Index

Chingchai’s Method for Curing New Live Rock

You need the following equipment:
– suitable size container (plastic garbage cans work well)
– protein skimmer (it will get a major workout)
– powerheads
– good quality salt mix
– a small scrub brush
– ammonia, nitrite, nitrate test kits

The basic method is as follows:
– scrub off any sponges and soft corals that have turned black
– water should have pH at 8.2-8.4 and S.G. at 1.023-1.025
– no lights for 7-10 days to avoid an algae bloom (high nutrients)
– keep water heated (74-80F°)
– do not do any water changes until Ammonia and Nitrites tests both read zero. Then do a 50-75% water change, vacuuming up as much loose sediment as possible.
– provide plenty of water movement within the container (powerheads)
– provide plenty of oxygenation in the water (done by skimmer which will need frequent cleaning)

The curing process will take 2-4 weeks depending on the amount of die-off on your rock and the effectiveness of your protein skimmer.

Mr.Wilson’s Method for Treating New Live Rock

TOOLS

Rubber gloves
Tweezers
Narrow screw driver
A coupe of schooners

PROCEDURE

Remove each rock one by one and shake them in a tub of water. This will remove the loose detritus. Treat all crabs as parasites, as very very few are friendly (commensal/symbiotic). Most of the worms you will encounter are harmless, but there will be no shortage of worms in the long run, so go ahead and remove any loose ones that may be injured. If they are healthy, they will be deep in the rock. Shake the hell out of it. Upside down and in every direction. I use a plastic vegetable scrub brush to loosen large deposits of detritus. I should have stressed the rubber gloves more as well. There are lots of stinging worms that will leave nematocysts (cactus needle-like stingers) in your fingers. I managed to get blood poisoning once from handling live rock without gloves.

Throw any snails you see into a bucket of saltwater and use your new macro lens to get some free identification on here. Watch for mantis shrimp (Google it). They are easy to identify once you know what you are looking for. Yes, kill them.

I would use the established saltwater the rock is in now for the rinsing process. Freshwater rinsing is more for corals that may have parasitic hitchhikers. Live rock is less likely to carry bad guys than live corals are. In the case of live corals, freshwater dips and a bath in an oxidizer such as Lugol’s iodine or potassium permanganate. The water at the bottom of your vats will be turbid/dirty, so make sure you set aside cleaner rinsing water as you work through the vats.

Any sponges, sea squirts, or other invertebrates that have made it this far are hardy and should be left alone. Only new rock should have the sponges and algae removed from it. It is a good idea to reverse the stacking order of the rock as you put it in a new container, so the rock that was at the bottom is now at the top.

Siphon or shopvac the junk off of the bottom of the vats. Remember to elevate the rock on milk crates to provide a buffer zone for crabs, worms and other questionable hitchhikers.

After the rock has been acclimated for two weeks and you have not experienced a significant die-off, you can proceed to introduce a 6 hour photoperiod with somewhat diffused light. If your lighting is greater than 250 watt MHL, then suspend it two feet above the rock. Otherwise, a 250 watt MHL a foot above the water surface should be fine with a 6 hour photoperiod (day). Slowly move the photoperiod up to 8 hours per day over the next two weeks. Watch for diatom algae (brown slime). It will come and go in about two weeks, then you will get green slime algae (cyanobacteria). This too will pass in another month, give or take.

Start monitoring calcium, magnesium, and carbonate hardness levels. Maintaining these at optimum levels will foster the growth of coralline algae.

It’s also a good idea to start sorting rock sizes and shapes so you can have a better handle on your building blocks when you commence with the aquascaping. You don’t want to get down to the bottom of the last vat and find those show size rocks you ordered.

Now that you are sure that your rock has no die-off, you should add ammonium chloride (not household ammonia/ammonium hydroxide) to feed the nitrifying bacteria (nitrogen cycle).

You can simulate a bioload by adding 0.01 grams of ammonium chloride (dry crystals) per gallon of water. This will give you an ammonia level of 1ppm. Check the ammonia level to make sure you got the dose right. Depending on how much of a filter bed you have already established, it will take one day or several for the ammonia to go down to zero. When it hits zero, add a slightly higher dose (0.015 grams/gallon) to render an ammonia level of 1.5ppm. Continue to dose at this level until you start stocking the tank. The livestock will supply all the ammonia you need for the nitrogen cycle.

You will start to see nitrite as soon as the nitrifying bacteria converts the ammonia. It is safe to add livestock once the rock is able to maintain nitrite at zero while you are dosing ammonia, which may take a few weeks depending on your rocks bacterial biodiversity/filtering capacity. Nitrate will start to show in tests after a few weeks of nitrite reduction. The family of bacteria that assimilate nitrate take the longest to establish. Once you have established nitrates below 10 ppm you can start adding sps corals. At this point in time phosphates will be a concern. Throughout this cycling process you need to monitor pH as it may drop with heavy bacterial growth.

Alternatively you can use livestock to feed the nitrogen cycle but it puts a lot of stress on the organisms you use and it is more of a shotgun dosing system. The chemical route is faster and safer.

Dose the ammonium chloride while the rock is still in the holding tanks as it is the rock you are feeding, not the water or filtration devices lying around.

It would be beneficial if you can do the same with the sand. The denitrifying bacteria that consumes nitrate does not even begin to form until the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite, and in turn nitrite into nitrate has developed.

Denitrification (nitrate reduction) is the main goal with sand beds. As I mentioned earlier, this process takes awhile and is the last to start if you don’t treat the tank chemically (ammonia).

Start dosing lightly to be sure of the concentration of the ammonium chloride. You may also mess up the math with displacement etc. An ammonia test kit will assure you end up with the 1 ppm ammonia level you need.

If your rock hasn’t been starved of nitrogen, it will reduce the ammonia quickly (in a day or two). If the water has been nitrogen poor, it will take as long as a week for the ammonia spike to drop to zero.

All your rock needs now is nitrogen (ammonia) and good water flow for oxygen. The biological filtration process is working independent of your protein skimmers and whatever else you are currently using with the rock. If you keep the bacteria on the rock fed and monitor it with test kits, it will jump start your display and fish room. You will not get the diatom algae and green slime algae blooms that you traditionally get. You can also turn your lights and protein skimmer on earlier in the process (right away instead of a few weeks down the road).

Some people use raw organic sources of nitrogen like dead shrimp to inoculate their tanks, but it’s hard to dose and monitor ammonia reduction/conversion. The dead shrimp takes a few days to decay and release ammonia along with protein. It also introduces phosphates and heavy metals that you have no means of assimilating or removing.

More From Mr.Wilson On Acclimating New Live Rock

Everyone has their own system for acclimating live rock. Most retail stores use a spray system where the rock remains exposed to the air. While this system does flush out crabs and worms and increases nitrification due to the added oxygen, I prefer an ebb and flow system whereby the vat fills and drains in cycles. This works well with two vats. As one fills, the other drains.

Elevating the rock on milk crates to separate crabs and detritus is a good idea. I used to keep the rock in milk crates so I could shake out detritus every few days. Setting up a power washer with saltwater works well for really dirty rock.

If you got an ozonizer with the RK2 protein skimmer you should hook it up to the temporary skimmers you have for the rock. Better still, drag the RK2 over to the vats. You don’t need or want a protein skimmer on the tank when it’s cycling, but the rock needs it now more than ever.

It’s only monster tanks like Peter’s that require the live rock to be acclimated in dedicated remote vats/tanks/tubs. If your tank is under 500 gallons, you can add the rock directly to the tank dry, spraying or splashing water on it periodically as you work.

I drill some rocks and place them over a PVC pipe skeleton. I also use an aragocrete cement mix to bond the rocks. This requires a day for the cement to set. Wrapping the rocks in wet newspaper or towels is enough to keep it alive. The cement causes a temporary pH & calcium increase and the rock needs a few weeks to get its “sea legs” so the rock acclimation process is carried out in the display tank.

As a general rule, I recommend that you purchase cured rock and let the local fish store go through the hassle. The added benefit is you can pick and choose your rocks according to your needs and what is available. Peter’s rock is direct from the source so it requires a few more precautions. It’s also hard to change 1200 gallons of water every week

In summary, as long as the rock is kept damp, it will remain healthy. From a nitrification/bacterial standpoint, damp rock is healthier than wet/submerged rock during acclimation. The various toxic forms of nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, and to a lesser extent nitrate) are not an issue if the rock isn’t submerged in water. This is also true of oxygen and other gas levels.

I never liked the term “cooking live rock”. The term itself implies that you are sterilizing the rock. If you want to kill all of the good organisms in order to kill a few potential bad organisms, then the most efficient way to achieve this would be to bleach the rock, then dechlorinate it two hours later. The problem with going this route is you extend the cycling period from weeks to months and in the process, a lack of beneficial organisms leaves room for more opportunistic pests (cyanobacteria, diatom algae and dinoflagellates) to get a foothold. This drastic method of “cooking” leads me to wonder why you wouldn’t just use dead rock or portland cement-based aragocrete.

The other definition of “cooking” I’ve heard thrown around is the process of keeping the rock in the dark for a few months to kill off nuisance algae. It seems silly to me as a low nutrient tank will not have nuisance algae, so the problem isn’t the rock, but the water quality. The usual suspects we know as “reef parasites” are not photosynthetic so depriving them of light will do nothing for the cause.

Many of the reef parasites we encounter come from corals, and not from the rock so drastic measures in rock acclimating are often moot. As long as you have removed all crabs, mantis shrimp, and nudibranchs (sea slugs) you’re covered. There are a few macro algae species that can proliferate and take over, but there are chemical (1500 mg magnesium) and biological (herbivorous fish & inverts) methods of keeping them in check. Parasitic worms such as “red bugs” and flatworms enter the tank as hitchhikers on their coral hosts, and can be treated with dewormers like praziquantel (droncit), piperazine (entacyl), ivermectin or trichlorfon (dylox) .

Mr.Wilson’s Checklist for Quarantine Tanks and Hospital Tanks

My checklist for a quarantine tank (QT) or hospital tank (HT). QT & HT is a matter of quality rather than quantity. You need enough room for tangs and those impulse buys, but less is more in most cases as water changes and medications go farther. You don’t have to follow all of my suggestions, just use it as a guideline. Due to the scope of the post, I have excluded medication dosage and handling practices.

1) A lid to keep in and deter jumpers:

You can use glass, egg-crate, or fiberglass screen. Wrasse and gobies are far more likely to jump in a small empty QT/HT tank. PVC pipe and fitting hiding places are best as they are inert, non-calcareous (no calcium structure to absorb medications), easy to clean and sterilize, and smooth so they won’t damage fish as they scratch their parasites off. Using a dim nightlight will minimize the stress of the lights coming on and off instantly and reduce shock to jumpers. Some fish can thread themselves through a needle so be sure to cover every possible exit hole in the lid, as they will find it.

2) A dedicated heater with a reliable thermostat:

A heater is much more important to a QT/HT than in a display tank because you are dealing with a much smaller volume of water and fewer pieces of equipment that add heat. Stability in temperature is more important than the actual temperature. Unlike freshwater ich, marine ich (Cryptocaryon & Oodinium) is cued by temperature increases rather than decreases. Having said that, an elevated temperature (84-86°F) will speed the life cycle of ich to 10 days rather than 14. This is good news if the water is medicated and bad news if it is not. Let’s assume you have a treatment regimen that is steadily reducing the population of free-swimming ich in the tank by 80% per generation. A shorter life cycle of 10 days will assure that you can eradicate the ich quicker as the population shrinks with each consecutive generation as they enter the swimming stage of their life cycle. If you are not treating the water with ich medications, the parasite population will increase with every consecutive generation, so a shorter life cycle will assure a quicker demise of your fish.

3) Indirect, diffused light:

Try to keep a ten hour photo-period to reduce stress. Many antibiotics are photo-degradable, so direct light should be avoided. Deep water fish like certain anthias do not adapt to bright aquarium lighting.

4) A biological filter:

This can be a bio-wheel or canister filter that is normally run on the display tank to keep it cycled. It is too small to adversely affect the display tank. Remember not to use carbon as it will remove medications. Alternatively, you could just store the filter media in the display tank’s sump to keep the bacteria viable. Running the biofilter on a QT/HT with no bioload will slowly kill off the beneficial nitrifying bacteria that you need to control the nitrogen cycle. Biofilters have fallen out of fashion with reef tanks but they are still vital with QT/HT.

Copper will adhere to a biowheel. Using a new biowheel each time would be costly but cheaper than losing fish.

I would use a copper remover like Cuprisorb with carbon to remove the residual copper. It’s a good practice to remove old copper from the QT so you are starting fresh each time. It makes dosing safer. It’s the calcareous (calcium-based) materials that absorb copper that you need to watch out for. This is less of any issue with ionic or chelated copper. If you’re really paranoid about copper, soak it in RO/DI water and test for copper.

You could dose the QT with ammonia when you anticipate the addition of new fish, but who are we kidding? These are impulse buys. Depending on the style of bio-filter, you could incorporate your filter floss or sponge from the display’s mechanical filter into the filter. HOT (hang on tank) filters are good for this.

You can also do a water change and add fresh display water to the QT so it has some beneficial bacteria. The nitrifying bacteria grow on detritus in the substrate so you don’t need to prefilter the old water before adding it to the QT.

In commercial QT they often employ air-driven sponge filters. These sponges can be stored in the filter of the display tank and moved to the QT filter as needed. It’s all about conditioning the bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria reproduce faster when the temperature swings (lag) so they won’t be harmed going to the cooler QT water. What ever you do, don’t rinse the filter media or disturb it as the delicate biofilms can be lost.

5) Plastic cups to catch and move fish:

Unlike freshwater fish, marine fish haven’t adapted to breathing atmospheric air even for a brief period of time. Most secondary bacterial infections are caused by fish net abrasions. Reef fish have tiny delicate scales that are easily bruised or removed. A trip to the Dollar Store is in order.

6) An ultraviolet (UV) sterilizer:

They cost a couple hundred dollars but they will pay for themselves after they save a few fish. The bulb will last a long time as it will only be used while you have fish in the QT. You could borrow a UV sterilizer from the display tank without causing too much trouble. UV sterilization should be discontinued if you are using antibiotics. Copper sulphate, formalin, malachite green, and methylene blue are not significantly affected by UV irradiation. Ionic copper such as Mardel’s Coppersafe and Seachems’s Cupramine become more toxic as the chemical bond is broken by UV, so UV should be discontinued or copper sulphate should be dosed in its place daily to maintain a safe therapeutic level of 0.20 ppm. If you are running a series of QT/HT tanks, a properly sized UV unit assures that a 100% kill ratio occurs so diseases can be contained to individual tanks.

7) A good camera:

A camera will help you take pictures to submit for help in diagnosis and treatment. They are also handy in picking up defects in the fins and scales that you may miss with the human eye. You can zoom in on your photo in Photoshop for a really close inspection without the fish moving. While you are there you can Photoshop any missing scales and torn fins for a virtual recovery. 😉

8) Low salinity (hyposlainity) of 1.013 (HT) to 1.018 (QT):

Stressed marine fish can dehydrate when placed in standard salinity water (1.023+). They don’t have a healthy slime coat to regulate osmotic pressure and have to work a lot harder to pump salts out of their bodies. A lower salinity will also slow fish metabolism and kill parasites. Ammonia is also less toxic at a lower salinity as well. Fish adapt well to being moved to water with a lower salinity. They adapt poorly to moves to higher salinity so slowly reintroduce them to display tank water of 1.025 salinity. In cases of oodinium the salinity can be lowered to 1.013 but for no longer than 10 days. A salinity of 1.017 can be maintained for three weeks while the fish is developing a healthy slime coat.

9) Premixed saltwater:

Use display tank water for QT/HT water changes. Add new saltwater to the display. This will remove nitrogen compounds from the QT/HT and supply fresh pro-biotics and micro-organisms that will out-compete pathogens. The quarantined fish will be acclimated to the display tank water at all times, with the exception to the lower salinity. You can add fresh RO/DI water accordingly to correct/lower the salinity. Remember to top-off medications when you adjust salinity. One week before moving the QT/HT fish to the display tank, you can start adding more display tank water to slowly raise the salinity to avoid osmotic shock. Moving the fish to a safe zone in the sump assures you can monitor feeding, let the other fish get used to the “smell” of the new fish, and allow you to catch it if it gets sick again.

10) Large PVC pipe segments for hiding places:

Paint the back and side walls to provide additional shelter. Reef fish do poorly if they don’t have hiding places.

11) Household bleach (sodium hypochlorite):

If a disease breaks out, sterilize the tank with bleach before re-use. Make sure it is pure sodium hypochlorite with no fabric softener or scents added. You can also buy chlorine (bleach) from pool supply shops. You can use a 20% bleach treatment for a few hours, then change 100% of the water and dechlorinate the new water with sodium thiosulphate or a commercially prepared dechlorinator like Seachem’s Prime. I prefer Prime because it detoxifies both ammonia and nitrite. Prime should be on hand in large quantity for emergencies. Do not use too much bleach as it can damage some equipment such as fish nets and brittle plastics. A more gentle alternative would be to use hydrogen peroxide as it leaves only water and oxygen as residuals.

12) Five gallon bucket for fish & coral dips and baths:

You can use a bucket of aerated freshwater of equal temperature to the QT/HT for freshwater dips. Freshwater dips will kill parasites and only stress the host fish. The duration depends on the fish species, size and condition, but two minutes is a good rule of thumb for “freshwater dips”, and 20 minutes for “freshwater baths”. Don’t use RO/DI water for freshwater dips or baths. Tap-water has a closer pH and general hardness to saltwater. The chlorine is also medicinal as an oxidant to a certain extent. Do not add medications to freshwater dips or baths as they are not effective and drug toxicity levels differ from that of saltwater.

13) Bare bottom QT/HT:

A QT or HT should never have a substrate as it can harbour parasites in their early life cycle. A bare bottom tank allows you to wipe the inside surfaces daily (if HT). This will dislodge and kill parasites in the tomont, trophont and dinospore stages of the parasite’s life cycle. A diatom filter will remove items as small as 1 micron, and these pests are typically 25-50 microns.

14) A bright flashlight:

There are many fish parasites or cysts that can only be seen with a flashlight as they cast a shadow over the parasite you don’t get with aquarium lighting, while aquarium lighting casts a shadow over the side of the fish, obscuring the parasite or damaged tissue. A flashlight is an invaluable tool for evaluating fish health.

15) A dedicated net:

You can use 75mg/gallon potassium permanganate, iodine, peroxide, bleach or methylene blue as a net disinfectant or sterilizer. Segregate any thermometers, towels, feeding devices, and wash your hands to avoid spreading pathogens to the display tank and other QT/HT tanks.

16) Medications:

Keep medications on hand so they are there when you need them. You don’t want to have to rely on your local aquarium retailer to stock what you need when you need it, especially in the middle of the night on a holiday weekend.

I will briefly touch on the basics here as disease control and treatment warrants a lot more time, beyond the scope of this checklist. The only difference between QT and HT is the amount and variety of medications used. A QT should contain therapeutic levels of prophylactic (preventative) medications, while a hospital tank requires whatever it takes to get the job done. All newly imported fish will have a number of pathogens (diseases) present. If they are dealt with early in their life cycle, they will not cause serious health issues or mortality later on. Here is a brief outline of what I recommend for a QT prophylactic treatment regimen:

– 50 mg/gal chloramphenicol added every second day for three treatments for bacterial infection.
– 250 mg/gal neomycin added every second day for three treatments for bacterial infection.
– 0.20 ppm Coppersafe or Cupramine ionic copper maintained for the duration of the QT for the treatment of Amyloodinium
and external parasites.
– 25 mg/gal quinine sulphate added every second day for three treatments for Cryptocaryon and protozoans.
– 6 mg/100g of food Rifampin fed daily for one week for Tuberculosis.
– 40mg/gal isoniazid added every second day for three treatments for Tuberculosis.
– 2 ppm praziquantel added weekly for two treatments for Flukes and flatworms.
– 1 mg/20g of fish praziquantel – given in food daily for one week for treating intestinal worms.

The above preventative treatment will allow for optimum water quality with minimal impact on nitrifying bacteria and will not cause significant mutation (resistant strains) of pathogens. The QT should receive a 50% weekly water change using display tank water to help with water quality, acclimation and to slowly increase the salinity from 1.018 to 1.025. While it is true that copper can adversely affect a fish’s immune system, the benefit far outweighs the negative aspects, and the QT level of 0.20 ppm is on the low side. Certain “scaleless” fish such as wrasse, gobies and blennies should not be exposed to copper medications; Quinine-based treatments and metronidazole are preferred treatments for these copper-sensitive fish. Quarantine marine fish for a minimum of 21 days to insure parasite life cycles are complete to prevent re-infection.

The following medications are valuable for dips, baths and treatment, but adversely affect water quality, or are better used in target treatment so they are not appropriate for QT:

– Malachite green in a HT or bath for ich & parasites.
– Methylene blue in a bath for parasites and to aid breathing.
– Formalin in a dip, bath or HT for Brooklynella, flukes & ich.
– Nifurpirinol in a bath or HT for fungus, bacterial infection, and parasites.
– Nitrofurazone in a bath or HT for fungus and bacterial infection.
– Erythromycin in HT for bacterial infection and cyanobacteria.
– Metronidazole in HT for internal & external parasites, bacterial infection and cryptocaryon.
– Kanmycin in bath or HT for bacterial infection.
– Gentimycin in bath or HT for bacterial infection.
– Piperazine in food for intestinal worms.
– Oxolinic acid In bath or HT for bacterial infection.
– Oxytetracycline in bath or HT for bacterial infection.

A new, sharp, single edged razor blade can be used to trim away lymphocystis (cotton-like lesions) on the margins of fins.

Oxidizers like the following can be used for treating open wounds by swabbing the area with a Q-Tip:

Mr.Wilson Writes on Dipping Corals

First we will look briefly at what we are trying to kill, then focus on a prophylactic regimen of doing so without causing undue stress on a newly arrived acropora. Since stress is the leading cause of RTN (Rapid Tissue Necrosis, i.e. vibrio bacterial infection), we need to make sure we don’t kill the coral with kindness. There is no effective treatment for vibrio so prevention is the key.

The main things we are trying to target are flatworms and red bugs. That was brief, but the treatment isn’t. You need to dip, bath, and QT as there is no all-in-one system. The whole process takes three weeks but you will have peace of mind that your livestock is safe.

Freshwater dips are somewhat effective at eradicating a variety of pests, but they can also cause the coral to slime up, thus inhibiting the effectiveness of medications in dips and baths. Medications should be added to saltwater to assure therapeutic levels and take osmotic pressure changes out of the equation. Certain medications are more toxic in freshwater and directions for marine use often recommend higher doses so they go into solution with all the competing ions of saltwater. In other words, don’t use marine dosages in freshwater. In even simpler terms, don’t use freshwater.

Freshwater dips should be between 10-20 seconds with vigorous swishing around to dislodge the flatworms, essentially kicking them when they are down. Some people use a small powerhead to do this, but I find this to be too hard on acropora tissue, particularly when they are stressed and damaged from shipping. You can blow the paint right off of them if you aren’t careful. If you are experienced, by all means hit them with some flow while you are holding them upside down. A second freshwater dip bucket is handy for a second rinse. Do not use RO/DI water as it is too stressful (osmotic shock). Dechlorinated tap water or remineralized RO/DI water is better. Match the pH, hardness and temperature as best you can.

A more effective dip is 5 mg/gal Lugols Iodine. I would go a little longer (30-60 seconds) and use saltwater rather than freshwater. This could be a second dip/bath after the freshwater dip. You could experiment with other oxidizers like hydrogen peroxide, potassium permanganate, potassium dichromate, and merbromin, but there is something to sticking with proven methods and dosages. Oxidizers seem to be pretty equal as disinfectants. You an use 75 mg/gal potassium permanganate as a spot cure with a cotton swab where eggs and or dead coral tissue is present. This mix should be used for nets and fragging equipment. It needs to be mixed daily as it loses strength as it oxidizes organics it is in contact with. It starts off a vibrant purple then turns brown as it is exhausted. Be careful it will stain and shorten the life of some materials like fish nets (not the stockings, the ones you catch fish with).

Pegging Corals

Pre-drill your live rock with a quarter inch masonry drillbit. Drill all new corals up through the bottom and afix a short length of acrylic rod or rigid airline. This allows you to place the coral in a stable manner, but also to move it around as the need arises.

Mr.Wilson’s General Aquascaping Tips

1) Try to make it asymmetrical. Symmetry makes it look fake.
2) Use the small (orange sized) pieces on the bottom to make a smaller footprint in the sand and create caves.
3) Hide plumbing etc. first, then continue with the rest of the tank.
4) Make sure you orient each rock with the “good side” up, while maintaining the natural strata (the position the rock was formed in) of the rock.
5) Don’t place rocks precariously, for function (balance & stability) and aesthetic reasons.
6) Every rock has a centre of gravity you need to ascertain and respect.
7) Add substrate when the rock work is half done so the rock sits on the glass and not the sand. Otherwise fish and inverts will undermine, and collapse the structure.
8) Make an effort to have a low foreground, medium height mid-ground, and taller background, but don’t make it too contrived or it will look fake.
9) Add more depth by using flat rocks on the back and end walls and through smaller islands or steps in the foreground. You can link these to the mid-ground with bridges, but don’t make it too cute… and no Chinese fisherman statues
10) Remember to leave room for coral to grow at the top of the tank (don’t go too high).
11) Try not to make a straight line of uniform height, break it up with peaks and valleys.
12) Leave some caves for non-photosynthetic corals and cave dwelling fish.
13) Create stable shelves for corals. You can use a pedestal to hold it up.
14) Drill the rock for coral pegs or magnets to hold corals in place.
15) Keep in mind that you want as much area as possible exposed to light. Too many overhangs or steep drop-offs will cause excess shadowing.
16) Use key stones to hold the reef structure together. These can double as bridges. Longer, flat bridge-stones will tie the mid-ground and background together for more stability.
17) Test the stability of the reef as you go. Gently push down on it from above so the rocks lock together naturally.
18) When it’s done, go around the base and middle and remove rocks that aren’t structural. This will open up the reef and create caves without losing structural integrity.
19) Try to picture what kind of corals you want in each location and design around that. Create a gentle sweeping base for mushrooms or colonial polyps on the bottom, and holes in the middle regions to hold euphyllia branches for an overhang effect. Leave large areas for leather corals to fill. SPS corals look best if they are perched with little rock surrounding it.
20) Avoid the straight brick wall style at all costs.
21) Use the biggest rocks before you get stuck with them at the end, when they no longer fit. You can always break them into smaller pieces, but it’s a shame when they traveled so far to get to your tank. You have all the puzzle pieces to complete the landscape, you just don’t have the box with the picture of the finished product on it
22) Diversity in rock shape and size is key. Branches and flat pieces look great, but not if you have too many of them.
23) Most cable ties only last a few years under water, but they can help hold it together as you build and later as corals grow and bond it together. The clear/white cable ties last longer than the black ones.
24) If you use powerheads, build caves to hide them and make sure you are able to remove them every couple of months to service.
25) Make sure that your rock-work doesn’t impede flow from returns or powerheads.
26) Leave access points for closed loop intakes, so you can use a tooth brush to clean them periodically.
27) Incorporate large enough coral perches and nooks to avoid stinging from neighbouring corals.
28) Use large shells or rock rubble at the base so sand sifting fish & inverts can build permanent, stable tunnels. This will stop them from constantly digging.
29) Leave room between the rock-work and glass for cleaning pads and magnets.
30) Use the ugly rocks at the back for stability, but don’t pack it tight, as you need room for fish and water flow.
31) Try to leave a channel across the back at the bottom for a closed loop return or powerhead to eliminate dead spots.
32) Test fit pieces out of the tank before you put them in.
33) Large islands look good, but it’s even better if one of them is somehow linked to another by rock. This helps with eye flow and continuity.
34) Don’t be afraid of breaking pieces to fit. A small hammer is all you need.
35) Use only as much rock as you need. Don’t feel obligated to add more rock just because you have it.
36) If you don’t like the way it looks, start again.
37) Always aquascape while the tank is empty (i.e. no water).
38) Remember to keep looking at the tank from different perspectives as you work, as you need to be sympathetic to all views of the reef. What looks great from one side of the tank may not from another. Even from a sitting or standing position, the look can be affected.
40) Drill out the rock with a diamond hole saw so you can place the rock over a PVC pipe skeleton.
41) Drill holes in rocks to allow effluent ports to have free flow while concealing them.
42) You can use expanding spray foam to hold rock together, but don’t fill void spaces for the sake of doing it, and cover it with aragocrete when it is finished.
43) Bond your reef structure together with waterproof marine grade cement that is protected against sulphide attack. Microsilica as a 10% admix will help make it more sculptable, cure faster, PH balanced, stickier and stringer without shrinkage cracks.

There are three ways of approaching the subject of the presence of hardware in the tank and the tank itself for that matter. Which one you go with is purely a matter of personal preference with no wrong or right answers.

1) Treating the reef structures as artwork that are framed within the aquarium with all walls kept free of significant illumination and free of algae, both coraline and nuisance, as well as other incidental invertebrates such as fan worms. The tank is not in any way concealed as a glass box and maintains a clinical look. I have seen some nice tanks where the lighting is cast only on the reef, leaving the ends darker. LED lighting is directional with limited coverage so this may be a good option if you go with LED. It also limits algae scrubbing maintenance as nuisance algae grows on unpopulated acrylic walls and plumbing while real or faux rock is not conducive for its growth. I would classify Chingchai’s tank as option 1. He has left the plumbing completely visible with the focus on the reef. The viewer’s eye is intended to travel no further than the reef structure, and with his coral diversity and shear numbers do just that.

2) Leaving the plumbing and end panels bare and allowing the reef to partially cover them and let nature take its course and allow algae and misc. inverts to cover them. Depending on the health of your tank, and variety of coralline algae that flourishes, you may end up with green or purple back and end walls. In many cases, the plumbing becomes part of the reef and is only distinguishable to the owner who knows where it is. This approach would include grafting some encrusting corals such as xenia and colonial polyps onto the PVC pipes to influence the outcome. This option is less maintenance than the first one as it limits the amount of walls that need algae removal (scraping).

Mr.Wilson Writes About Temperature & Climate Control

Mr.Wilson Writes on Mechanical Filtration

First of all, I’m in the minority as a proponent of mechanical filtration. Up until the early 1990s it was a primary function of marine aquarium filtration systems. Then along came a few authors like Julian Sprung with the great idea that much of the junk we were collecting was in fact food for corals in our “nutrient starved tanks”. As the hobby moved to more challenging hard corals (LPS & SPS) the demand for nutrient-poor water was increased, but for some reason the mechanical filter never came back into fashion. It just isn’t a sexy high tech device you can show off to your friends. The value of detritus as a viable food source for coral was a little weak anyway, so I’m all for the removal of it before it enters the nitrogen and phosphate cycles (nutrient cycle).

The advent of wave and surge devices coupled with engineered flow dynamics at greater volumes, meant that detritus stayed suspended for longer in modern systems. This resulted in a “snow globe effect”, whereby detritus floated through the system almost indefinitely. Sure the protein skimmer captured some of it but in the absence of a filter sock, foam pad, polyester floss, pleated cartridge filter, or settling container you are relying on corals to consume detritus, when they are not detrivores.

Now more than ever we need to use mechanical filtration. It does not rob corals of nutrients and it does not make the water “too clean”. Mechanical filters increase water clarity, removing the collective yellowing effect of pigmented organics. This increase in clarity improves light penetration and photosynthesis. Pleated cartridge filters such as the ones Peter is using are typically rated at 25 microns, but with clogging they can remove particles down to one micron. This means that certain parasites like ich will be physically removed.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Cryptic Zones

For those who aren’t familiar with it, cryptic, twilight, or benthic zones are areas in a reef where little or no light penetrates due to shadowing from corals and rock and shear depth as tiny particles in the water refract light. These areas are also low flow for more or less the same reasons.

The invertebrates that grow in cryptic zones have adapted to be opportunistic feeders, dining on excess nutrients such as nitrogen & phosphate, heavy metals, bacteria, free-floating algae and other junk from the illuminated reef above. Corals growing on the sunny side of the reef have adapted to utilize algae within their tissue to derive energy from carbohydrates (sugars) that their symbiotic algae partners (zooxanthellae) produce through photosynthesis. Cryptic inverts have adapted in a non-photosynthetic environment. To make up for the lack of free energy from the sun and algae, cryptic inverts have taken advantage of what they have a lot of, and that’s a steady rain of garbage (detritus & nutrients) from the reef above.

Cryptic zones in aquariums don’t need to be highly engineered as they occur naturally as a matter of course. Anywhere there is a dark area where algae won’t grow, miraculously small cryptic inverts will appear like the guys selling $5.00 water at music festivals. These inverts include sponges, sea squirts (tunicates), fan/feather duster worms, serpulid/fire worms (look like sea earthworms and often sting like a cactus), bivalves (clams, scallops etc.), barnacles, and plankton. The areas you will find them in your tank are overflow boxes, sumps, in the substrate, and on the undersides of rock and coral in the display tank.

There is a saying that “nature doesn’t like empty spaces”. Wherever there is an excess of food, or available home, an opportunistic organism will find it and set up shop. When you feed your tank a good portion of that food goes right over the overflow box unless you have a system to shut down the pumps or a feeding station of some sort. Aiptasia and majano anemones are photosynthetic, but they are also active filter feeders and collect passing food with their handy tentacles so overflow boxes are a perfect environment for them. Filter feeders draw in water through their tissue and polish it by removing the nutrients, heavy metals, and organic carbon (TOC). The removal of these food items not only helps with he chemical composition of the water, it also improves water clarity which helps light penetrate as the yellow pigmented organics are removed.

We can replicate the natural balance of organisms that nature uses by providing more homes for cryptic inverts. In nature, the cryptic zone is exponentially larger than the illuminated reef. By spacing our live rock and adding structures to overflow boxes and sumps, we can make up for the chief growth limiting factor (real estate).

Mr.Wilson Writes on Coral Light Requirements

Selecting intensity (wattage) is a matter of water depth and the type of corals you want to keep. If you plan on having SPS, than you need to be at the high end of the scale. The rule of thumb for selecting intensity with a mixed reef is:

150/175 watts for tanks up to 24 inches in depth
250 watts for tanks up to 30 inches in depth
400 watts for tanks up to 48 inches in depth
1000 watts for anything deeper than 48 inches

These numbers are recommended with regard to keeping a mixed reef with high and low light corals kept at respective depths. The sun travels 94 million miles to reach the surface of the ocean. From there, light is refracted and filtered out by salts and other particles on the water, removing the red and yellow light that the human recognizes as bright. The remaining blue light is what makes it to the deeper depths.

Considering the distance the sun travels, it decreases in intensity over miles, not inches, so you get the same amount of sunlight on your bald spot as you do on your feet. Artificial lighting is another story. You lose 1/2 of the intensity with every 12 inches it travels. This means that mounting height makes a significant difference. So 250 watts mounted 18 inches over the tank is equal to 150 watts mounted about 8 inches over the tank. On top of this, we still have the light we lose as it is filtered out by our turbid yellow aquarium water.

If you can handle the heat and electrical bills, it’s better to go with higher wattage and raise the fixture or dim it to accommodate the corals’ requirements.

LED is the way to go if you can get a DIY or custom fixture. I haven’t heard of any mass produced fixtures that can compete with metal halide lamps for shimmer, PAR or coverage. Energy saving is about 50% but that isn’t much of an inducement with a $200,000.00 tank.

Mr.Wilson Writes on a Deep Sand Bed in the Overflow

You can always fill the bottom 2/3 of your overflow boxes with sand. I’m assuming you are using an 80-90% siphon drain with a 10-20% durso/aspirated drain to pick up the slack. It may not be big enough for your system, but it’s a good use of dead space. I use perforated PVC tubes imbedded in the sand to increase the barrier layer (more sand/water interface/surface area) and to allow access for carbon source dosing, solid vodka media, and sulphur media replacement. A heater or air line could also be placed in the tubes for passive flow around the sand. If the water overflows aggressively, add course sand to the top inch to avoid and storms, but it shouldn’t be an issue if the box is designed correctly.

The sand never needs to be changed out. In the old days we changed it annually because calcareous media like coral sand is a silicate and phosphate sink, constantly binding and releasing nutrients back into your tank. With modern phosphate media filters and other devices that is no longer a concern.

It’s a bacterial and to a lesser extent, chemical process taking place in the DSB. This is an area where hobbyists can run wild with experiments using carbon sources, sulfur beads, sand mixes and yes, Magic Mud. Studies have shown that nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria populate detritus on the sand forming a slime coat or biofilm, rather than simply growing on the sand grain itself. This is an area that may give Magic Mud credit. The slight turbulence of an overflow box would turn the already partially buoyant magic mud into a fluidized bed. This would give you a much larger barrier layer between the media (in our case mud) and the nutrient rich water.

You can also create a passive flow through the sand or mud by installing a heat source below the overflow box. As the heat rises up through the box it takes with it a very gentle current of water. This would be just enough to expose more water to the media without turning the bed into an aerobic zone. Denitrifying bacteria colonizes aerobic (oxygen-rich) as well as anaerobic (oxygen-poor) zones. The DSB should offer a variety of conditions for different species of denitrifying bacteria.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Cleaning Acrylic Tanks

I would go with a Mag-Float 1000 Professional. You should add a fleecy pad for acrylic tanks, or better still buy chemical-free Mr. Clean Quick Eraser pads and cut them in half to make them thin enough to be held with the magnet. The Quick Erasers polish the acrylic while removing stubborn algae.

I also use a microfibre cloth on the outside of the magnet where it touches the acrylic. Sew it into a pillowcase shape to fit over the magnet so it doesn’t slide off. A soft sock works too. Keep the outer cloth clean and free of sharp debris that can scratch the acrylic. I wash the outside of the tank first with water to remove salt residue that can scratch.

Check the magnet regularly for sand and snails etc. Keep it out of the water to avoid sharp tube worm growth and to protect the magnets. The magnet is extremely strong so be very careful using it. Put the wet end in the tank against the acrylic, then slowly slide the outer magnet up to it as you move it across the surface of the viewing panel.

Angle your lighting inward so the viewing panels are not directly illuminated. This will cut back on nuisance algae growth and avoid casting shadows on the fish and corals.

The Kent scrapers with the red plastic blade for acrylic are good. Credit cards also work.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Fish for the Reef Tank

Diamond sleeper gobies (Valenciennea paullaris) are very nice and should always be kept in pairs. The male is usually smaller with a taller dorsal fin. If you want to add more of them, then go with some diversity and add my favourite of the Valenciennea genus, V. Wardi, Tiger Sleeper Goby.

Tiger Sleeper gobies stay close to the substrate with their mouths of sand so they don’t make a mess like V. strigosus, Goldhead Sleeper Goby. They are also more hardy than the other members of the genus. I used to keep them with their commensal (symbiotic buddy) pistol (Alpheus sp.) shrimp, until I found out that they eat cleaner shrimp and the occasional fish. The clicking noise also drives me crazy as they sound identical to the more fearsome mantis shrimp. It’s a cool display with the two gobies keeping watch and the blind shrimp maintaining the cave they all share. The shrimp uses a tentacle to constantly read the signals the “look-out” gobies give. Speaking of which, signal gobies (Signigobius biocellatus) are another favourite of mine that have a three-way relationship with a shrimp. And the shy but resplendent Antenna gobies (Stonogobiops sp.) and my favourite invisible fish the cave goby. The nicest goby, although not a sand sifter, I have had came in by fluke as a “waif” from The Philippines, the Helfrichi Fire Goby.

The experts all agree that deep sand beds should be left alone, so sleeper gobies and any other sand sifting fish and invertebrates should be limited to tanks with a maximum sand depth of 2″. A remote sand bed can be easily added with a 55 gallon drum on a flow-through somewhere in your system that is free of detritus.

It’s the relationship between the fish and how they fit together as a group that is interesting, more than just gaudy colours. You want fish to fill all zones of the tank with gobies and blennies on the bottom, schooling fish in the middle near the top to draw out the timid fish, and some bigger fish in open areas.

I have seen cases where a large reef tank with 40 fish can appear devoid of fish due to their shyness. Once a school of anthias or chromis is added they know it is safe from predators and they all crawl out of the woodwork. We call these schools of fish “dither fish”.

Some Swallowtail angels (Genacanthus sp.) eat anthias feces. They hang out below large schools and wait for the anthias to “make it rain”

Mr.Wilson Writes on Water Chemistry

Your stocking level will determine your need to replace/supplement more exotic elements as they are utilized by corals and biological process. These include but are not limited to strontium, iodine, manganese, boron etc. Keep in mind these “trace element” are also “heavy metals”, so you will be feeding nuisance algae and poisoning corals if levels are allowed to elevate. These elements enter the aquarium through water changes to a slight extent, and are constantly being added with feedings (nutrient import). These elements are constantly leaving the tank through protein skimming, water changes, and algae farming (nutrient export).

The water chemistry issue needs to be fine tuned according to what your goals are and how you want to get there. For example, your calcium reactor, if sized right may be able to handle all of your needs if you don’t go too heavy into SPS; however, I predict that you will be tipping the scales so a dosing system or Nilsen reactor (kalkwasser reactor) will be in order. Some people use very complex dosing protocols to replace what is missing and remove what is in excess, while others are able to strike a balance with one catch all product like Tropic Marin Bio Calcium.

The key to maintaining optimum water chemistry (we’re not talking about water quality here) is to monitor each parameter carefully and replace the deficit accordingly. There is a complex reaction when you add any chemicals to the tank so you need to strike a balance. For example, adding too much of any one element may cause a snow storm in the tank as chemicals fall out of solution, leaving you with a snow globe. pH is also affected by these additives and can drift up or down if you aren’t careful. Where most aquarists get into trouble is with shotgun dosing and knee jerk remedies to correct their mistakes.

To oversimplify it, saltwater is made up of all kinds of stuff. Corals use all of those stuffs as building blocks for their reef building skeletons. What is a reef made of? Sugar, of course. Through photosynthesis, the energy of the sun and CO₂ in the water is used by the symbiotic algae that lives within the coral tissue to produce carbohydrates (sugar) that bind with calcium in the water to form … you guessed it, calcium carbonate. Instant reef.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “I thought you were going to over-simplify it, Shawn”. Well, here’s the easy part: you keep track of the stuff that gets smaller like calcium, and add as much as it takes to get back to the magic number. We are fortunate enough to know what natural sea water (NSW) is comprised of so we know the target numbers to shoot for … and no, you cannot improve on Mother Nature’s evolution so stick with NSW numbers.

Here’s where you could potentially screw up:

1) You use the instructions on the label to dose for x number of gallons. You are dosing for your bioload and consumption, not for bulk system water.
2) You don’t have fail-safes in place and accidentally overdose.
3) Your test kit lies to you and you think you are too low with one parameter when in fact you are too high and getting worse.
4) Missing the balance between lighting, water quality, CO₂, salts, and elements.
5) You start a roller coaster effect by adding too much of one element then overcompensate with another.
6) Bad chemicals that have either taken on moisture, or fallen out of solution with age, or have become more concentrated due to evaporation.
7) Listening to bad advice or misinterpreting good advice.
8) Following the misconception that you need to put pressure on your corals to grow by continually adding more chemicals.
9) Not allowing corals to adapt to the elevated heavy metal levels of our captive reefs.
10) Misc. human error and calamity.

One point I should stress is that it’s difficult to do harm to a coral by underdosing elements, while overdosing is a very common cause of coral damage and mortality.

These chemicals interact strongly with each other. Adding too much of one can cause another to fall out of solution (turn from liquid to solid or at least bind with another chemical). Most of these elements will also impact pH either up or down, so keep an eye on your pH meter to establish if you are adding too much too fast. There is such thing as too much of a good thing in this case.

Think of corals as being similar to our bodies. We utilize calcium and many of the same building blocks to build our skeletons. A deficit will not quickly kill a coral, while a surplus will do harm. You just need to go slow and keep the trace elements and salts at NSW levels. Too much of anything becomes poison. Too little will only retard growth or cause the colours to fade.

In the end, all of the testing equipment in the world won’t equal the signals the corals are giving you. Open (feeding) polyps and natural bright colours are your natural meter.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Sand Clean-up Crews

There are two schools of thought with regard to sand beds. One is to let it run its course and don’t add any critters that will compete with or consume denitrifying bacteria or other beneficial infauna (sand critters). This would exclude the usual suspects:

gobies (sand sifters & sand stirrers)
pistol shrimp
starfish (sand stars, serpent stars, crown of thorns)
sand dollars (never do well in captivity)
horseshoe crabs
cucumbers
nassarius snails
conchs
cowries
olive snails (amazing looking but they eat other snails)
wrasses
garden eels
flounders

The opposing school of thought takes the Bob Dylan approach: like a rolling stone. A rolling stone gathers no moss, and neither does a moving sand bed … well algae instead of moss but you get the idea. Algae needs a stable environment (site) to set up shop. In addition to the poor real estate value of shifting sands, the abrasion of the sand aggregate removes/kills algae, evicting them from the site. In addition to sand movement, the larger sand dwelling macro organisms listed above consume detritus and micro organisms that break down and feed the nitrogen and phosphate cycles (nutrient cycles).

It’s really up to you to decide if you feel the sand bed can stay clean on its own merits or if it needs a team of janitors. The janitors tackle the issue of cleaning on a macro level, removing and reducing waste, while the infauna (sand critters) have a bacterial approach that reduces the chemical compounds that accumulate after the waste is left uneaten by the big guys up the food chain. In my opinion they can all find their niche as they do in nature. The two groups of beneficial organisms are not mutually exclusive and a more diverse food chain is always welcome. I just choose to limit that diversity to things that can’t eat me.

In addition to serving an important role in the food chain and biological processes of a reef, these sand dwelling denizens animate the aquarium and put perspective into the sand bed. They complete the picture of the natural reef we are trying to replicate. The sand is no longer a dead end bottom of the reef, but a doorway to a vital and vibrant benthic world. The benthos or benthic zone is not only an active place for biological filtration and chemical processes, but a home to some of the most fascinating reef organisms available. As far as sand critters go, there are two groups:

1) Sand Stirrers: These are organisms that move sand around to build burrows, crawl or swim through the sand displacing it, or dive into the sand at night as in the case of many wrasses.

2) Sand Sifters: These are the harder working janitors. This would include primarily gobies of the Valenciennea genus, commonly known as watchman gobies. These gobies pick up a mouthful of sand and rise up from the substrate (some more than others) as they move the sand through their gills, delicately sorting out food items (infauna). These fish should always be kept in pairs and even better with a commensal (symbiotic) pistol shrimp. The shrimp constantly extends a tentacle to keep track of the watchman goby that stands on guard for predators. In exchange, the shrimp maintains the sand tunnel in which they cohabit. It’s one of nature’s rare successful ménage è trois A couple of sand sifter watchman gobies can turn a green or brown substrate lily white in a day or two. They vary in efficiency and nuisance as well as adaptation to captivity. I recommend tiger watchman gobies (V. wardi) and orange spot watchman gobies (V. puellaris), not to be confused with A. guttata (orange spotted goby) who is an excellent sand stirring goby, but sifting isn’t in his contract (they don’t do windows either).

The bright green brittle stars from the Philippines can actually catch and eat fish. They “stand up” like a spider and wait for an unsuspecting fish to swim under. I use these starfish in the sump to take care of detritus. They are also good at cleaning dead coral tissue. These are the only non-reef species of brittle star I know of.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Chemicals and Test Equipment for Aquarium Maintenance

The liquid test kits by Lamotte, Hach, Merck, Salifert, Elos, and SeaChem are of good quality. Sometimes it is better to pick and choose individual tests from each company for ease of use and accuracy. As with the controller, a second opinion is vital as reagents can get contaminated or old and human error is unavoidable (e.g. “Did it say add 5 drops or 5 ml? Better add more just to be on the safe side.”)

Here is the amended list:

1) Digital PH controller for calcium reactor body to govern CO₂ dosing.
2) Digital PH controller for system water to override CO₂ dosing and/or dose kalkwasser and sodium bicarbonate.
3) Digital Dissolved Oxygen meter. You can move it around, but it should get homogenous readings throughout the water column. You will, however, get lower readings in slow flow reactors and deep sand beds. Order extra probes as they don’t last forever and cannot be calibrated.
4) Digital salinity meter.
5) Refractometer and glass hydrometer for double checking salinity.
6) Liquid ammonia test kit.
7) Liquid chlorine test kit for bleaching fishroom tanks.
8) Liquid nitrite test kit.
9) Liquid nitrate test kit (premium low range).
10) Liquid calcium test kit (premium brand).
11) Liquid magnesium test kit (premium brand).
12) Liquid carbonate hardness test kit (premium brand).
13) Digital dual TDS meter for adding pure freshwater; one for the water entering the deionizer and one for measuring the water exiting. It’s also nice have a hand held TDS meter to know what the municipal water source is like, as it shifts seasonally in most areas.
14) Digital redox/ORP controller.
15) Digital phosphate photometer (Milwaukee or Hanna).
16) Liquid phosphate test kit (low range Merck).
17) Liquid iodine test kit (premium brand).
18) Liquid strontium test kit (premium brand).
19) Liquid silicate test kit (premium brand).
20) Liquid copper test kit (free copper & total copper).
21) Quantum/PAR meter.
22) Scientific analog thermometer to calibrate digital meters.
23) Titanium ground probes.

At some point in time you should also start stocking up on chemicals to correct the parameters you are testing such as:

Mr.Wilson Writes on Acclimating New Fish

I use the hydrochloric acid (pure version of muriatic acid) method of acclimating fish. The first time you add the acid, the buffer system bounces back up in a few hours, but subsequent dosing lasts longer as the buffer system is depleted (calcium and carbonates fall out of solution). I tried using phosphoric acid in the past, and in addition to the possible toxicity of the phosphorus, it forms calcium phosphate as the two ions bind and fall out of solution. The result is a milky snow of precipitate in the water (not good). I had a CO₂ dosing system at one point in time but found it to be impractical for large systems. The benefit of a CO₂ system over acid is that you have full control over how quickly the pH returns to NSW (normal) levels. The other benefit is you can assure that your acclimation water has the same gas concentration as the shipping water. This helps certain fish that have damaged or poorly developed swim bladders (Boyle’s law). Fish packed for over 12 hours will typically have a shipping water pH of 6.5-6.8. This is good news because ammonia is non-toxic at this level. Ammonia detoxifier chemicals like Kordon Ammquel help get the fish safely through the first 12 hours or so.

I use ice to drop the system water temp to match that of the shipping water, which is typically 68-72°F. Fish acclimate better when going into slightly lower salinity water so it works out well with hyposalinity commercial holding systems. Fish adapt poorly to increases in the osmotic pressure of higher salinity water so the salinity should be slowly raised over the three week acclimation and treatment period before being introduced to the display aquarium.

I use a few prophylactic medications and UV sterilizers in the acclimation system. No carbon, ion exchange resins or protein skimmers should be used. An established biological filter is vital as there should be no rock or calcareous (calcium-based) substrate in the acclimation system. A bare bottom tank is best so parasites can be removed.

Floating the bags is far too stressful for the fish, and opening the bags and letting them remain in the shipping water as it becomes toxic as the pH rises will cause gill damage or mortality. Shallow styrofoam boxes tipped on an angle with inadequate, unreliable drip lines is also too stressful for all involved. These jerry-rigged systems are common at LFSs and employ contaminated boxes, no air lines for water movement and bright lights that further stress the fish out during the acclimation process. You want the fish to go from the bag to the holding tank without even knowing what happened. Turning the lights off and working in a dimly lit room helps. Catching the fish with a gloved hand or scope and keeping it submerged also makes a big difference. Fish nets are a chief cause of fish injuries and subsequent infection. Marine fish have not adapted to breathing out of water for even a few seconds. Freshwater fish have adapted some tolerance to breathing atmospheric air as they live in environments near the surface and where dry seasons create low water levels.

More on Acclimating New Fish

If you are picking up fish from the LFS down the street and the fish are only in transit for an hour, then a drip system is adequate, but long packing duration requires more delicate acclimation to ease the stress of extreme water conditions.

I still don’t like the idea of floating fish bags as they may have medications and chemicals from a packing counter or holding tank, particularly copper. The fish are also stressed by the pinched corners of the bag and are forced to inhale oxygen from the surface as the bag rolls around in the water current. Bags can float under bright aquarium lighting, fish can pick on the new ones while they are still in the bag, and in some cases the bag collapses eliminating all gas exchange which can kill a fish quickly.

I think we all agree that the shipping water with the fish has no business in our systems. In addition to it containing chemicals and medications, it harbours bacteria and parasites and the water quality at fish stores is less than pristine. Every time a wholesaler imports a fish, he imports diseases that are unique to that part of the world and even that part of the reef. Fish stores are at the end of the chain of distribution and are therefore a united nations of fish diseases with every possible pathogen represented.

In Peter’s case as with people who buy from distant suppliers over seas or in another province or state, the fish will be in that shipping water for at least 24 hours. As the fish breathes it converts O₂ into CO₂. The CO₂ is in a liquid form (carbonic acid) which, like any acid, lowers the pH. The longer the fish is bagged, the lower the pH. On one hand a pH of 6.7 – 7.0 is stressful to the fish, but on the plus side it takes the toxic ion out of ammonia rendering it harmless.

So now you receive your fish at home and the first thing you do is open the bag and let that “bad” air out and let “good” air in – wrong! As soon as a gas exchange occurs, the pH is rapidly driven back up to 8.0 – 8.2. This increase in pH is not only a shock to the fish, but a deadly poison as the toxic ion of ammonia goes back into solution. I’ve seen fish orders die in 20 minutes after traveling for 48 hours successfully.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Water Changes

There is no benefit to a hopper system that mixes saltwater because it is a simple process for the aquarist to safely carry out on their own. I also believe that inviting machines to take over potentially dangerous tasks like changing water invites the possibility of malfunction and subsequent disaster. No machine, or person, is infallible.

I advocate for a hybrid part man/part machine system. A manual valve should be controlled by the aquarist if and when a water change is deemed in order. If nothing else, this forces the aquarist to inspect the tank closely and possibly detect a problem the timer device will not. On the other hand, we can employ machines to safeguard from human error. Once manual or mechanized valves are opened, a timer or metering device can be used so we don’t forget that we have commenced the water change. It’s sounds implausible, but the phone rings, your wife asks you to do something, or you wander off on your own leaving the tank filling and draining. Of course a machine is only as good as our programming prowess so the problem may still lie somewhere between the chair and the keyboard.

The benefit of a manual water change is you can remove detritus with the water. There is a lot more “stuff” in detritus that has settled in your rock work, sump, and overflow box, than the amount of “stuff” in free flowing water in the system. The incoming water is typically a degree or two cooler than the system water so it will drop to the bottom or stay at one end of the display tank, making it easy to remove “old” water without taking some “new” water with it when filling and draining at the same time.

More On Water Changes

In my opinion water changes are good for the following purposes, in order of importance/effectiveness:

– removing detritus
– reducing/diluting secondary metabolites (algae & coral toxins)
– reducing/diluting heavy metals, or what we call trace elements in the aquarium hobby
– reducing/diluting vitamins
– reducing/diluting nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)
– reducing/diluting phosphate
– reducing/diluting bacteria
– reducing/diluting TOC

Water changes are limited by the percentage you exchange. A 10% water change removes 10% of the “bad stuff”. The exception to this is detritus removal, if you are vacuuming the substrate, blasting out rock work and vacuuming the sump. Water changes do not effectively replenish water chemistry, as it is limited by the same percentage issue. In other words, a 10% water change only assures that 10% of the total water volume has the right proportions of calcium, carbonates, magnesium, and all the other “good stuff”. While it is nice to remove some of the bad stuff, filtration devices are more efficient and calcium reactors and chemical dosing assures that 100% of the water has the proper water chemistry (good stuff).

Water changes can cause harm if they aren’t carried out diligently. Some of the negative aspects of water changes are:

– reduction of probiotics (bacteria & plankton)
– introduction of impurities via source water, salt mix, mixing tools or hose
– introduction of excess trace elements and vitamins from salt mix
– temperature fluctuation
– salinity fluctuation
– PH, KH, calcium, magnesium etc. shock from bad salt mix
– classified/non-homogenous salt mix due to partial bucket or bag use
– old, clumped/compromised salt mix
– exposure of corals to atmospheric air
– partially dissolved salt mix
– poorly aerated salt mix
– accidental overfilling system
– accidentally over-draining system
– sand bed disturbance releasing hydrogen sulphide or depleting DSB infauna (beneficial organisms)

The main issue with water changes is they need to be calibrated to the demand. If you have “x” amount of nutrients building up in your system, then you need to do water changes according to that demand. A 10% water change will reduce your 20ppm nitrate down to 18ppm, but your residual nitrate accumulation may be at a faster rate than your weekly or monthly water changes. We aren’t talking about a static amount that you can slowly chip away at, unless you have filtration devices and nutrient export of other sorts to make up the difference. If that is the case, water changes may not be necessary, and they are clearly the most expensive and least effective method of nutrient export.

We know that zero nitrates and phosphates can be maintained without water changes through carbon dosing, DSB, GFO and refugia to name a few. We also know that water chemistry can be maintained without water changes, and that there is an excess, not a deficit, of trace elements. Why add trace elements (heavy metals) when we statistically have too many? Most reef tanks don’t require physical removal of detritus, including many of the tanks that receive major and frequent water changes. This only leaves secondary metabolites as an agent that we need to export. It is possible that this is enough justification for water changes, but it is equally possible that they are removed more efficiently through UV, ozone, protein skimming, mechanical filtration, mangrove trees, macro algae, carbon, bacterial assimilation, biological assimilation by micro organisms and coral, or simply time.

In evaluating any procedure you must first establish what you are trying to accomplish and why you are doing so. If water changes offer something that you are not getting with your current regimen, and you feel there is a demand in the first place, then by all means do so. On the other hand, if you feel that your application has all of these criteria covered and see no need for adding trace elements & vitamins, then water changes may not be a cost effective method of maintaining your reef.

The bigger the tank, the less you rely on water changes, and vice versa. A reef tank of 50 gallons or less, can be maintained with major weekly water changes at a lower cost than purchasing UV, ozone, calcium reactor, dosing systems, a refugium and mechanical filter. You can reinvest the capital and operational costs into a good source water filter, salt, and a water changing system. Once you get over 200 gallons, water changes are less appealing.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Flow To/From the Sump

People ask me all the time, “How much flow do I need to the sump?”, “Where should I put the overflow box?” or “Where should I locate the return line?”. The answer is never simple because each aspect is directly affected by the other. I like to start at the beginning and look at what the protein skimmer’s demand for flow is.

Let’s take a step back and think about what we are trying to accomplish before we decide how we want to get there. The main purpose of moving water from your display tank to the sump is to process it in a protein skimmer and a few other devices. The same process that goes on in your protein skimmer occurs with your surface skimmer. You are separating oils/surface active agents (surfactants) from the water. You have to treat the display tank like an oil slick (but not how the BP engineers and shareholders do). When skimming oil, you want to use a very thin “scoop” so you collect concentrated oil, and as little water as possible. You can accomplish this in two ways.

1) Set-up a surface skimmer that has a maximum amount of surface area. A surface skimmer with no teeth will have double the surface area and subsequently collect water that is twice as concentrated with surfactants.

2) Use a return pump that has a relatively slow flow so the water cresting over the overflow box is half as thick = twice as rich in surfactants.

Both of these factors influence the surface tension of the water traveling over the surface skimmer wall. The overflow box works the same way a water strider bug (those bugs that float and walk on still water) increases the surface tension of the water under it’s legs. The teeth in an overflow box increase the water tension in the same way thus limiting the free flow of water over the box. This effect is in addition to the shear surface area of the box diminished by having the teeth.

A better barrier for overflows than teeth is an eggcrate strip that sits parallel to the overflow box wall, positioned 3/8″ back toward the box and away from the tank. Any snails will be stopped by a single continuous 3/8″ horizontal slot, rather than many 3/8″ vertical teeth. I like to use eggcrate because if the entire slot somehow magically plugs, the overflowing water will rise up and find its way through the holes in the eggcrate. This method compromises nothing, while more than doubling overflow efficiency. Unlike teeth, a single slot is unlikely to plug with filament (hair) and macro algae.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Power Head Placement

The best powerhead configuration in my opinion is to position one or two at the top of one end panel facing the opposing end where the overflow box is (hopefully). Then position one or two powerheads as close to the bottom as you can get without disturbing the sand too much, at the opposing end (below the overflow box). This will give you that barrel roll or circular flow. It’s about as close to a gyre or laminar flow that you can get with powerheads. Unlike a closed loop, powerheads must suck and blow from the same end so a true gyre is impossible. The benefit of having half of the powerheads at the surface is you get more ripples and subsequent shimmer effect with the lighting.

With this kind of flow dynamic, it would be wise to set up your sump return line(s) to enter at the end where the overflow box and where the powerheads are near the bottom. Point the return line(s) straight down a few inches below the surface to continue the circular flow dynamic. The water coming from the sump will get picked up by the lower powerheads and get shot across the bottom of the tank. The water takes the longest trip possible before returning to the sump to be filtered again.

Some powerheads have a surge pattern whereby the pump cycles on and off in short bursts continually. If you can get the powerheads at the opposite end to run on a reverse cycle, and you time it right, the powerheads can catch a wave and continue it. Vortechs have a communication system, but unfortunately they are programmed to cycle on and off at the same time instead of a preferred staggered pattern.

Aiming powerheads directly at the rock structure will accumulate detritus as it forces particles (POC) into the rocks. Moving water from the bottom to the surface is the most efficient flow for gas exchange and climate control, but this is a challenge for most powerheads. Burying powerheads in rockwork makes it difficult to service the impellers and keep the intakes clean. Chaotic flow has some benefits, as it encourages corals to grow in all directions due to even food dispersion, but chaotic eventually forms a pattern and detritus finds dead spots to settle in. Chaotic flow also creates resistance/friction that diminishes opposing flow.

Laminar flow (gyre) creates momentum and kinetic energy/inertia. The whole idea of moving water in one direction, be it circular or linear, is the wave of the future (pun intended). Think of it like putting your hand in a bucket of water and quickly mixing the water clockwise (or counter) for 5 seconds. When you stop, the water continues to travel in a circular motion for quite some time. There is minimal friction loss as the flow doesn’t crash into obstacles such as opposing flow, rock structures, or viewing panels.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Using Teflon Tape

Set-ups with 100% rigid pipe are almost impossible to seal. The valves leak no matter how tight you torque them. The bulkheads slip and bend to the point of leaking. It also isn’t safe. If you lean on a pipe, you are leaning on the tank, sump and plumbing joints. If you are using Tigerflex/spaflex hose use Weld-on #795 flexible PVC glue as it can take some flex without cracking. I also use lots of primer. The clear primer is getting harder to find. The purple stuff is considered “professional” because it is used to assure you didn’t miss a spot and more importantly so an inspector can see that a pipe fitter didn’t get lazy and skip a step (against building code). We don’t have inspectors and they can tell by the floor, my tool box, my hands and shoes that I used the purple primer. If you are really anal about how your plumbing looks you can use acetone on a clean cloth to remove the lettering on the pipes.

I can’t speak for pool installers, but we do use the same fittings and I can guarantee they will leak if you don’t use teflon tape. Brass fittings don’t require teflon tape as it seals itself due to its soft nature, but I use the tape so it’s easier to remove it later. Of course you don’t use brass fittings in the tank, but they do show up on CO₂ regulators, etc.

For about 10 years I used the thicker pink teflon tape (for metal gas pipes) instead of the white stuff (for plastic water pipes), on the advice of an older and wiser aquarist. The idea is that it fills the gaps without having to wrap it more than two times around and with better consistency. I don’t know if they changed the material they used or if my luck just ran out, but I started getting leaks with the pink tape. I switched back to the white a few years back and I’m sticking with it, but there has to be a better way. Most people will tell you they never get leaks. Remember to add four or five strokes to their golf score.

For those who are completely new at this, the tape needs to be wrapped three to four times around the fitting starting at the end and working toward the base where the thread ends and the PVC adapter begins. You need to wrap the thread over and away from you (clockwise) if the part is in your left hand, or under and toward you (clockwise) if the part is in your right hand. It is important to turn clockwise or it will peel off (unravel) when you tighten it into the female thread. I leave the tape thin (two wraps) at the end where the thread starts to mesh with its female counterpart, and I use my thumbnail to cut a thread in the tape. This makes it easier to get the thread started and avoid cross threading. Tighten it as far as it goes by hand and then spin it one revolution with a wrench. This is where you have to use your built-in torque wrench powers to establish how tight is watertight without cracking the female part. These splits can be minute so you may not notice until it gets the wet test. A stressed/over-tightened fitting can also split days or weeks later when you aren’t around. Some industrial fittings have metal rings around the female to assure that the tapered male thread doesn’t wedge it open. As I mentioned before, a small length of flex/spa hose will relieve stress put on pumps, valves, unions, and tanks. People get over zealous wrestling with pumps and valves and forget that there is a delicate glass tank attached to those bulkheads.

I also mentioned that some vendors don’t get the thread exactly right. When plastic fittings are made they are heated then cooled. If the cooling process is too long or too short it will affect the final size of the fitting (shrinkage rate). I often find batches of slip and threaded parts that simply do not fit. I have also found certain parts that are too thin and weak. For example, George Fischer 3/4″ female adapters (FPT x socket) which is female pipe thread by female slip fit, frequently split open with even hand tightening. When this happens I assume it’s a bad mold and move to another vendor like Spears or Dura. Valves are another sensitive area; buy premium valves with a single or double union so you can take it apart later without losing prime or draining the tank or sump.

I have considered trying plumbers paste for threads. Apparently it’s “foolproof”. The problem is it limits your ability to take the part off which defeats the point of threaded parts. 99% of leaks are from threaded parts. In Europe they still use horse hair and “dope” (sealing compound/paste).

I still lightly tape (1.5 revolutions) threaded parts in the tank that aren’t under pressure. It makes it easier to take them apart after calcification and over-tightening. Teflon tape is a lubricant as well as a sealant. Do not silicone PVC parts, as it will not bond properly and interfere with the the thread seat. If you accidentally loosen the part, the silicone seal is compromised and a leak will form.

I’m still learning after 23 years. Last year I discovered what the arrow on the valve is referring to. It sounds easy… the arrow indicates the direction of flow right? Wrong! The arrow denotes the direction that the water can safely travel when you are servicing the pump without blowing out the ball in the valve. The valve is designed to be disassembled for service, namely “ball cleaning”. The ball pops out one of the two sides but not the other. This is referred to as a “checked ball”. With most premium valves the valve handle works like a key to open the valve housing. Pull the valve handle off and it has two protrusions on the inside like a key tool. Discount valves are not “checked” on either side so if you shut the valve off at 90 degrees then open one of the unions (threaded couplings), the ball will come flying out along with the contents of your aquarium. Well, I learned all that stuff the hard way years ago, but I didn’t learn the arrow code until last year. The arrow should point toward the pump for the “in” (influent) as well as the “out” (effluent). This assures that the water pressure can push the direction of the arrow without blowing your balls off. Some non-union valves have an arrow. This arrow does in fact indicate the direction of the water during normal operation. I think the plumbers design this stuff for job security

Another trick is to check the floor for spare “O” rings. They have a tendency to fall out especially when you are frantically taking the pump on and off. A little silicone grease will help them stay seated, slippery and sealed. Do not over-tighten valves and unions. Hand tight is all they need.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Aquarium Wiring

Try to use independent GFCIs so one failure doesn’t take down the whole system. It’s a tempting shortcut to daisy chain two or three outlets off of a GFCI to save some money, but this exposes you to more peril.

Some GFCIs have very sensitive reset/test buttons. AC adapters can put pressure on these switches and cause a false trip. Add a 6″ mini grounded extension cord with an illuminated base plug. This will let you orient your AC adapter any direction you want without blocking the other outlets or tripping the GFCI. The lighted plug makes it clear if the outlet is on. GFCIs have a tiny green light but they are difficult to see in daylight, aquarium light, or when blocked by plugs & wires.

Use a drip loop on any cords that run above the outlet. A drip loop is a loop tied in the cord with a cable tie to provide a low point for water to drip off so it doesn’t run straight down the cord and into the outlet.

Strap powerbars down to the aquarium stand legs with cable ties so they can’t fall in the sump or become dislodged when you yank the cords. Labeling the cords and or outlets save you some headache wile looking at the octopus of wires.

Try to run the return pump on a separate circuit from the closed loop or powerheads. This way you always have water movement if just one circuit trips.

Outdoor timers give you added humidity resistance and splash resilience. I use battery backed up digital ones with remote controls so the aquarist doesn’t have to even know where the timer is, much less start pushing buttons randomly.

Disable any wall switches that affect the tank. You never know when the cleaning lady will turn off your return pump accidentally.

Use cable ties and wire covers to bundle up and organize wiring. Make it so a device can be unplugged and removed without tearing the place apart. I use plastic C clips to affix wires to the wall, but I leave the C open (like a U) so the wire can be removed easily.

Use a titanium grounding probe in the display tank and the sump.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Mangroves

Mangroves are not fast growers so they do not directly export significant amounts of nutrients or heavy metals, but they do foster the growth of microbes on their root mass that consume the bad stuff. Like the Miracle Mud, they also harbour lots of water polishing benthic detrivores.

The most interesting feature of mangrove trees is the tangled web of roots. In order to get your mangroves to grow “legs” like this, you need to elevate them 4-6″ every month or so. This practice simulates the ebb and flow of tidal waters and or heavy rains in mangrove swamps. In nature, the water level drops and the mangrove tree stretches its roots deeper into the water. You will see a change in the colour and texture of the roots as it adapts to the change in water level. The lower root mass is green and smooth and it is adapted to being submerged, while the upper root mass is brown and rough more like traditional bark. The upper “air roots” are more for structure than water collection.

Mangrove trees don’t actually require salt water and do quite well in freshwater and soil. Mangroves are able to extract freshwater from saltwater and expel the salt through their leaves. In nature, morning dew and rain washes the salty residue away, but in a home aquarium you need to have one of your staff wipe them with a wet cloth by hand.

Mangrove trees have a high demand for magnesium, so they should be planted in dolomite (calcium magnesium chloride) which is available at your local farm supply store. You can add some dolomite to your calcium reactor (if you decide to get one) to buffer magnesium, which stabilizes calcium supplementation.

They actually grow faster in soil with freshwater. If you want to jumpstart a mangrove filter, grow them in pots in soil outside in natural sunlight for a few months first. A friend of mine has had about 20 mangroves in a deep sand bed filter for over 20 years now. They are only 2′ tall with few leaves. He’s growing them under MHL, but they don’t do much.

DSB’s and mangrove filters don’t have a good record for success stories, but they certainly don’t hurt or cost much to set-up or operate. I actually use remote deep sand beds (RDSB), mangroves and do water changes, despite the lack of empirical data showing that these make much of a difference.

Most of the methods we employ are not miracle cures, but together they are a catalyst to success. The solution to optimum water quality lies in baby steps, not in a magic bullet. Mangroves are one of those small steps. Julian Sprung wrote a small booklet on mangroves if anyone is interested in reading more about them.

There are three types of Mangroves from different parts of the world: black, white, and red. I believe the black are from Asia.

Mangrove pods are considered seeds and therefore do not require a phytosanitary certificate and inspection as would a plant. You would have to take them out of the soil for them to qualify. Having said that, they may delay you at the Canada/USA border as you try to explain the difference between a pod and a plant.

While mangroves do not add oxygen to the water, they do however add it to your fishroom and more importantly, they convert CO₂ to O₂. If you have a bunch of fish guys over who never stop talking, the pH in the tank will drop considerably due to the increase in CO₂.

Terrestrial plants like mangroves are a perfect natural remedy for this problem. They also strip the air of harmful VOC’s that might otherwise make it into your system or source water container.

The white, black, and red varieties of mangrove tree all occur in Florida and they are all appropriate for aquaria. The three varieties are fairly similar with only a few minor root system (breathing) and leaf systems (salt expelling) differences.

The ratio for a tank under 30 gallons should be 1 per gallon, and for larger tanks you can get away with one per two gallons. Julian Sprung recommends 1 mangrove pod for every two gallons. That should help you decide how many you need.

There are a few mangrove tree farms in Florida. They can legally sell pods and trees over 3′ tall, but anything in between is protected by Fish & Wildlife Services. The nursery trees are a 3′ straight stick with about six leaves on the top. You have to look really close to tell the difference between the three colour varieties.

Starting with pods and varying the rooting depth will make a nice tangle of “legs/knees”. Trimming the top to like a bonsai will manipulate growth hormones and cause the tree to send out new branches.

Each plant will grow one new leaf per month and the amount of nutrient uptake is similar to that of macro algae. You can dry the leaves and weigh them to compare the export yield to the dry weight of a month of Chaetomorpha or Gracilaria growth which will be closer to a bucket full. The dry export weight of mangroves is not only less than macro algae, it also takes up a larger footprint and uses more resources (spraying and lighting). Macro algae also offer the added benefit of converting CO₂ into O₂ in the water. Macro algae refugia should be run on a reverse photoperiod to counter coral respiration at night so the pH doesn’t drop. Mangrove tanks should be run on a daytime photoperiod so they can convert atmospheric CO₂ into O₂.

You have to remember that you are working with a closed system where the air in the room is independent of outside atmospheric air and the water in the tank doesn’t have the massive expanse of the ocean to balance the CO₂ and O₂ levels. CO₂ can become carbonic acid and like any acid, it lowers the pH of the tank water, particularly at night when photosynthesis reverses the process and O₂ is converted into CO₂. A nightly pH drop from 8.2 to 7.8 is not uncommon, but a reverse photoperiod refugium full of macro algae will balance this out. Mangroves, or any terrestrial plant for that matter, intake CO₂ through the stomata pores on the underside of the leaves. This is a process that is carried out above the water, so it has no impact on the gas exchange in the system.

It would take a substantial number of mangroves to have a significant impact on the ambient air quality. Common house plants like Pathos and spider plants are boring but they are the most efficient at removing VOC’s from the air. Gas exchange will be greater with a more substantial ficus tree or fast growing philodendron.

I view mangroves as primarily for aesthetics with some value as a microbial site. The little critters that grow on the mangrove can just as easily be grown on rock or eggcrate, but mangroves are more fun. If you want to look into alternative methods of nutrient export, sea grass is fast growing, efficient and equally as cool looking. There are some nice sea grass fish and inverts (Bangai Cardinals, pipefish, and filefish) and you get the water flow to make them sway. The catch is they are hard to find and don’t transplant well as they need the long root system to be intact.

It’s a common misconception that the roots (holdfast) of single celled algae draw in nutrients from the substrate. Sea grasses do however uptake nutrients through a root system just as terrestrial plants do. The practice of placing nutrient-rich mud under sand for the roots to “get nutrients” is erroneous. Macro-algae and mangroves are being implemented to reduce excess nutrients, so any efforts to “feed” them are counterproductive.

Black mangroves are unique in that they develop a “snorkel” system whereby the air roots become soft and spongy with pores to supply oxygen to the roots if they are growing in anaerobic (oxygen-poor) conditions.

If you grow mangroves without any substrate the root system will continue to grow, stealing energy from the rest of the plant above water. Mangroves, like any plant, need to be potted in a suitable sized pot so root growth can be limited so more leaves and branches can develop. The size of the plant is dictated by the size of the root system. If you restrict the roots’ growing room too much the plant will be stunted.

Mangroves should be grown with 6500K metal halide lighting. This will provide the intensity and coverage they need. 175 watts will suffice, unless you are growing a lot of them with a higher wattage (250 or 400 watt) metal halide fixture mounted higher above the trees.

Mangroves don’t require salt to grow and will actually do better in soil with freshwater. I like to grow them in soil outdoors in the summer. Mangroves cannot compete with terrestrial plants surrounding the estuaries (mangrove swamps) they are found in possibly due to their slow growth rate. They have evolved to be tolerant to saltwater so they can live in marine environments where there is no competition.

Mangroves excrete salt through their leaves so they need to be sprayed with freshwater daily and perhaps wiped. Nature takes care of this job with morning dew and rain. A daily spray will also humidify the air, as they come from a humid environment. Dry air, particularly in our homes during winter, dries out the leaves. Mangrove leaves are shiny due to a protective coating that seals in humidity. A dry room will cause the mangrove to lose some of the water that it works so hard to extract from saltwater.

Mangroves grown in saltwater use magnesium to force/pump sodium salts out through their leaves. If grown in freshwater or soil, they do not require magnesium. Bioavailable magnesium can be supplied via dolomite gravel which is calcium magnesium carbonate. As the chemical name would suggest, it adds the three main elements that reefs require supplementing – calcium, magnesium and carbonates (KH). Localized acidity caused by bacteria in the dolomite will slowly dissolve it and make it bioavailable to the tree. Otherwise having a magnesium level of 1300-1500 in the system water is sufficient. If they don’t get enough magnesium they experience yellow or shrivelled leaves. Growth of the plant and subsequent nutrient uptake will be limited if the magnesium level drops significantly.

If you want to experiment you could add pelletized sulfur to the dolomite for a passive sulfur denitrification filter. Sulfur filters/reactors encourage an acidic environment by feeding denitrifying bacteria. This would create a passive calcium reactor, slightly raise carbonate hardness (KH/alkalinity), and moderately raise magnesium. The added bonus is denitrification (lowering nitrate). You can read up on sulfur denitrification here. I’m suggesting a scaled down version of the reactors discussed in the thread so dissolution rates will be only marginal in comparison. The pH will be nowhere near as low as with a calcium reactor (7.7 vs. 6.5 pH). You need to use a 99.9% pure sulfur pellet and not the 90% pure sulfur pellets used in agriculture that are designed to dissolve quickly. The agriculture pellets turn to mush quickly. The effluent (out going) water from the mangrove tank should pass through a granular ferric oxide (GFO) reactor as the iron will react with any residual hydrogen sulfide that forms, converting it to a less toxic form of sulfur.

The amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in reef aquariums is more than enough to supply the mangrove with what it requires for growth. One of the chief limiting factors that you will experience with mangroves grown in a reef system is carbon dioxide (CO₂). If you really wanted to encourage growth, you could add a second line from your CO₂ tank (for your calcium reactor) and put it on a timer and solenoid to dose CO₂ every few hours during the day. Mangroves have pores on the undersides of the leaves called stomata that breath in CO₂ and breath out O₂ during photosynthesis. Aiming a circulation fan at the mangroves will also provide more CO₂ to the leaves. A classroom full of kids is more than enough CO₂. Even urban (high) vs. suburban (moderate) vs. rural (low) ambient CO₂ levels will affect how well the plant can grow.

Most plants require well oxygenated soil or substrate, but mangroves have evolved in oxygen-poor (anaerobic) soil so they don’t need water movement through the root zone. Black mangroves in particular have snorkel roots that are spongy so they can draw oxygen from the surface and deliver it to the root mass. A flow-through substrate with more oxygen (aeroponics) will not provide any benefit to mangroves.

The bark surface above the water is rough and brown, while below the surface it is shiny and bright green. You can lower the water level or raise the tree/pod to simulate a dry season or low tide. By doing this, you encourage the tree to send out prop roots (air roots) as the roots stretch down for more water. Red mangroves have the nicest prop roots. If you leave the mangroves in one static position, they will not develop the prop roots and character they are famous for.

You can trim mangrove trees like bonsai and even bend them with wire to shape them. By pinching off the top leaves occasionally you send growth hormones down to the lower levels of the pod/tree so new branches and leaves start. Bending the top of the plant down a few inches also transfers growth hormones from the top to the lower parts of the plant. This adds new growth to lower areas without compromising (cutting) the top.

Mangroves are slow growers even in the best conditions. You can expect one or two leaves a month growth per plant which will yield a modest dry weight in nutrient uptake. Mangroves do not add oxygen to the water as their photosynthesis is independent of what goes on underwater.

You could add some anableps, archer fish, mudskippers, cardinals or fiddler crabs to complete a mangrove estuary theme. An ebb and flow system that raises and lowers the water level in a cycle would also be interesting. If you were short on space you could grow a vertical wall of mangroves but you would have to use a slow flow system to minimize salt creep.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Aiptasia Anemones

Peppermint shrimp work well, but best in a group. In small numbers they are too shy, and hide.

I find copperband butterflies to be the most efficient. There is a blenny from the Atlantic Ocean that eats them, and of course burgia nudibranchs. We have a filefish that eats aiptasia but we haven’t decided if it is reef safe (enough) yet. Most people have no problems with them and the few that experience coral picking may not be feeding enough (?). We are still thinking about our Cuban and Spanish Hogfish as well. They are known to eat small shrimp, crabs and bully smaller fish, but it is a large tank. Having said that, it is a large tank to try to catch them out of. You can break some rules with larger tanks, but in the end the fish call the shots.

Believe it or not, putting rock in a microwave for 30 seconds works. It will kill anything that is full of water like sponges, tunicates etc., crabs, shrimp, but coralline algae is fine though.

I see no benefit in sterilizing live rock with chemicals or keeping it in the dark because aiptasia are more likely to enter the tank with coral than rock.

In my opinion chemical dosing to remove aiptasia doesn’t work. You could mix some calcium hydroxide in with the EPO Putty to make it a poison as well as a physical barrier. This would solve the problem of trying to jab them with a needle. The physical barrier will deter reproduction which isn’t as common as some report.

For those of you who don’t have experience with aiptasia or majano anemones (I have been very lucky in this area) a common practice of removal is to poison them. The safest way to poison anything is to give it too much of a good thing, that way it is safe once diluted in the tank. You can use alkaline (high pH) or acid (low pH) chemicals that will quickly neutralize once it drifts away from the anemone such as salt, calcium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, acid (muriatic, vinegar etc.). You can also use oxidizing agents like iodine, peroxide, and potassium permanganate. In the old days some people roughed up a copper wire with sandpaper and jabbed the anemones in the hopes of dislodging copper fillings in them. Squirting a small amount of copper sulphate would have been more effective but why use a true poison when there are lots of reef safe things you can overdose them with

The pest anemone may turn up in a different hole in the rock. Live rock has far more passage ways than we give it credit for. Continuing to plug holes as they arise will eventually solve the problem and adding chemicals to the EPO Putty will help.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Skimming Part-time

The skimmer takes out carbon (TOC) and bacteria. Both of these are food sources for corals and fish. Many skimmerless tanks have better polyp extension and growth rates. The problem is, these tanks can also have yellow water, turbidity (cloudiness) and nuisance algae problems. I have even had phytoplankton blooms (green water) in skimmerless reef tanks. Until we find a better way, a compromise between a natural and mechanical system is the safe route. Shutting the skimmer off half of the time is a good place to start. If conditions get better or worse, you know which direction to go; if they stay the same, it still confirms the limitation of protein skimming. Then you start to think if it was really worth it to upgrade your skimmer the last two times I don’t see a benefit in any schedule other than 12 hrs on, 12 hrs off.

So now that we have decided how long to shut it down for (12 hrs/day), we need to decide on the best time. The fish and corals are most active during the day during photosynthesis, and at night the corals open their feeding tentacles to collect the plankton that come out when the lights go out. Shutting the skimmer off at night seems to be the smart move, and if it influences the flow in the tank to slow down, even better.

One way of achieving the shut down is to have the pump on a timer. This is the quick and easy way, but the preferred method is a variable flow device (VFD) to slow down the pump to allow the skimmer to “simmer” so it can still function if there is a spawning event or call for skimming. A VFD also allows you to ramp up to wet skimming a few times a day to keep the skimmer neck clean, grab some stubborn semi-hydrophobic proteins and do a passive water change (just keep an eye on salinity).

Pumps with flow control are expensive. You may be able to set up a cheaper solenoid that restricts the air line feeding the needle wheel. You will have to get creative and rig it to shut only part way at night so some air can still bleed in. Drilling a hole in the solenoid may work, but I’m not sure how you will “tune” it. Skimmers with two or more needle wheel pumps make it easy because you just need to keep one pump on and put the rest of them to sleep at night.

At this point in time you are probably asking yourself, “Then why not just turn down the skimmer and run it 24/7?” or even, “Why not use an undersized or cheapo skimmer and put the money elsewhere in the system?” The key here is having skimmer reliability, and you simply won’t get that with the cheapo skimmers on the market. When they go “on strike” or flood the collection cup, when the air intake crystallizes, or the water level varies, or the pump disconnects, or stops entirely, you don’t have a skimmer, and you can’t predict when this will happen. With a well designed skimmer, you buy peace of mind and in the long run, you pay less because you buy just one skimmer. In other words, do it right the first time, and do it once. The other option of running a premium skimmer on a slow and steady, conservative setting is a “neither here nor there” solution. You end up with the worst of both worlds because the skimmer neck will slow down efficiency with skimmate (muck) build-up in the neck, which you will have to clean manually. It also doesn’t achieve our goal of leaving the tank “natural” during the nightly plankton swim.

Shutting ozone down at night is a parallel issue. You can put your ozonizer on the same timer as your needle wheel pump. Your ORP controller may have a day and night setting. UV sterilizers may be worth shutting down at night as well, but don’t start unplugging everything at once; ease into a night mode one device at a time over a few weeks. This way there is no shock to the system and you will have a better handle on the repercussions of each device.

While we are on the subject, there may be merit in shutting the refugium off during its night/dark phase. During the “day” algae utilizes/removes nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, heavy metals etc.) during photosynthesis (cellular respiration). The algae in your refugium converts “bad” CO₂ into “good” O₂; however, during the “night” (photorespiration) algae converts O₂ into CO₂ thus lowering the pH (liquid CO₂ is carbonic acid, and like any acid it lowers pH). The same pH shift and gas exchange occurs within your corals carried out by symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae). Many people run their refugium on a reverse photo-period (refugium illuminated at night and kept dark during the day) to balance the pH and photosynthetic processes of the refugium and display. During the day, the zooxanthellae are generating O₂ for the refugium while consuming the CO₂ the refugium is producing, and the reverse process at night. At night the algae in the refugium leaks out some of its nutrient catch. If you take the refugium off-line during its night/dark phase, it assures that the leaked nutrients don’t make it to the display tank. When the lights come back on over the refugium (which should have 16 hrs of light and 8 hrs of darkness) the algae will re-absorb the lost nutrients.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Algal Turf Scrubbers

ATS (algal turf scrubbers) have a bad reputation due to the wide definition and sometimes poor application of the method.

What we now call a refugium, is an algal turf scrubber of sorts and they do work well. In my opinion the limiting factor is the great depth at which the algae is allowed to “ball up”. The lower levels don’t get light and subsequently die off leaving the nutrients they have trapped. A shallow trough (4-6″ deep) minimizes shadowing and optimizes growing conditions.

Another issue is algae selection. Most varieties of algae have around the same nutrient uptake. Some are faster growing than others, but this can come at the cost of stability. Caulerpa is faster growing than Chaetomorpha or gracilaria, but it can die off with sexual reproduction if the photoperiod and water quality ranges, as these are cues of season changes in the wild. With a 12-16 hour steady photo period, it is unlikely that caulerpa will ever reproduce sexually. Turf, hair and cyanobacteria are pest algae and should not be used for an ATS. They can easily find there way into the display, they add yellow pigmented tannins to the water, and they “bleed” when you harvest (cut) them. Nutrients and algae tissue will leak out into your system and cause nuisance algae blooms. Also keep in mind that algae release (allelopathic) chemicals that may restrict the growth of invertebrates so algae selection is important. Chaetomorpha is slow growing in comparison to caulerpa but with high intensity lighting it is more than enough. We are also growing sargassum grass just because it cropped up in he tank one day. We harvest a large quantity of Chaeto every week and along with it quite a bit of phosphate, nitrate and heavy metals.

Another poor design is vertical panels as the cause the algae to tear and fall off. They also cause salt creep, noise, and odours. Often a light is placed close to the vertical panel with questionable wiring practices.

During the day, algae convert CO₂ into oxygen during photosynthesis, and at night they convert O₂ into CO₂ during respiration. During the day they take nutrients out of the water, while at night they release a portion of them. A good ATS design would take the unit offline during the night/dark period. In our case, the refugium is fed by the protein skimmer throughput/feed. Once the system has matured, we will shut the skimmer down at night by putting the feed pump on the same outlet/timer as the refugium light. Shutting the skimmer off at night helps restore bacteria levels, allows plankton to do their nightly swim in peace (instead of pieces), and takes the refugium offline so the chaetomorpha doesn’t leach nutrients or lower the pH (CO₂ = carbonic acid).

Mr.Wilson Writes on Keeping Gorgonians

The basic guidelines for keeping gorgonians are:

1) Never take them out of the water and expose them to air. If they are, shake the bubbles off so the tissue isn’t damaged.

2) Try to buy ones with brown polyps as they are photosynthetic. The white or brightly coloured polyp gorgonians are non-photosynthetic.

3) Feed them 50-150 micron food at least twice per day, especially if you are keeping non-photosynthetic varieties.

4) Gorgonians from the Caribbean are a little more hardy than their Indo Pacific cousins.

5) Try not to cover the base with glue or substrate as this stresses the gorgonian.

6) Give them moderate flow, not too strong, not too weak.

7) Orient them in a position where they can readily collect food. In other words, have the food travel through the wide “front” rather than the narrow “side” of it.

8) They are tall so they should be placed in the background.

9) They grow quickly so leave room at the top of the reef for growth.

10) Cut off dead branches to deter algae growth.

Mr.Wilson Writes on Cryptocaryon irritans

Quarantine is not 100% effective at eradicating many varieties of pathogens, including Cryptocaryon. There are dormant cells that can reappear out of nowhere years later, and there are secondary invertebrate hosts that can also introduce the parasite to the display. Some LFSs keep fish in their coral systems, further increasing the likelihood of disease transmission. We dip our corals in iodine and pine & lemon oil (Revive), and isolate some corals for a few days for closer inspection, but there are always cracks in our system that parasites can slip through (literally).

Our Blue tang gets crypt on and off, never more than 12 cysts at a time, and this is normal reef behavior. Parasites are part of the reef, and only deserve the name when their population goes unchecked.

It is paramount (IMHO) that you stock the display with a rich variety of parasite pickers. A natural or captive reef simply can’t function without them. They will not work miracles, but they will avert many looming disasters. Parasites are not limited to fish hosts. We picked a lot of our wrasse based on their appetite for parasitic snails (pyramid snails that eat clams), and flatworms. We have the following parasite eaters:

200 peppermint shrimp
5 cleaner shrimp
3 fire shrimp
4 coral banded shrimp
2 mandarin goby
numerous wrasse

One problem with parasite eating fish is poor longevity in some species (Labroides sps. specifically). Many wrasse and angelfish are parasite pickers as juveniles, then shift their diet as they mature to invertebrates that might include some of your prize specimens.

Good diet is also very important, but I find that many people pat themselves on the back for shoveling in lots of food and ignore the other disciplines. A large tank certainly helps put some distance between parasite and host. Reinfection at the end of the parasite’s life cycle is less certain, but still an issue. Fish to fish transmission is a problem with overstocked tanks.

You really have to eliminate as many stress factors as possible to help the fish maintain a strong immune system. More important than quantity of food, is quality. Many omnivores don’t get the algae they need, and some foods that are weak in nutritional value, such as adult brine shrimp, act more as filler than nutrition. The nutrition topic is too broad to fit into this post, so I will leave it at that.

Temperature swings are another major trigger. It isn’t the extremes, but the swing that causes stress and cues reproduction. We are having some temperature stability issues. The ambient room temperature is unstable so the display tank reflects this. Large homes are a lot harder to maintain with multiple furnaces, air conditioning units, floor heaters and their respective thermostats. Peter’s wife Judy likes to open the windows at night so there is a whole other microclimate to work around. The idea is to find where the tank would naturally settle with ambient room temperature, then set up a cost effective system of stabilizing that temperature. It is easier to heat than to cool, but you also have to work at the centre of the safety range and predict the trends if something goes wrong. Will it tend to get too hot or too cold?

There are a few semi-reef-safe treatments such as chloroquine and metronidazole, but I would advise against their use in a well stocked reef tank. You can make a gel food with agar agar which is available in most grocery stores (however buried). Simply soaking food in Chloroquine will suffice. You can also soak food in metronidazole as an ich/protozoan treatment and finish off with neomycin for secondary bacterial infections onset from cyst attachment. I would dose the former two drugs for a month and the later for one week. I use 10 mg/l for three treatments, every second day. AP makes a line of medicated gel foods called Gel Tek. We have some neomycin gel on hand at Peter’s. You can also add powdered medications to off the shelf gel food. I would start at 250mg/feeding.

Just make sure you aren’t training your fish not to eat, as it’s like the old cod liver oil in the jam trick. Now that there are no cod left in the ocean, kids no longer need to worry.

In some cases it is easier to catch the fish out for treatment, and in others it makes more sense to move the corals out and treat the whole display. A good fish trap like the one from Aqua-medic can help you target certain fish for removal. We strategically added fish that were not prone to ich (wrasse, gobies, blennies, anthias) first, then added tangs and angels 6 months later. These are also aggressive fish that should be added last to give the little guys a chance to get settled in. If the QT is thorough and overall aquarium conditions are good, then crytocaryon will not cause fatalities.