool new critter in your tank, you forget all about the worm. Days go by… weeks go by… another late night at work and you again arrive at home to a darkened tank. Looking into the aquarium again, you see dozens of little worms now! Crawling everywhere! Now you are a bit concerned. What in the world are these things?! And why are there so many?! And how does one get rid of them?!

What you have discovered are members of a large class of worms called Polychaete worms. There are probably more polychaete worms on this planet than virtually any other creature. Feather duster worms and Christmas tree worms as both included in the class Polychaeta. Some Polychaete worms live over hydrothermal vents in the deepest reaches of our oceans and are amongst the most heat tolerant animals on the planet. Another species of Polychaete worm lives over cold seeps in the ocean and may be the most long lived animal on Earth, reaching perhaps 250 years of age. Most are marine worms, but some species have even adapted to living in humid terrestrial environs.

The little boogers you have just discovered in your tank are very common, most likely from the genus Hermodice or Eurythoe, and often carry the common names of “Bristle worm” and “Fire worm.” These names are derived from the rows of needle-like bristles that line the sides of their bodies. These bristles are often venomous and can produce localized swelling and, in some cases, extreme burning sensations. There is some debate as to the danger of these creatures in the home reef aquaria. While there is no doubt that many species of bristle worms will predate upon soft corals, gorgonians, and tridacnid clams, some of the smaller members of the genus Eurythoe can certainly be counted as some of the best detritivores in the business.

So how do you decide if you have one of the big nasties or one of the little janitorial worms? That will take a little research. I have seen what may literally be dozens of different species. Each one a little different than the other. From the foot long Hermodice carunculata that is white to grey in colour with white spines, to the small red-headed Eurythoe spp. that are rarely more than 7cm in length. If you have tiny worms that are white to black with red heads, chances are they are actually doing you a lot of good. However, even in large numbers, the little guys could become a nuisance. If, on the other hand, you have one of the large white or pink ones… well… those eat things. Trapping and population control through predation are almost always good ideas. Which method you choose will depend greatly on the size and number of the worms.

If you have smaller species of Polychaete worms, it is very likely that you will be able to control their population size by using various natural predators. Of the different creatures used to control bristle worms, there are a handful that are stand outs. At the top of the list are the Pseudocheilinus wrasses. Six line wrasses (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia,) the disappearing wrasse (Pseudocheilinus evanidus,) the Twelve line wrasse (Pseudocheilinus tetrataenia,) and Mystery wrasses (Pseudocheilinus ocellatus) are all well known for their appetites towards bristle worms and flatworms. Generally considered to be well-mannered in community reef tanks, these wrasses make a very beautiful and curious addition to any tank. Another genus of fish that is known for it’s ability to eat small bristle worms are the dottybacks. There are a handful of Pseudochromis that have shown consider skill and appetite when it comes to eating bristle worms. The most notable are Pseudochromis fridmani, Pseudochromis sankeyi, and Pseudochromis springeri. Each of these species is a very inquisitive and entertaining addition to a reef tank. While most Pseudochromis show a very high level of aggression to tank mates, these three species have shown to be quite tolerant of neighbours. Any of these fish would make a very beautiful and prized inhabitant to your home aquaria. Another excellent, if somewhat voracious, predator of bristle worms is the arrow crab. Members of the genus Stenorhynchus are very well known to eat bristle worms. Using their very long claws to extract worms from rockwork, these unusual crabs eat the worms as though they were eating a fuzzy piece of spaghetti. The only negative to these crabs… if there aren’t any worms around… they will catch whatever they can to keep themselves fed. Other crabs, shrimp, and small fish are all on the menu if the arrow crab gets hungry enough. Continuing with the invertebrate solution for bristle worms, there is a particular genus of shrimp that can be somewhat helpful in controlling populations of the smaller worms. The coral shrimp of the genus Stenopus have been noted to eat bristle worms in modest numbers. These shrimp are very attractive and can be kept in mated pairs. This ability to keep them in pairs makes the coral shrimp a really wonderful member of your aquarium. In regards to keeping the arrow crab or the coral shrimp, it must be noted that some individuals will preferentially take to eating prepared fish food rather than putting the effort into hunting worms. But, really, who can blame them when they know that there is a free meal coming to them? No matter what your choice in biological bristle worm control, you will no doubt be pleased with the addition of a beautiful and interesting new resident to your reef.

Having just spent an entire paragraph on predatory control of bristle worm populations, it should be stated that predation upon large specimens is virtually impossible, so trapping them would be the most efficient way of removing them from your aquarium. There are several commercially available traps, but almost all of them are for smaller worms. To make a trap that is capable of catching a larger worm take a little bit of imagination as well as a little McGuyver. Using 1/2″ PVC, cut an 8 inch length. Then, cut two small pieces of nylon window screening and rubberband it on each end. On one end, cut a small slit to allow for entry by the worms. Before you submerge the tube into the water, you will want to place a piece of shrimp all the way inside the tube as far as you can get it. Leave the tube in overnight. Check the tube first thing in the morning and see what you’ve got! It may take a handful of tries, but this method will often bring results.

You may be tempted to try to remove the worm with a set of tweezers or tongs. Take care in doing this… for if the worms breaks into pieces, each of those pieces can form a fully functional worm! With patience, either technique mentioned in the above paragraphs should yield results in controlling or eliminating your bristle worm population. Remember that small numbers of the small Eurythoe spp. actually considered somewhat beneficial, but if you keep soft coral and tridacnid clams, you may be better off having some sort of control in the tank. Another helpful tip in controlling populations, keep your tank on a regular, weekly water change schedule. Weekly 15% water changes will help keep organics down to a minimum, thus keeping the food source for bristle worms down to a minimum. So, if you ever encounter any of these little beasties and want to be rid of them, try a trap or a natural predator. If, on the other hand, you decide to keep your new critters, you will have some very curious and odd pets to observe! The shy nature of these worms can even become somewhat endearing if you give them the chance!

Please welcome Craig Beauchamp to That Fish Blog. Craig’s another of our fish room experts. He’s been involved with the retail fish trade since 1996, and served as Director of Freshwater Fish at top stores in Atlanta and San Diego. His interests and expertise lie in both Old World and New World Cichlids, tropical planted tanks, and marine reef aquaria. He’s been an aquatics supervisor at TFP since 2007.

With the rise in popularity of tropical planted aquariums, people are also beginning to look for new solutions to aid in snail prevention and eradication. Since many of the snail killing products on the market today contain copper, they are not a wise choice to use in planted aquariums because of the sensitivity of those plants to copper. That leaves aquarists with two choices : mechanical or biological snail control. Mechanical control consists of trapping the snails with a jar that contains a leaf of lettuce. The jar is placed in the tank at night and removed in the morning. Another mechanical solution is physically removing the individual snails by hand. One can see that neither of these methods offer complete control. Biological control involves using snail eating fish to remove the snails from your tank. This is often the best and most efficient way to remove snails in any tank.

While many people look to the clown loach ( Chromobotia macracanthus) to help rid their tanks of pesky snail populations, there are several small species of Botia that are perhaps a better, smarter solution for tanks under 150 gallons. Botia striata is one of these species. While the clown loach reaches a size of nearly 40 cm (16 in.) the modest zebra loach only attains a size of around 10cm (4in.) A curious and attractive addition to your tank, the zebra loach has the typical torpedo – shaped body of most botia. They are yellow in color with diagonal black striations. The zebra loach hails from clear mountain streams in India, where it lives in shoals of several individuals and feeds on crustaceans, insect larvae, worms, and soft plant material. Botia striata are relatively undemanding fish to keep in a home aquarium. Although they prefer softer water, they tolerate a wide range of pH vaues (6.5 to 8.0) and can also tolerate temperatures from 75 F to 82 F, so long as the temperature is stable. Like most botia, the zebra loach does benefit from higher oxygen levels in the water. Performing small weekly water changes of 10% to 20% and placing an airstone in the aquarium will provide plenty of oxygen. Weekly water changes will also keep your dissolved organic levels down to a minimum. This will be appreciated greatly by all residents of the aquarium, especially any botia or loach.

Zebra loaches, since they live in shoals in their natural habitats, love the company of their own kind. A small group of 3 or more is recommended, although a male and a female will live together in relative bliss. Females tend to be more robust and heavier of body than their slimmer, more streamlined male counterparts. A pair or small group of these fish will work diligently to remove any unwanted snail from your aquarium. Supplemental feedings with algae wafers, sinking pelleted foods, and frozen shrimp will round out their diet nicely.

The size and peaceful nature of Botia striata make them an ideal choice for any community aquarium. It is their small size, combined with the gregarious and calm nature of the fish, that makes it an obvious choice for anyone wanting to rid their tank of snails. With proper care and feeding, Botia striata will live for up to 15 years and provide you with a wonderful and hardy addition to your community aquarium.

Thanks for the article Craig,

Until Next Time,

Dave

Please welcome Eileen Daub with her first post to That Fish Blog!

As a professional actress in my free time away from That Fish Place, I’ve learned a lot from the theater world that I’ve brought back into our fish room (and vice versa….pronouncing the Latin scientific names of some of these fish really helps to untangle Shakespeare sometimes, believe it or not). One of the biggest tips that the dramatic community can give to aquarists is the theory of improvisation and “Yes, and…”, like the actors in shows like “Whose line is it, anyway?” use to think up those jokes and skits on the spot. To an actor, improv means saying “Yes, and…” to whatever someone else throws their way.

“Hey, you! You’re hair just burst into flame!”

“Yes, and…it saves on heating bills.”

“That dog there just jumped over a house.”

“Yes, and…he fetched his own ball from the gutter while he was up there, isn’t that nice.”

So, what does this have to do with keeping your fish alive and getting your plants and corals to grow? You’d be surprised. For example, our store alone currently sells over 30 products to raise pH or lower pH or raise pH but lower hardness and all kinds of things to make the number on your pH test match what your fish should be kept in. Well, instead of matching your water to a fish, why not try it the other way.

“My pH is really low.”

“Yes, and…discus, killifish, tetras, and other Amazon species love more acidic water.”

“My water hardness is really high and I can’t get the pH down.”

“Yes, and…that doesn’t work for these tetras but those African cichlids love hard water, and hard water with lots of minerals makes a good foundation for reef and marine tanks.”

Need more convincing? Ok, what about all that algae in your aquarium. Instead of scrubbing until your fingers have blisters or putting more chemicals in your tank than in a high school chemistry lab, work with it. Is the hair algae going crazy in your marine tank? Why not try a blenny, bristletooth tang, or a sea hare to help eat it up (or if you get really creative, pick up a small pair of craft scissors and make it your damsel’s new front lawn…tiny garden gnome statue optional)? If lighting is an issue, remember that fish don’t have a 9-5 schedule like the rest of us. If you are only home in the evenings to enjoy your tank, adjust the timers so the lights aren’t on when you aren’t around.

Better yet, how about those inevitable outbreaks of disease or an unpreventable accident. It happens to the best of us – I once wiped out my entire home saltwater aquarium because of an unquarantined new arrival – but the key to enjoying your aquarium instead of dreading its maintenance is how you respond.

“My tank just keeps getting ich outbreaks/bacterial infections/cloudy water/aquatic alien abductions.”

“Yes, and…now I’m going to figure out what to do about it.” (I hear aluminum foil tank covers work well for alien abduction problems. Doesn’t prevent the crop circles in hair algae though, sorry)

Very few things in the aquarium hobby are spontaneous; the cause of the problem might just be tricky to find and sometimes, we just might have to learn to adjust to and live with the problem. Ich and other parasites can be almost impossible to completely prevent, but if you’re fish seem to be especially prone, you might want to switch their diet, add supplements to boost their immune system, or avoid invertebrates and keep a low copper dosage in the tank, for example.

A favorite director of mine likes to refer to improv actors as “Chaos Surfers” – they take whatever anyone throws at them, accept it and ride it forward. I say, why stop there? Aquarists can do the same. We can take whatever our aquarium is telling us and instead of fighting against it, we can accept it and make what we have work for us. We just have to be flexible enough to realize that even when our aquarium “scene” is going the way it might have been planned in our head, what we do have is just as good in a completely different way.

Thanks, Eileen

We look forward to more blogs from you in the future!

The use of ozone has long been a standard practice in industrial and public water purification plants, and large scale public aquarium filtration, as one of the best and most efficient means to increase water quality, while still being able to promote water conservation.   One of the biggest problems to overcome in these closed water systems is the accumulation of dissolved organic waste from various biological sources such as animal waste and decomposing food and plant material.
In aquariums of any scale, mechanical filtration will remove large organic and inorganic solids, and biological filters will remove dissolved organic material in the form of Ammonia and Nitrite, this still leaves behind a large number of other dissolved and colloidal organic materials that will accumulate over time (the ones causing colors and odors being most noticeable).  In most cases these materials are only removed by physical water changes, or chemical absorption media.  While frequent water changes may be practical for removing these dissolved materials in smaller aquariums where you are not dealing with large volumes of water, it is not a practical method for removal of these materials in large systems or in systems where water conservation is at a premium.  Using chemical absorption media is expensive, and is limited in is ability to remove all of these undesirable dissolved organics.  This is where the use of Ozone comes in, I will try to answer some basic questions about ozone below

So, what is ozone, and how does it work to remove these dissolved organic molecules?
Ozone is a naturally occurring highly reactive form of oxygen gas comprised of three oxygen molecules (O3) that is also highly unstable and short lived.  It is this inherent instability of the ozone molecule that is taken advantage of for use as a strong oxidizing agent.  “Normal” oxygen, as found in air and water, has two oxygen molecules (O2) and is very stable.  When ozone molecules break down, they lose an oxygen molecule, forming a stable “normal” oxygen molecule, and a free single oxygen atom.  It is this free oxygen atom that attaches to dissolved organic compounds, which in turn causes them to break down into simpler forms that can consumed by heterotrophic bacteria , or recombine into forms that can be removed with mechanical filtration or protein skimming.  The organic molecule that gained the free oxygen atom and subsequently broke apart is now said to be oxidized.  This is a bit of an oversimplification of the process, but it is a about as general an explanation as I can give without losing too many of you. (and myself, chemistry was never my strong point)

How do I get ozone, and how do I use it in my aquarium?

As I have already discussed ozone is a highly unstable gas, so it is not possible to store, or purchase ozone, it only has a life span of a few seconds before it breaks apart.  Ozone needs to be generated as needed with a device called an ozonizer or ozone generator.  Most modern units available for the aquarium hobby use a Corona Discharge method to create ozone. In a Corona Discharge unit, air is passed through a strong electrical field which causes atmospheric oxygen (O2) to break apart into single oxygen molecules.  Some of these oxygen molecules will then combine back together after passing through the electrical field to form Ozone (O3).  This generated ozone gas must then be quickly used before it breaks apart again.  Most marine aquarium hobbyists already have the perfect piece of equipment for introducing ozone into their aquariums, their protein skimmer.  Ozone needs to have contact time with the water so that it is exposed to the materials that you wish to oxidize.  Fractionating the ozone gas by drawing it into the air intake of your protein skimmer, you can use your skimmer as a highly efficient contact chamber.  This works for both venturi type, and air pump driven protein skimmers.  You need to make sure that your skimmer is made of ozone safe materials, and that you use ozone safe air tubing.  Some plastics and rubber can be damaged by ozone, and cause leaks or failures if exposed for prolonged periods of time.  There are also ozone reactors available, but they are a bit more difficult to use, and harder to find.

How much ozone needs to be used, and is it safe for aquarium inhabitants.

The best way to monitor and control ozone is with the use of an ORP monitor or controller.  ORP stands for Oxidation Reduction Potential, and In terms of your aquarium water, it reads an electrical voltage in Milli Volts (mV) which measures the oxidation ability of the water.  As Ozone is applied the ORP level increases.  Natural sea water has an ORP value of 350-400 mV.  ORP levels of 200 or less in your aquarium are indicative of low oxygen, high dissolved organic, conditions.  By monitoring the ORP level in your aquarium, and maintaining it between 250-350mV, you can adjust your ozone dosage accordingly. Using an ORP controller simplifies this process to shut off you ozone generated at a desired ORP level.  You should never exceed an ORP of 400mV in your aquarium.  Ozone units like the Red Sea AquaZone Plus have a built in ORP controller.

Most manufacturers of ozone units recommend a dosage rate between 5-15mg per hour per 100 liters (26 gallons) many different size units are available, so you can choose an appropriate output unit for your size aquarium, and most have a variable output.  Controlling your ozone output is very important, too much is not a good thing; very low doses will provide you with excellent results in most cases, overdosing can be harmful to both you and your aquarium inhabitants.  There are several methods to make sure that you are applying the correct amounts of ozone into your aquarium.  The goal when introducing ozone into your protein skimmer is for all of the ozone to break down in the chamber or escape through the top of the skimmer.  You do not want ozone to escape freely into your aquarium, it will also oxidize organic material in there, which will cause damage to fishes gills, and invertebrate tissue.  You also do not want high concentrations of ozone to escape into the air; it is harmfull to your lungs if in high enough levels.  Most hobbyist units do not produce dangerous levels of ozone.  You can use carbon in your sump chamber that the skimmer discharges into, or on top of your protein skimmer to absorb residual Ozone, and use an Ozone test kit to make sure that none is escaping the reaction chamber into your aquarium.  Overdosing Ozone can also produce some harmful compounds, mainly in the form of hypochloric and hypobromic acids, this is why you should not exceed and ORP of 400 mV It is a not a good idea to use ozone in small confined spaces, a well ventilated room or aquarium cabinet should be considered.  If you are not using an ORP meter or controller, a conservative approach should be used, stick to the 5mg per hour, per 100 liter rate to be safe.  Another caution when using ozone is to use an air dryer to make sure that the air that is drawn into the ozone generator is dry, a simple and effective unit like the Red Sea Air Dryer, uses regenerable desiccant  beads to draw moisture out of the air.  Moisture can react with Ozone to create nitric acid, which can damage equipment, and lower the pH in your aquarium.

What are the benefits of using ozone?

Water clarity is the number one reason most people use ozone.  There are many dissolved organics that can discolor your water, ozone will oxidize these and produce water that is crystal clear.  This is especially beneficial to reef aquariums where light penetration is crucial.  Many people do not even realize how discolored their water is until they see the difference ozone can make. Ozone also has disinfecting properties, pathogenic bacteria, single cell parasites and algae, viruses are all destroyed by contact with ozone.  Increased dissolved oxygen levels from the reduced organic load and bacterial oxygen consumption.  Ozone will destroy pesticides, detergents, and many other toxins that may be in your tap water.  Many organisms release substances that are intended to defend themselves, or inhibit predators or competitors that can accumulate over time and become problematic will be destroyed by ozone.  Ammonia and Nitrite are oxidized into less harmful Nitrate when exposed to Ozone.  And as mentioned previously, using ozone can reduce the amount of water that needs to be changed in closed systems.

I hope that this has shed some light on Ozone use in the home aquarium, and that I answered some of the questions that you may have about Ozone use.  Feel free to leave comments if you’re looking for any additional info.

Until next time,

Dave