That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Maintaining calcium levels in your reef aquarium is critical for the health and growth of your corals. Calcium is constantly being being depleted from your aquarium water because of the demand for calcium from new coral growth and coraline algae growth. Calcium must be replenished and maintained on an ongoing basis for your reef to thrive. There are many sources of calcium available on the market; liquid calcium, powder calcium, salt mixes with extra calcium. All of these products require frequent, if not daily, dosage to maintain calcium levels.

There is a better way; use a reactor. Using a Reactor is the best method to maintain calcium levels in your aquarium with a minimum of maintenance, and maximum results. There are two basic types of reactors to choose from, a CO2 powered Calcium reactor or line fed Kalkwasser Reactor. These two reactors accomplish the same goal in very different ways.

Calcium reactors supply a constant supply of calcium by introducing CO2 into a reaction chamber, which forms carbonic acid that dissolves a natural calcium carbonate media. Water is fed into the Calcium Reactor from your tank or sump, then the calcium rich effluent from the reactor is dripped back into the tank or sump at a controlled rate. The effluent from the reactor is not only calcium rich, but also has a high alkalinity to enhance your aquariums pH buffering ability. Basic units such as the Coralife Calcium Reactor are on the entry level, and units like the Precision Marine Professional reactor are available for serious reef hobbyists.

The effluent pH from a calcium reactor can be very low due to the carbonic acid formed when CO2 is introduced. Effluent pH should be checked regularly, the use of a quality pH monitor, such as the Pinpoint pH Meter by American Marine, is highly recommended. Using a pH controller, like the Milwaukee SMS122, to control the output of CO2 into your reactor will further safeguard your system from low pH conditions caused by overdosing of CO2.

Calcium hydroxide, or Kalkwasser as it has become commonly known,has long been considered and ideal source of calcium for reef aquariums, but ease of use and consistency of performance have turned aquarists away from the product. One of the biggest problems with using calcium hydroxide solution, is that it reacts with atmospheric CO2 and forms a calcium carbonate precipitate. As this precipitate forms it reduces the calcium level in the solution, and causes clogging of drip lines, and can irritate corals if introduced into the aquarium. Kalwasser Reactors, like the Professional Kalkreactor by Precision Marine, solve this problem and make the use of kalkwasser easier than ever. Kalkreactors are sealed units that prevent interaction with atmospheric CO2, so no precipitates are formed, and provide your aquarium with a constant supply of saturated kalkwasser solution. These units are best used in conjunction with an auto top off system, or a remote gravity fed reservoir and float valve. This way you can dose calcium while you are compensating for evaporation, allowing for slow addition of the saturated kalkwasser solution. Kalkwasser solutions have an extremely high pH and must be added very slowly to prevent rapid pH increases. Combining Kalkwasser addition and evaporation replenishment with use of a Kalkreactor makes what was previously a difficult product to use easy.

Choose your reactor, and spend more time enjoying your reef!

Dave

A quarantine tank is simply a small aquarium that is set up for the purpose isolating a fish, or fishes, from your display aquarium. Quarantine tanks are inexpensive and easy to set up, and are an investment in protection for your display aquarium.

Parasites, injury, and infectious disease are an unfortunate, and unavoidable, aspect of the aquarium hobby. One of the main purposes of a quarantine tank is to hold new fish purchases in an isolated tank that allows for easy observation. If the fish should show signs of parasites or other infections you can medicate with no risk of infecting the fish in your main tank. If you have invertibrates, or live plants in your display, you are severely limited in your choices of effective medications, not introducing pathogens is your best defense. A quarantine tank also gives new fish an opportunity to get used to processed food without having to compete with your established fishes that most likely are aggressive eaters. Another benefit of a quarantine tank is that it also gives you somewhere to put injured or aggressive fish that you may need to remove from your display.

For most fish an aquarium of 10- 20 gallons will be fine, obviously larger fish or large numbers of fish will need a lager aquarium. You do not need to get fancy with your quarantine tank, a basic set-up is all that is required. A small power filter or air powered sponge filter, a heater, and standard aquarium light is all you need. A bare bottom aquarium works best, however something for the fish to hide in is important. A small cave constructed with rocks, some artificial plants, or a length of PVC tubing is recommended.

Quarantine of new fish should last for at least 21 days, this allows for extended observation, and for any parasites that may be present to complete their life cycles. If after 21 days there has been no sign of parasites or disease it is safe to acclimate and introduce your new fish to its permanent home with minimal risk of introducing any pathogens into your display. If at any point during quarantine you suspect there may be a problem with your fish, and you decide to medicate, your quarantine “clock” must be reset and you should start the 21 day period over again. Many parasites have multiple life stages, most medications are only effective against specific stages. For this reason, only an extended exposure to medication is truly effective against many parasites. This is also why some parasitical problems seem to come and go, the parasite may only become visibly apparent at certain life stages, although they were there “hiding” all along.

Controlled feeding is another important function of a quarantine tank. Wild caught fish can be very slow to acclimate to prepared foods, and may be very timid towards accepting new types of foods. Without competition new fish get a chance to adjust at their own pace, allowing them to compete once they are ready for the display aquarium. Use of appetite enhancers, like garlic, can also aid in training finicky fish to accept new foods.

There a few things that you can do to make setting up your quarantine tank fast and easy. You do not need to keep your quarantine tank running when not needed if you are limited on space. When needed, fill your quarantine tank with water from your display, this accomplishes a water change in your display, as well as gets you started with conditioned water in your quarantine tank. Another good trick is to keep your sponge filter, or cartriges from your power filter in your display tank. this keeps them colonized with bacteria and you will not have to worry about cycling your quarantine tank if you need it in a hurry. This is very easy to do if you use a wet dry filter on your display, simply hide them in the sump untill they are needed. You can set up an instant established quarantine system in just a few minutes if you plan for it (wouldn’t it be nice if your display was that easy)

Protect your display, you have put too much time, effort, and expense into your aquarium to put it at risk. A little patience and prevention will save you a lot of stress and disappointment.

Dave

One of the areas of the aquarium hobby that has boomed in recent years is the phenomenon of the mini, or nano, aquarium. Many models of small complete systems have hit the market, and it is now easier than ever to succesfully keep these pint sized wonders.

There are a few important things to consider when planning your nano-tank set up. Small tanks are notorious for having unstable water quality. Water quality and temperature changes occur much easier, and faster, in a small tank than in a larger system simply because there is less water to buffer and absorb changes. Even a five gallon water change can take out a lot of good bacteria and may be causing the same “new tank syndrome” that many aquarists experience when setting up their aquarium. Cloudy water and a brown algae bloom typically mark the end of the cycling process as bacteria neutralize nitrites and create nitrates that feed algae. These blooms usually die off on their own within a few days, but try keeping your water changes small to avoid this “re-cycling”. For example, instead of changing 25 percent of your water a couple times a month, try changing 5 to 10 percent every week or two. If you have to do a larger water change, keep a product with a live bacteria culture like Biozyme or Hagen’s Cycle on hand to replace the bacteria you remove. Increasing the amount of water in your system can also help to keep the water quality more stable. A small pump, some tubing and an extra tank can make a simple refugium to increase the volume of your system, allowing for a more stable display tank . With the addition of a light source, this extra tank can also be used to grow macroalgae to eat up extra nutrients, as a nursery for copepods and other live foods, or even as a safe haven for harassed fish and invertebrates. An extra 5 or 10 gallons will help to stabilize your water quality and prevent algae and bacteria blooms. Between water changes, avoid overfeeding your fish and invertebrates by using a feeding station to contain floating foods and a feeding syringe to target-feed directly to your animals. Make sure that you are choosing size appropriate species of fish and other animal, while this is important in any size aquarium, it is crucial in small aquarium. Try to stick to community fish, and be conservative with the number of fish that you are keeping. Heavy fish loads require heavy feeding, and can quickly overtax small filtration systems. Small systems take a little extra TLC than large tanks but can be well worth it in the end.

Dave

Algae problems in the home aquarium are one of the most common issues hobbyists can face, and can seem very difficult to solve. Many people have given up on their aquariums because they could not stop the algae monster from taking over. This does not need to be case, aquariums should be a source of relaxation, not frustration. If you are fighting the algae monster in your aquarium, all you need to understand is what caused the problem, then the solution is not far away. The biggest mistake that is made while trying to eradicate algae from an aquarium is to treat the symptoms and ignore the cause. Using algaecides, scrubbing like crazy, leaving your lights off, and adding animals to eat algae will kill or remove algae in the short term, but history will repeat itself if you do nothing to address the source of the problem.

Algae need two things to thrive in an aquarium; Light and nutrients. To control unwanted algae growth you need to control both of these components to maintain an algae free aquarium.

Lighting is the easier of these two components to control. Duration and quality of light are crucial to controlling algae growth. Lights should never be left on 24hrs a day, try to create a natural day and night cycle in your aquarium. Freshwater live plant and saltwater live coral aquariums need a maximum of 10-12 hours per day to provide energy for photosynthesis, more basic aquariums require as little as 8 hours per day, any more light than this is unnecessary and can contribute to algae problems. Lighting duration is easily controlled with the use of aquarium timers. Lighting quality is a function of the type and age of the light bulbs being used. Whatever type of lighting is being used (fluorescent, metal halide, power compact) it is important that bulbs are replaced on a regular basis. The quality of your light degrades over time, shifting towards undesirable light spectrums that encourage algae growth. High output lights like metal halides and VHO fluorescents may need to be replaced as often as every six months to maintain optimal spectral output. Standard fluorescent, compact fluorescent and T-5 fluorescent bulbs should be replaced every 12-18 months depending on type and application. You should only use light bulbs that are designed for aquarium use, other types of light bulbs will produce unacceptable light spectrums.

Nutrients can be a more difficult problem to solve, and may require some investigation to determine the source. Nitrates, phosphates and silicates are the key nutrients to target when trying to control algae growth. These nutrients can be created in the aquarium from natural processes, or they may also be unknowingly added to the aquarium by the hobbyist. First let’s deal with the nutrients being created in the aquarium.

Nitrates are the end result of the biological filtration process in closed aquarium systems. Over time nitrate concentrations will rise in your aquarium, you should periodically test for nitrates in your aquarium using a nitrate test kit. Nitrate levels are best controlled by using nitrate removing filter media, like Seachem’s Denitrate and performing regular water changes to physically remove nitrate from the aquarium. Phosphates are produced in the aquarium by decomposing organic material, most commonly from uneaten food, decaying plants, and fish waste. And as with nitrates, phosphates will increase in concentration over time. Use a Phosphate test kit to monitor levels in the aquarium. Overstocking and overfeeding will quickly lead to elevated phosphate levels in an aquarium. Use phosphate removers in your aquariums filters, and perform water changes to physically remove phosphates from the water.

One of the most overlooked sources of nutrients in the aquarium is from your source water. Performing water changes or topping off for evaporation with tap water that has nitrates, phosphates or silicates will only compound the problem, and may make things worse. If you live in an area where there is a heavy agriculture industry phosphate levels can be extremely high from fertilizer use, and some municipal water sources can have high nitrates as a result of their filtration process. If you have tried the above steps without positive results, make sure that you test your tap water! Especially in live plant and live coral aquariums with intense lighting, make sure that your source water is as pure as possible.

There are many types of filter systems available for purifying your tap water. The most efficient type of filtration available is a reverse osmosis filter. Reverse Osmosis, or RO, will remove up to 95% of all impurities, and when coupled with a deionizer, will remove up to 99% of impurities (including nitrates, phosphates and silicates). If you know that the water you are putting into your aquarium is nutrient free, then you are one step closer to ridding yourself of troublesome algae problems.

Follow these guidelines and algae problems will be a thing of the past. Make sure that you are following proper husbandry guidelines with respect to stocking, cleaning and feeding habits, and test your water so that you are addressing problems at the source. You can control the algae monster!

As part of my Aquarist training while working for a public aquarium, I would have all of my feeding duties closely observed by the aquariums curator. To make a long story short, this was much more like military boot camp than I care to remember, ever see the movie Full Metal Jacket? One of phrases that were repeatedly drilled into my head was “feed the fish, not the aquarium”; I still hear the voice in my head today every time I feed my fish.

What I learned then, and teach now, is how important observation is when feeding the animals in your aquariums. Overfeeding, underfeeding and inappropriate foods are the common mistakes made by hobbyists when feeding the animals in their aquariums, or adding a new type of fish to their tanks.

Overfeeding is the most common mistake made by aquarium hobbyists when feeding their fish. Leaving uneaten food in the aquarium for your fish to eat later is never a good idea, especially when feeding pellet foods, flake foods, and frozen or fresh foods you should only feed enough so that all the food is eaten within a few minutes. Some fish will require to be fed multiple times per day, but only as much as can be eaten each time. Uneaten foods quickly start to decay in tropical aquariums, which will result in unnecessary demands on your filtration, resulting in poor water quality.

Underfeeding and inappropriate feeding will require much more observation from the person(s) who take care of an aquarium. The results of underfeeding will show in long term loss of body weight, or behavioral problems such as loss of energy, or erratic swimming patterns.
When I say inappropriate feeding I am talking about a couple different things. First of all I am talking about reproducing a natural diet for the animals that are in your aquarium. Most animals in your aquarium can be classified as either Predators (meat eaters), Herbivores (plant eaters), and Omnivores (meat and plant eaters). You should always research and ask questions about the animals that you intend to keep as pets, you should know what the natural diet of your animals, and provide the correct food for them. The second thing that I mean by appropriate food for your aquarium animal is knowing how the animal eats. Fish in particular, have specialized mouth parts for feeding a certain way. Surface feeders have upturned mouths and prefer floating foods. Bottom feeders have downward turned mouths and prefer sinking foods. Others will have centrally located mouths and prefer suspended or slowly sinking foods. And some predators require hard foods to keep their teeth healthy. Food size is also important, too small of a food size may be difficult for some fish to capture. Food that is too large may be very difficult to swallow, and can even injure internal organs. So it important to observe your fishes eating so that you can be sure you are providing both the correct type and form of food to insure good health.

So remember, feed your fish, not your aquarium

Dave