Chapter I: Intro

WELCOME TO A BEAUTIFUL HOBBY

arine aquariums add a beautiful piece of the ocean into your living room. They bring tranquility and peace to our lives. No matter what is going on in your life, those silly fish will still be there looking at you with those silly fishy faces. And no matter how many times you see a Hermit Crab climb over a rock, those portable home carrying creatures, make you smile. Studies have shown that stress levels and blood pressures actually drop when people are exposed to aquariums in a regular basis. I hope to make your first step into this hobby an easier one. There are mountains of books, literature, and internet web sites full of information concerning this hobby. Wading through all of the opinions, misinformation, myths, fallacies, outdated material and marketing schemes can be a great challenge. Making this problem worse is the quality of information one gets from the local fish store. Often, their information is just plain wrong, misleading, or based on some myth that has been carried down from former store employees. Many stores are employed by inexperienced people that are simply doing a job and many times repeating the marketing slogans and catch phrases given to them by the suppliers' representatives. Try to get several opinions for any question you may have. The creatures you will maintain in your aquarium are simple creatures in a biological sense. However, they will amaze you with their differing personalities. Although all Yellow Tangs look alike, they don'tdo not all behave the same. You may have clown fish that never wander near an anemone, or a tang that won't will not eat algae, or a timid trigger fish. After a short time, they will recognize you as a food source, and will gather at the surface when you approach. Some may act in completely unpredictable ways or behave in a manner that is opposed to the typical member of the breed. This is one major reason why so many myths are promulgated. Enjoy this hobby and don'tdo not let it become work. If you don'tdo not look forward to your aquarium, there is something wrong. Maybe your filtration is not configured correctly. Maybe you have creatures that require more maintenance than your schedule allows. Maybe you have a group of fish, or a crab that is a trouble maker. These are situations that can be very frustrating if left alone. Seek help and enjoy your little slice of the ocean.

Section: Welcome to a Beautiful Hobby

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THINGS DIE

hings change in this hobby, mostly due to advances in technology. However, changes are not quick and usually not very scientific, mostly due to the reality that there is almost no real research done in this hobby. Hobbyists don'tdo not pay scientists to do research. Manufacturers want to sell product, whether they work or not, perform a beneficial function or not. Marine biologists think that fish hobbyists are primitive neanderthals that take beautiful sea life and place them in a jail for their amusement and then watch the fish die. This is unfortunately true in some respects. Most of the fish and other creatures you place in your tank will die. This is just the facts. The peaceniks and hippies will tell you it is because you are placing them in jail. The realists and scientific community will remind you that most of the sea life you collect will belong to a few biological Phylums and Classes. The reason this is important is simple, a female shrimp will lay 1,000,000 eggs in her lifetime. Almost all of the offspring will die or become food for some other animal. Almost all fish lay eggs by the thousands, most adult females will lay over 100,000 eggs. Again, most of the animals will not make it to maturity, almost always due to predators, disease or a genetic mutation. Even goldfish raised in captivity, with zero predators, with all the best husbandry practices will achieve less than a 5% maturity rate. IN OTHER WORDS, fish and invertebrates die. They just do. God designed it this way, in His infinite knowledge. So, when you purchase a fish, specially an immature one, you are betting that it will NOT make it to maturity. This is simply a matter of statistics. This is also why a mature Angelfish may cost 10 times the cost of a juvenile. Simple math, you buy 10 juveniles, 1 will reach maturity. Add to that somber fact the realization that you do not have ideal conditions and that you will have disease and predators. Many of the creatures that you will be housing come from very different parts of the ocean, and don'tdo not have experience with each other. Some combinations may be deadly. So you have to be OK in the knowledge that most of the fish and invertebrates will die and will not last very long. Now, to believe that the saltwater fish hobby is somehow depleting the coral reefs or destroying the natural equilibrium is statistically indefensible. Take one grouper, eating several dozen reef fish per day for 5 years. That one grouper creates the same damage that thousands of hobbyists do in their lifetime. Then account for the millions of groupers, barracudas, eels and octopuses . Believing that we are destroying the reefs is like believing that paving your driveway will destroy grass as we know it. Not sure why I got off on this, maybe it's the narcotics speaking, but it is important to know. As a friend of mine says, Don't name your fish.

Anyone who does not vote for the Green Party and is not a member of the World Wildlife Fund Which is a correct plural for octopus; along with octopi

Section: Things Die

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Chapter II: Essential Stuff

YOU NEED STUFF

quipment is the name of the game in this hobby. There are two schools of thought on this topic, one says the more stuff the better, the other one says the less stuff the better. One says better living through chemistry, the other says nature knows what it is doing. I am of the latter group, for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I have a grip on my real life. For instance,
I am not a full time employee at Sea World, with an unlimited budget and oodles of time. I know that I have other things to do than take care of my fish tank. I know that I would rather buy myself a new mattress than a new demineralization plant. I know that I will go on vacation and I will be gone some weekends. I know that I may be gone for more than a few days. I know that I do not suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and can live with some dirt. The more stuff you have, the more the maintenance, I wish to do the minimum. The more stuff you have, the more the investment, I wish it were free. Too much cost and too much maintenance means I will find a new hobby.

So, if you are in my team, which I think you are, you still need to obtain some stuff. The good thing is that some of the stuff you can build yourself, and the better thing is that a lot of people try this hobby and give up. That means there is a ton of used stuff. Your local fish store guy, specially the owner, (or anyone on commission) will try to talk you into joining the other team. This makes sense, considering their livelihood is easier to earn if you buy a $1000 chiller than if you do not. Further, many of the owners are OCD, and have the store because this is the only way they can do this hobby 24/7.

The Jaubert Plenum Method

Dr. Jaubert was a really cool guy, since he went against the grain and decided to experiment with marine aquariums that did not require a tremendous amount of equipment and maintenance. The Jaubert system eliminates the idea of removing waste from the system and instead traps it under the substrate. The plenum, just a fancy word for an empty space, is created under the sand and is a home for a type of bacteria that eats the waste. What an idea! Create a big septic tank under the sand in the tank, where the waste is going to fall anyway! This system eliminates a lot of equipment and maintenance and substitutes it with a bunch of sand and free bugs. The really weird thing is that the water stays cleaner and healthier than water maintained with many other systems.

Section: You need Stuff

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The Berlin Method

Now consider a place like Berlin's version of Sea World. These poor bastards are a bizillion miles from the ocean, and had millions of gallons of salt water to maintain. They are also German. I love the German people for lots of reasons, but one is their ability to be as close to Vulcans as anyone I've ever met on the planet (remember I've been to over 70 countries). So they had to figure out, in a nice Deutschland sort of way, how to avoid the constant trips their trucks were making to the ocean to obtain clean water. You would think that a place where the type of beer mugs that can be used at a pub are regulated by the government and where jaywalking basically does not exist, would love the more equipment, more regulation team. Much to their surprise, they found that the less stuff is better mantra worked better for them. They figured that since plants love to eat animal waste why not get a bunch of plants, and have them keep the tank clean? This was a big revelation in the field just a few years ago, and I was very happy. Since I am inherently lazy and not OCD, I have always dreamt that someday, someone would validate my method of letting nature do its thing. However, you still need stuff. Some things you simply must have. Some things make life easier. Some stuff is mandatory. Some stuff is nice to have. Some stuff is just not a good idea. I will try to guide you in the world of stuff, but remember this is just a guide. Your system may be different. As long as your fish are happy; your system must be fine.

Section: You need Stuff

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TANK

UP, you got to have a place for the water. Ensure there is absolutely ZERO brass, copper, bronze or steel coming in contact with the water. Most types of stainless steel will corrode in saltwater, so stainless is also a caveat. Aluminum has an odd relationship with saltwater, in that it will create a surface corrosion layer in approximately 14 days, then stop corroding. Some people love acrylic tanks because of the crazy shapes and the light weight and the lack of silicone. Some people hate acrylic because any crab can scratch it from the inside, and almost anything can scratch it from the outside. Also, removing the scratches is not easy business . Try to avoid glass with lots of scratches. Although the scratches can be removed, you do require time and elbow grease. Ensure the silicone rubber on the joints is clean, clear and pliable. If it looks cloudy, or dry rotted, know that you will have to replace the rubber before you fill it. The bigger the better. YES, you can have a fully functional saltwater tank in a 10 gallon nanocube. It is also possible for most 12 year old girls to get pregnant. Both situations are possible, just not necessarily great ideas. The water volume thing is important for three major reasons. The greater the water volume, the less significant any stressor. Let's say you spray Windex on the front of your tank, and 1g of Windex goes airborne and falls in your water. In a 10 gallon tank you now have a poison concentration of 2.6ppm. If the same poison falls in a 250 gallon tank, the poison is only 0.1ppm. This also applies for every gram of food you overfeed. The small tank is not very forgiving. The greater the water volume, the slower any changes occur. Ocean fish are accustomed to an environment created by trillions of gallons of water, where nothing changes quickly. When power goes out, a 10 gallon tank in an 80 room will heat up approximately 5 times faster than a 250 gallon tank The greater the water volume, the greater the variety and quantity of life you can sustain. Some species simply will not tolerate the quick changes and unexpected chemistry swings of a small tank. Some species will require a territory or will behave in a homicidal manner. An angry puffer fish will eradicate everything in a 29 gallon tank, but will do nothing to a 200 gallon tank. You are going to be spending time and money in this endeavor. Why go through all the work, just to find you can only keep six small and relatively uninteresting fish?

My recommendation is to have at the very minimum a 75 or 90 gallon water volume. This does not necessarily mean the tank has to be that size, just the water volume. The filters require water and count towards the total volume.

Scratches on acrylic can be removed using the same materials and equipment sold by the auto parts stores to restore acrylic headlights. The headlights are made of the same plastic, and gets scratched by dirt flying on the road. The scratches take patience and some elbow grease to remove, but it can be done, and the results are nothing short of amazing.

Section: Tank

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REALLY CLEAN WATER

oly Deionization Plant Batman! Yes, this sounds like a mouthful. It is. Deal with it. Most people will call it a DI plant, a D.I. Filter, or a Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) filter. Call it what you wish, this thing makes your water. Don'tdo not even think of starting a tank without one of these. Like in a computer, garbage in = garbage out. As you may know, tap water has an amazing amount of chemicals in it. This of course is due to most municipalities having a problem with tons of their residents dying of poisoned water. So what to do? I know! add tons of chemicals to counteract the effects of greasy pumps, rusty pipes and under-street delivery systems. Just for fun, try to meet the DEA and EPA standards and create a biological, green cleaning system for your city, so add Phosphates, algae spores and other thingies. We all studied life, and realize that when water evaporates, only the water evaporates. So all the stuff in the water stays behind. When your tank water evaporates, which it will in an alarmingly quick rate, you will add more water. If that water comes with extra goodies, you just concentrated the goodies in the tank. Add more water and the concentration continues to increase. Since only a few ppm of Phosphates will turn your water into green soup in a matter of days, this is a problem, specially for smaller water volumes. So the solution is to add water with nothing, or almost nothing, in it. A good DI/RO plant will deliver pure water with only 1 ppm impurities . This is equivalent to finding 2 particular individuals in all of Miami-Dade county. Clean tap water, even out of a softener system, will typically have somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 times this amount of impurities. Softeners will typically include Magnesium and Chloride as a byproduct, both of which are poisonous to invertebrates at amazingly small concentrations. But wait, I've seen ships add all kinds of junk to the ocean. The fish don't die. Gosh, that would be because the water volume in the ocean is somewhat larger than the water volume in your fish tank. Look at the fish near an industrial shipping port and tell me again what you think. This is a saltwater aquarium, shouldn't I add saltwater? Let's review Robin, the salt does not evaporate, so you do not need to add it back in. In your aquarium only water evaporates so we only need to add good 'ole H20. The problem is finding this high quality H 20. You can buy it by the gallon at most good aquarium places, but that will quickly get old, boring and expensive. You can distill your own, but most of us don'tdo not have moonshine equipment. Or you can buy a DI/RO plant.
This is usually measured as TDS, or Total Dissolved Solids Technically, the gases sublimate, but that is of no consequence Credit to Adam Candlers Water Boy

Section: Really Clean Water

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A good demineralization plant has at least three stages. The first stage removes large particulates. The second stage is the reverse osmosis plant that removes smaller particulates. The third stage is the deionization stage which removes inorganic ionized molecules like chlorides, oxides, phosphates and phosphites. Just a tiny amount of copper sulfide, copper sulfate or free copper ions can kill all the life in the tank. Guess what? Copper is used extensively for water piping leading to your house, in your house and as a component of the brass or bronze fixture where your water comes out. The demineralization plant will remove all that and more. All this tech talk just means that the water comes out really, really clean, like Febreze clean. Look in eBay. D Don'to Not look in Home Depot. Get one that has clear canisters and filters that are replaceable. Get one that has multiple stages. Unless you like filling water everyday, get one that has an automatic fill, or automatic level valve. purewaterclub is an eBay store that sells these things; look at Aqua Reef RO DI Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System for about $100. Remember your ice cubes and your drinking water will taste better too. Don't be a sissy, install it yourself. Whenever the pump is not running, as in a power outage or when feeding your pets, the water level will increase as the aquarium drains. Whenever the pump is running the water level will be lower in the sump. This is the water level the automatic fill valve will maintain, always fighting against evaporation. The piping layout will look something like the following diagram. The Reverse Osmosis produces about twice as much waste water as clean water, so there will be several gallons a day. Ensure there is a drain for the waste water!

This is why boats use bottom paint infused with copper. No barnacles, algae or anything else will grow on it. Brass propellers will spend years in the ocean without anything growing on them. One of the components of brass is copper. A 100 gallon tank will normally evaporate 1-3 gallons a day.

Section: Really Clean Water

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SEA SALT (SORT OF)

hy in the world do we need to talk about salt? Not like there is anyone in the United States that has not seen salt. Doesn't the little cardboard can look cute with the little girl and the umbrella? That stuff is wicked cheap so why even bother spending time talking about this stuff? Naturally, the stuff we call saltwater is not water and salt. That would be so easy. Yes, the water in the ocean has a bunch of NaCl in it, in fact about 2% of sea water is regular salt, or about 5 oz in every gallon. The problem lies in all the other stuff that is not sodium chloride but is still in sea water. Only 85% of the solids in seawater is sodium chloride (regular table salt) . One quick look at the ingredients list of any marine aquarium salt bag and one is overwhelmed with names of elements we barely remember from chemistry class. Ocean water has over 100 compounds made from over 70 elements. There is a veritable cornucopia of elements right there from the periodic table. Look a little closer and the quantities are almost shocking; we are talking about tiny amounts of some elements. Seawater is so complex, no laboratory in the world can exactly duplicate it. Unfortunately, getting water straight from the ocean is also complex, since you may bring undesirables into your aquarium. For example, motor oil from boats, copper compounds, pollution, bad germs, etc. The compounds in natural seawater exist in a ratio that is remarkably constant all over the world. Our aim is to create and maintain an artificial environment that replicates the natural environment as closely as possible. Turns out the basis of any successful aquarium is the water and maintenance of its delicate chemical balance. To make matters more complicated, many of the elements in seawater are constantly being depleted as they are used by the animals. Now, chloride, sodium, magnesium, sulfate, calcium, and potassium make up 99.9% of the dissolved solids in sea water, everything else makes up less than 1% and some are in such minute amounts we have just discovered them. So again I ask, why bother with something that only makes up 0.001% of seawater? Why bother adding all these crazy expensive elements in the salt mix, just to make the saltwater for the tank? The answer is pretty simple. If you don'tdo not, the animals die. Simple as that. Use regular table salt, or water softener salt (even the stuff that is 99.9% guaranteed pure), and the animals die. In His wisdom, God made it that way; don't ask me why. The animals need all those trace elements in the water. Remember, these critters spend their life submerged in this stuff. Their bodies need some of these elements, and without it, they will die. Think of the sailors of yore, those that did not know they needed that stuff we now call Vitamin C. Many of
35g of NaCl per liter of sea water This is why potato chips in Sea Salt taste different than potato chips with regular table salt The table on page 53, Composition of Seawater lists most of these elements

Section: Sea Salt (Sort of)

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them died of scurvy. That is the reason we call British, limeys. Even though I weigh almost 150,000 grams, I need to consume 100mg a day, or I will die. Seems odd, right? That is only 0.000067% of my body weight. Yet, if I don't get it, I die. Which brings us to the last point. No matter how well you maintain and clean your aquarium, the elements are being used up, just like our Vitamin C. You can either test and replenish 100 different compounds, or you can simply replace 20 to 25% of the water on a monthly basis . Choice is yours, but you have to choose one.

More Interesting Stuff About Seawater

The US Geological Survey has compiled information about seawater and the influence of the organisms that live in it. Part of the explanation for the complexity of seawater is the role played by marine life, animals and plants. Sea water is not simply a solution of salts and dissolved gases unaffected by living organisms in the sea. Mollusks (oysters, clams, and mussels, among others) extract calcium from the sea to build their shells and skeletons. Foraminifers (very small one-celled sea animals) and crustaceans (such as crabs, shrimp, lobsters, and barnacles) likewise take out large amounts of calcium salts to build their bodies. Coral reefs, common in warm tropical seas, consist mostly of limestone (calcium carbonate) formed over millions of years from the skeletons of billions of small corals and other sea animals. Plankton (tiny floating animal and plant life) also exerts control on the composition of sea water. Diatoms, members of the plankton community, require silica to form their shells and they draw heavily on the ocean's silica for this purpose. Some marine organisms concentrate or secrete chemical elements that are present in such minute amounts in sea water as to be almost undetectable: Lobsters concentrate copper and cobalt; snails secrete lead; the sea cucumber extracts vanadium; and sponges and certain seaweeds remove iodine from the sea. However, some elements in sea water are not affected to any apparent extent by plant or animal life. For example, no known biological process removes the element sodium from the sea. Another important characteristic of sea water is its composition of gases. Surprisingly the world underwater is very different from that above in the availability of the most important gases for life: oxygen and carbon dioxide. In air, about one in five molecules is oxygen, in sea water only about 4 in every billion molecules is oxygen. In air there is about one carbon dioxide molecule in 3000 molecules, in sea water there are 4 in every 100 million water molecules. But this means that carbon dioxide is much more common (4 in 0.1 billion ) than oxygen (4 in 1 billion) in sea water. Now, all gases are less soluble as temperature increases, particularly nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide. When water is warmed, less gas can be dissolved in it, resulting in bubbles leaving the liquid. As the water warms, the already scarce oxygen becomes even more so. The creatures in your tank will literally suffocate, if the water becomes too warm.

British sailors of the 17th century were ordered to eat limes in order to avoid scurvy. News Flash: www.petco.com has free shipping on large salt buckets. It is cheaper than at the store. http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?sku=837750 "Why is the Ocean Salty?" By Herbert Swenson) prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey Dr J Floor Anthoni 2006, www.seafriends.org.nz/oceano/seawater.htm

Check

Section: Sea Salt (Sort of)

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HYDROMETER

h yeah, more big words. This is a device that all chemists and beer makers are very familiar with. This gizmo precisely compares the density of the solution in question, i.e., the water in your fish tank, with pure water. It gives you a ratio, like 1.023. This means that the water you are measuring is 1.023 times more dense than pure water, or 2.3%. Luckily for you, so is the water in the ocean. So, all you have to do is add sea salt or add pure water (1.000) until the water in your fish tank is at 1.023 or so. The hydrometer is a sensitive device that is usually made of glass and is somewhat expensive. There are cheapo plastic ones that the fish tank store will try to sell you. When you consider that you may have $200 or $1000 worth of fish counting on the correct salinity, you don't mind spending a few bucks on a hydrometer. To sample the water in the tank you will also need a graduated cylinder, since really tall skinny flasks are kind of hard to come by. The most important thing with your tank's salinity is the consistency. Fish live in this giant ocean where salinity concentrations do not ever vary. There are very few fish that can live in fresh, brackish and salt water. Even those usually need some transition time. The difference between pure water and the ocean is only 2%, so this is a quality of the water that must be measured frequently and repetitively. The measurement is dependent on temperature so ensure the readings are always done at the same temperature. Having an automatic fill valve will add DI water as your water evaporates, ensuring that the only losses of salt are due to leaks, splashes, spray, bubbles, or condensation. You will find with a salt water tank that salt water spray goes everywhere, and you will find salt crystals in the oddest places. Measure the salinity and add salt as required. Eventually enough salt water will be lost that you will have to add salt. It is better to be prepared, with a bag of sea salt standing by, than wait for the evening of an accident to realize that you do not have enough make up water for the fish to make it through the night. These links are for a test jar and a hydrometer, for less than $20 http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/economy-test-jar.html http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/thermohydrometer.html

Section: Hydrometer

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THERMOMETER

one of the creatures you will be keeping are endothermic (warm blooded), their body temperature is identical to their surroundings (ectothermic). Few things will kill ocean fish faster than a rapid change, or an extreme in temperature. Unfortunately again, your tank is not as large as the ocean and is more susceptible to changes in temperature. Most of the fish and invertebrates you will be keeping will enjoy a water temperature of 74F to 78F, and would prefer the cooler side of the scale. You may wonder why, since the water at the beach tends to be warmer than that. What we need to remember is that most of these creatures live in 30100 feet of water, where the surface warmth is not a factor. Most of these creatures will die if the temperature falls below 65F or rises above 85F. Remember in the ocean if the water changes temperature they can just swim to a different place. Creatures that cannot swim, like corals, only live in very specific places where the temperature never leaves these extremes. This temperature preference is a problem with those of us living in the warmer climates. Most hobbyists keep their aquariums indoors, so the water temperature is never cooler than the room temperature. Aquarium water is heated by the lighting and the parasitic pumping heat of the oxygenating pumps. Unless the room is kept at 70F to 75F, all year, the fish will most probably, and the coral will definitely, overheat. A large LCD display thermometer is a surprisingly great investment. You need to ensure the water stays in the correct range. My local fish store sells these name-brand units for about $40. But http://stores.ebay.com/metapark sells these things for $3 without an alarm; look at item Digital LCD Aquarium Fish Tank Sensor Water Thermometer. The units with alarms are great if you are going to be present, while your tank heats up or cools down, and you don'tdo not notice anything wrong. If you need the alarm, the Digital LED Reptile LCD Aquarium Alarm Thermometer-AS74 is only about $13

Section:

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TANK HOOD

eems obvious, something is supposed to cover the tank. There are two types of hoods: Those that fit tightly, and those that do not. Tight Fitting Hoods: 1. Block most contaminants from entering the water; note that even in a fish tank store where non-tight fitting hoods are sold, each tank is covered with at least a piece of plexiglass. 2. Block most creatures from jumping out and performing a fishy Japanese Kamikaze imitation. Many of these creatures love to jump. 3. Keep the light that is intended for your salty creatures aimed at them. This keeps the ambient lighting under control. 4. House the electronics for the lighting without being unsightly, or so I'm told. Of course, to me all electronic devices are beautiful. 5. Collect salt water foam and spray, saving your paint, drywall and rugs from staining and destruction. 6. Allow the heat of the lights to warm the water. THIS is a big problem, refer to the section about the thermometer.

Loose Fitting Hoods, are the opposite of the tight fitting hoods, but have two benefits. They are cheaper and do not heat the water as much. The heat still comes in, just not as much. In other words, the only real benefit they have is that they are cheaper. Since this is an expensive part no matter what you do, and you will have to look at it every time you look at the tank, and you will have to put up with the comments from your significant other, get one that both of you like. Hoods are often cheaper to make than to purchase. This is specially true if you are making the tank stand. One can easily make a frame from plasticized wood (thank you Home Depot), wire the lights, and cover with a beautiful tile or some hardwood. Look online for construction plans, or ask your friends for someone with the skill and the time to build one. Salt water and spray are very corrosive, and invertebrates are sensitive to the slightest concentration of certain metals. Ensure the hood has no screws, nails or other fasteners in contact with the salt spray. Ensure the hood is not finished with any paint or varnish that contains V.O.C.s (Volatile Organic Compounds) that will leach into the water and kill everything. Usually water based finishes will not give off these poisonous gases. Check into these homemade hoods: Rain Gutter Hood, Simple Wood Hood, Nice Sloped Wood Hood, Do it yourself project from a non-wood worker, Another Do it yourself project from a non-wood worker

Section: Tank Hood

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HIGH INTENSITY DISCHARGE LIGHTING

hese HIDs are also known as Super Expensive Lights, because of one obvious and simple reason. So you may ask, I had guppies once. They had a pretty blue light bulb on the plastic hood. Yes, this may be true. I also once had a bike with training wheels, now I have a 600 Hp truck with 6 tires on the ground. There is no getting around these things. So let's figure out what we need from them. Ocean animals live, oddly enough, in the ocean. Consequently, and unlike river and lake animals, they live in direct sunlight, without any shade from trees or dark water. So while the amount of lighting essential for a fresh water animal that lives in a lake covered with tree shade and darkened by mud in the water is small; an animal that lives in the tropics, in crystal clear water, under a crystal clear sky, with direct sunlight at a depth of 30 feet needs considerably more lighting. This is a bummer, since you are not in the tropics, in crystal clear water, under a crystal clear sky, with direct sunlight. Even if you were, the temperature of the aquarium water would cook the fish. This is a double bummer, since you canno't even take advantage of the sunlight coming through your window. That sunlight is not predictable, nor is it the correct spectrum since your living room is not 30ft underwater. Light absorption by water is another critical factor for marine aquariums. Blue light, which represents the dominant wavelength in the aquatic environment, penetrates to depths of hundreds of feet. Red light is almost totally absorbed by water within the first 16 feet. Additionally many of the ocean animals have symbiotic relationships with microorganisms that live in the water. In fact, almost all corals have symbiosis with photosynthetic algae. Their chlorophyll requires exposure to specific wavelengths for proper function. The chlorophyll is essential for the basic survival and growth of these species. In general, it is the blue spectrum that is important for various chlorophyll to function. Even if you don'tdo not have coral, there are these little critters called cope pods that you really want to invite into your tank. If you don'tdo not have the right type and quantity of light, the little algae buddies die. They die, and the whole food chain falls apart. Oh, but wait, there's more. The other benefit of the little algae buddies dying is that your tank will get covered in nonbeneficial brown algae that looks something like poop. There are a bunch of different types of HIDs. The only ones that will work for a marine tank are called Metal Halides. There are cheaper and more efficient HIDs that you can buy at Home Depot, but the lighting spectrum will simply not be correct. The really good part of these Metal Halides is that they run at an extremely hot temperature, requiring cooling fans, and only last a relatively short while before they need to be replaced. Did I mention that each lamp (bulb) is really expensive too? Section: High Intensity Discharge Lighting PAGE 13

In fact the only lamps that will create the correct spectrum of light (i.e., the same light you would get at depth) are the ones that are labeled with a Kelvin rating of 10,000K or greater. This is a bummer, since the only use that a lamp like that has is for marine aquariums. To increase the bummer aspect of this lighting scenario. HIDs, like their name implies are High intensity devices, but were invented at at time that the only other choice for lighting was the old tungsten lamps. So they ARE efficient compared to the lamps of 1910. To put it another way, while your old fashioned light lamp converts 85% of the energy to heat and about 11% to light, these behemoths convert about 18% to light and ONLY about 75% to heat. So to properly light a standard 100 gallon tank, you need approximately 500W of HID lighting to set up a reef tank, and about 60% of that for a fish only tank. Assuming that you pay about $0.11 per kilowatt hour, lighting that tank for 10 hours a day during a 30 day month will cost $16.50 for firing the lights. Assuming that the air conditioner is on, and that you have a modern, efficient machine, you will pay an additional $35 for the A/C. This is some of the cost of a reef tank that the guy at the store won't will nottell you about. So what other choices exist? There are several types of fluorescent lamps that can be used for a marine aquarium. All of them require more lamps (and consequently more ballasts) than a comparable Metal Halide, since they do not have the lumen density. These lamps run cooler, use less energy, last longer and are cheaper than a comparable metal halide. However, you may not have enough space under the hood to place all the lamps that are needed, and you have to hide more ballasts somewhere. The biggest problem is that of initial cost, i.e. initial investment. These types of hoods are amazingly expensive and difficult to make at home. The only lamps that you should even consider are the HO (high output), VHO (very high output) and the full spectrum power compacts. None of the older technologies are worthwhile. In all cases, the lamp needs to have a CRI rating in excess of 90 and a Kelvin rating of at least 10,000K The only good news I have in this section is that eBay has some people that will sell you the components for little money. For example, Metal Halide DIY Reef Retro/Retrofit 150W HQI Pendant will cost you about $50 for each 150W lamp. You have to obtain the ballast separately. This implies that you have a hood, or are making a hood, of course. Check out http://stores.ebay.com/Club-ReefAquarium. I purchased a kit like the following that actually came with the ballasts and all the vital materials for about $250 CORALREEF-2X250-AQUARIUM-LIGHT-RETRO-METAL-HALIDE-HID
There are several colors available for the marine aquarium; usually 10K, 12.5K and 15K. The higher the number, the cooler or bluer the light. This rating is a measure of the equivalent black body radiation temperature. Think of a cold fire as red or yellow, a hot fire as blue or white. Color Rendering Index; a measure of how well the sun is reproduced. Sun = CRI of 100

Section: High Intensity Discharge Lighting

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FLUORESCENT LIGHTING

luorescent lighting is a great second choice for non-reef aquariums, when metal halides are simply not in the budget. It is important to remember that almost no hard coral will grow under these lights, and that only the hardiest of the soft corals. Fluorescent lighting does not produce the color spectrum, the color rendition or the brightness the Metal Halides. Also, fluorescent lamps (tubes) begin to lose their brightness and the depth of the color spectrum as soon as they are lit. From that point they slowly fade down, producing less light and a color that approaches green yellow. As a consequence, the tubes have to be replaced before they burn up, usually after 20,000 to 30,000 hours. At 10 hours a day, this corresponds to 6 9 months of service. Lastly, the tubes are coated internally with powder and mercury which will kill the animals in the aquarium in a few short minutes, so the lamps should be protected from coming into contact with the water. These lights have some benefits. They produce much less heat than any other type of lighting (except LEDs). This is tremendously beneficial, when one considers the cost of removing the heat. Also, since they produce such a small amount of heat over a large area, they remain relatively cool and will not explode if a tiny bit of spray contacts the glass. The lamps require a ballast to operate. This device converts line voltage to a very high voltage for one or two lamps at a time. The ballast comes in magnetic (cheap, inefficient, dim) and electronic varieties (more money, efficient, bright). Electronic ballasts are vastly superior and have dropped tremendously in price; for the aquarium, the brighter and the cooler the better. The ballasts are matched to the lamps. This is very important, a dual T12-40 ballast will only work with those lamps. Fluorescent lamps and ballasts come in many varieties. The older technology is SO (Standard Output); then in progression: HO (High Output), VHO (Very High Output), CF (Compact Fluorescent), CFT3 (Compact fluorescent T3). T3 lamps are usually very expensive, and the SO lamps are too dim. The depth and width of the aquarium will dictate the amount of lamps you need, but a rule of thumb is 4 to 6 Watts of HO lighting per gallon of aquarium. The diameter of the lamp makes a difference in efficiency and in ease of use. Generally, the smaller the lamp, the more efficient it will be. The diameter of these lamps is measured in eighths of an inch, and prefixed with T. So a T8 is 8/8 in diameter; a T12 is 12/8; a T3 is 3/8. The other important typical measurement are the Watts the lamp consumes. This is important to get a match for the ballast (that cooks the Watts the lamps eat). So a T12-40 consumes 40 W, and a T8-32 consumes 32 W. The length of the tube is another specification that must match. T12-40 and T8-32 are 48inches long for example. As important as the amount of light is the color of the light. Just like the Halides, you need to obtain lamps with a color temperature that simulates the conditions of the reef. If you wish to have any Section: Fluorescent Lighting PAGE 15

chance at all with the soft corals, the lamps must have a color temperature of at least 10,000K. Using regular lamps will simply cause a giant carpet of green hair algae or possibly red slime algae. Don't use those lamps. I know they are cheaper. Don't be a sissy. The bulbs that you purchase are very important. If wanting to keep mushrooms and other soft corals try this tried combination: First tube: Actinic White, 50/50 fluorescent; this provides a combination of triband (for visible light) and actinic (for blue to ultraviolet light) phosphors . Second tube: Blue Actinic, this has only the actinic phosphors, which provide the blueish light the corals require. For a 40 to 55 gallon aquarium 2 strips (4 lamps) will probably be indispensable, 6 lamps will provide much better results, but may not fit atop the aquarium. All fluorescent tubes lose their true spectral output about 6 to 12 months after initial powering up, check with the manufacturer. To maintain light levels consistent:
Keep any glass between bulb and water surface free of algae and mineral deposits. Clean the bulb surface weekly (with damp soft sponge) if directly exposed to water surface. If bulbs or lenses accumulate mineral deposits, clean with a mild acid. Line fluorescent fixtures with a proper light reflector. Replace fluorescent tubes annually for maximum efficiency. Make note of installation date of fluorescent bulbs. Use electronic ballast(s) when possible, for the following reasons: Higher frequency operation, resulting in superior bulb performance and visual presentation Higher power factor, resulting in greater light output Longer ballast life Increases bulb life Greater flexibility, operate lamp diameters T-8, T-10, & T-12 Greater energy efficiency Less heat production to affect aquarium temperature Avoid turning lights on and off unnecessarily.

A great place to find lamps, sockets, ballasts and reflectors for fluorescent fixtures you can build yourself is http://www.ahsupply.com. There are 96W SHO lamps, matching ballasts and parabolic reflectors that will light up a relatively large aquarium and will provide light of sufficient quality to allow most soft corals and other invertebrates to grow. This can be a reasonable tradeoff to the more expensive to operate metal halides.

The phosphors are the powders coated on the inside of the lamp that produce the light.

Section: Fluorescent Lighting

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LED NIGHT LIGHTS

hese are not strictly crucial, but add a lot of life and beauty for a very small investment. Many animals, specially invertebrates, require the natural rhythm of day and night to live, eat and function properly. Some animals are nocturnal and will only come out with nocturnal lighting. Also, the aquarium is very beautiful at night, looking as if it were lit by a full moon. The amount of light required is not large, but must be of the correct color. The spectrum is designed to simulate the light from the sun reflected off the moon. The LEDs only cost about $0.5 each and you need one for every 2 to 3 inches of length of aquarium. Www.digikey.com sells them, part number 365-1201-ND. If you purchase 55 of these LEDS, and wire them in series, you can connect them straight to 120V without dealing with any transformers or power packs. The Other Phenomenal Thing About These LEDs Is That They Only Consume 0.1068W Each. http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll? Detail&name=365-1201-ND is a link to obtain these suckers. For 120V systems, use 55 of the LEDs, and one full wave rectifier, part number KBL02-E4/51GI-ND; link is http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=KBL02-E4/51GI-ND ; in addition, you will need a lamp cord with plug (easily created with an old extension cord); and some place to mount the LEDs.LEDs. I use a plastic molding piece, drill a hole for each LED, then connect all the devices in series.

That means that at 11 per kw-hr you could run this LED 24 hours per day for $0.06 per year

Section:

PAGE 17

HOMEMADE REEF TANK HOOD

o you want to take the big leap into aquarium lighting nirvana and get some of those fancy metal halide lamps or SHO fluorescents and a fancy tank hood to house them . Then you go to the store or to the internet and find that the best price you can find for such a monster is somewhere around $500 for a 4' wide tank. This seems a little painful when you look at the construction and find particle board or cheap plastic. You then have a peek at the better hoods with the better construction and immediately have a heart attack or brain aneurysm. So you figure, how hard can this be anyway? It's not really that hard at all. I needed to build a new canopy, and it had to be large and in charge. It had to house big 250W metal halides at a safe distance from the top of the aquarium. Remember those lamps burn at over 400F and will explode violently with a single drop of water. Then there is the small problem that the lamp will set wood on fire and that each lamp costs the same as a good steak dinner. I designed the hood based on the models I saw in the stores and so that it would be easy to build with the smallest number of tools and without a workshop. The wood of choice is inch MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). MDF is used extensively in the furniture and speaker industry. This stuff is very stiff, very straight, and much easier to work than solid wood or plywood. It is very common, paints easily and is very strong, all for a modest price. It is heavier than solid wood but not as strong. It is much stiffer and stronger than particle board or OSB and much better looking. The edges are easy to work with and do not require laminates, glue or special presses. The biggest problem with MDF is that it droops in a high moisture environment and that it has no grain, so it must be painted or covered in veneer (like Formica) since it has no grain. There are many veneers in many different shades and patterns, you can create a very interesting tank top.

What and Where do I Cut?

This design uses 10 pieces; all straight cuts that can be made by the man in the big orange store; and they can all come from one piece of 4' x 8' MDF. There are several long cuts which must be reasonably precise, so it is better to use the large saw in the store. Cutting long straight pieces with a hand held saw is width of tank almost impossible, so use their services. length of tank Before taking the board to the saw, use a wood width large drywall T-square, a pencil and a finished height tape measure to draw all the cut lines on the board. Remember that the saw has a top finite width (called a kerf), which is about front the size of the line a carpenter's pencil sides makes. Draw the pieces so the wood braces
rear brace

72 18 0.75 15 width 72 73.5 18 18 6 length 18 15 15 2 13.5 number of pieces 1 2 2 4 1

These plans will work just as well for fluorescent lamps; the major difference would be the height; while the metal halides need a 15in high hood, the tubes would only need 8in

Section: Homemade Reef Tank Hood

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dimensions between the pencil lines is the desired final size. In other words, have the Depot Man place his blade right through the pencil line. As long as you aren't using a crayon, or an architect's super fine point pencil, the blade will make the pencil lines disappear and leave just the wood between the lines. The dimensions for a tank 72x18 are shown here, but they can be easily modified to fit any rectangular tank. With this design the front of the hood shows no cuts and no edges. Any imperfections in the cuts isare hidden in the top and on the sides. The only calculations necessary to change the dimensions to any size tank are for the front/rear and the rear brace. yThe front/rear pieces are wider by 2x(wood width); the rear brace is shorter by the same amount. In addition to the wood, you will need the following materials and tools.

Tools & Materials for Homemade Super Awesome Hood

A 4'x 8' x sheet of MDF $34 A Simple Hand Held Inch Drill; Like Harbor Freight's 94436 $18 A Doweling Kit; Harbor Freight 96859 $3 A 36 Extra Dowels pack; Harbor Freight 95615 $2 Several Hole Saws; Harbor Freight 94665 $10 A Small Drill Bit For Pilot Holes; Harbor Freight 9475 $4 Caulking gun for the silicone rubber; $4 A Circular Saw For Cutting The Door; Harbor Freight 94245 $30 Stainless steel hardware $5 (10) 1 #10 wood screws (conical head) for the braces (8) 1 #10 metal screws (flat head) for the fans Two 80mm 12Vdc Computer Cooling Fans; Www.tigerdirect.com $5 A 12V Ac To Dc Power Adapter; Www.partsexpress.com Part 120-040 $6 Or An Old Cell Phone Charger May Work (as Long As Output Is 12-14V Dc) tainless steel hardwareAssorted sOne quart of low VOC water based paint and a paint brush $13 A 36 inch continuous hinge; $7 at the big orange depot tubes of silicone rubber for windows and doors; $62 One quart of low VOC water based paint and a paint brush A 36 inch continuous hinge; $7 at the big orange depot Two tubes of 100% silicone rubber for plastic pieces. You must look at the fine print on the side of the tube; most are not FDA food safe and not safe for aquariums. The stuff you want specifically lists aquariums on the fine print) and is usually sold with plexiglass and Lucite; $6Caulking gun for the silicone rubber; $4

Let's Do This Thing; Make a Bunch of Holes

Once you get all the pieces of wood home, lay them out and label them. Mark the pieces FRONT, REAR, LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, BRACE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. On each piece also mark INSIDE and TOP, on each piece. This is important, since no two pieces will be exactly the same and the dowel holes must line up with each other. Section: Homemade Reef Tank Hood
Illustration Figure 1: dowel Guide Lines, Holes, Pins

PAGE 19

Start with the front and rear pieces. Take your pencil and a scrap piece of MDF as your ruler and a pencil. Mark the top, left and right sides with a line indicating the width of the wood (figure 1). This will be your guide for drilling the blind dowel pin holes. Blind holes These are holes that do not go all the way through the wood. Take the dowel kit and set the drill depth to about the thickness of the wood (figure 2). This will give you the ability to make holes without damaging the front of the piece. Drill 4 evenly spaced holes along the top of the 2 side pieces. Drill 4 evenly spaced holes along the left and right sides of the front and rear pieces. Drill 11 evenly spaced holes along the top of the front and rear pieces. Now take your dowel pins from the kit, and place them in the holes on the LEFT side piece. Carefully line up the side piece with the TOP piece and press together. The pins will make an impression on the TOP piece where the dowels will line up. Do the same thing for the RIGHT side piece. Sometimes the dowel pins dont come out very easily, this is normal, we want a tight fit for the dowels.

Join the LEFT, RIGHT and TOP

Now set the drill depth to 1 (the length of your 5/16 diameter dowels), and drill the 8 holes on the sides of the TOP piece where the impressions were left by your pins; where the dowels will match the SIDE pieces. It is very important to drill straight down into the wood when doing these holes, since the larger part of the dowel will sit inside (figure 4). Remove the pins from the SIDE pieces and add a drop of glue to each hole. Carefully tap a dowel flush to the bottom of each blind hole. Now add a line of glue to each side of the joint, and carefully place the two pieces together. Use a door frame or a wall to ensure you get a 90 angle (figure 3).
Illustrationfigure 4: Holes 1 Long DeepHoles

IllustrationFigur e 2: Drill Bit Stop

Illustrationfigure 3: Glue And Join

When the three pieces are together, your creation should look like figure 55. Take a dry rag and wipe off all of the glue that leaks out of the joints. The silicone does not receive paint at all and is very difficult to remove when dry.

Join the REAR piece

Now this is the hard part. The REAR piece is joined by 19 dowels, but you only have 4 dowel pins to work with. This means you have make the impressions 4 holes at a time. You must place the REAR piece on the assembly several times, marking 4 holes at a time. Each time the REAR piece is placed on the assembly, you Section: Homemade Reef Tank Hood PAGE 20

Illustrationfigure 5: Top, Left And Right

must ensure that it is placed exactly like before, or the dowels will not line up. If the man with the big saw did a great job following your pencil cut lines, the REAR piece will fit exactly on the assembly you have created. Just take your time and be patient. Now take the drill and make the 19 1 Deep Holes, Straight Into The Wood. You must be very careful to drill vertically. In figure 5 you see most of the holes drilled, waiting for the dowels. Same as you did with the SIDE pieces, add a bit of glue to each blind hole on the REAR piece and tap in the Illustrationfigure 6: Line Up ALL Dowels dowels. Then add a line of glue to all joining surfaces and carefully join the Illustrationfigure 7: REAR piece to the assembly. You will Bottom Side Braces have to place all the dowels in their corresponding holes before pressing the piece together (figure 6 6). The REAR piece will come on surprisingly tight so do not Illustrationfigure 8: Rear, Top, Left, Right be alarmed. You may want to carefully sit on the unit to squeeze everything together. After you are done sitting on the job, the hood should look like Illustrationfigure 78. Illustrationfigure 9: Gap For Side Braces

Wait, Do Not Glue The Front Piece Yet

You may want to glue the front piece now, but that would be a terrible idea. We need to place 5 braces inside the box, so that the hood is stable and stiff (figure 1010). Start with Brace 1 and Brace 2. These skinny braces sit on the LEFT and RIGHT side pieces, right up against the TOP piece. This gives the top something to sit on, other than just a bunch of dowels. Draw a line down the middle of all the braces. This line should be along the long side of the brace. Then make 2 holes in each brace, evenly spaced along this long line. Now place each brace in the box, where it will live, and mark the sides with your trusty dowel pins. Brace 3 and 4 (figures 87 & 9 9) also live on the LEFT and RIGHT side pieces, but in aabove the bottom. This is to give a lip for the glass to sit on. This small detail allows the hood to sit just below the glass, so that there is no gap between the two that would allow light to leak out all over your living room.
Illustrationfigure 10: Side Braces

Section: Homemade Reef Tank Hood

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Once the sides are marked with your dowel pins, use the dowel pin kit and the special drill bit set the drill depth to about the thickness of the wood. Drill the blind holes on LEFT and RIGHT pieces, put a dab of glue and a dowel in the holes, and place the BRACES in position. If you did this correctly, the ends of the dowels will show through the braces. OK, get the 1/8 drill bit from your kit, and make pilot holes for the wood screws we will use in a minute. The pilot holes should not extend more than 1 into the surface, so there will be no holes on the sides of the hood. Pilot holes are important since they keep wood from splitting, so do not skip that step. Use two #10 1 wood screws for each brace to clamp the braces against the sides. After the screws are in the braces, take a special saw (or a hacksaw or a kitchen knife) and cut off the tips of the dowels as shown in figure 11. When You Are all done, the result should look like illustrationfigure 1010.

Illustrationfigure 11: Cut Off The Tips Of The Dowels

IllustrationFigure 12: All Braces In

Now repeat the process for BRACE 5 (the fat one). This brace goes on the REAR piece, centered along the back, remembering that the brace needs to be From The Bottom. This Is The Same Gap As The Side Braces That Allows The Hood To Sit Below The Level Of The Glass. The Final Assembly Looks Like Figure 12.

OK the FRONT piece can come on now

The only wood piece you should have left is the FRONT piece. This piece comes on just like the REAR piece did a few minutes ago. This is hard but should be easier than the REAR. The FRONT piece is again joined by 19 dowels, and you still only have 4 dowel pins. Place the piece on the assembly several times, replacing it exactly each time so the dowels will line up. Take your time and be patient. Drill the 19 1 deep holes, straight into the wood. Add glue to each blind hole on the FRONT piece and tap in the dowels. Add a line of glue to all joining surfaces and carefully join the FRONT piece to the assembly. You will have to place all the dowels in their corresponding holes before pressing the piece together
IllustrationFigure 13: Box Complete; Ready To Cut Door If you found a different size screw, see the Pilot Hole Sizes for Wood Screws table on Page 54 to find the correct pilot hole size.

Section: Homemade Reef Tank Hood

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(figure 6). The FRONT piece will come on VERY tight. You may want to carefully sit on the unit to squeeze everything together. After you are done sitting on the job again, the hood should look like figure 13.

Now Let's Add a Door

Wow, the hood looks great doesn't Iit? All we have is a large heavy box though. Let's add a door to the front piece. This will allow us to feed the fish and change lamps without removing the big box. Although a rectangular door would be easiest to cut, I chose to cut a door with quarter circles on each top corner. The front needs to remain stiff and strong, so the door cannot be too large. Measure the door so that there will be at least 4 inches of wood left over on the front piece (figure 14). Use a circular saw to cut the door along the guidelines but do not finish the corner cut. Be very careful and very patient since cutting a straight line with a hand held circular saw is very difficult. Finishing the corner cut must be done from the inside due to the way circular saws work. If you choose to do a curved corner, use a jigsaw with a coarse blade. MDF is very dense and will burn a fine blade. Be careful when finishing the cut, have someone hold the door steady so it does not fall. The finished assembly will look like figure 15. Adding the hinge can be very tricky if you approach it the wrong way. Attach the hinge to the door first. The screws are very small and difficult to work with. You will be much happier if you use pilot holes and glue between the hinge and the wood. Trust me, you will be much happier. Once the hinge is on the door, very carefully place the door on the FRONT piece and attach the hinge. Your assembly should look like figure 16.

Illustration 14: Guidelines For Door

Illustration 15: Hood With Door Cutout

II

Illustration 16: Completed Wood Assembly

Section: Homemade Reef Tank Hood

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Section: Homemade Reef Tank Hood

PAGE 24

SURFACE SKIMMER / OVERFLOW BOX

his sounds a lot like something Capt Kirk would have on the Enterprise, and alas, he may have had one. However, this particular device is used to collect the water from the surface of the aquarium, on its way to the filter system. Marine water is heavier than fresh water, things float better, anyone who swims can testify to that little gem of information. Fundamentally we wish to remove junk from the surface before it makes its way down to the bottom of the tank. We wish to have a continuous stream of water from the bottom to the top of the tank. The other reason this is very important is gas exchange. Gas exchange is what occurs on the surface of all bodies of water. Without getting into too much physics, excess nitrites, nitrates, methane, CO2 and other nasty gases leave the water at the surface and O2, nitrogen, and other good gases enter the water at the surface. These gases, both detrimental and fundamental for life, exchange at the surface. This is a beautiful thing that God created with wave action, that we need to replicate. The first skimmers consisted of two boxes that straddled the fish tank and had a U-tube connecting them. These are the only ones you can use if your tank is not drilled. This is very unfortunate since they basically suck eggs. These boxes are a constant source of frustration. They clog. They collect smelly junk. They lose siphon. They cause your tank to overflow. The sponges are always nasty. Also, as a last bonus, they are expensive, between $60 to $100. If you have one of these overflow boxes, sell it to some sucker on eBay or craigslist. If your tank is not drilled, which means it has a gaping 1in diameter hole in the bottom glass somewhere near the rear corner or the rear center, get it drilled. That's right. Make a giant hole in the bottom of the perfectly good fish tank. All you really need is a Dremel tool or a RotoZip and a glass bit. Drilling the hole is not complicated when the tank is empty. Once the tank is full of marine life, however, things are much more difficult. Once the tank is drilled, the overflow box lives inside the tank. For a corner hole all you really need is a piece of plexiglass (typically black) against the corner. This makes a triangular void where the water can spill into the chamber and out the hole. For a rear-center hole, you basically take the overflow box and place it inside the tank. Look at all the big and fancy marine tanks in the store. They are all drilled. There is a reason.

Section: Surface Skimmer / Overflow Box

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WATER PUMPS AND AIR PUMPS

efore we talk about the water pump. Let's talk about the air pump.

Air Pump
You don'tdo not need one. You don'tdo not want one. Air stones and sticks will break your bones; good oxygen saturation never hurt me.Because marine water is denser than fresh water, bubbles have a greater surface tension. This means that bubbles are smaller and harder to pop. Fish at 30ft of water don'tdo not see bubbles, and will actually bond to their gills. This is bad, since the gills only work when submerged. Air stones in a marine tank will actually cause the animals to suffocate. The only exception to this is for a cheap protein skimmer that we will discuss later.

Back to the Water Pump

You need a big, nasty, powerful, angry water pump. The bigger and nastier the better. These are not tranquil Siamese Fighting Fish living in a goldfish bowl on your desk. These are animals that were accustomed to the surf of the ocean. They like it big and they like it surfy. The invertebrates require constant flow of clean water for food and gases. Corals in particular require a ton of water movement, since they cannot themselves move. Feather dusters, clams, and many other invertebrates simply will die if the water does not move enough. You can spend oodles of money purchasing some special water pump in the pet shop. Or you can go to Home Depot and get a fountain or water feature or pond pump. These are a lot cheaper, often have traditional PVC and Pipe fittings and work exactly the same. If you have the space and the ability, the best kind of pump you can obtain are swimming pool or spa pumps. If you don'tdo not believe me, look at the back room of the fish store. These are designed to run constantly, with little noise and with maximum amount of flow. Since there are about a gazillion pools in the US, these pumps are sold much more frequently than some special Belgian marine aquarium pump. Remember water movement is the key of life to all your animals. The rule of thumb is that you want to move the entire mass of water at least 5 times and preferably 10 times per hour. So a 75 gallon reef tank requires 750 gph (gallons per hour) of water movement. This is a substantial amount of water and the pump will cost you money on a monthly basis. Spend the money on an efficient pump. This righteous pump will have to provide 750gph continuously at 4 ft elevation (also known as pump head). A Hp pump would cost roughly $15/month to operate, with an additional $21/month or so for the A/C load; this is a total of $432/year. However, a much less efficient Hp pump would cost an additional $72/month to pump the same water; creating a yearly bill of $1296. If you could get the same amount of pumping done with a 1/8 Hp pump; and have that pump be outside the air conditioned space, the total yearly cost would be a puny $85. So
For examples of efficient, righteous pumps: www.spadepot.com BX4205 or BX4202 cost about $150 (with shipping!) will cost about $10/month to run 24hrs/day

Section: Water Pumps and Air Pumps

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how do you know if a pump is efficient or not? Look at the nameplate on the motor. There should be horsepower, voltage and amperage ratings. A 100% efficient pump would create 1hp for every 6.2 Amps at 120V. You will find many pumps that are not even 50% efficient. The difference in power, i.e., the non-efficiency becomes heat for your A/C. Even if a good pump is $300, which it isn't, it would pay for itself in less than 6 months. Realize that much of the cost of running the water is the A/C load; the amount of heat the pump adds to the air conditioned space which must then be removed by the A/C. Interestingly, this is only a problem if the pump is under A/C. We will see soon why placing the pump and filters in a separate location will be a good idea. Again, think of the fish store.

Submersible Pumps; Power Heads; Wave Makers

Water movement, and eliminating dead spots is so important that you may find yourself adding additional submersible pumps in strategic locations in the tank. Again I refer you to eBay, where you can obtain these things for 1/3 of what your local store is demanding. Some china man eBay seller, xcceries has 2 NEW 800GPH WAVE MAKER AQUARIUM WATER PUMP POWERHEAD for about $34. By the way, these are probably made in China. Good thing is, so are the over-priced ones that the store wants to sell you. Probably in the same sweatshop. Oh, and in case you are wondering, yes, these gizmos create heat which is added to the water. A wave maker is an advanced, in other words, expensive device that controls several power heads and/or submersible pumps. The device cycles the pumps in an near random manner, turning them on and off in succession. The changing water movements simulate the back and forth rocking the waves give to our friendly reef dwellers. This sounds like The Fish Whisperer, spending money on something that is supposed to make our fish feel better. Actually, and almost unbelievably, this is not psycho babble; the wave motion has a reason. Yup, God once again, knew what he was doing. The wave motion scrubs the floor and the coral, almost like a water broom. This sweeping motion will help keep your rocks and corals clean; this will also keep your immobile invertebrates like corals, dusters, worms, and others fed and clean. Although the wavemakers are incredibly expensive, they are something worth looking into! The best would be to grab an electrical engineer friend, and have him make a circuit that randomizes several circuits. The next best thing would be to use hydro-dynamic motion to simulate random wave motion. That sounds silly complicated, but all it involves is strategically pointing several powerheads to interact with each other. You can read more about this idea in: http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/diywavemakersurgedevic/ss/sssimplewavemaker.htm

Section: Water Pumps and Air Pumps

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THE TIMER

h, the lonely timer. That often forgotten piece of lonely machinery that works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without ever complaining or taking a break. Indeed, admire the work ethic of the timer. These little jewels are crucial to the survival of your marine animals and your sanity. Unless you really like turning lights and pumps on and off manually every day, several times a day, you need a few good timers. The most obvious need for a timer is the lighting. Lighting is crucial to some of the life inside the tank, in particular, the algaes and bacteria that you will share your home with. Those creatures require the light for photosynthesis, and reward you with oxygen. Deprive them of light, and they will consume oxygen, generate carbon dioxide and turn the waste in the tank into toxic chemicals. All corals and many invertebrates have a symbiotic relationship with light gathering microorganisms. The right quantity and type of light is critical. Most organisms will thrive with 10 to 12 hours per day of the right type and quantity of light. Having the wrong light for more hours will simply grow more of the wrong algae faster, so don'tdo not make that mistake. A timer with a 7 day schedule is very nice to own, so that you can have the lights in the living room and the aquarium coincide with your schedule. There will most probably be more than one set of lights atop the aquarium. Each set should have its own timer, so that you can turn the lights on and off in succession, with 20 30 minutes between each set of lights. There is less shock and surprise if the daylight comes on and off slowly. The moon lights, or night lights should come one before the daylights turn off (just like in real life) and turn off after the daylights come on. The water pump also needs to be on a pump. The preferred kind is the mechanical type with the little plastic or metal keys that one pulls for each 15 or 30 minute time period. This is simply to help with our inherent laziness. You see, when feeding time comes around, you need to turn the filtration pumps off. This is so your expensive food doesn't get sucked up into the filter before your babies get a chance to eat. However, the pump needs to come back on after 15 30 minutes. Yes, this simple thing is often forgotten, and next thing you know, the filtration (and therefore aeration) is off all night, and you wake up to dozens of dead creatures. These mechanical timers never forget. You hit the manual OFF button, feed your fish. Go to work. Go cut the grass. Go to sleep. No matter what you do, the pumps will be back on in 30 minutes. The other great thing about these timers is that you can force your filtration pump to turn on and off many times a day. This is great if you have a truly monster pump that does not need to run 24/7. If you look at the cost calculations, the electricity for the pump costs a significant amount of money. But turn it on for an hour, off for an hour, and you cut the electrical requirement in half. Also, you create a false wave motion that helps the lifeforms in your aquarium. The amount of on/off time will need to be adjusted as the filtration system matures and the number of creatures increases; the lonely timer lets you do that.

Section: The Timer

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THE CHILLER

h no, he didn't! Oh yeah, I said chiller. I'll say it again, CHILLER. But that is a loud, expensive gizmo that sucks electronic juice as if it was cocaine you say. Well you wanted marine fish, right? Your house is not some Belgian Monk monastery (or my sister's house) which is normally at or less than 68F. So this means that your water will be way too hot for some fish, most invertebrates, and all coral. That blows, I really wanted to do this reef thing Well, don'tdo not despair, all is not lost. After all, people did this before chillers existed. So let's look at the problem and at the solution. The problem lies in basic thermodynamic concepts. The Wind Chill Factor is only an illusion. It only means that you perceive the temperature to be colder than it really is. So blowing air on the aquarium won'twill not do a thing. The reality is that the aquarium will never be any colder than the average ambient air temperature of the room that it is in 1. In fact, using basic thermodynamic law numero 22, it will always necessarily be warmer than the room3. This has to do with some basic ideas. First of all, the lights will be heating the water. They produce a ton of UV radiation and of course those fabulous photons that make our animals perform photosynthesis and make them look darn pretty. Bummer, all that ends up as heat in the water. Second is the mixing of atmosphere with the water. We know that gas exchange happens at the surface. Guess where that is? Right near the hottest air in the room, by the surface skimmer, close to the lights that are burning at approximately 400F. Oh Snap! Third is the heat generated by the action of the millions of friendly bacteria you will have working for you, the heat generated by the pumping action and mechanical losses of all the water pumps, and other heat sources scattered about. No, there is no cool source. All this heat means that the water is going to increase in temperature. The temperature of the aquarium will increase above ambient air temperature. Which means that this heat will be transferred to the air in the house. Which means that the A/C unit of the house will attempt to lower the temperature of the ambient air in the house. Which, after slapping yourself in the head and referring back to Thermodynamic Rule #3, means that Oh no, you are going to pay for some machine to chill your water anyway. So, are you bumming yet? No fear, grasshopper. Take deep breath. Allow the truth to enter. The water will be heated. The water will be cooled. You will pay for both processes. Do something about it. Financially, you are better served by cooling only the water of the aquarium, instead of the whole house or the room the tank is in. The animals simply will not live if the water is too hot. This is a tough lesson to learn when you come home, $400 of fish are all floating belly up and 6 months of coral growth smells like a fish market.

1 Thermodynamic Law #1: You Can Never Win 2 Thermodynamic Law #2: You Can't Tie 3 Thermodynamic Law #3: You Can't Even Come Close

Section: The Chiller

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THE PROTEIN SKIMMER

onfucius Say: Salt water fish pee. Fresh water fish do not. Well, maybe he didn't, but he should have. Turns out many of the things that belong to the Kingdom Animalia have some type of saline solution inside their bodies. Humans for instance are about water. What everyone forgets is that we are saline water. In the hospital, we don'tdo not get an IV of pure water, we get an IV of isotonic saline solution. This solution is about 9g Na Cl per liter of H 20, a specific gravity of 1.009. Osmosis, put very simply, is the process where one substance creeps from one body into another. Stick a fish with a body full of 1.009 water in an ocean full of 1.023 water and what happens? The salt creeps into his body . The fish then has to get rid of this salt, in the form of urine. Marine animals are constantly relieving themselves of this excess salt; they pee all the time. This is why you barely ever see them excrete any solids. Now think of a goldfish in a river full of 1.000 water. The salt in his body is always trying to exit his body. They never urinate and like a camel, always conserve their water. This is why fresh water fish have those large yukky turds, and we don'tdo not need a protein skimmer. So why all the talk about pee? Organic matter is a major source of the nutrients needed by microalgae (hair algae) and cyanobacteria (slime algae) to grow and reproduce. Efficient removal of organic matter and dissolved waste reduces the amount of harmful floating bacteria, reduces yellow discoloration of the aquarium water, limits nitrate and phosphate build up , and prevents the aquarium from being covered in green or brown slime. In other words, the the animals don'tdo not like to swim in their own pee. The stuff is toxic in high enough concentrations, and we must remove the stuff constantly in a marine aquarium. See the problem here? This seems like a tremendously fun job. Constantly remove stinky pee from my aquarium. Wow, where do I sign up? There are two ways to do this admirable act.

The Traditional Protein Skimmer

This is a gizmo that literally forces a column of water to be exposed to bizillions of tiny bubbles. Turns out that bubbles have a large surface area, when combined with the large surface tension of saltwater, binds protein molecules to the bubbles. All we have to do then, is pop the bubbles in a jar, and collect the amazingly stinky concentrated pee. When the jar gets full, or really stinky, take it and dump it somewhere. I know that so far, this sounds like a really good time. Now add to your maintenance schedule some time to work on the air pump (or water pump with air suction) and the constantly clogging pipes and cones of the traditional

Technically, the water leaves the fish body, leaving him saltier and closer to 1.023. The fish compensates by drinking ocean water, which gets him closer still to 1.023. They then excrete waste and excess salt in their urine. More on the nitrogen cycle later

Section: The Protein Skimmer

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protein skimmer and you have got yourself a party. Some people will run a small hose from the bottom of the jar out the door but that just burns the grass. Protein skimming (also called foam fractionation) can be considered as a form of mechanical filtration, since it is a physical process of removing substances from water, without any chemical or biological action. The good thing about these devices is that they work, and they work well. When they are running, they usually make little noise and do a marvelous job of collecting waste protein. There are many styles and manufacturers of these things with all kinds of scientific sounding names. The bubbles are either made with an air pump and a stone or a water pump that sucks air. The air stones require constant cleaning since they tend to clog, due to living in an environment rich in waste. Some of the water pump units use a pinwheel to break up the bubbles as they go through the impeller. This is the preferred style, since they make the largest amount of small bubbles.

The Berlin Method Or, Why You May Not Need a Protein Skimmer
Those good folks at the Berlin Sea World place got tired of cleaning Shamu's pee. This was an issue for them, and I can probably understand. So they went searching for a different method. They asked themselves; What actually likes dissolved aquatic proteins? What would eat this stuff? Well, we feed our crops tons of cow manure....... Turns out that mangroves love this stuff. They don't just like it, they devour it. Oh Yeah, just like Mountain Dew, just not exactly the same stuff. So instead of a mechanical protein skimmer that always requires maintenance and will break down at exactly the time that you got dressed in those really fine clothes, you can grow mangroves. How about the stuff that the mangroves simply will not consume? Turns out that green algae eats the stuff the mangroves don'tdo not like. Which is really cool because green algae is free. This makes sense, too. Why were we using the protein skimmer in the first place? To remove the free floating protein that gave rise to the unsightly algae we didn't want in the aquarium. So all we need is some place to put mangroves and green algae in our tank. Oh wait, you say that long stringy green algae is not what you want to be looking at? Well; Welcome to the refugium. Hmm, actually, not so fast.

For those that are OCD

Remember way back in the beginning of this essay, a point about some dirt not killing you? When a protein skimmer is working well, the dissolved and particulate proteins are constantly being removed from the water. With the Berlin method, we don'tdo not remove them, we allow natural organisms to consume them. This means that with the Berlin method, you may find some growth in the aquarium from time to time. Also, the water may have some organic matter floating in it. Although invisible, it may color the water some. In other words, if you require that OCD perfectly transparent water, protein skimmer is for you.

Yes, they know when you have those pimpin' pants on

Section: The Protein Skimmer

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THE REFUGIUM

o, I don't know why they call it by that name , maybe the Germans had a lousy German to English dictionary. To marine aquarium hobbyists the word implies a separate tank, bucket or other receptacle, which shares the water of the aquarium, and houses specific species used to clean the water. Just know that it works; so how do we make one? The Refugium: needs to be at least 10% of the volume of the main aquarium, but is ideally much larger requires tremendous amounts of light, preferably light from that fiery ball in the sky will have stringy algae, muddy substrate, and mangroves growing inside will have oodles of crabs, shrimp, copepods, worms and other friendly invertebrates stirring up the sand will have a flow of dirty water from the tank, which will preferably come with millions of tiny bubbles, or is highly agitated upon entry will return its clean water to the aquarium

So we need to create a SAFE-PLACE for the yukky stuff we didn't want in the aquarium. Instead of spending our time removing the protein, just to stop the algae and bacteria from growing, we embrace our one-celled friends and give them a home. Not just any home either, but a whole condominium village that comes furnished with a never ending supply of free floating organic material, animal excretions and, for dessert, all the urine you want. Then we give these friends some light, and a many binding locations that they can call their own. Don't you just feel warm and tingly all over? To ensure our single celled friends come to stay here and do not decide to make a home in the aquarium, the water in the refugium needs to concentrate the organic matter. The easiest method to accomplish this is to rely on the surface tension of the bubbles, just like the protein skimmer does. The water entering the refugium should come with millions of bubbles, created hopefully with a suction line to a small power head. In case you have one of the angry, giant pumps we mentioned before, a simple discharge line running through a venturi fitting will provide all the bubbles you desire, without a single air stone or air pump. Check out a jet fitting here: http://www.petsolutions.com/Turbo-Venturi-Valve+I12515435.aspx

The dictionary definition is: an area where special environmental circumstances have enabled a species or a community of species to survive after extinction in surrounding areas Just like a hot tub or spa creates its bubbles

Section: The Refugium

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THE WET-DRY FILTER

ow, that is a lot of money for a plastic box with a bunch of junk inside! will most probably be the reaction you get from anyone that goes to the store to purchase this thing. I agree, but does not mean this does not belong on our list of essential stuff. No one says you have to purchase this device new, certainly there are plenty of used ones in the market. A quick glance at www.thatfishplace.com and you see units for as much as $800; which means someone actually paid that much for one. However, once you understand how they work, they become surprisingly easy to make. Problem is that this device is a mystery even to people that have had them for years. These are great devices and were the cat's meow when some great thinker invented them. They are, in effect, a fully functional septic tank, right underneath your nose. Now, you really want to go plop down some serious cash, right? Why wet-dry? What the heck does that even mean? This imprecise moniker refers to the ideal environment for a particular type of bacteria. Turns out that someone with a lot more time than you and I discovered that some strains of bacteria love the water, but some love the air, too. Who knew? So the trick is to expose the dirty water to as many of the little critters as possible. Then for a good touch, expose the water to different types of these critters. The way we accomplish this feat is to provide two environments for the microorganisms. The wet section is nothing more than a container with water, that creates an ideal environment for the little guys that like swimming. The dry section is a misnomer since we always want to clean water. This section exposes the water as a thin film, the film running in a random manner so the filtering media is sometimes wet and sometimes dry. The dry section really should be called the relatively dry, or splashing section. Aerobic bacteria, those that perform while breathing oxygen, are the ones we wish to cultivate. These guys do an astonishing thing: they make waste disappear and give off these gases called nitrates which feed plants. To fully understand this thing you need to have a working knowledge of the nitrogen cycle.

Nitrogen Cycle in 2 minutes

Fish poop contains proteins; Proteins break down (by good bacteria) into amino acids and ammonia; Amino acids and ammonia break down (by good bacteria) into nitrates; Nitrates feed plants in the presence of oxygen, CO2 and light; look at the fertilizer for your lawn, there is a column for nitrogen; grass is always greener over the septic tank Nitrates also feed bad anaerobic bacteria when at least one of these is not present to scavenge these gases: plants, oxygen, CO 2 or light. These critters take the oxygen molecule for themselves and create nitrites. The bummer here is that nitrates or nitrites get absorbed into the blood, and take the
These guys work with oxygen present These guys work without oxygen being present, like inside your intestines or in a dead pocket of water

Section: The Wet-Dry Filter

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place of oxygen, turning your blood brown and killing you. So we want to keep these gases under control. The good thing is that we can send the nitrates and nitrites to the atmosphere and we can use plant life to get rid of the nitrates.

Housing and Back-to-Work Projects for Bacteria Dry Section

So we need to cultivate as many of these oxygen loving free spirits as we possibly can. We create a reaction chamber, which is just a marketing term for a bucket with housing projects for bacteria. The reaction chamber is just chock full of filtering media, another marketing term. The filtering media is typically Bio-Balls, or something similar. These are plastic balls with a very precise and explicit design. The design maximizes the amount of surface area available for the bacteria to cling. The design also allows the water to run randomly through the balls, quenching the area, then exposing it to the atmosphere. When the area is quenched, new food comes to the bacteria. When the area is dry, lots of oxygen is available to these little guys. This exposure to the atmosphere does several things: First, it gives the bacteria a job. Second, it gives bad gases a chance to escape to the atmosphere. Third, it gives good gases a chance to enter the water. Fourth, it allows small bubbles to explode. The Bio-Balls are silly expensive, and maybe understandably so for the first 20 years. Now it is just silly to pay fish store prices for these things. Again, our good friends in China and eBay come to the rescue. There are plenty of places selling these things for a great price.

Housing and Back-to-Work Projects for Algae Wet Section

Once our recently unemployed bacteria complete their work, we send the water with a fresh supply of nitrates to the next batch of indentured servants, the plants. Here is where one of the problems lies with the typical aquarium setup. Green plants need light for photosynthesis. There are species of brown algae that work with very little light, but we rather use the green guys. The green plants are more efficient, remove more stuff and work faster than the brown guys. Some filters use a sponge to concentrate the wet critters; this quickly becomes a smelly, gooey, mass of brown mush, unless the filter is giant compared to the size of the biological load . Some other great thinker decided to light up the wet area, and Bam! You get a refugium. Wait, didn't we just talk about those things? Yes, yes, grasshopper.

This is called Natural Nitrate Reduction, sometimes called NNR. Refer to the section about water pumps to see why this is a good thing The amount of critters living in your aquarium that are creating waste for the filter

Section: The Wet-Dry Filter

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The Sump and The Reasons to Make a Big One

The sump is part of the wet section and is normally where the pump lives. Submersible pumps are often used, although they tend to be inefficient and they add heat to the water of the aquarium. The sump is an important part of the filter and not just to house the pump. A sump gives you greater control over your tank. The benefits far exceed the risks, and most successful aquariums you'll see utilize a sump. The sump offers: Increased total water volume; dilutes your water of accumulating pollutants, and helps avoid issues that occur quickly in smaller tanks. Hides equipment - Heaters, protein skimmers, monitoring probes, grounding probes and more can be moved to the sump & out of the display tank. Consistent water level - The display tank will maintain the same water level at all times; evaporation occurs in the sump. Safe place to pour in additives - Adding chemicals or new (Reverse Osmosis Deionized) water in the sump allows it to mix before entering the display tank. Increased circulation - The return water from the sump is a way to move water in your tank. You can point the return outlet(s) in different directions to create flow, instead of putting more powerheads in the tank. Increased oxygenation - As water drains into the sump, air mixes in the water, allowing beneficial gas exchange, releasing CO2 and adding fresh O2. Allows bubbles a chance to explode before returning to the aquarium.

How to Avoid Paying Way Too Much

I have never been able to justify paying for an acrylic wet-dry filter. I understand they are pretty, and smooth and shiny. But, aren't we talking about a fish toilet? Isn't the refugium a fancy word to say bucket? And, correct me if I am wrong, but do the bacteria and algae really care if their septic tank has a fancy name-brand? So what should the not-born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-my-nanny's-hand crowd do? Think like the hobbyists of days gone by, where the local fish store simply did not have a fancy $800 wet-dry filter; they did not exist. Think like the hobbyist that realizes the greater the water volume, the more tolerant the system will be. Remember the larger the water volume, the better. Find the largest used aquarium, plastic bucket or any other clean container that will fit in the location you have deemed for your filter. I purchased two 37 gallon feed buckets, from Tractor Supply Corp for my system. This adds up to 74 gallons of additional water to the system, and creates a gigantic space for the microorganisms to thrive. Many people take a used aquarium and place it under the main aquarium. The container does not much matter. We are talking about a septic tank. If you really like the idea of having an acrylic sump, refugium and wet dry filter, make it yourself. Acrylic is easy to cut and easy to glue. The plastic is not particularly cheap though. In any case, here are plans for a great sump, refugium, filter http://www.melevsreef.com/55g/55g_sump.html
By the way, lot of publications will refer to the LFS Local Fish Store

Section: The Wet-Dry Filter

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The one thing that is very important, and you should not fabricate, is the filtering media, usually Bio-Balls or Bio-Bale. This media maximizes surface area while minimizing clogging. There are plenty of suppliers on eBay and online. Do not spend a fortune on these things, but do obtain them, and as with many things in life, the more the merrier.

Piping, Lighting
Water spills over the surface skimmer in the tank and down the drain. The surface skimmer is normally left empty, to aid in water agitation and oxygenation. A pipe collects the water and directs it to the top of the biological media (the Bio-Balls). Usually the pipe ends in some type of shower head, with large holes, about the diameter of a #2 pencil. This is to flow the water over all of the balls. The water flows through the filter media, and exits out the bottom of the media chamber on its way to the sump and refugium. The circulation pump then sucks from the sump and returns the water back to the aquarium. The refugium must receive lighting, the more the merrier. If it must be artificial, use compact fluorescents with a color temperature of 6000K; those that are designed for plant growth.

Power Outages, Feeding Time

This filtration system is the device that removes poop and urine using microbes; removes CO 2 and adds O2 by agitation and circulation, so it must run at all times. In the event of a power outage: The system must be able to prime itself, to restart. All your fish will die within hours if the pump does not run. The system must not become a siphon, dumping your aquarium contents to your living room; you must incorporate an anti-siphon valve, also called an automatic vent valve, or sometimes a vacuum breaker.

The only time that you will want to turn off this filter is at feeding time. The food will be sucked into the filter before the fish and the invertebrates finish their meal.

Must be a valve that is metal free; most are made of bronze or brass so be careful; a good source for these valves are supply houses that specialize with pool equipment. All solar pool heating systems require one of these valves, and they are made to withstand salt and UV

Section: The Wet-Dry Filter

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SUBSTRATE (THAT STUFF ON THE BOTTOM)

ou need some stuff on the bottom of the tank, that way you don't just see glass. Also, the substrate is the base for which to anchor your coral, and the home for some of the creatures you will have living with you. Additionally, the substrate will help to buffer pH and the calcium level in the water. The most common type of substrate is crushed coral, although it isn't exactly crushed coral. Some marine microbes, most coral, molluscs and crustaceans take calcium from the ocean water by raising the pH of the water around their bodies to precipitate calcium carbonate (CaCO3). When these animals die, their shells fall to the floor of the ocean and begin to dissolve. Calcium carbonate also occurs naturally in the soil, as either aragonite and calcite. We use this stuff for all kinds of purposes including cement and ant-acids for upset stomachs. Chicken farmers use calcium carbonate to mix with their feed so the chickens can produce eggs with thicker shells, easing the eggs' trip to the market. Bottom line is that you can buy aragonite, calcium carbonate, calcite, chicken feed, crushed oyster shells or crushed coral, and it's all the same stuff. The biggest difference between packaging is the amount of dust, impurities and trash mixed with the product. All your fish, crustaceans, polyps, corals, molluscs and other creatures in your marine aquarium require calcium in the water for growth. You can spend time and energy measuring calcium content and adding it as an additive or you can skip this problem and fill the bottom of the tank wi th calcium carbonate. Several pet product manufacturers sell crushed coral for this purpose, although feed stores often have it at a better price marketed for chicken feed. The crushed coral dissolves slowly, keeping calcium in the water, and buffers the pH, all automatically. In addition to buffering the pH and calcium levels, the substrate serves other important functions. First, it acts as a home for some of the most useful nitrifying bacteria in the aquarium. They are the first to work on the food and waste items that drop to the bottom. Some animals also use the gravel as a home, digging themselves in for camouflage and protection. As most of us have seen walking on the beach, there are several colors of and in sea shells. This also occurs in the substrate that is commercially available. You can purchase pink, black, cream, white and other color substrates. A very important factor to consider is the grain size. If you plan on growing live plants or keeping any
The most common colors are:Crushed Coral natural coral color; Super Natural Sunset Gold nice gold color; Coraline Substrate intense pink color; Super Natural Moon intense black color

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of the many species of fish that dig themselves into the sand , then you will have a necessity for finer grain (sandlike). However, the finer grain creates less passage for seawater through the gravel bed. This can have devastating results if the sand is not stirred and sifted constantly. So, fine gravel is required for some animals, and those animals require fine gravel. One goes with the other, yin and yang. Do not attempt only one side of that equation. Also, sand falls down through the gravel and disappears. So you cannot have both gravel and sand, only one or the other. There are several groups of thought concerning the correct amount and type of substrate. Most people have had success with a bed approximately 2 inches tall. This roughly translates to 1lb of rock for each gallon of water in the tank. If the gravel bed is too tall, there is a danger of non-circulating water pockets. These dead spots become home to anaerobic bacteria that can create pockets of deadly gas. If the gravel bed is too small, there is no significant surface area for any bacteria to grow. This allows waste products to accumulate in certain spots in the tank, both causing an eyesore and a potential spot for hazardous microbes to form. Don'tDo not underestimate the pH and calcium buffering capabilities of crushed coral, or the need to have water flowing over and through it. The correct pH for a marine aquarium is around 8.2 which is far away from pure water (7.0) and is slightly basic. The correct pH is mandatory for the survival of your fish and other creatures. Crushed coral automatically keeps the pH at the right level. Your powerheads and filtration pumps must keep water flowing over the substrate. This ensures that your friendly microbes stay happy and well fed. As long as they are happy, they are cleaning your water and eating poop. Yay!! Sand from the beach, although technically the correct stuff is a great big gamble. You may be inviting all types of pathogenic microorganisms to your expensive tank. You may be bringing suntan lotion, bbq ashes, motor oil, grease, tar, rust and a million other bad things to your tank. Just a tiny amount of these substances, in a closed system of a few dozen gallons, will be fatal. If you can go at least 5 miles from land, and collect substrate from the ocean at depth then you can save yourself some cash. If you can't, don't risk killing everything in your tank.

Section: Substrate (That Stuff on the Bottom)

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Chapter 3: Stuff You Don't Get at the Store

MYTHS

ince the beginning of time, successfully keeping a saltwater aquarium has seemed a total mystery to a vast majority of people. Over the past few decades, the science of saltwater aquaria has increased by leaps and bounds. In spite of the new knowledge, many of the old myths which arose during the years of experimentation are still professed by some as facts. Here are some of the most popular myths which are still in circulation:

1. It Takes at Least 6 Weeks to Cycle a Saltwater Aquarium.

MYTH: It takes 6 weeks to cycle (establish the biological filter) a new saltwater aquarium. FACT: The original method used for cycling a tank consisted of putting a fish or two in a new tank, then waiting up to 6 weeks for the nitrobacteria and nitrosoma bacteria to form and grow. It is now known that there are a number of methods which can cycle a tank in as little as one day.
Cycling with Live Rock Cycling with Live Sand Cycling with Bacterial Additives

2. Water Changes are the Only Way to Reduce Nitrates in a Saltwater Aquarium.
MYTH: Water changes are the only way to reduce nitrates which are the end product of the nitrification process in a saltwater aquarium. FACT: There are a number of methods which can be used to reduce or even prevent nitrate build up without performing a water change.
Denitrator Units Mangroves Some types of Algae Live Rock in conjunction with a Berlin Filtration System Live Sand in conjunction with a Jaubert/Plenum System

This is directly plagiarized from www.about.com; Just like many things in life however, quick results are usually expensive and inadequate. One common saying is Nothing Good Happens Quickly in a Reef Tank

Section: Myths

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 Nitrate Absorbing Products

3. The Ideal Reef Tank Temperature is Between 72 and 78 Fahrenheit.

MYTH: The ideal reef tank temperature is between 76 and 78 Fahrenheit. FACT: The water temperatures of most of the reefs where your corals came from are a lot higher than 78 F. Read about it in: How High is Too High?

4. Tangs (Surgeonfish) are Very Sensitive to Nitrates.

MYTH: Tangs (Surgeonfish) are more sensitive to nitrates than other fish. FACT: Tangs (Surgeonfish) are no more sensitive to nitrates than any other species. Tangs have endured nitrate levels of hundreds of ppm for extended periods of time with no ill affects.

5. Massive Water Changes are Harmful to Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates.

MYTH: Massive water changes to quickly reduce nitrates and other toxins are harmful to saltwater fish and invertebrates. FACT: While a rapid change in salinity, temperature or pH can be harmful to fish and invertebrates, a rapid reduction in nitrates does not adversely affect them.

6. Coral Banded Shrimp Kill Fish.

MYTH: Coral Banded Shrimp kill fish. FACT: The Coral Banded Shrimp is a scavenger as well as a parasite picker, and may attack other shrimp, but will not normally attack fish. Many people who find their Coral Banded Shrimp consuming a dead fish or invertebrate assume that it was killed by the shrimp. However the shrimp is just doing what it does for a living: Scavenging.

This is not so cut and dry. It is a scientific fact that oxygen solubility (the amount of oxygen in the water) goes down drastically as temperature increases. It is also a scientific fact that the water in the reef is cleaner than your aquarium. Although most of the creatures come from warm oceans, some do not. All can tolerate, and thrive in oxygen rich, cooler water, but some will not live well in relatively dirty, warm, water. Finally, if your water is at 78F, and you lose power, the aquarium becomes a steam bath much faster than if you are starting at 74F. Seems weird, all this controversy about a few degrees, but think of the difference between your body at 98.6 and at 102, a difference of 3F.

Section: Myths

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7. All LFS People are Knowledgeable and Always Give You Good Advice.
MYTH: You can depend on the people in your LFS to be knowledgeable and to give you good advice. FACT: There are a great number of LFS owners/employees who are well experienced in saltwater aquariums and will give you good advice. However a majority of them (usually younger workers) have little or no knowledge or experience in this subject which requires time to learn.

8. Bio-Balls are Nitrate Factories.

MYTH: Bio-Balls or wet/dry filters create nitrates in a saltwater aquarium. FACT: Bio-Balls and wet/dry filter material can trap detritus and other tank debris which break down and eventually create nitrates. If the Bio-Balls are cleaned regularly, they don'tdo not create any more nitrates than a substrate with the same materials in it. Bio-Balls Don't Go Bad, They Just Get Dirty! How To Clean Dirty Bio-Balls

9. Micro Bubbles in Aquarium Water Cause Popeye

MYTH: Micro Bubbles in Aquarium Water Cause Popeye FACT: Popeye is caused by secondary bacterial infections in a fish's eye(s), caused by ammonia burns or other physical damage. Popeye Causes & Treatments gives more information.

10. Ich Can Be Transferred From One Tank to Another Through the Air
MYTH: Ich Can be Transferred From One Tank to Another Through the Air. FACT: Ich (Cryptocaryon and Oodinium can be transferred from one tank to another via contaminated surfaces, such as nets, hands, fish, etc. Saltwater Ich: What is it and how do I treat it? gives more information.

Local Fish Store

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LIVE ROCK
What Is Live Rock? What Is The Purpose of Live Rock? The Standard Method Used For Curing Live Rock

CHEMICALS NECESSARY FOR LIFE

Maintenance Maintain Water Chemistry

FISH THAT KILL

S oapish; puffers; sponges; sea cucumbers; lionfish; rabbitfish, groupers, damsels, eels

Section: Fish that Kill

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WHAT TO FEED THESE SUCKERS

he marine life that you will be housing will depend on you to feed them. This is a bit of a problem, since they have always fed themselves and they don'tdo not really create a menu for you to follow. Remember that most of these of these animals are caught in the wild. There are very few animals in the marine aquarium hobby that are vegetarians. This means that most of them will be looking to eat other marine creatures. You will be paying a great deal of money for each specimen. The idea of one fish eating hundreds of dollars of your livestock doesn't seem very appealing to most people.

The Expensive Way

Don't spend so much money on the stuff in the store. There are prepared foods for purchase, and many of them are very good, and very expensive. The three major groups are live, frozen and dry. Live food is a difficult proposition for a fish store. There is no way to sell the live food if it is too expensive. There is no way to create lots of quality live food in a cheap manner. The result is usually live food with little quality. Some of this food will provide so little nutrition that the fish will die. Some of the live food will provide infections and disease. Frozen food from a store is also very expensive. I don'tdo not exactly understand why, but frozen food for the marine aquarium is about 5 times the price per pound as food for human consumption. Also, the LFS will have a limited selection of items. The majority of the animals we keep in a marine tank spend their lives eating a great variety of food sources. This variety ensures a complete and balanced nutrition. The greater the variety of food sources, the more likely your critters are of getting all the vitamins and minerals they need to flourish.

The Not So Expensive Way

Frozen food and live food are what your animals are going to prefer. Very few marine fish will live long lives eating prepared dry food. Many species will not even eat the dry or flake food. Remembering that most of these animals come from the wild, it is not a surprise to understand why they won'twill not eat flake food that looks nothing like the food in the wild. We know that frozen and live food is expensive, so let's figure out a manner to reduce the cost. It is easy to make your own frozen food in large batches. This way you can reduce the cost and make enough to last months. Live food can also be grown relatively easily, and makes for fun projects for children. Live brine shrimp and mysis shrimps are fun projects and are very easy to grow. These shrimps reproduce every other week, so the results are fast and easy to monitor.

Section: What to Feed These Suckers

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Food Choices
Live Brine Shrimp from the Store
The brine shrimp (Artemia Salina, or Sea Monkeys) is a little animal that plays a large role in the circle of life and the aquarium hobby. They are small creatures that have adapted to a life in the brine lakes of the world such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Brine Shrimp are harvested and aqua-cultured by the millions for stores all over the world. The ones that are collected live are placed in large bags for shipment. The shrimp are severely overcrowded, in oxygen depleted water with no food. They begin to live off their fat reserves and then start feeding on each other. By the time they reach your local store, they are barely alive and have almost zero nutritional value. They continue to live among their waste and dead buddies, until reaching your house. They are then thrown into a marine aquarium, the salinity drops drastically instantly, and the shrimp start to die. Within minutes they are dead.

Live Brine Shrimp from Your House

Since the brine shrimp is an excellent source of food and are so prolific, why not raise them at home, fatten them up, and give your finicky fish something to eat? This eliminates the process of starvation and cannibalism the shrimp harvested thousands of miles away go through. In fact, these little guys are one of the best live foods you can feed the guests in your aquarium. The process is very simple, only requiring a small canister for salty water, sunlight and eggs. The eggs are available online or at any local fish store. There are several brine shrimp hatchery kits available commercially exactly for this purpose. The simpler ones involve an inverted 2-liter plastic bottle or a mason jar that is used as a nursery. Within 18 hours of being hydrated, the cysts (egg-like structures) hatch and the little suckers (nauplii) swim out and start eating from the protein reserves of the cyst and single celled algae in the water. The immature shrimp are very small, almost microscopic, excellent food for many fish and filter feeders. Read the instructions carefully, since the shells are not digestible, may contain contaminants, pathogenic bacteria, and can cause problems with many of the creatures in your aquarium. Some hatcheries can actually be hung inside the aquarium, the nauplii swim out as they are born while the cysts remain collected. The only real problem with this system is that your filtration system may remove most of the animals before they can be eaten by your fish. Some useful links are: http://www.amazon.com/SAN-FRANCISCO-BAY-BRAND-INC/dp/B000255V4S http://www.amazon.com/Hatch-Feeder-Brine-Shrimp-Hatchery/dp/B0006JM0E4 http://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Bay-Brand-SHRIMPERY/dp/B001EUI4EY
Brine is water saturated or nearly saturated with salt; the salt content is about 50% greater than marine water

Section: What to Feed These Suckers

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http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_brineshrimp_hatchery.php The nauplii can be raised to adulthood by feeding them algae. Algae is simple to grow in a small container that receives a daily dose of direct sunlight. Given sufficient food and clean water, the babies will grow to adulthood (and start to lay eggs) within 2 weeks. The bloated, adult shrimp are excellent food for the larger fish in the aquarium.

Mysis (Mysid) Shrimp

The Mysis and Mysid families of shrimps are a stape food source for many types of fish in the world. They are found in fresh and saltwater. These little creatures can be purchased live or frozen, and can easily be bred. In many respects, these shrimp are like the brine shrimp, except smaller, barely reaching a length of 5mm. Live mysis shrimp, cultivated at home or purchased from a source that raises them is the best choice. These shrimp can live and reproduce in a refugium designated for them. You have to allow the tank water to circulate through their tank, without allowing the juveniles to be carried away by the sump pump. This can be done with a simple undergravel setup. A small pump pulls water through the gravel, up a tube and into your wetdry sump. The water in the shrimp refugium is replaced by a small hose or U-tube from your main sump.

Live Goldfish
The trusty common goldfish is a fish of many faces. People have been keeping carp, koi and goldfish for many centuries. They are very hardy and reproduce like crazy. Each female will lay thousands of eggs every few weeks. With the right setup, they are incredibly simple and inexpensive to breed by the millions. Their ability to live in dirty water combined with their ability to reproduce means that the goldfish in the farm live in extremely crowded, unsanitary conditions. Add the limited genetic pool and the large number of deformed and weak fish, the limited, hormone infused diet, and you have the perfect recipe for disease. Since the goldfish are harvested by the thousands and brought to the store for sale at 10, no one checks for disease. In every thousand goldfish, some are bound to be sick, usually with tuberculosis, hookworm and other parasites. The parasites are infectious and are carried to your home aquarium in the fish and in the water. Every time your lion fish eats one of these goldfish, there is a mounting probability of ingesting one with a parasite. Sooner or later, your prized $100 fish dies from a parasite he got eating a 10 goldfish.

Live Local Shrimp

This is truly the only type of live food purchased at the store that you should consider feeding. For those of us lucky enough to be near a great body of water, local bait shops often have daily shipments of live local wild shrimp. Assuming you don'tdo not live near a polluted lake or estuary, these wild shrimp are live and full of nutritional value. Any live food introduces a risk of introduction of pathogenic bacteria or parasites, so the water quality and health of the fish must be monitored very carefully.

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Section:

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ADDING NEW GUESTS TO YOUR HOME

o the tank is all set up, you have harvested and cultivated several types of microorganisms, you have done your plumbing, wiring, measuring, and testing. You have special lighting, special salt, special gravel, even a full blown working septic tank. Maybe we should add some critters to the tank. One thing though; all of these guys are ectothermic, they don'tdo not regulate or manage their own body temperature. Some of the creatures, worms, polyps, corals, among others are less developed on the biological scale, and use the ocean's chemistry for their own bodies . All this means that they are very dependent on the water, as we know already, and do not tolerate a change in chemistry or temperature without physical damage. So we need to acclimate the new guests to their new environment . They need to get accustomed to the new water. This means temperature, salinity, pH, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, oxygen and CO2 levels at a minimum. You also need to keep in mind that most of these animals were swimming in a large holding facility or distribution house with hundreds, if not thousands of transient animals. The water that comes with the fish may contain contaminants, parasites or other dangers. Also, since the fish has been breathing and peeing, the water in the bag is low in oxygen and high in carbonic acid, ammonia and urea. This means that the animal is stressed and that you don'tdo not want to add that water into your tank. Proper acclimation is very important, and you don'tdo not want to take shortcuts. Some of these animals will have traveled thousands of miles in a few days just to arrive at your house. It would be a shame to end their life simply by not following a simple procedure. Proper acclimation takes little of your time and will eliminate the disappointment of having to watch any new guest struggle or just sink to the bottom of your tank and lay there to die. Acclimation also helps reduce the chances of stress induced diseases such as saltwater ich. The time you take to acclimate your new fish, corals, or marine invertebrates will make a huge difference in the health and beauty of your new friends for years to come.

Temperature
The shipping bags have been shipped across the country, usually in airplane or truck cargo bays. If purchased locally, the temperature of the store's system and the inside of your vehicle will have altered the bag temperature. to you, and though we use ice packs in the summer and heat packs in the winter, the arrival temperature will most surely be very different from the temperature in your home aquarium. Proper acclimation will slowly change the animal's body temperature to the temperature of your aquarium without stress.

Salinity
For saltwater fish the specific gravity (Salinity) your animals are arriving in water between 1.019 - 1.022. The lower salinity level means the fish is receiving higher levels of oxygen while breathing. This is an excellent salinity level for your home aquarium. As a side benefit, at this salinity level the fish are less prone to some common ailments.
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Acclimation_ep_48-1.html has a video demonstrating the basic process

Section: Adding New Guests to Your Home

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For coral, and clams, the specific gravity (salinity) your animals are arriving in water between 1.025 - 1.028. Reef systems require the higher salinity for optimum growth and color. In any case, your aquarium's salinity will probably not be the same as the water in the bag. The acclimation procedure will slowly change the salinity of the bag's water to the salinity of your aquarium's.

pH
Proper pH for saltwater specimens is between 8.2 and 8.4. Using a pH buffer or an occasional water change, it is easy to keep your aquarium within these boundaries. Fish and invertebrates will be under stress when they arrive at your house because the water's pH will have dropped considerably. Why? What causes this drop? From the time they are put in the bag, the animal begins to release ammonia causing the pH of the water to drop. Proper acclimation slowly brings the specimens back to healthy pH levels slowly.

Oxygen
The bag's water has depleted oxygen. It does not matter how long the critter has been in the bag; the oxygen level started dropping as soon as he got inside. This means that the breathing has become more difficult, which causes certain physiological responses. Bottom line, the fish is not happy in there. Acclimating allows the water to slowly come back to a normal, healthy level, and allows the animals to enter the new aquarium without a heightened sense of stress or fight-or-flight.

My Coral's not Opening or Flowering!

Many species of coral will not open for several days or weeks after introduction into their new home. Please allow time for the new addition to adapt to their new home.

My Fish is Dying, He's Laying on the Bottom of the Bag!

No the fish is not dying, he is just reacting to the stress he's under. You can successfully acclimate fish which are breathing heavily and laying on the bottom of the bag. It only takes time; be patient.

Common Behavior During Acclimation

Angels, Triggers, Tangs: Other Fish: Lay on their side when in the bag or acclimating May breathe rapidly and stay in one spot. This is normal.

Wrasses: Lay on their side when in bag or acclimating; may spin harmless cottony substance in bag and "play dead". Shrimp: Crabs: Starfish: Snails, Conchs: May act motionless for up to 30 seconds when first introduced into tank. May act motionless when first introduced May stay motionless or not move for days at a time May not open or move for days at a time, pick up and see if it smells rancid. PAGE 48

Section: Adding New Guests to Your Home

Puffers: Like to lay on bottom; may emit dangerous toxic chemical as a means of self defense; important not to startle or place them with predators Corals: May take hours or days to fully open or inflate Anemones: May take hours or days to fully open or inflate. They are shipped in little or no water, may inflate or shrink, disintegration is only indicator of death

Procedure for Acclimating Saltwater Fish

This procedure consumes some of the water in your tank. Ensure you have enough new salt water to add to your aquarium. How much? About 4 or 5 times the amount of water in the bags the fish are in. This procedure requires a clean bucket, (a large igloo cooler works well), airline tubing and a airline gang valve from the local fish store. Put the fish with all the bag water in a bucket or container of sufficient size for the fish to be reasonably covered with the water. You may have to keep the container tilted so that the animal is covered with water. Keep something over the bucket to keep the animals from jumping. They are in great stress right now and the fight-or-flight instinct may kick in. Many will jump or crawl out of the bucket. Set the bucket on the floor next to the aquarium. Ensure there are no drafts or cold or hot air near the bucket. The idea is to have the same temperature as the main aquarium. Using the air line tubing and an air gang valve, set up and run a siphon drip line from the aquarium to the bucket. Start the siphon and slowly allow the tank water to drip into the bucket, using the gang air valve to adjust the drip rate. Keep the drip fairly slow. Too fast a drip can change the water parameters too quickly and shock the fish. This drip needs to run for at least an hour or two. The animals need to get accustomed to the new water chemistry before jumping into the aquarium. Watch the level of the water in the aquarium. Don't let the sump level get too low, the automatic fill valve may start adding fresh water (thinking the level drop is from normal evaporation). As the water in the bucket fills, replenish the water in the sump with the new salt water you have already prepared. When the water in the bucket is about 5 times what you started with, test the pH, salinity and temperature of the water in the bucket to see if these parameters match that of your tank water. If they match, you are done. If not, continue the drip method until the parameters match. If the bucket's water level is getting too high, remove and discard water from the bucket.

Tips for Acclimation Procedure

Never place an air stone into the bucket when acclimating. This will increase the pH of the water too quickly and may expose your new arrivals to higher, lethal levels of ammonia.

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You may wish to add an ammonia buffer or destroyer such as Prime or AmQuel to the bag water, prior to starting the procedure, as ammonia build up will still occur while the fish is kept in the bucket. Don't set the drip rate too fast, nor too slow, the procedure needs to last about an hour or two. Not longer, not shorter. Two drops a second is about right. If you are acclimating several fish at one time and any are of a toxic releasing or poisonous stinging nature, it is best to acclimate such species individually in a container of their own!!. Turn off the aquarium lights before introducing the new animals and leave them off until the next day. This will give the new arrivals time to find a shelter without the additional stress of watching for predators.

Sponges
Sponges must be acclimated by floating them in their sealed bags for 1 hour to adjust to temperature. Then their bag must be opened UNDER WATER ONLY. The sponge may never be exposed to the air. Not following these directions will result in the sponge slowly dying from exposure to air, and possibly poisoning all the specimens in the aquarium.

Snails, Crabs, Shrimp, and Starfish

Cleanup Critters are the most fragile during acclimation (they are very sensitive to salinity and pH change), and need to be acclimated very slowly, over a period of approximately two hours. Do not rush this procedure or losses will occur.

Corals, Anemones, Mollusks, and Clams

First Get them to The Right Temperature Shipping is a stressful process and careful acclimation and a little TLC for the first few days will insure long-term success. Remove the outer bags and float the closed inner bag with the animal inside in your tank or sump for 30 minutes or until the bag and tank temperature are the same. Then Give them a bath! Every coral arriving at many facilities are dipped in a mild iodine based solution as a biosecurity measure to help insure that pathogens are not carried with the corals. Before placing corals (DO NOT dip anemones, crabs, shrimp, fish or clams or they will die!!) in your tank, you do the same. There are many preparations on the market or you can make your own. Purchase a small bottle of Tincture of Iodine from the antiseptic section of your local drug store. Add 15-20 drops of Tincture of Iodine to a liter of tank water and allow the corals to stay in this dip for 10 -15 minutes. Rinse the animals with tank water prior to placing them in your tank. When finished, throw out the dip water and use new salt water to replace the liter from your tank. Place the newly acclimated animals at mid-tank or lower for the first few days, with mild alternating current. After a few days most corals may be placed in their final location. For SPS corals, (acropora), it is best to keep them in a lower lighting area for at least 1 week. Over a few weeks slowly move them to final positions. If they are too quickly supplied with bright light, the often die. Section: Adding New Guests to Your Home PAGE 50

Some live corals, especially leathers, and some acroporas, produce excess slime when shipped. After acclimation , hold the coral by the rock or skeletal base and shake the coral in the shipping bag before placing into the aquarium. To avoid damaging the coral, remember never to touch the "fleshy" part of a live coral.

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Chapter V: Calculations
Gallons Calculation
To determine gallons from tank measurements: Gather width, length and height in inches, w, l, h (w)x(l)x(h)x(0.00432) = gallons

Pump Calculations
To determine cost of running a pump: A = steady state amps, listed on the pump, usually something like 2.3A (Cost per kilowatt hour)x(A)x(120Volts)x(Hours per day)x(Days in month)1000 Part of cost that is going just to heat generated by the pump (useful for A/C cost determination) Heat factor of pump = ((120xA)746 (rated HP))(rated HP) (Total cost of pumping)x(Heat Factor of pump) = Cost to create heat

Lighting Calculations
Monthly cost of lights: (Cost per kilowatt hour)x(Watts)x(Hours per day)x(Days in month)1000 Watts for Reef Lighting: (gallons of aquarium)x(5W) = Watts of HID lights necessary (gallons of aquarium)x(2.5W) = Watts of fluorescent lights necessary Use 60% of the prior numbers for Fish Only With Live Rock (FOWLR) tanks This assumes a regular shaped tank, not super tall, not super shallow, with lighting distributed homogeneously. Part of cost that is going just to heat generated by lighting (useful for A/C cost determination) (Total cost of lighting)x(Heat Factor of Lamp) = Cost to create heat heat factor of lamp 0.75 for HID; 0.40 for fluorescent

A/C Calculations
Monthly cost of A/C: (Cost of heat source)(efficiency of A/C) = Cost to remove heat efficiency of a/c 0.33 for modern machine; 0.27 for older machine

Section: Chapter V: Calculations

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Composition of Seawater
Element Hydrogen Oxygen Sodium Chlorine Magnesium Sulfur Potassium Calcium Bromine Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Fluorine Neon Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Argon Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Ferrum (Iron) Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Nb H2 O H2 O NaCl NaCl Mg S K Ca Br He Li Be B C ion F Ne Al Si P Ar Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Kr Rb Sr Y Zr Atomic weight 1.00797 15.9994 22.9898 35.453 24.312 32.064 39.102 40.08 79.909 4.0026 6.939 9.0133 10.811 12.011 14.007 18.998 20.183 26.982 28.086 30.974 39.948 44.956 47.90 50.942 51.996 54.938 55.847 58.933 58.71 63.54 65.37 69.72 72.59 74.922 78.96 83.80 85.47 87.62 88.905 91.22 92.906 ppm 110,000 883,000 10,800 19,400 1,290 904 392 411 67.3 0.0000072 0.170 0.0000006 4.450 28.0 15.5 13 0.00012 0.001 2.9 0.088 0.450 <0.000004 0.001 0.0019 0.0002 0.0004 0.0034 0.00039 0.0066 0.0009 0.005 0.00003 0.00006 0.0026 0.0009 0.00021 0.120 8.1 0.000013 0.000026 0.000015 Element Molybdenum Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Argentum (silver) Cadmium Indium Stannum (tin) Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Cesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praesodymium Neodymium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Aurum (gold) Mercury Thallium Lead Bismuth Thorium Uranium Plutonium Mo Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe Cs Ba La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Th U Pu Atomic weight 95.96 101.07 102.905 106.4 107.870 112.4 114.82 118.69 121.75 127.6 166.904 131.30 132.905 137.34 138.91 140.12 140.907 144.24 150.35 151.96 157.25 158.924 162.50 164.930 167.26 168.934 173.04 174.97 178.49 180.948 183.85 186.2 190.2 192.2 195.09 196.967 200.59 204.37 207.19 208.980 232.04 238.03 (244) ppm 0.01 0.0000007 . . 0.00028 0.00011 . 0.00081 0.00033 . 0.064 0.000047 0.0003 0.021 0.0000029 0.0000012 0.00000064 0.0000028 0.00000045 0.0000013 0.0000007 0.00000014 0.00000091 0.00000022 0.00000087 0.00000017 0.00000082 0.00000015 <0.000008 <0.0000025 <0.000001 0.0000084 . . . 0.000011 0.00015 . 0.00003 0.00002 0.0000004 0.0033 .

ppm= parts per million = mg/liter = 0.001g/kg Source: Karl K Turekian: Oceans. 1968. Prentice-Hall

Section: Composition of Seawater

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Pilot Hole Sizes for Wood Screws

Compliments of WoodcraftPlans.com Screw Gauge # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 16 18 20 Shank Hole 1/16 5/64 3/32 7/64 7/64 1/8 9/64 5/32 11/64 3/16 3/16 13/64 7/32 1/4 17/64 19/64 21/64 Pilot Soft Wood 1/64 1/32 1/32 3/64 3/64 1/16 1/16 1/16 5/64 5/64 3/32 3/32 7/64 7/64 9/64 9/64 11/64 Pilot Hard Wood 1/32 1/32 3/64 1/16 1/16 5/64 5/64 3/32 3/32 7/64 7/64 1/8 1/8 9/64 5/32 3/16 13/64

Section: Pilot Hole Sizes for Wood Screws

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For Further Reading

REFERENCE
Online Aquarium Fish & Livestock Source Web Site Links

About Live Rock - Live Rock About Wet/Dry Trickle Filters - What They Are and How They Work in Saltwater Aquarium Systems About.com: http://w3page.com/fishline/gif/ccskim.gif Aquarium Live Rock Filtration & Systems Information Aquarium Natural Nitrate Reduction (NNR) Filtration Methods Cheap, Easy DIY Sumps Choosing a Saltwater Aquarium Filtration System In 5 Easy Steps CRG - A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Aquatics DIY Coil Denitrator Plans - DIY Coil Denitrator Plans DIY Do It Yourself Aquarium Chiller - DIY Do It Yourself Aquarium Chiller DIY Wavemaker and Surge Device Plans for Saltwater Aquariums Do It Yourself - Links Directory - Nano-Reef.com Do-It-Yourself Aquariums, Cabinets, Skimmers and More Projects - List of DIY Aquarium Equipment Projects E-Course - Saltwater Aquariums 101- Getting Started - How to Set Up a Saltwater Aquarium - Setting Up a Salt Water Aquarium Everything you ever needed to know about pH: Part I determining the acidity or alkalinity of saltwater aquarium water - acid alkaline Filters & Filtration Systems Information for Saltwater Aquariums GARF.ORG - The reef aquarium place How To Clean Dirty Bio-Balls Making Your Own Live Rock Mud Bed Aquarium Filtration | Aquarists Online | Aquarium Fish Resources And Information OZ REEF - "Tupperware" Beckett Protein Skimmer OZ REEF - Another Electronic Wavemaker Red Slime Algae (Cyanobacteria) - Description, causes and cures for Red Slime Algae (Cyanobacteria) REEF AQUARIUM FARMING NEWS #4 page 3 Reef Central Online Community Reefs.org: Where Reefkeeping Begins on the Internet - View Reference Animals Reefs.org: Where Reefkeeping Begins on the Internet - Making Your Own Live Rock Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies Information Saltwater Aquariums Fish Compatibility - Part One - Types of Aggressive Behavior SaltwaterNewbie's Pages Simple Saltwater Aquarium Do-It-Yourself DIY Wavemaker - Simple Saltwater Aquarium Do-It-Yourself DIY Wavemaker Snailman's DIY 4" Skimmer Snailman's Do It Yourself Sprinkler Circulation Device Surge Bucket Plans The Benefits of Wavemakers in Saltwater Aquariums Water Quality and Aquarium Maintenance Issues for Saltwater Aquariums

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What Is Protein Skimming, and How Does It Work Why Should Alkalinity Be Higher In The Aquarium? | Aquarists Online | Aquarium Fish Resources And Information http://www.melevsreef.com/food.html

SOFTWARE
GARF's build your own custom tank page Saltwater Aquarium Care - Maintenance Software Programs QCAD Unit Converter

NIGHT LIGHT LED BAR

Digi-Key - 365-1201-ND (Manufacturer - OVLLB8C7) Digi-Key - 497-3666-1-ND (Manufacturer - STTH102) Digi-Key - 497-1468-5-ND (Manufacturer - L78S05CV) Digi-Key - 296-20687-5-ND (Manufacturer - TL783CKCSE3) Digi-Key - KBL02-E4/51GI-ND (Manufacturer - KBL02-E4/51)

SUPPLIERS - GENERAL
210 Gallon In-Store SPS Display 250W Metal Halide HQI Parabolic Reflector with Lens - AquaCave Aqua Logic - Water Chillers, Lobster Tanks & Titanium Heat Exchangers Aquarium Air Pumps & Plumbing: Coralife Super Luft Air Pump Aquarium Air Pumps: Hydor Ario ColorMix Aquarium Aerator Aquarium Air Pumps: Hydor Ario Turbo Air Pump Aquarium Decorations, Lighting, and Air Pumps: Hydor Ario Volcano and Geyser with Turbo Air Pump Aquarium fish supplies for saltwater, freshwater,marine and reef tanks Aquarium Pet Fish Supplies, Tank Accessories, Products & Equipment Aquarium Supplies | Fish Tank Items | Online Fish Supplies | PetSolutions Aquarium Supplies, Fish Tanks, & Live Tropical Fish - Fish.com Aquarium Supplies, Pet Supplies and Pond Supplies by That Fish Place - That Pet Place Aquarium Water Circulation and Water Pumps: Eugene Danner Supreme Magnetic Drive Pump Compact Fluorescent Lighting Kits CPR AQUATIC, INC - Bio-Bale Biological Filter Medium Custom Aquatic Saltwater and Freshwater Aquarium Supplies Electronic Components, Electronic Component Distributor - 1-Source Electronic Components Fish Supplies Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Supplies at AquariumGuys.com Hellolights.com - Your Aquarium Lighting Superstore! Light Bulbs from Topbulb McMaster-Carr - Titanium Mouser Electronics - Electronic Component Distributor Piscine Energetics Inc - PE MYSIS - fresh water shrimp Poor Man's Salt Water Aquarium Resources Reefwarehouse.com | For The Serious Aquarium Enthusiast Saltwater Fish, Buy Saltwater Fish, Exotic Saltwater Fish, Large Saltwater Fish Brine Shrimp Direct Sump Floating Valve | PetSolutions

Section: Suppliers - General

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TAP Plastics Tenecor Custom Aquariums - We Beat Any Price - Commercial Aquariums - Acrylic Aquariums - Home Aquarium Designs Acrylic Reef Aquariums - Artificial Coral Titanium Joe Turbo Venturi Valve | PetSolutions Where to Buy Aquarium Supplies and Equipment? www.marineandreef.com

SUPPLIERS - LIVESTOCK
Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums Aquarium reef fish, Saltwater aquarium tropical fish for marine aquariums AquaScapeOnline We sell a wide selection of piranhas, stingrays, cichlids, plecos, catfish and rare oddball tropical fish. Basslets Dottybacks For Sale Saltwater Fish For Sale Saltwater Aquarium Fish Marine Fish Saltwater Fish Assorted Dottybacks BiColor Basslet Black Cap Basslet Diadema Basslett Dottyb Buy Sell Blue Zoo Aquatics :: Products Buy Freshwater African Cichlids at Live Fish Direct: Freshwater Aquarium Fish Breeder Coral Reef Aquatics Coral Reef Farm Saltwater Fish, Corals and Inverts - Rare Saltwater Fish Aquariums Lion Fish, saltwater fish aquarium - Aquatic Connection Live Rock - Tampa Bay Saltwater Aquacultured Live Rock Marine Fishes Natural Algae Control for Reef Aquarium Reef aquarium invertebrates and reef safe fish ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home ReefScavengers.Com | Saltwater Aquarium Supply | Cleaner Packages, Saltwater Fish, Corals & More!! Ricordea USA (Welcome to Ricordea USA) Saltwater aquarium refugium , marine plants, algaes, nitrate reduction Saltwater Fish For Sale | Aquarium Saltwater Fish | Marine Fish Sale | Buy Saltwater Fish | Buy Fish Online - Reef Hot Spot Saltwater Fish, Buy Saltwater Fish, Exotic Saltwater Fish, Large Saltwater Fish Saltwater Reef Aquariums, Soft & Hard Corals, Saltwater Fish & Inverts For Sale From Maine Tank Raised Algae

Section: Suppliers - Livestock

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Table of Contents
Chapter I: Intro ...........................................................................................................................................1 Welcome to a Beautiful Hobby...............................................................................................................1 Things Die................................................................................................................................................2 Chapter II: Essential Stuff............................................................................................................................3 You need Stuff.........................................................................................................................................3 The Jaubert Plenum Method..............................................................................................................3 The Berlin Method..............................................................................................................................4 Tank ........................................................................................................................................................5 Deionization and Reverse Osmosis Plant................................................................................................6 Salt for the Water....................................................................................................................................8 Hydrometer...........................................................................................................................................11 Thermometer........................................................................................................................................12 Tank Hood..............................................................................................................................................13 High Intensity Discharge Lighting..........................................................................................................14 Fluorescent Lighting..............................................................................................................................16 LED Night Lights.....................................................................................................................................18 Surface Skimmer / Overflow Box..........................................................................................................19 Water Pumps and Air Pumps................................................................................................................20 Air Pump...........................................................................................................................................20 Back to the Water Pump...................................................................................................................20 Submersible Pumps; Power Heads; Wave Makers...........................................................................21 The Chiller.............................................................................................................................................22 The Protein Skimmer.............................................................................................................................23 The Traditional Protein Skimmer......................................................................................................23 The Berlin Method Or, Why You May Not Need a Protein Skimmer.............................................24 For those that are OCD.....................................................................................................................24 The Refugium........................................................................................................................................25 The Wet-Dry Filter.................................................................................................................................26 Nitrogen Cycle in 2 minutes.............................................................................................................26 Housing and Back-to-Work Projects for Bacteria Dry Section.......................................................27 Housing and Back-to-Work Projects for Algae Wet Section..........................................................27 The Sump and The Reasons to Make a Big One...............................................................................28 How to Avoid Paying Way Too Much................................................................................................28 Piping, Lighting.................................................................................................................................29 Power Outages, Feeding Time..........................................................................................................29 Substrate (That Stuff on the Bottom)....................................................................................................30 Chapter 3: Stuff You Don't Get at the Store..............................................................................................31 Myths....................................................................................................................................................31 1. It Takes at Least 6 Weeks to Cycle a Saltwater Aquarium............................................................31 2. Water Changes are the Only Way to Reduce Nitrates in a Saltwater Aquarium..........................31 3. The Ideal Reef Tank Temperature is Between 72 and 78 Fahrenheit........................................32 4. Tangs (Surgeonfish) are Very Sensitive to Nitrates. .....................................................................32 Section: Suppliers - Livestock PAGE 58

5. Massive Water Changes are Harmful to Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates. ................................32 6. Coral Banded Shrimp Kill Fish. .....................................................................................................32 7. All LFS People are Knowledgeable and Always Give You Good Advice. ......................................33 8. Bio-Balls are Nitrate Factories. ....................................................................................................33 9. Micro Bubbles in Aquarium Water Cause Popeye........................................................................33 10. Ich Can Be Transferred From One Tank to Another Through the Air.........................................33 Live Rock................................................................................................................................................34 Chemicals Necessary for Life.................................................................................................................34 What to Feed These Suckers.................................................................................................................35 The Expensive Way...........................................................................................................................35 The Not So Expensive Way...............................................................................................................35 Food Choices.....................................................................................................................................36 Live Brine Shrimp from the Store................................................................................................36 Live Brine Shrimp from Your House.............................................................................................36 Mysis (Mysid) Shrimp...................................................................................................................37 Live Goldfish.................................................................................................................................37 Live Local Shrimp.........................................................................................................................37 ...................................................................................................................................................38 Chapter V: Calculations..............................................................................................................................39 Gallons Calculation...........................................................................................................................39 Pump Calculations............................................................................................................................39 Lighting Calculations.........................................................................................................................39 A/C Calculations................................................................................................................................39 For Further Reading...................................................................................................................................40 Reference..............................................................................................................................................40 Software................................................................................................................................................41 Night Light LED Bar................................................................................................................................41 Suppliers - General................................................................................................................................41 Suppliers - Livestock..............................................................................................................................42

Section: Suppliers - Livestock

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