Live Rock

Not the kind that lots of enjoy singing a long to or lost our hearing to as a result of standing too close to a speaker stack. No this is an important part of part of the Berlin Filtration system and the back bone to the look of the reef. Now I could have gone fish only set up a bit of sand at the bottom maybe a couple of ornaments but I feel with marine tanks the more natural look is a more interesting option.

So what is live rock? In the simplest terms its reef rock taken from the sea which includes a lot of beneficial bacteria, coral and sponge polyps and some other little critters who hitch hike their way when transported.  The things is there is no such thing as a free lunch and with the good you get the bad thinks like Aiptasia SP , Mantis Shrimp (Stomatopods) and Valonia sp. aka Bubble Algae. Most of these can be treated with products purchased from the LFS or captured in traps or controlled with the reefs natural maintenance team or clean up crew as they are known. From everything I have been reading I feel that the benefits out weigh the risk but I recommend doing some reading and making this decision your self. 

Below is a video of a Mantis shrimp hunting a crab

Alternative options to live rock are erie or dead rock this over time will become live and and has the benefit of not introducing the pest as above but will take longer to cycle your tank.

If your purchasing your live rock from you LFS they normally put the rock through a process call curing, this clears the debris of dead or dying sponges/corals. If they do not sure the rock This process will take about 2-4 weeks to complete. To properly cure your rock you must have lots of water flow around and through the rock and a good skimmer to remove the dislodged material. The water flow can be created with a larger external pump so that it's flow is directed over and through the rock or can be accomplished with several power heads or other submersible pumps. What ever you use, be sure to have more flow than you think you need and occasionally use a powerhead or turkey baster to "blow" around all exposed surfaces of the rock.
more information on this process can be found here.

Now your rock is cured whats next? Well then its time to add this to your sump if your running one and to the display area of your tank to create your Aquascape.


Thank you for taking time to read my blog if your enjoying what you have read so far please leave a comment.

Exploring new not so local fish shops (LFS)

Sorry for the late post this week has been one of those weeks.

I took some time out to visit Reef dreams in Winchester and Lynchford Aquatics  in Farnborough and wow what can I say about these shop's I though I'd start with and overview of Reef dreams.

Reef Dreams

So I arrived on a Wednesday  which I found out from the shop owner is the one day a week they don't actually open as they restock and do maintenance, but he was very friendly said as long as I took care when moving around the shop it was ok.

We got chatting about my plans to set up a Fluval M-90 tank as a reef tank but he suggested a  solution that requires a sump at this point my plans went into a spin. They have a 90cm kit which would have been a bit more than my original budget but this wouldn't have been a problem its just a couple of inch's to big for the space I have.

Walking around the rest of the shop I was blown away by the choices of coral's he was very happy to show off what the coral's look like under different lighting conditions, I now know where I need to go when I start this stage of my tank. The selection of other live stock was small but a great selection and honest advice on what to have for the size tank. To be honest I think this shop really deals with much larger set ups but was so friendly someone looking to set up a reef with no experience would not feel intimidated.

Lynchford aquatics

Another super shop they had a Seneye reef on a one of their tanks nice range of fish some would have been nice but not really reef safe (I'll go into this in my live stoke research post) but they had all the things I needed for an algae issue Im currently experiencing in my large tropical tank.

How I imagine my aquarium to look in a couple of year

MTS (Multi Tank Syndrome)

In my introduction I mentioned I have MTS or Multi Tank Syndrome its not something people truly understand until it hits them. So what is it? Well in simplest terms its when you start off with just one small aquarium and before you know it you working out places you can fit a bigger one your looking after more and more tanks.

We have a little on going joke in the family with my mum who luckily has a great sense of humour about knocking walls down replacing certain items of furniture just to ft another new or much large tank into the house. We’ve even talked to the local fish shop about writing a receipt for a 1000 litre aquarium and stand. But saying that she did draw the line at 3 aquariums (i did sneak a small one in to make it 4) and she has put her foot down which I’m glad of as I would end up with loads to look after.
After a lot of convincing I have finally got the go a head for a larger aquarium but its at the cost of my current 60 litre cold water one, which is really difficult for me to do as this is where I cut my teeth.

Here is a view of my current set up

Filtration

When it comes to any form of Aquarium one of the most important parts I think is the filtration well apart from the tank it self with marine even more so as many invertebrates and corals require very clean water to survive. The options out there can be confusing, canisters, hang on, internal and built in filters. Well all of these will have on of if not all three of the following types of filtration process included they just deliver these in there own way. 

Filtration types.

Mechanical:

This is usual the first stage offer by the use of sponges or foam pads. These catch the big bits of waste    things like left over food decade plants. With my current canister filters on my large cold water and tropical tanks I have three level of this filtration a coarse for the big bits, dense fine foam for the bits that are miss by the coarse then finally a very fine/polishing layer. I try create the cleanest water before it reaches the next stage which is the Chemical filtration in my canister filer however for my marine set up this will be different as I will be using the Berlin System which I will explain later.

Chemical filtration

Chemical filtration refers to any filtering substance that is designed to change the chemical composition of the water, but most often refers to the use of activated carbon or other cleaning resins. Activated carbon pulls dissolved organics from the water by adsorbing them.

There are also other products that fall under the heading of chemical filtration. Products like ammonia chips, designed to remove ammonia from the water. People who have excess nitratesmight use ammonia chips to slow nitrate production. Nitrates are not considered harmful in general, but an excess of nitrates is undesirable, particularly in salt water aquariums where nitrates must be kept very low.

Biological

This is is formed by bacteria with in the tank on sponges in the filter and if your using a canister from a ceramic or ceramic based media. This stage converts Ammonia through nitrite and nitrates then to nitrogen this is called the Nitrogen Cycle.

As the bacteria builds up on the sponges if you are using mechanical filters it is very important to only rinse these in waste water from your water changes as part of your maintenance if you use tap water or new reverse osmosis water to clean these sponges you can remove this layer and undo all the hard work of setting up the tank.

Berlin System

So I mentioned at the beginning that the set up I'm going to using the the Berlin System this this offers the best of the mechanical filtration through the use of a protein skimmer and Biological filtration through the use of Live rock and Live sand.

So what is a protein skimmer? its a form of mechanical filtration that only effectively works in marine aquariums by creating very tiny bubbles rising up a tube collecting pro tines as they rise. As the bubbles

reach the top of the tube the bubbles form a foam which then overflows in the a collection cup which is clean as part of your tank maintenance.

Proteins include ammonia, so an effective protein skimmer can also remove some ammonia before it breaks down in into Nitrites and Nitrate's both of which are unwanted in marine aquariums. The mechanical process helps alleviate some of the burden of the biological filtration provided live rock and sand with in the aquarium.

Tip when selecting a protein skimmer find one that can deal with twice the volume of your Aquarium and offers the best performance. With this in mind I may include extra funds for and upgrade for the one included in the kit I found.

Live rock this is a bit of a confusing concept to understand as we view rock not as a living thing but usually as a building material. Well Live rock is pieces of dead coral skeletons which have been harvested from coral reef areas. In the wild, live rock harbours both flora and fauna as well as beneficial (biological) bacteria. In an aquarium, if properly cured, live rock will continue to house both flora, fauna and bacteria.

Curing is the process of containing harvested live rock and allowing the dead and dying biological material which did not survive collection and shipping to decay. The dead material is then removed, leaving the surviving biological material on the rock. The curing process produces a great amount of toxins (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) which are harmful to saltwater aquariums and their occupants. Thankfully your LFS or live rock supplier will normally do this for you. If this process is done correctly your live rock should over time come back to life with corals and invertebrates and the beneficial bacteria which helps with the bio logical.

Live sand, or LS is natural reef coral sand that is collected live from the ocean, or non-living coral sand that is cultured to make it live. What makes it live is the microscopic biological bacteria that grows on it, and the many tiny crustaceans and other micro and macro-organisms that reside in it. Live sand can serve as the main base for biological filtration in a saltwater aquarium, while the organisms help consume organic matter in the sand bed. Some of the organisms provide a natural food source for many aquarium inhabitants as well.
From reading about the Berlin system and users who have had these systems up and running for sometime 10 years or more with out major rebuilds actually improve rather than deteriorate as time passes.

  
I hope this has helped with little understanding on filtration if you would like more information I recommend The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta.