March is the time of year when I need to think about ordering a replacement metal halide bulb for my aquarium (~$75). Getting ready for that, I took a look at my Sunpod fixture ($300), and noticed that the bolts holding the glass shield in place had corroded quite a bit. There was a little salt creep edging in under it. Additionally, only 2 of the 12 LED moonlights still work.
Needless to say, I've been shopping around for a new fixture, although not seriously. The 30" length of my tank makes it nearly impossible to find a fixture with mounting legs. Sunpods no longer appear to be in production. A hanging fixture would be quite the hassle in a rental apartment, and I think it wouldn't hide the equipment on the rear of the tank as well.
So I started looking at LED fixtures. People have been having success with them on the forums. There are some interesting options available now. I'm looking at two in particular:
Eco-Lamps' KR92-30 fixture. ($1510 direct from Eco-Lamps).
The Eco-Lamps fixture was compared to a 250 watt halide, a six bulb T5 unit and a legacy LED fixture by Advanced Aquarist. The light output is impressive, rivaled only by the low energy use. It is pretty easy to do some napkin math around bulb and electricity costs of a metal halide lamp to "justify" the purchase of an LED unit. Someone should offer a tax break around this purchase.
I'm looking around for data on the Aqua Illumination fixture. The design and controller features are certainly more attactive than the Eco-Lamps model, and I like how it can be expanded with additional modules if I ever move to a larger tank. But it all comes down to light output.
After a battle spanning most of 2009, I am happy to report that the cyanobacteria plaguing my reef aquarium has finally been beat. I've been holding off on this post for most of the month of January, waiting to see if a relapse might occur. As it hasn't, I'm ready to summarize a struggle that occupied most of 2009 and how I finally won the war.
The biggest problem with a major algae outbreak in the aquarium is how demoralizing it can be for the aquarist. In the end, all the money and hard work we invest in this hobby is for the purpose of having a beautiful aquarium in the home. A tank overgrown with red slime is an eyesore, and after months of ineffective manual removal thoughts being to turn towards tearing the entire setup down, starting over, or getting out of the hobby altogether. The most important thing is to stay diligent, even if the process extends for months.
In this post I'll outline my thoughts around how the cyanobacteria formed in my tank, what methods failed to remove it, and how I finally succeeded.
What Caused the Outbreak The cyanobacteria began settling in around June of last year. I attribute this to a combination of overfeeding and the loss of a fish that I was never able to remove, leading to a spike in nutrients from decomposition. Additionally, I was having some serious detritus issues, lacking a proper way for exporting the organic matter accumulating within my tank.
Another mistake I made was not removing the cyanobacteria immediately once it began forming on the substrate. I was not aware of how tenacious it can be once it begins growing within an aquarium. Manually removing as much as possible as soon as it becomes visible within the tank should be the number one priority of a reef keeper.
What Didn't Work Most of my posts on this blog over the last half of 2009 involved various attempts at defeating cyanobacteria:
Rising Nitrates In April I started to note my nitrates rising. I replaced my RO filters, which needed to be done anyway, but testing revealed this wasn't the source of the nitrate issue. In hindsight it was more likely detritus build up and overfeeding leading to the rise in nitrates.
Zeolites, Purigen and AlgaeFix In June I tried reintroducing zeolites, to little effect on nitrates. I added Seachem's Purigen chemical filter media, which I believe helped stop the rise of nitrates, and temporarily reduced them. And finally, I tried API's AlgaeFix Marine, a chemical additive that was quite popular on the reef forums and supposedly could magic away any algae outbreak.
AlgaeFix did absolutely nothing against the cyanobacteria, and had only moderate success on the green hair algae. In addition, I noticed a die off in snails and some shrimp after two weeks of the recommended dose. I would not encourage use of this product, regardless of the positive things one might read on aquarium forums.
Bolstered Clean Up Crew In July I brought in a larger clean up crew to deal with the detritus buildup and hopefully stir up the sand bed preventing cyano from forming. A large number of these snails died off immediately, something I am inclined to link to the AlgaeFix additive.
Manual Removal By July I'd been reduced to manual removal, a process I performed at least twice a week for the rest of the year. Manual removal involved getting into the aquarium with my hands and a toothbrush, scrubbing the cyano off the rocks so it wouldn't overgrow corals, and removing large mats of the stuff from the substrate. Due to the decaying organic matter and constant water changes for removal purposes, parameters in my small tank were exceedingly hard to keep stable, and a number of corals were lost as a result.
Algae Filter and Vodka In October I converted my filter into an algae scrubber with Chaetomorpha macro algae. I think this provided a marginal amount of nutrient export, and definately boosted the population of copepods and other beneficial bugs in the tank. But what ended up being the miracle cure was the addition of vodka dosing.
How I beat Cyanobacteria I absolutely attribute the daily dosing of a small amount of vodka into my reef aquarium to the end of the cyanobacteria problem. Rather than butchering the explanation of how an organic carbon source like vodka effects an aquarium, I will link to an Advanced Aquarist article that will do a much better job:
For my dosing, I followed the regimen documented by Melev on his (infinitely useful) website. This schedule began with what was merely a drop of vodka per day, and built up to a full dose of nearly 1ml daily. By October 23rd I observed that nitrates, which had been close to 40ppm for the majority of 2009, had been reduced to zero. They have tested at 0 ever since.
I had long assumed that the nitrates were the primary source of fuel for the growth of the cyanobacteria. Confirming this, after the nitrates were testing at 0 I noticed the health of the cyano immediately decline. Once a very thick carpet of deep red coloration, it began to take on more of a browned out appearance, growing much thinner. Eventually it changed form, appearing as strands waving in the current rather than a thick mat covering the substrate. Manual removal went from a daily process to weekly, and eventually became completely unnecessary. By mid-December my tank was free of cyanobacteria.
Dosing vodka as a carbon source has cured my tank of nitrate issues, cyanobacteria and hair algae, and (indirectly) detritus build up. The corals, invertebrates and fish have never looked healthier, and I've been able to resume heavier feeding without issue. I would suggest researching this method for anyone dealing with nutrient and algae issues in a marine aquarium.
Battling cyanobacteria for six months can really drain the enthusiasm for aquarium photography, but with some careful cropping I was able to get a few decent shots recently.
I have made some small progress against the cyanobacteria, primarily through manual removal. And by manual, I mean scrubbing things with a tooth brush. The scarlet hermit crabs added recently showed absolutely no interest in consuming cyano, so I think we can safely say they are not to be considered an effective solution for those dealing with this problem. The snails that I added are doing well for the most part. Upon their introduction to the tank, Boris made his first appearance in months, immediately slaughtering a turbo snail and taking over the new, larger shell. Several other hermits followed suit.
Suffice to say, I could not rely on this half-assed janitorial crew to solve my problems. I half expect them to unionize and demand four day work weeks in the near future.
Although nitrates continue to test at or close to zero, my working assumption is that the algae is consuming these nutrients prior to testing. The rampant algae scrubbing I have been performing on a daily basis has led to a detritus build up that my filter capacity is simply not equipped to deal with. Regular turkey basting of all surfaces results in a cloud of debris, but my skimmer is not readily capable of dealing with the volume, especially in the larger form of snail poop and dead algae.
Water changes can be effective at removing debris, but I am hesitant to perform more than a small change each week. This is simply not enough turn over to remove all detritus from the tank. As such, I've decided to increase mechanical filtration.
The H.O.T. Magnum from Marineland is an interesting filter, specifically designed for powerful mechanical filtration in a temporary capacity. With standard filter pads, the detritus is trapped in the filter, and presumably broken down for bacteria to consume. I want to avoid a situation where mass amounts of organic material is broken down within the tank, as that would presumably create a rise in nitrates and dissolved matter, fueling algae growth.
The trick is to get this stuff out of the tank quickly. The Magnum filter includes a micron-sized filter core, surrounded by a larger filter pad. It is frequently used to polish the water of multiple aquariums, and is designed to be quickly and easily setup on the side of a tank for temporary filtration. My hope is that a daily ritual of scrubbing algae and basting the rock to suspend organic matter and waste, combined with this filter for quickly removing it, will get my tank back to a pristine state in a hurry.
The algae war in my reef tank continues. Despite some recent success, specifically in taming a rise in nitrates, the nuisance persists. Dosing AlgaeFix has greatly reduced forms of green algae on the rock and tank walls, but cyanobacteria continues to be an issue.
Cyanobacteria from my freswater planted tank
Also known as 'red slime', cyanobacteria is an obnoxious problem within the aquarium. It first appeared on the substrate, and not fully understanding how difficult it is to remove once it spreads, I was lazy on removing it fast enough. Scooping it off the substrate is simple, as it forms a tight mat that can be removed by hand. Once it spreads into the rocks and corals though, it starts to create strands that are extremely difficult to completely remove from the tank. Leftover pieces quickly spread across the tank mere days after cleaning.
While my water chemistry is good in regards to nitrates, a primary food source for algae and bacteria, the tank still has quite an issue with detritus build up. To rule this out as a possible source of energy for the cyano, I've decided to add some new snails to my tank. I'm hoping the combination and numbers that I've selected with be able to efficiently trim down new algae growth, while contributing to stirring up the sand bed and consuming waste and detritus.
6x Nassarius Snails (Nassarius sp.) An effective detritus consumer, that will hopefully remove quantities of uneaten organics from the rock and substrate.
6x Bumble Bee Snails (Engina sp.) Smaller in size, they can get into crevices within the rock, in addition to burying in the sand for food. Plus they look cool.
6x Turbo Snails (Turbo fluctuosa) An algae removing workhorse for the marine aquarium.
When I dealt with algae issues in my freshwater aquarium, the ultimate solution ended up being the addition of a dozen Amano shrimp, which quickly and efficiently removed all traces of nuisance algae from the tank within a few weeks. Looking for an equivalent silver bullet to deal with marine cyanobacteria has turned up mixed reports. Conventional wisdom states that nothing common to the aquarium trade will consume red slime. However, a few livestock dealers make the claim that scarlet hermit crabs, Paguristes cadenati, will eat it. Being in their commercial interest to market livestock as cures for common frustrations within the aquarium hobby, I remain skeptical.
As an experiment, and because Live Aquaria offers free shipping from Florida when you order $60 worth of 'clean up crew' animals, I am also bringing in 8 of these crabs. I'll monitor them carefully for any evidence of wether they eat this pest or not.
Tonight I tested some algae-specific parameters for the first time since changing my filtration strategy. The good news: nitrates dropped from 40ppm to 0. Phosphate remains at zero as always. Looks like the Seachem Purigen was a success.
The bad news is that I still have algae. After two weeks of doing the API Algaefix, I noticed it was growing back slower after a cleaning, and that some of the stringy algae was less green. Supposedly this is a sign of it working. I plan on continuing dosage for now. I'm hoping that by removing the nitrate, my corals will bounce back soon, and the algae will begin to disappear.
Another item of note, my clownfish have begun to display mating behavior. They've also been regularly digging a small pit in the gravel, which seems odd as I was under the impression that they generally prefer flat, solid surfaces for egg laying.
And finally, after a year of barely keeping SPS alive, I've been considering switching over to primarily soft corals. Live Aquaria has recently stocked up on some very interesting and colorful species, flying in the face of conventional wisdom that all soft corals are brown.
In light of my continued issues with nitrates (~40ppm) and the resulting algae, I've decided to make a few changes to the filtration mediums used in the filter. Up until now I've been running two bags of carbon along with some live rock rubble. Carbon is great for polishing the water, but it isn't actively helping with an accumulation of organics. The live rock has proven a good breeding ground for micro fauna (I regularly find abundant copepods and sponges), but there isn't enough volume to consider it an effective biological filter.
First, I reintroduced the zeolite media I had experimented with last summer. The highly porous nature of zeolite absorbs impurities and serves as a breeding ground for beneficial bacteria that reduce organics. I started low with the volume of zeolite, and hope to increase it based on how the corals react.
Secondly, I added 100ml of Seachem Purigen. This is a porous chemical filtration medium that works as a sponge for organic matter in the water. By removing this material from the water column, it never has a chance to complete the nitrogen cycle and become nitrate. Thanks to the abundant volume of the Aquaclear filter, I am also able to continue running a bag of carbon and the live rock rubble.
The last change to my maintenance routine is a little more controversial, at least in my mind. I am generally very conservative about introducing any form of additives, and especially opposed to chemical treatment of algae. That said, after reading a long thread about the effectiveness of API's Algaefix, I had to try it. The experiences of many aquarists confirmed the claim that this product will not harm anything within the tank, from fish to invertebrates, but will eliminate most forms of algae within weeks. An $8 bottled solution is very tempting after spending a few months scraping algae and performing multiple water changes each week.
The current dosing schedule is 3ml of Algaefix every three days, to be reduced when algae shows signs of dying off. I will update with progress.
This fish has remained quite shy since I acquired it in March. It will tolerate viewers sitting quietly in front of the tank, but any rapid movements or strange behaviors, specifically related to cameras, send it hiding amongst the rocks. I was finally able to get a half decent picture, by sneaking up like National Geographic nature photographer.
Despite the shyness, this is a great species for the smaller reef aquarium. It is a calm fish that spends most of its time perched on the rocks (or hiding), which makes a nice contrast to the typically boisterous clownfish and chromis that I keep.
Crazy idea of the day: adding a whole lot of macro algae to my tank, making it a "planted" reef.
• Motivator 1: I miss having a planted tank. • Motivator 2: Algae would make the tank more diverse. • Motivator 3: Having a unique tank look. • Motivator 4: Potentially would take up some nutrients.
The real thought process trigger was this recent post on the Glass Box, with a video of a Japanese tank. The sand bed is planted with turtle grass,
Thalassia testudinum.
I also like the look of Halodule beaudettei, which is more like freshwater hairgrass. Combined with turtle grass, you can get an interesting meadow effect, an often sought after look for freshwater planted tanks. If I could get this to grow thick enough, it would be a really interesting effect with the live rock rising out of it.
Live Aquaria has a good selection of marine algae, but they are often out of stock. I found a small company, Gulf Coast Ecosystems, that specializes in tropical algae collection and aquaculture. I'm going to do some more research right now, but think this may be an interesting change for the tank. The only (major) downside I can think of is that these plants are native to the Caribbean, and the majority of my stock is from the South Pacific. Though I've never intended to create a strict biotope, it would be more of an unusual species mix than I've generally preferred to make.
Over the preceding two months I've noticed the nitrate levels in my reef tank creeping up from unmeasurable to 20ppm. I blame this squarely on a Glassbox post about fish being fed enough; worried that I was compelling my fish to be "coralexic", my tank has since become an all you can eat Chinese buffet. I believe the elevated nitrate level is responsible for some of my corals browning out. Also I've noticed a few strands of dreaded hair algae appearing within the tank, as well as increased diatoms on the glass of the tank.
My plan is to keep up with my weekly 5% water changes, and also to introduce a new form of nutrient export. If anyone has advice on the choices below, please volunteer your expertise in the comments. Also if you'd like to sign up to come over and do some of the water changes, please feel free.
Option 1: Convert Aquaclear filter into an algae scrubber
Originally I bought this filter with intent of modifying it into a refugium, filled with live rock rubble and chaeto. Since, I've been running a small amount of rubble and two bags of carbon. This option would involve adding a small light above the filter, installing a grate over the exit, and filling the filter with chaeto algae to remove nitrates.
Pros: cheap, fun project with existing equipment Cons: reduced volume of carbon, not enough volume for a useful quantity of algae
Option 2: Hang-on refugium
Although a real sump is out of the question for this tank, there are out of the box options for hang on refugiums. This would perform roughly the same function as a modified Aquaclear filter, but with a lot more volume. These things always struck me as somewhat gimmicky though. I would run mostly chaeto within the refuge, along with some sort of sand bed and live rock rubble.
Pros: More volume, greater biodiversity, out of the box solution Cons: Expensive, unsure of their effectiveness, possibility of flooding?
Option 3: Another solution? Larger skimmer to cut the problem off at the source? Less feeding? Better sand bed maintenance? Some sort of addition clean up crew? All of the above? Let me know what you think.
I've never really tried out the video function on my camera, and that is reprehensible. So here is a quick shot of Boris and a few of his friends, partying it up as is their custom.
This post was supposed to be an update on the new corals and fish I added a week ago, but first I'd like to introduce you to Boris the Destroyer, a superglue eating hermit crab:
The first inhabitants to take up residence in my tank were hermit crabs and snails, including Boris here. While the rest of the hermits are fairly mild-mannered, Boris is a special individual. At some point in the past year, he killed a Nassarius snail, took over the shell, and promptly grew to three times the size of his fellow hermit crabs. I've always wondered how he managed to grow so fast, and why he shows particular interest in new coral additions to the tank.
It turns out Boris has been eating the super glue (Cyanoacrylate) that I use to attach coral frags. Over the past week, each morning I've awoken to one particular Monitpora frag knocked loose from the rock work. I'd reattach it, only to have it knocked loose again the next day. Each time I re-glued the frag, Boris would make a beeline from anywhere in the aquarium straight to that coral. I thought he was picking delectable treats off the foreign frag plug, but after a few days I realized he was actually chipping off and eating the super glue. There can be no doubt that he has gained super powers from this diet, and poses a threat to civilization.
I had banned the naming of aquarium inhabitants ever since a pair of cichlids my girlfriend had named after F. Scott Fitzgerald characters were found floating upside down, but as Boris is surely immortal, I have no problem bestowing him with the name.
The Plectranthias inermis is doing great. Although still quite shy, I have seen it venturing further into the open. I was worried about how small it was compared to the other, more boisterous fish, but everyone seems to be getting along well.
The corals were, as usual with Live Aquaria, healthy and attractive frags. I noticed what could possibly have been STN setting in on a nub of the blue branching Montipora, so I snipped that off. The green branching piece took quite a beating, as it was a target of Boris, but seems to be recovering decently. The green cap is also good, although I am considering moving it to a position with more light.
You can also see in one of the following photos how insanely fast the Montipora caps I got a few months ago have grown. They have easily doubled in size, and one is moving in on its neighbors. I am hesitant to mess with success here, but something may need to be moved soon.
Fresh off a plane ride from the Live Aquaria facility in Wisconsin:
Plectranthias inermis (Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish)
I have been following the Diver's Den RSS feed for a few months, waiting for a unique fish suited to a smaller reef aquarium, and I'm hoping this will be it. Given my recent issues with nitrates, likely from heavy feeding, this will probably be the last fish I introduce into the tank. As such, I was looking for a lively and interesting specimen.
Montipora sp.
I have had great success with the growth and general health of Montipora species in my tank, especially when compared to other stony corals. Hopefully these new specimens will do just as well. All of these corals were grown in an aquaculture facility, while the fish was likely wild caught.
My shiny new Tunze nano skimmer arrived today. I'll share a few initial impressions, and write a more lengthy review once its been running for a week or so. Needless to say, I am thrilled to be getting rid of my finicky and flood-prone Coralife skimmer, and the tank already looks better.
Compare the giant, ugly hanging pump and return box:
To this small rectangle that practically disappears into my black background (right hand corner):
Some initial impressions:
Dead silent: my old skimmer made the living room sound like an aquaculture lab. Now all I can hear is the fans in my lighting fixture.
Easy installation: attach it to the side of the tank with a magnet, plug it in and adjust the air intake. Done.
Tiny footprint: I had to move my light fixture forward about an inch from where I normally keep it to accomodate the collection cup, but otherwise this unit is tiny and unobtrusive. Huge upgrade from what I had before.
When I created the initial equipment list for my reef aquarium, it was based entirely on research with zero real world experience. Parsing the forums and books, and with the previous knowledge from my planted tank days that buying the right equipment the first time was the most economical method, I put together a set of gadgets and equipment that I thought would be a good setup.
I got a few things right, primarily the lighting. My Coralife 65 skimmer however has always been a disappointment. It is finicky about water levels, prone to overflowing, and making me nervous to leave it running while out of the house. It is incredibly loud, aesthetically displeasing, and the performance is at best mediocre.
This evening while playing some video games, I heard a small dripping. For some reason, the vent in the output pipe was bubbling water instead of venting air, causing a slow drip down the side of the tank and onto the floor. Clutching a recently acquired Amazon gift card in my hand, I just placed an order for a Tunze Nanoskimmer which I hope will solve all these problems.
The Tunze Nanoskimmer is: - Reportedly quiet - A small, square footprint within the tank - A respect and well-known manufacturer - Entirely contained inside the tank, so that overflows would at worst return to the aquarium
I will report with setup and operation details when it arrives. In the meantime, if anyone wants to buy a very used Coralife 65 skimmer, I'll pay you to haul it away.
Note: I waited until returning from vacation before writing these steps up, just to confirm that they weren't disastrous. Fortunately everything went peachy.
Something I didn't know when I jumped headlong into this hobby a year ago was just how much daily care and worry is involved in keeping a reef aquarium. A seemingly endless list of variables related to inhabitants, equipment, feeding and parameters are available for the aquarist to worry and fuss over. Leaving for an extended vacation then requires the foresight and planning involved in moving a tank, and the ability to put faith in your caretaker. What follows are the issues I considered and how I prepared for them prior to our annual Dominican trip.
Evaporation and top offs With a nano tank lit by halides and cooled by a fan, evaporation is fast. I generally top off close to half a gallon of fresh RO/DI filtered water every two days in order to maintain stable salinity parameters and maintain an appropriate water level for my pump and skimmer. To streamline this process for the friend would be checking on the tank, I filtered five gallons of new water and left it next to the tank. We established a schedule for check ins around what I considered to be the maximum length between top offs, having him stop by every three days.
Skimming While I don't have the worry of an external sump and plumbing system that could conceivably fail and result in flooding, I do have an extremely finicking external protein skimmer. This unit is on my shortlist for replacement, due to its tendency to randomly begin skimming far too wet, resulting in a potential flood. I made the decision to run the tank without a skimmer during the duration of my vacation to negate any possibility of flood.
Feeding and parameters I demonstrated to my friend the appropriate amount of food and decided that a medium feeding once every three days would be enough to get the tank through the week. The lighter feeding schedule would also help offset any issue of excess nutrients building up while the tank is running without a skimmer. After experimenting with various supplements, I have since moved the tank to using only weekly water changes to maintain stable calcium, alkalinity, and mineral levels. As such, it wasn't necessary to establish instructions for maintaining a complicated two-part dosing schedule.
Keep it simple I left a bulleted list of the maintenance steps along with instructions for the rest of our apartment (getting the mail, feeding the cat, etc) taped in two places around the apartment. I returned from vacation to a perfectly healthy tank, looking as if I hadn't been gone at all. In fact, a few colonies that had been showing issues seemed to be on the rebound. Some simple planing and a good friend made leaving the tank for over a week an easy process.
As noted earlier, I recently purchased a Reef Keeper II controller to help automate some functions within my tank. Last night it arrived and I got it hooked up. Initially I had some concerns about how so much functionality could be programmed using only a two line LCD screen and three buttons, but I have to say that I was very impressed with the intuitive nature of the Reef Keeper menu system. I had all my channels programmed and running in less than ten minutes. Having accurate temperature readings to the decimal point, and seeing it stay within a one degree range is also very nice.
Here is the mess of timers and power strips I ripped out of the stand:
And below is a shot of the finished install. I screwed the controllers and power strip into the stand, and did some cursory organization of the wires. As my equipment wiring is likely to change in the near future with the addition of a new light, I held off on permanently organizing the wires, but its a drastic improvement over what was in the stand before.
Current channel settings 1. Heater, off at 78.5F 2. Aquaclear Filter, always on, off during feeding mode 3. Vortech, always on (has its own controller) 4. Metal Halide, 3:30pm to 11:30pm, emergency off if temp exceeds 84F 5. Cooling Fans, on at 80.5F 6. Protein skimmer, always on, off during feeding mode 7. Unused 8. Moonlights, on at 11:00pm, off at 4:00pm
Reef Builders was having a contest to win a new light fixture; entry was as simple as leaving a comment on their blog. Shockingly, I actually won! This is great because:
1. I never win anything. 2. I had been thinking about getting this fixture anyway.
This is essentially the same light as my Sunpod, featuring a 150 watt metal halide, but with the addition of two actinic power compact bulbs for extra color and a more emphasized dawn/dusk effect. Additionally, with the hanging setup I will have more control over how high off the surface the light sits.
This should go very well with my new controller. What a great start to the new year!
Over the past few years I've learned about one of the secret joys of adulthood: the self-given Christmas present. This year I picked up a Canon G10 to replace my aging and broken Powershot (early results of learning its manual controls shown above). I also decided to get something I'd been looking at for awhile, the Reef Keeper 2 controller from Digital Aquatics.
Of course, as soon as I ordered it Reef Builders put up a post about the new Reefkeeper Lite controller coming out sometime this spring. I've been working with computers long enough to know that what meets your needs now is always more important than what might be coming out in the near future, but still funny.
The one problem I'm looking to solve with this controller is my fluctuating temperature. Living in an apartment without a thermostat can be frustrating with a reef aquarium. One would generally not expect to have problems with water going over 80F in New England during the winter, but radiators and smaller rooms can put you in a tough spot. With this controller, I will be able to activate a fan to begin cooling when water temps exceed 80F, and turn off the metal halide lighting if it goes over 83F. Hopefully it will also maintain more precise control over the heater as well.
I'm not exactly sure what other features will be of immediate use to me. The ability to quickly turn off filtration devices for feeding will be nice. I'll have to explore the possibilities when it arrives.
I absolutely love ordering from Live Aquaria. They have the best service, a wide range of livestock, and great shipping. There is one part about ordering from Live Aquaria that can trip me up though: they have two different facilities. One is in Wisconsin, and seems to be primarily for aquacultured coral. The other is in California, which I imagine handles imports from the Pacific. This time I based my order around the fish I wanted, and filled it out with other specimens available from their California facility.
My reef has only had three fish for its first six months: our resident firefish, who was the original inhabitant, and the pair of clownfish I added at the end of summer. While moving slowly on additions is always a virtue with keeping a reef aquarium, I decided it was time to move forward with a group of fish I've always wanted to keep: Chromis viridis, the Blue Chromis. The layout of this tank was originally created to allow for a large open swimming area at the top, specifically for small schooling fish like the Chromis. I purchased five juveniles, which will hopefully adapt well and add a lot of colorful motion to my aquarium. As nice as corals are, you really can't beat the visual appeal of a group of colorful fish. It makes the tank appealing from across the room as well as close up.
Below is a full list of what I ordered from Live Aquria. I also purchased some coral frags from a member on Reef Central. Both orders should be arriving Tuesday.
The first day of fall, and my first post in awhile. I have some topics from the summer I'd like to write about at length, including the loss of a few coral specimens, the acquisition of several new ones, and some changes to the equipment in the tank. These are summarized below and will be discussed in future posts, but first some new photos:
As mentioned earlier, this summer we moved to a new apartment in Harvard Square. Moving a reef tank is a challenge, and doing it during July does not help, but things came off without a hitch. I will attribute that to careful planning and a lot of luck. Here is the tank in our new living room:
I also recently switched from my Koralia 3 powerhead to a Vortech MP20, after reading many good things. I can vouch for all the positive reviews about this unit:
And some new corals:
Summer Loses I had a few coral losses related to one event this summer. We were in LA for a long weekend, and I did not leave the cooling fans running on my tank because of the rapid evaporation they cause. It had been as of late and didn't seem necessary. Apparently it was not so cool that particular weekend, and my corals suffered. I lost all but one polyp of my green zoas, and two of my fastest growing SPS colonies.
As a result of this, I'm currently planning on investing in a controller that will be able to accurately monitor the water temperature and turn the fan and heater on as appropriate, in addition to shutting down the metal halides as an emergency last step. At this point I am looking at the Reef Keeper II as the best option.
Changes in Equipment As mentioned above, I have moved to a Vortech MP20 to provide water flow. The corals and fish have become much more active with the improved water circulation, and the undertow has kept detritus from accumulating in places on the rock where it previously did.
Additionally, I've decided to stop my experiment with Zeovit. Because my tank is so sparsely stalked and has never had an issue with excess nutrients, it seemed unnecessary and potentially harmful to be running a powerful filtration option. I have switched my power filter back to running two bags of carbon and some live rock rubble.
New Species I've added several new animals to the tank over the summer. I have become quite interested in the large polyp stony corals and will be looking to get some more in the near future. • A pair of tank-bred clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris • Two peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni • Neon green trumpet coral, Caulastrea curvata • Brown and green candy cane coral, Caulastrea furcata • Yellow cup coral, Turbinaria peltata • Short tentacled plate coral, Fungia repanda
After a month of running zeovit filtration and supplements in my tank, I can finally remove myself from their exceptional marketing photos and take a look at what benefit it had provided for my tank. Given that my system and corals are still very young, its hard to draw any conclusive evidence. Further complicating the matter is that my tank has been quite healthy and algae-free since inception, and maintains a very low bioload (still only one fish). That said, I've noticed some nice coloration from all SPS species, especially my birdsnest which has taken a very bright pink coloration. Good polyp extension all around.
One thing the good people selling zeovit systems will impress upon you is that a special reactor is useful for running the filtration media. Giving the rocks a shake every day loosens the mulm that collects within the media, letting it drift into the system and feed the corals. I've found that for smaller tanks, running this media within a simple hang on filter, the Hagen Aquaclear, works just as well. This filter has a nice media basket with convenient handles at the top above the water surface. You can easily remove the top and give these a good shake to release a great cloud of organic filth for your corals to feast upon.
I've found the Aquaclear to be a great all-purpose filter. Currently I have a bag of activated carbon and a bag of liverock rubble running, with the rest of the space filled with approximately 1/3 liter of zeovit medium.
