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Step-by step setting up a nano Reef Tank. Setting up a nano reef in the studio, then read the full guide in this month’s Practical Fishkeeping and enter the competition to win it

However, today we know much more about corals. For starters, corals are animals and not plants, as people used to believe earlier. As they are animals, they can follow animalistic eating patterns, which mean selecting their own food and ingesting what they can eat. They are quite capable of following eating trends as most animals do, and hence feeding corals in the right way becomes just a matter of trying and testing out different foods with them.

If you are direct feeding your corals, this is what you must do. You can feed your corals directly if they have visible tentacles and an oral orifice. In that case, they will probably ingest big sized food. Common foods for corals are plankton in frozen form, phytoplankton and even pieces of fish, krill, shrimp, squid and clams. If you can spare the time and effort, you can make some food on your own for your corals by referring to coral feeding manuals that are available online.

Of course, it is beneficial to know what species your coral belongs to because different coral species have different eating habits. Corals belonging to families such as Faviidae, Mussidae, Fungidae and Trachyphyllidae can be fed large foods that are available around the house. The popular home aquarium coral, Lobophyllia is of such type. It does not become a problem even if you feed the wrong food to such corals, because foods they cannot eat will be regurgitated from their oral aperture, or their tentacles would not reach out at the food at all.

Many coral species, especially the smaller polyps, are capable of fending for themselves in an aquarium tank that contains other live organisms. They will be able to absorb dissolved organic substances from the surrounding water, and even the residual and waste food of the other organisms in the tank, especially those things that the fish leave behind. Another favorite food for the smaller corals is the bacteria that are present on plankton.

Algae that grow on corals provide them with an indirect food supply when they prepare their own food with the help of lighting. These algae belong to the Zooxanthallae family, and they make a symbiotic association with the corals. This type of feeding works better for smaller to midsized corals, and is possible only when there is a proper supply of lighting into the aquarium.

There are certain important cautions that you must know when you are feeding corals. One thing to note is that corals will regurgitate indigestible food, and that might increase the nitrate content of the tank. This could be toxic to the corals and the other organisms that exist in the tank. However, you can answer this issue by making regular water changes in your tank. You will also have to make arrangements for the water to rinse the corals periodically, which would require an aquarium pump and filter system.

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 reef tanks.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Ozone is present in the higher reaches of the earth’s atmosphere - its density begins from 16 km above the earth’s crust and it begins thinning out after 23 km. In between these atmospheric limits, ozone is continuously produced due to the action of sun’s ultraviolet rays on oxygen. Ozone is also produced during lightings, and the fresh air we get to smell immediately after a thunderstorm has occurred is generally the smell of ozone.

Chemical experts have always maintained that ozone is fresher and more life-sustaining than oxygen. Since aquarium inhabitants also live by taking in the oxygen that is dissolved in their aquatic surroundings, they will live markedly better if they are provided ozone in their aquarium. Of course, getting an ozone supply for an aquarium can be very expensive, but it could be money well invested, especially if you really mean to give a good and healthy life to your reef tank inhabitants.

The following are some of the positive benefits that ozone contributes to a reef tank aquarium:-

1. Ozone is a purifying agent. Normally, we use chlorine in aquarium media to take care of unwanted inhabitants like bacteria, algae, viruses and other such microorganisms. But ozone can treat this water thousand times better than chlorine can. If you think about it, this can be how you can actually save money, since you will need only a little ozone to purify your tank than the large quantity of chlorine you will have to use.

2. Ozone helps in the eliminations of wastes that the aquatic inhabitants will produce. It oxidizes the pollutants in the tank and brings them to a form from which they can be discarded properly.

3. Ozone is also a disinfecting agent. Since it can combat with most pathogens, ozone can make the residents of the aquarium live healthier and longer.

4. Ozone enhances the quality of the water. Ozone is a fresh gas, present in the higher realms of the atmosphere where it is purer. The same kind of purity is brought into the reef tank when ozone is used in it. Ozonized water is odorless, colorless and tasteless.

5. Ozone does not leave chemical wastes in the water when it is passed through it. That means, when water is ozonized, there will be effectively less amount of wastes and chemical discharges into the water.

Ozone can be continuously produced in aquarium tanks by machines that are known as ozonizers. There are different types of ozonizers based on the principle on which they work, such as the corona discharge ozonizers and the ultraviolet ozonizers. The corona discharge ozonizers can produce stables quantities of ozone for a long time, and so they are better for bigger aquariums.

They are also costlier. For home purposes, ozonizers that generate ozone using ultraviolet lamps are much more suitable and economical.

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