Fish ‘N’ Chips

By Annette Au Yeung, edited by Elizabeth M. Lukan.

A common assumption about marine aquariums is that keeping marine fish, particularly seahorses, is time-consuming and a lot of hard work. However, as a relatively new (and keen!) seahorse owner, I have found that balancing the demands of my new pets and the demands of my busy working life has not been too tricky so far. If you are interested in keeping these beautiful creatures as pets but are not sure whether you have the time to look after them, the following tips may show you that keeping seahorses is not difficult or time-consuming after all.

1. Buy seahorses that have been bred in captivity.

Avoid buying seahorses caught in the wild. Buying seahorses that have been bred in captivity is a responsible and sustainable way to enjoy having seahorses as pets. Seahorses that have been bred in captivity are trained to eat readily available frozen food before leaving the seahorse farm and are especially suited for home aquaria, making feeding times easy and hassle-free.

Annette’s Potbellies

2. Choose a species that is suitable for your climate and your home.

Choose a species that is suited to your climate. Otherwise, you may need to invest in expensive equipment to maintain the optimum environment for your seahorses.

The pot-bellied seahorse (hippocampus abdominalis) is a temperate species and can be found in waters around South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. It is an ideal species for pet owners who live in those areas. The pot-bellied seahorse thrives in water temperatures of 18°C-22°C, which means that you will not need an aquarium heater for the tank if you live in a temperate region. This species is not recommended for those living in warmer climates unless they can afford to invest in an aquarium chiller to keep the water cool.

For those living in warmer climates, sub-tropical and tropical species may be more suitable. These include the zebra-nosed seahorse (hippocampus barbouri), White’s seahorse (hippocampus whiteii) and the yellow seahorse (hippocampus kuda).

Maintaining the perfect home for your seahorses will be less time-consuming if you choose a species appropriate to your climate.

3. Male, female or both?

Having an aquarium with female seahorses only offers several advantages over male-only tanks or mixed male and female tanks. Male seahorses can suffer from the reoccurring problem of having air trapped in their brood pouch, which will cause a male seahorse to float sideways on the surface of the tank. Without human intervention, this will lead to the seahorse’s death, because it will become stressed and also be unable to feed. Because female seahorses do not have brood pouches, they do not suffer from this problem and are thus easier to look after. If you have a female-only tank, you are also assured that there will never be baby seahorses (fry) to worry about. Although they can be the source of joy and fascination, raising fry is definitely something that requires much time and attention.

4. The aquarium.

Ensure that your tank has cycled fully before introducing your seahorses to their new home, and do not overstock your tank. A 50–60 litre tank is the smallest recommended for a pair of pot-bellied seahorses, whereas a 30–40 litre tank is the recommended minimum for smaller species such as the zebra-nosed seahorse. Seahorses do well in seahorse-only tanks. Although snails can help to keep a tank clean, adding additional tank-mates, such as other fish, makes problems more likely. To save time and to help with the weekly task of partially changing the tank water, purchase pre-mixed saltwater from an aquarium, usually sold in 20 litre drums. Pre-mixed saltwater purchased from a shop is likely to have the correct level of salinity and to have been through a reverse osmosis unit and/or de-ionizer, which helps to establish and maintain good water quality. Weekly water testing is essential to maintaining a healthy aquarium.

Annette’s Girls

5. Make sure you do your research before you start, and ask questions along the way.

Above all, make sure you do your research before you start and know what your responsibilities will be as a seahorse owner. Seahorses make wonderful pets, and maintaining a saltwater tank does not have to be difficult or time-consuming. If you stay on top of your weekly maintenance tasks (such as gravel siphoning, partial water changes and water testing) and if you avoid over-feeding your seahorses, your pets will become a relaxing and enjoyable part of your busy life.

Photo Credits: The photos are the property of the author and permission for their use along with this article was granted on her behalf by Katja de Bradley, then editor of Seahorse Network Group Newsletter.

Liz’s Notes: Editing was limited to spelling corrections and formatting. The above was originally published in the Seahorse Network Group Newsletter which is sponsored by Seahorse Australia. Subscription is free and anyone interested in subscribing or contributing to this seahorse specific resource should contact Seahorse Australia at info@seahorse-australia.com.au.

By Reefs UK, edited by Elizabeth M. Lukan.

Introduction

In this article on creating a Reef Garden, we cover filling our new aquarium and installing the skimmer. Please refer to the previous editions [Editor's Note: Part 1, Part 2] of these articles for our definition of a reef garden and why we promote the idea of treating your marine aquarium as a reef garden.

Positioning the Aquarium

After a 4 week wait after placing our order, our new aquarium and cabinet were delivered. We positioned the aquarium in a part of the office where it would receive the least amount of direct sunlight. Aquariums which receive significant amounts of sunlight generally suffer from algae problems and higher water temperatures due to the increased lighting. When setting up any type of marine aquarium, it is best to remove these potential problems by positioning the aquarium away from any direct sunlight.

Something which should also be considered when positioning the aquarium is to ensure that the floor is strong enough to hold the weight. If you have a wooden floor, position the aquarium so that it runs along a number of joists to ensure the weight is being distributed across several joists and not just one or two. The office which our aquarium was being installed had a concrete floor so this was not a problem for us.

Checking For Leaks

The next task was to fill the aquarium with tap water to check for any leaks. As this was a brand new aquarium this should not be a concern. However, it is something worth checking for. By using tap water, if there is a leak you will not have to discard all newly made salt water while your aquarium is being repaired or replaced. This can be a costly exercise.

Once full, the aquarium was left for 24 hours while we checked for any signs of leakage and then emptied. Once all the tap water had been siphoned out, the aquarium was wiped clean with a damp cloth to remove any dirt that may have accumulated. We were now ready to start to fill the aquarium up with saltwater so the RO/DI unit was switched on.

RO Water

Using RO or RO/DI water to make up saltwater is, in our opinion, imperative as the quality of tap water is not suitable for the livestock we keep in our marine aquariums. Water companies often add different types of chemicals to the tap water for water purification and for keeping pipes clean. Although these chemicals are perfectly safe for human consumption (or so we are told), they are potentially dangerous to the corals and fish we keep in our aquariums. By using an RO unit, we can ensure that all the impurities of tap water are filtered out leaving us with perfect water for our aquarium.

The RO/DI unit that we used did not need to be installed as we already use this unit to supply pure water for a number of other aquariums we have. However, if you need to connect an RO unit to a water supply ensure it is connected to mains pressure. Please note, it may be advisable to consult a plumber to help you connect your RO unit.

It is also worth remembering that the amount of good water being produced by an RO unit is dependent on temperature and water pressure. You will find that on hotter days the unit will produce more good water than on colder days. Also, if you have higher water pressure in the area were you live, the unit will also produce more good water.

A water container is needed to store the pure RO water in while the RO unit is producing water. As some containers can leak impurities, it is important to use food grade "inert" containers to prevent any form of contamination to the pure water being produced. We use 6 gallon Fermenter barrels used for making wine and beer. These can be purchased from chemists or winemaking stores.

Filling the Aquarium

After our RO unit had filled the 6 gallon barrel, we poured the water into our new aquarium and then added the correct amount of salt to ensure the water had a specific gravity (S.G.) of 1.023. To check the specific gravity you will need a Hydrometer. Generally, the acceptable range for specific gravity is between 1.015 to 1.032. Many hobbyists we have talked to keep their specific gravity at either 1.023, 1.024 and some at 1.025. It is important to maintain the stability of the specific gravity and not to let it fluctuate, especially over short periods of time. It is also worth noting that specific gravity readings depend on water temperature.

To ensure the salt we added to the RO water was well mixed in, we installed a Aquaclear 802 power head into the aquarium which circulated the water while it was being filled. This ensured that the water was being continually moved around and came into contact with the new salt being added. We also installed a 300watt heater to the aquarium so that the water was being warmed to 78f (26c).

One thing to bear in mind when filling a new aquarium with RO water is to allow a great deal of time. Regardless of the RO unit you have, it will take a considerable amount of time to fill the average sized aquarium. Our 120 gallon aquarium took 6 days before our RO unit had produced enough good water to fill it.

Installing the skimmer

As filling the aquarium with RO water was going to take a number of days, it is a good time to get on with setting up some of the other equipment the aquarium is going to need. We decided to get to work installing our new skimmer.

Setting up the skimmer proved to be more difficult than we would have expected. For such a professional skimmer, we were surprised at the lack of instructions which came with the skimmer and had to resort to emailing other hobbyists on the Reefs UK CHAT email forum. After several emails between other hobbyists, we learned how to connect it correctly.

As mentioned in the previous article, the Deltec AP850 skimmer was going to be placed next to the aquarium and not within a sump, so a small sturdy shelf unit was built next to the aquarium on the right hand side. The height of the shelf is important as the skimmer must be positioned so that the outlet on the skimmer is above the water level of the main aquarium. The shelf unit was made out of 2 inch thick wood and 3 wall brackets were screwed to the wall to ensure the unit would hold the weight of the skimmer once it was filled with water.

Once the skimmer was placed on the shelf unit, the piping from the outlet of the skimmer to the main aquarium needed to be cut to length and the joints glued together using silicone to prevent leaks.

With the skimmer in place and the outlet piping from the skimmer connected, all that was left was to connect the pump which would supply the water to the skimmer to the inlet of the skimmer. We had decided to use an existing Eheim 1250 pump for this task. Instead of just placing the Eheim 1250 at the bottom of the aquarium we wanted the pump to be much higher in the aquarium. The reason for this is to ensure in the event that the skimmer or its connecters leaked, the whole aquarium would not be drained. By positioning a pump just below the water level, the maximum water that would be lost would be about 6 gallons before the pump would run dry. If the pump is placed at the bottom of the aquarium, it would pump all the water from the main aquarium before running dry. Obviously this would have a devastating effect on the livestock and would cause a major flood in our office.

As Eheim pumps need to be placed on a flat service, we made a small glass shelf at the top of the aquarium. Silicone was used to glue the glass shelf unit to the side of the aquarium glass. This was easily done as the aquarium had only just started to be filled and the water had not yet reached the level of the shelf unit.

After allowing 24 hours for the silicone to dry, we placed the Eheim 1250 pump on the glass shelf and connected a length of 12mm Eheim flexible tubing to the pump and the other to the inlet connector of the skimmer. Now all we had to do to test the skimmer was to wait for the aquarium to be filled with water.

Costs to-date (UK pounds):

1 x Sebray Aquarium (60" x 30" x 24") including cabinet = 450.00
1 x Deltec AP850 protein skimmer = 300.00
1 x Eheim 1250 Pump = 50.00
1 x Eheim 12mm flexible tubing = 4.50
1 x Kent Hi-S Maxxima = 250.00
2 x Boots winemaker fermenters = 12.00
1 x Kent Salt (200US Gallons) = 47.50
1 x Hydrometer = 15.00
4 x Aquaclear 802 powerheads = 148.00
1 x Tronic 300 watt heater = 16.00

Total : 1293.00

Liz’s Notes: Editing was limited to spelling and grammar corrections and formatting. Please note that this article is at least three years old and while some of the information in it may dated (like the costs), the principles discussed are still viable and worthy of passing along. The images were provided by Reefs UK along with the article and are copyrighted to them. Thanks to Mark Taber of Reefs UK for his permission to use this article in Fish ‘N’ Chips. Don’t forget to visit Reefs UK for more information, articles, and forums.

By John Maloney of ReefCleaners.org, edited by Elizabeth M. Lukan.

For the most part, macro algae is simple to care for and is a great way to add color and diversity to your tank. No true ecosystem is complete without it, and it is an inexpensive way to design a great looking tank.

Some of the Pros of Keeping Macro Algae:

• Unlike nuisance micro algae, macro algae, (with the exception of caulerpa), is unlikely to spread throughout your tank and cause problems.
• Macro algae filters nitrate from your tank, and benefits overall water quality.
• Macro algae gives your fish the cover they look for in nature, and increases their quality of life. For example, seahorses depend on macro algae and sea grasses for their survival.
• Most macro algae can survive in a tank with lower lighting when compared to corals.
• Macro algae adds dissolved oxygen to your marine tank.
• Macro algae is tough, and can handle temperature and environmental changes better than coral, making it ideal for the beginning aquarist.

Things to Watch Out For:

The biggest concern the aquarist should have regarding macro algae is if the "plant," (macro algae is not really a vascular plant, but the term "plant" is commonly used both in the hobby and in scientific journals), has a tendency to "go sexual." When macro algae goes sexual, it releases spores into the water to reproduce somewhere else, normally because it is dying. This is normally a result of poor lighting. The problem is twofold; extra nutrients from the plant are released into the water which may raise nitrates, but more importantly the plant will respire more than normal.

The nutrients problem is a small one, and if the dead plant matter can be removed, the remaining macros will eat up the extra nutrients and the balance will be restored. On the other hand the respiration is a bit more serious.

Macros give off oxygen during the day, and will release some carbon dioxide at night. This is natural, and not cause for much concern. If the lighting in your tank fails for extended periods of time, or the plants go sexual for some other reason it will respire more than normal and release more carbon dioxide than it would usually release. This can become problematic, as water that is super saturated with carbon dioxide is likely to have pH fluctuations. If the fluctuation is severe, it can cause deaths in the tank.

There are some tried and true ways of dealing with this potential problem. The first and best way is to have your main tank attached to another tank like a refugium or sump that operates on a separate or a "reverse photocycle." Which basically means when the lights in one tank are on the other tank’s lights are off, and vice versa. By having one tank releasing oxygen while the other is releasing carbon dioxide the system will remain in balance. Another way is to try to keep a good current in your tank so that a natural air mixture is achieved. If you are a beginner, you should try to stay away from algae that have a tendency to go sexual (like caulerpa for example). We keep respiration risk evaluations on all the macros we sell, which you can read about in our Growing Guide Section.

Don’t let this potential problem scare you away from trying to keep macro algae. We have had many plants go sexual on us, and our tanks have never crashed because of this problem. This is just one of those things you should be aware of as you build your marine planted tank.

A Word on Using Macros for Filtering and Reducing Nuisance Micro algae:

All macro algae will remove the phosphates and nitrates that can harm your tank, and feed nuisance algae. By competing with nuisance algae, macro can keep the outbreak of this stuff down.

If the tank you are using to filter your system is going to be seen, then by all means get a diverse group of macroalgas and make a display sump or refugium. If you are as addicted to this hobby as we are, you will certainly have fun setting up this new tank. If on the other hand the filtration area of your tank will be hidden from view, you are better of with just some strong filtering macros.

The kingdom of macro algae is broken down into 3 parts, the red macros (the most diverse), the brown macros, and the green macros. As a general rule, green macro is better at filtration than the others, as it tends to be more prolific, and grows at a greater pace than the others. Caulerpa and Chaeto both grow very fast, although as mentioned before, Caulerpa is not without its flaws. Scroll Algae is one of the best at filtering out of the brown macros, and Spider Algae and Gracilaria are the best out of the red macros we have, but neither is as good as Chaeto. Mangroves, (which aren’t a macro, but a true vascular plant), is in our opinion the best at filtration in terms of volume. However, because Mangroves grow up and out of the tank, they should be combined with Chaeto for maximum filtration results. This filtration team is common in nature, as Chaeto is found primarily among mangrove roots.

Chemistry:

Certain macro algae are calcified, which simply means they have calcium deposits. These plants are generally more rigid than their non calcified counterparts. Popular calcified macro algae in the hobby include halimeda and the shaving brush plants. Our Flame Algae, Fire Fern, and Scroll Algae are calcified as well. While they can survive in tanks that are calcium poor, they need calcium to be between 400 and 450 ppm to thrive. Dosing iodine will also help keep your plants alive, and is generally a pretty simple endeavor. Seachem sells a great iodine supplement with easy to follow directions on the back that even the beginner aquarist can use. If you do dose supplements though make sure you test for them. Magnesium, calcium, and iodine levels should all be tested if you add these products, as there effects can grow in a tank and cause trouble for you down the road. However, the most important nutrients for macro algae are nitrates, phosphates and iron.

Here is a useful guide to ideal water conditions for a macro tank, reef systems and systems that use macro algae as refugium species may differ:

• pH: 7.9-8.2
• Temperature: mid to upper 70’s, although 72-86 is what they can handle.
• Salinity: some can handle large swings in salinity, Halimeda monile for instance experiences 4 drastic swings in salinity a day, and does fine this way. However, try to keep your tank close to the standard 1.024, as not all macro algae are so flexible. Neither are all fish for that matter!
• Calcium: 400ppm-450ppm
• Magnesium: around 1200ppm-1300ppm
• Iodine: .4 is the standard
• Iron: Keep it around .1ppm - Ferrous iron is the best, as it is easilly utilized by plants and macros.
• Nitrites: 0
• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrates: a steady amount around 10-5ppm is ideal for macro tanks. If you use macros strictly for filtering, then you probably want them at zero.
• Phosphates: Keep them around.05 ppm. Or at a ratio between 20 and 14 parts of nitrates for each part of phosphate. So in this 20:1 ratio if you had 10ppm Nitrates, ideally you would have .05ppm phosphates.

Lighting:

For best results we recommend using full spectrum bulbs (5k - 10k look best) that are powerful enough to give off 2-4 watts per gallon of water in your aquarium for most macro species. Some sea grasses like turtle grass require more light. While light intensity is measured in lumens rather than watts, it is often difficult to determine the lumens of a particular light source, and watts are a good secondary measure.

Lighting can have an powerful effect not only on the survivability of the algae, but also on its appearance. For example, in red algae, if the alga is going too dark, (that is too deep a red), then it is not getting enough light, and the green chlorophylls in the alga, (alga is the singular for algae, but watch me use it both ways all the time like it doesn’t matter), are being overpowered by the other pigments in the alga. These other pigments are called phycobilins, some of which reflect red, and some of which reflect blue. The red reflecting ones are phycoerythrin, and the blue reflecting ones are phycocyanin.

Now if it is going past a red wine look, it is usually because the phycocyanin pigments are growing to strong, and you are reflecting too much blue light. a little blue, plus lots of red and a fair amount of green looks like dark brown almost. This can be because you have dedicated too much blue light into your aquarium. For best results, always use a full spectrum light source. If you like the look of blue light, try to tone it down a bit, or place the macro in an area where it will receive less blue light.

If your light is too strong, it can cause the green chlorophyll, (present in all algae), to become too strong, and overpower the pigments that give red and brown algae their distinctive colors, turning them greenish or pale. In this case, try to maneuver the algae in such a way that it becomes shaded from the full force of the lighting.

In Closing:

The ideas discusses in this article are simply to give you a picture of the conditions present in the "ideal macro tank." You don’t need to be perfect for macro to thrive, and even we are off most of the time. Macro algae is relatively easy to keep when compared to corals and delicate fish, and we think with proper patience and adherence to some of the more basic rules you will be able to do just fine.

Liz’s Notes: Editing was limited to spelling and grammar corrections and formatting.

Photo Credits: The photos, in order of appearance in the article are: The Halimeda scabra (Money Plant); Red Gracilaria; Red Mangrove; and Scroll Algae. All images were obtained, with permission, at the ReefCleaners.org web site.

By Elliot Dulberger, June 24, 2002, edited by Elizabeth M. Lukan.

This week I thought we would do a series on the Boxfish (which as you all know by now is one of my least favorite SW fish, due to the damage they can do to your tank).

These fish have a rigid body made up of bony plates covered with a sensitive skin that may be damaged by cleaner fishes. They are slow moving fish - and some have described them as hovercraft fishes - and they do have an interesting way of moving, making rapid movements of the dorsal, anal and pectoral fins. If buying one of these fish, avoid any that have concave sides as these fish never recover from this probable semi-starved state.

Most are poisonous, releasing a toxin into the water when threatened. In the confines of a tank, or in the transportation container, this often proves fatal both to the Boxfish and to other fishes. Introduce these fish into the tank first in order to reduce the chances of fatal consequences should the Boxfish become frightened.

These fish will eat anything, but appear to relish worm foods.

Some of the more common Boxfishes are as follows:

1. Long-Horned Cowfish, Lactoria cornuta - 16 inches in tank (20 wild)
2. Blue-Spotted Boxfish, Ostracion lentiginosum - 4 inches in tank (8 wild)
3. White-spotted Boxfish, Ostracion meleagris - 4 inches in tank (6 wild)
4. Blue-spotted Boxfish, Ostracion tuberculaturn - 12 inches in tank (18 wild)

As I have said before, unless you keep these fish in their own tanks the odds are at some point you will have a problem with them. Not only do they release the toxin when scared, they do it when they die. If not that then if they die and another fish nibbles on the body they get a mouthful of poison for their efforts. I guess for the daring hobbyist these fish are an interesting one to have, but for me I’ll pass - thank you very much lol.

Liz’s Notes: Editing was limited to spelling and grammar corrections and formatting. The above article was part of a series of posts called “Let’s talk” found on Elliot Dulberger’s pufferlovers.com site. Elliot gave me permission to republish the series. Sadly, the pufferlovers.com web site is no more.

Photo Credits: The Ostracion cubicus image was obtained at the Animal-World web site (http://animal-world.com/). According to David Brough, he obtained the image from a book called “Creating Your Own Netscape webpages” by Andy Shafran and published by QUE Corp. 1995. The book noted permission given to use the photo for “internet publications.” Thanks go to David for helping me get a great photo to go with my article!

By Reefs UK, edited by Elizabeth M. Lukan.

Introduction

Following on from our last article describing the concept of a reef garden (please refer to the previous editions of these articles) we will now start to explain the type of aquarium we will use for our reef garden and some of the reasoning behind its set up. To help hobbyists who are new to reef gardening and setting up marine aquariums, we have provided a good deal of information on the equipment we will use and how we will install it. This will demonstrate some of the problems we and many other hobbyists encounter and how we overcome them. It will also help new hobbyists understand what equipment is considered essential and what is not. Although we touch on some of the technologies and theories behind the equipment and the methods of running a marine aquarium, these articles do not provide an in depth look into information in this area.

What type of aquarium?

One of the first things hobbyists obviously consider when deciding on a new marine aquarium is the type and design of the aquarium. With the many designs and different manufacturers out there, it can be quite a battle deciding which type to purchase. Reefs UK had already decided that our reef garden should be glass as opposed to acrylic and that the water capacity should be about 100 to 150 UK gallons. We also wanted enough room from front to back to build up a good amount of rock work and so eventually decided on an aquarium size of 5 feet (154.4cm) in length by 30 inches (76.2cm) tall (24 inches of water) and 24 inches (61cm) from front to back. This size aquarium would provide us with approximately 125 UK gallons (566 liters).

When setting up any new aquarium we, like most other people, want an aquarium to be well built and put together professionally by a reputable supplier. Although we decided to use a Seabray manufactured aquarium we would recommend hobbyists have a good look around at the different manufacturers as there are a lot of different designs to choose from. When ordering the aquarium we asked for a few modifications. The first was to ensure that there was a gap between the back of the hood and the back of the glass. Most aquarium manufacturers leave a little gap at the back of their aquariums so that pipes and electrical cables can be fed through. However, we wanted this gap to be quite big and run all along the back of the tank. This would allow us to feed larger pipes to and from the external skimmer and to also allow for maximum airflow within the hood. The airflow is important as it allows for the heat of the lights to escape from the hood rather than building up inside the hood. The second modification was to allow for a larger gap on the top right hand side of the cover glass which faces downwards towards the surface of the water. The Seabray aquariums are built with cover glass and we needed to ensure that a large gap was cut into this to allow for our pipes from the external skimmer to enter the water within the aquarium. The cost of this aquarium was 450.00 UK pounds.

What is a sump?

Now the first thing most people will tell you when planning any new marine aquarium is that you must have a sump. For those of you who are new to marine aquariums, a sump is a separate tank which is generally located below the main display aquarium inside the cabinet and allows you to store such things as skimmers, calcium reactors, etc. Water overflows from the main display aquarium through a pipe (which is drilled and sealed into the aquarium) into the sump and then pumped back up to the main aquarium.

What no sump?

As you can see, a sump is useful for hiding away the equipment needed to run a marine aquarium however, we decided not to have a sump. Now this may sound strange to many of you but our decision was based on the following reasons:

• Our reef aquarium garden will be located in an office and needs to be as quiet as possible. Even though water noise flowing into a sump can be dampened considerably, we have never managed to find a sump system were there is no noise at all.
• Evaporation levels tend to be higher due to having 2 surface areas (the main aquarium and the sump). Although this is good for dripping kalkwasser, we wanted to ensure the humidity did not become a problem.
• Having a sump requires another tank that needs to be cleaned as detritus collects in the sump. This is a maintenance task we wanted to avoid.
• The only piece of equipment we set out to have which is traditionally located in a sump was a skimmer. Skimming from the main tank is as efficient as skimming from the sump.
• A sump requires addition pumps to return the water back to the display tank. This can introduce more heat and is something else to go wrong, e.g. water leak or pump failure. If a return pump in a sump fails, the main aquarium is no longer being cleaned or heated and you are left with skimming and heating the water in your sump while your main aquarium with the livestock in it receives no heat or skimming.
• We planned on using a battery backup (Un interruptible Power Supply or UPS) to provide power to essential equipment in the event the main power is off. This, unfortunately, is something that seems to happen on a regular basis in our office. To prevent cold water returning from the sump to the main aquarium after a long power cut, a UPS would need to power 2 heaters (one in the sump and one in the main aquarium). Removing the need of a sump allows us to keep our aquarium tank running longer during power failures as only one heater located in the main aquarium is using the batteries on our UPS.
• Last but by no means least, our office is regularly visited by a very inquisitive 1 year old baby (Mark Taber of Reefs UK’s daughter) and we would live in fear of her opening the doors of a cabinet and playing with the water in a sump. Even worse, climbing into the sump. For those hobbyists with children, this is a very important consideration and we would like to remind you that if you have a sump in an easy accessible area then this is a very real danger and it is time to buy those door locks for the aquarium cabinet.

Although some of these points may not be considered that important, we decided to remove the need for the sump and install the skimmer next to the main aquarium. The biggest obstacle we would have to overcome would be to disguise the skimmer in such a way that it does not look too unsightly.

Why a skimmer is needed for your reef garden?

One thing we do recommend you use on your reef garden is a protein skimmer. A protein skimmer is currently one of the most efficient ways of removing nutrients from saltwater and although some people run marine aquariums successfully without a skimmer, they are a good safety feature. For example, we have witnessed 2 coral spawnings in the past where without the skimmer working overtime to pull out the mass of eggs and sperm, these spawning events would have certainly caused massive pollution and killed some, if not all, of the livestock. There are many other benefits of using a skimmer, such as providing the hobbyist the ability to feed the tank a little more than they would normally as the skimmer will remove the excess food. Also, as most of us keep more livestock than was considered possible in the past, it ensures the water quality will not deteriorate with this extra overhead. Now having said all of that, some people will argue that skimmers take out important trace elements from saltwater and pull out too much microscopic plankton which is so important to our enclosed living systems. We believe both of these elements can be manually added back into a reef garden through regular water changes and culturing phytoplankton and zooplankton.

What type skimmer?

As many of you will know, choosing a skimmer is not exactly the easiest of tasks due to the costs of these items and that some manufactures making claims about their skimmers which are somewhat optimistic. When planning a skimmer for your reef garden, it is best to listen to other hobbyists recommendations and experiences. Also, it would be wise to be prepared to spend a good deal of money on this equipment or alternatively build your own. To ensure our reef garden was adequately skimmed, we decided to choose a model in the Deltec range as these skimmers have proven very efficient. As our reef garden would hold approximately 125 UK gallons (566 liters) we could have purchased a Deltec AP600 or an APF600 which are rated by the manufacturer as easily coping with the water volume our reef garden would hold. However, there is a school of thought that you cannot over-skim a marine aquarium so we opted for the Deltec AP850 which the manufacturer rates at 333 gallons (1500 liters) for normal stocking or 222 gallons (1000 liters) for aquariums heavily stocked. As we had not yet decided how heavily stocked our reef garden would be, this skimmer would be more than adequate for our needs.

Costs to-date (UK pounds):

1 x Seabray Aquarium (60″ x 30″ x 24″) including cabinet 450.00

1 x Deltec AP850 protein skimmer 300.00

Total : 750.00

Liz’s Notes: Editing was limited to spelling and grammar corrections and formatting. Please note that this article is at least two years old and while some of the information in it may dated (like the costs), the principles discussed are still viable and worthy of passing along. The images were provided by Reefs UK along with the article and are copyrighted to them. Thanks to Mark Taber of Reefs UK for his permission to use this article in Fish ‘N’ Chips. Don’t forget to visit Reefs UK for more information, articles, and forums.