Petsmu

Many reef aquarium enthusiasts are well aware and keep a rigorous schedule of doing weekly and even daily maintenance on their reef aquariums to keep the water quality in check. From daily dosing of calcium and ph stabilizer to keep the alkalinity, ph and calcium levels at a level for optimum coral growth, to weekly water changes to keep nitrates and nitrites in check and add trace elements.

We all know about keeping the mechanical filters cleaned to keep from depleting oxygen levels. But may people forget about the importance of maintaining the lighting on their reef aquariums. It is not something that is noticed by the human eye because the change in intensity and color happens at such a gradual pace. The gradual deterioration of the lighting can be evident in several ways in the reef aquarium. There seems to be something wrong. The corals are not opening fully like they used to and some may even start to regress. There is suddenly growth of unwanted algae with seemingly perfect water quality.

You would not think of waiting until ammonia and nitrates get out of hand to start doing water changes, so why wait until the lighting has deteriorated to change the bulbs. Many aquarium light fixtures have a glass or plexiglass cover that over time will build up a fine coating of dust reducing the amount of light reaching the corals. This cover should be cleaned on a monthly basis.

The manufacturers for metal halides recommend changing the bulbs every six months. Fluorescent bulbs such as VHO, power compacts, actinic, and T5s recommend replacement at 8 - 12 months. Many studies have concluded that metal halide bulbs can loose up to 50 percent of their original intensity and color temperature with in 1 year. In other words, a 14,000K HQI bulb after a year could have a color temperature of 7,000K.

This would explain the algae growth since plants tend to utilize more of the red spectrum, while the zooxanthellae found in the coral tissues thrive more on the blue part of the spectrum. In simple terms, the higher the color temperature, the higher the blue part of the spectrum is visible and the lower the color temperature, the higher the red part of the spectrum is visible. To simulate the lighting for the reef aquarium we need to understand the light that occurs naturally on the reef with sunlight. The ocean has a blue color because it is the blue part of the spectrum that penetrates the water the deepest and the red and yellow are filtered out.

Color Shift and Variation

New metal halide bulbs need to have the arc tube chemicals “burn-in” for approximately 100 hours before they reach their optimum color and light level. This is why new lamps can sometimes be unstable or vary in color. Many manufacturers “burn-in” their bulbs before they are sold. As the lamps age, chemical changes occur in the lamp causing shifts in the chromaticity of the lamps. Different lamp designs shift in different ways, and different lamps from the same group may shift in different amounts.

Generally, over the economic life lamps will shift 200K to 300K in color temperature. As a group of lamps ages together in a facility, the lamps will generally shift at the same rate causing very little color variation from lamp to lamp. However, if new replacement lamps are introduced into the group of lamps, color differences may be more noticeable, because the new lamps have not aged and shifted with the remainder of lamps. This is just one of the reasons why many users prefer to group relamp as opposed to spot relamping.

Although Fluorescent bulbs do not have a burn-in time and last longer they tend to build up a coating on the tube, reducing the intensity and color temperature.

PAR - Polysynthetic Available Radiation.

While PAR might be an unfamiliar term in comparison to the more often seen Lumens or Lux, it is by far the most appropriate way for us to assess light in connection with the reef tank since it measures the light intensity of the spectrum that is utilized by the corals. Lumens and Lux are measurements of how bright a light source appears to the human eye and as such has little relevance in the reef aquarium.

I believe that a PAR meter is an instrument that all serious reef aquarists should own. Buying one that has a submersible sensor allows you to measure the amount light that’s actually reaching your corals. This in turn gives you the information you need when positioning or repositioning your corals to ensure that all the various species are receiving light that’s optimum for their requirements. For more information about careing for a coral reef aquarium visit reefkeepingfever.com

About the author: Content writer for reefkeepingfever.com
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

There is a new growing popularity in the reef keeping hobby called Nano Reefs. As the name implies, a nano reef is a reef aquarium on a small scale; 2.5 to 29 gallons. The price of a nano reef is also on a small scale, from the tank itself, the lighting, and it takes less live rock and corals to make a very dramatic reef display.

It was often thought that the bigger the aquarium the easier it would be to keep the water parameters stable. You could not keep corals alive without a massive trickle filter, large efficient protein skimmer, and powerful metal halide lighting lights. The bigger the aquarium the more gadgets you could add to make the water quality pristine, from ozone generators, redox meters, ph controllers, and calcium reactors. You had to be a marine biologist and a chemist to maintain a coral reef aquarium. The nano reef aquarium would seem to go against all these principles. Can we really keep corals alive in a 10 gallon aquarium with no sump filter or a protein skimmer?

What has been learned through the years more than anything is, most of the biological filtration occurs in the live rock and live sand. Lighting has also played a role in enabling the reef aquarium to become smaller with the advent of power compact fluorescent and the smaller HQI metal halide lamps. Having invertebrates that sift through and clean the live sand and live rocks ads to the ecological balance of the tank. Most of the trace elements are replaced through a strict regiments of 5% weekly water changes. There is yet to be a salt water mix that has adequate calcium and strontium levels for good coral growth and these elements should be maintained separately.

The best products to maintain calcium, strontium and other trace elements are made from aragonite, such as AragaMilk from CaribSea. So what is aragonite? Aragonite is fossilized coralline algae that has extracted minerals from the ocean to grow. Grinding aragonite into a fine powder and adding water creates a milky substance that precipitates quickly adding these minerals to the water naturally. Add a few drops to top off water to maintain calcium levels at 450 ppm. You will be amazed at the growth rate of SPS corals. Yes I did say SPS corals that can be easily maintained in a nano reef aquarium.

Fish For The Nano Reef Aquarium

Fish are a great addition to a nano reef, but you must take extra care of you nano. You will have to be sure to keep up with your water changes, because a small body of water can collect nitrates quickly. The following fish are nano reef safe: anthius, true and false percula, banggai cardinals, pajama cardinals, royal grammas, fire fish, clown gobies, pseudochromis, basslets, and most damsels. While you are not limited to just those fish, these are hardy and good for beginners. Keep the number small from 1 to 5 fish depending on the nano aquarium size.

Cleanup Crews For The Nano

A good cleanup crew will keep your nano reef running smooth, and free from algae, detritus, and other unwanted wastes. Commonly kept cleanup crew critters are red leg hermits, red tip hermits, sand sifter starfish, sand sifter gobies, turbo snails, and astrea snails.

Corals For the Nano Reef

There are may corals that are compatible with the nano tank. Soft corals would include zooanthids, zenias, star polops, and mushroom anemonies. Lps corals would include Fox Coral and Blastomusa. SPS corals do well with metal halide lighting. Acroporas and montiporas are the easiest to grow in a 24-29 gallon nano aquarium. SPS coral frags are the way to go in a nano reef. They are much cheaper and easier to ship. The benefits of buying corals online is the greater variety that cannot be found at your local pet store. Buying several items from the same seller can reduce shipping costs. Simply use some Marineland’s Hold Fast, which is a two part epoxy similar to plumbers epoxy, to glue the coral frag to a live rock. Be sure to give them plenty of space for growth.

About the author: Content writer for reefkeepingfever.com
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Reef keeping can be a delightful hobby, especially if you have the right balance of coral and fish to create a truly beautiful aquarium. You can go and buy a small tank to start off, but that is not always the best move. You might as well go and get the largest tank that will fit in the space you have available, so that you don’t need to bother with upgrades. If you go small at first and then decide to go larger later, you will need to make changes in your lights, filtration system, everything really. So the cost for upgrading to a larger tank will be much more than just acquiring the larger tank later.

And your fish will need room to swim and to grow. If you get a small tank you will have small fish that aren’t happy because they have no room. This may lead to aggression between your fish and that doesn’t make for a good situation at all.

Once you have decided on your tank size, you will need to consider your filtration system, which is where bacteria live. You want bacteria because it breaks down waste. While you can go with mechanical filters, you could instead use a sand bed to mimic how it works in the ocean. This will cost less and work better, so it’s a wise choice. Use three to four inches of a fine sand grain and then top it off with one to two inches of heavier sand to keep the lighter sand down.

Next are your rock formations. You will want to start off with figi because of its combination of shape and price, then you can select other rocks based on aesthetics. Between the sand bed and the rock formations, you will actually have created a natural filtration system which all of the critters you place in your tank will like and so will the bacteria you need.

Note that if you are starting with a new tank, you want uncured rock to help cycle your tank, but if adding to an established tank, make sure you used cured rock, so that your cycle is not interfered with.

The next thing to consider is your overflow system including your water pump, sump, and return tubing. You want to use an overflow box set, and a mag drive is a quality pump choice and you can use a tote for the sump. For the tubing you can just use PVC pipe, it’s effective.

You need to have a water conditioning system to keep the water fresh for your livestock and to help prevent algae. The right ingredients include a protein skimmer, an RO TFC water filter, and an RO float valve kit.

Your lighting system is also important. You want a mix of two kinds of bulb: 10,000K white and 460 Actinic (blue) bulbs, and put them on a timer because you only want to keep your tank lit for ten hours a day in order to avoid rapid algae growth.

Now that you have your setup, you can go ahead and add your coral and fish, and enjoy your reef tank!

About the author: SaltySupply.com offers the most premium aquarium supplies on the net. We offer protein skimmers, powerheads, pumps and more for your saltwater aquarium
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com