Setting up a successful marine aquarium.

[Maxx]

Scott,
Great post! That covers just about everything needed for soft coral tanks. I agree that they seem to like "dirtier" water than SPS, but I still feel that their water quality should be better than most FO set ups.
You mentioned Calcium and Alkalinity levels in the soft coral tank. Good point there. What else do you look to add in a soft coral tank? I know several people also add iodine to soft coral tanks. What are your thoughts on this?
You also mentioned chemical warfare among corals. What do you do to combat this?

Nick

 

[Woodstock]

I don't add iodine simply because I do not have an iodine test kit. The only thing I add between water changes is kalkwasser for all evaporation. I use carbon (first soaked in ro/di water) to get rid of any bad chemicals. All my corals and fishes are very healthy and happy

 

[ScottT1980]

but I still feel that their water quality should be better than most FO set ups.

Without a doubt.

What else do you look to add in a soft coral tank?

Taking a bit from what the guys at logical reef do, I would rub a bit of cyclop-eeze on the polyps/zoanthids that actually responded to food. Ricordia and shrooms also respond to the cyclop-eeze. Again, I would do this in moderation and would bump up water changes and skimming accordingly. I was also dosing kalk, just to keep my levels steady. Other than that, I would let the ASW mix remain my only other addition through water changes.

I know several people also add iodine to soft coral tanks. What are your thoughts on this?

I can only speak anecdotally, but I have seen no effects, deleterious or beneficial, with the addition of iodine in small doses, although large doses can wipe out a tank. It is in the ASW mixes, and therefore, I see it as completely unneccesary and a waste of money. That also goes with its addition for other inverts in the tank (crustaceans, mollusks, etc...)

You also mentioned chemical warfare among corals. What do you do to combat this?

Here, I think direction of flow is the big issues. With many LPS, you need a good buffer zone because of sweeper tentacles. I use this same principle with sinularia. I also try to make sure that no coral is "down-stream" of the sinularia. Some people run carbon, and while I saw its benefit, I thought it was a bit futile. I might be wrong, but I was under the assumption that chemical warfare was on a continium, so running carbon would also have to be on a continium. That can require a lot of matainance for me, so using the two methods above, I felt I was pretty succesful.

With that being said, I do run carbon occasionaly to take out any accumulation of chemicals and to polish the water. When I fragged softies, I would always try to run carbon in the system, preferably through a canister, because I knew a big bolus of chemicals would enter into the water column. This is the only time my dusty canister gets a workout...

Take er easy
Scott T.

 

[mps9506]

Great info scott.

 

[Maxx]

We've covered setting up FO and Soft Coral tanks, now lets cover the SPS tanks.

IMO there are 3 key things that are paramount to keeping SPS:

1...Lighting. SPS demand more lighting than other tanks. MH's are used most often, but many people use only VHO, PC's, or T-5 bulbs and have success with keeping SPS. So its not a requirement to have MH's in order to keep SPS. The depth of your tank will dictate what amount of lighting you will need.

2... Water flow. Random heavy flow is best for keeping SPS. The corals depend on the water flow or current to bring food, and carry off detritus and mucus. Without good flow an SPS coral can and will die. The flow will also affect their growth.
You dont want a power head blowing right at the coral, but rather a current that whirls around and through the coral. I hope that makes sense. Typically people speak in terms of turnover. This is a reference to the number of times the system's water volume is moved through the tank. IE a 100 gallon tank with a pump moving 1000 gallons an hour will have a turnover rate of 10 times an hour. IMO, 10 times is the minimum needed for keeping SPS...more is better.
Running more than 10 times an hour turnover through a sump can get real noisy though. So many reefkeepers will supplement their return pump flow with different things such as powerheads, wavemakers, or closed loops. A closed loop is a pump connected to a few outlets, (no filter), with the sole purpose of circulating water through the tank, (but not the sump).

3... Water Quality Your water quality has to be superb for SPS to thrive. This means:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
PH: 8.0-8.3 should fluctuate as little as possible, typically no more than 0.2.
Calcium: 400-450
Alkalinity: 8-12 dKH
Temp: 78-82 F
Salinity: 1.024-1.026

What goes hand in hand with these numbers is stability. There should be as little change in these numbers as possible. This typically comes when a tank is mature. New tanks and new reefers typically have fluctuations in the levels...which will cause stress to SPS. Once the new tank settles down and goes throught the usual swings that occur in new set ups...things should become more stable, and thats the tough part of water quality. A good skimmer is a must have, skimping on this item will only cost you dearly later. Keeping SPS successfully is taking all the previous lessons and adding on more details.

Am I missing anything?

Nick

 

[mps9506]

Sounds about right Nick.
I find many people concentrate too much on the light aspect of the equation when it comes to keeping SPS corals.
What is important is flow and water quality.
I found it difficult to acheive good flow in my small tank I also find the gph doesn't always hold true for SPS tanks either. I have about 25x flow through my system and still find areas that collect detrius. Be careful when using powerheads, I use maxi jeets with the nozzles cut off to disperse the flow a bit. You can blow the flesh right off sps corals that start growing right into the powerheads flow.

Easiest way to maintain good water qualityis to minimize your bioload, and minimze your feeding regimen. A big skimmer, and barebottomed tank helps to.

Mike

 

[Don424]

What depth are most of you recommending for a sandbed?

 

[Maxx]

Well, that really depends. Typical DSB depth is reccomended to be between 3-6 inches. So anywhere in that realm should be sufficient.

Here is a link to several Sandbed articles....I would read as many as possible and learn about the maintenance required in sandbed tanks...they are not set and forget as was previously thought.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/knowledgebase/browselinks.php?c=25

Nick

 

[NaH2O]

Here is a thread: DSB....Let's Discuss. I had initially planned on having a DSB in my tank, and have since learned about how they function. The thread makes reference to Rogue's sand, but the picture is no longer there. Anyway, if you read the thread, you will see posts about it....what it was a pic of is a microscopic image of sand with little bundles of dynamite scattered throughout.

 

[corvettephreek]

umm, maxx? do you have any info on that aquarium in the second picture in your first post??? I really, really love the look of that tank, and the corals/fish in it. where did you get the pic?

 

[Brucey]

Max, is the second pic Steve Weast's 850G tank over on RC. It's depth looks similar but i thought he had lots of SPS's
Brucey

 

[Maxx]

Actually, the second image is from a japanese tank. CP Farms is the company that owned the tank. Its fed from ocean water which is how they are able to keep the Dendroneptha corals in the tank. They were in business and advocated using only propagated corals for tanks and also heavily advocated "rescuing corals" from those who would donate them to them. CP farms would place the corals in the ocean...

I can do some more looking around, on RC and find the info on them....

Nick

 

[forestal]

just found the thread, excellent info...each new tank i setup, i think i have read it all and planned it out in detail, then find some new info (always more and more to learn)...
i am currently undergoing bleaching on my sps, due to a flux in calcium (i overdosed) and a unseen growth of caulerpa within my caves, stuff still recovering, and i am bummed, but the stability issue is so true, from water parameters and even lighting, slight change in position in flow and/or lighting can affect corals

 

[Maxx]

I'm sorry to hear of your bleaching incident Forestal...have you lost anything form it, or is it just bleaching at this point?

Nick

 

[forestal]

thanks,,, yeah, lost a colony of purple acro, and currently a green digitata and orange cap are bleaching. i lost a few acro frags, others are still growing...

i am of the philosophy to let it ride out and keep the algae off and hope for the best...the major tank clean i did 3 weeks ago (this stressed the above 2 out); i took all rocks out, with corals in a bucket of tank water with heater and airstone, while i spent an hour pulling out all the caulerpa.
the colony i was losing branch by branch, i found caulerpa mat on its underside, i think this did it....

i am still a newbie to sps, 9 months now, so my cap i grew from a tiny frag, now 4 times the size, no polyps extended

 

[corvettephreek]

wow.... hope all goes well, I know algae was wreaking havoc in my tank a while ago, and after diligent cleaning, and alot of critters, it finally calmed down. good luck!!!!

 

[Sam]

Reef starter

G'day all,
It's me again, seing as though its still fresh in my mind being new to this game there are a few things i wish people told me about,especially the ones making money off me.
1) All live rock to be dunked in fresh water 2-3 times quickly before applying, you'll be suprised what comes out.

2)Live rock to cover the entire base as well as primium L/R

3)Research,research,research.

4)Feed in intervals,put in only what they can eat in five minutes.

5)Good lighting

6)Good skimmer you can afford and if you can't afford it sell your house to buy it!

7)Avoid the same advicee every time.

8)Avoid crabs if you don't intend to suport their enviroment.

Regards:Sam and Dave :bouncebox

 

[Woodstock]

6)Good skimmer you can afford and if you can't afford it sell your house to buy it!

Exactly!! LOL~~

 

[wickjr]

mps,
So if the phosphates are zero, nitrates below 10, does that mean that a hair algae bloom will be short lived and minimal in a fairly newl tank? If so, how long does it usually take for coralline algae to begin to spread?

 

[wildbill36]

Is a fish only system better than a FOWLR and a DSB ???????
everthing i read says that the live rock as the biological filter is the best way to go .sure its more expensive than other filtration and takes up a lot more tank space , but isnt water quality and healthy fish more important plus i think live rock with all those little organisms throwing off all that color make for a beautiful show and i you have crabs and peppermint shrimp and a couple of skunk shrimp that never hurts either at least thats what i have been reading please tell me if im way off base