Brett’s Reef - Reef Aquarium Information

For anyone who does not know I have an article here on Brett’s Reef pertaining to Marine Ich and it includes two treatment types one bieng hyposalinity and using Copper to Treat Marine Ich.  This article has helped many reef aquarists and it is my number two sought after article on Brett’s Reef, mainly becouse of the vast comment section where I give help to those aquarists battling Ich.  A number of questions arrise about the use of copper treating reef aquarium fish and how to go about doing so.  Let’s face it using copper is not safe for the reef aquarium and will kill any invertabres as well as the parasite you are tring to erradicate.  So here are some pointers when using Copper to treat your reef aquarium fish.

Copper as most reef aquarium owners know can wreck havok to a full blown reef aquarium even in small amounts.  The copper that we use to treat our salt water fish is diluted with water and even if some brands claim to be “reef safe” eventually the copper will kill your tanks invertebres and beneficial bacteria, as well as marine Ich.  This is where the quarantine tank comes into play, Copper should only be used in a controlled environment and only if your fish shows signs of an ich infestaion or if other fish in your main reef aquarium show signs of Ich.  When fish are in quaranteen its important to keep an eye on the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as you would with your main reef tank, Chances are you will be doing water changes and a lot of them becouse the quarantine tank will generally not be cycled if you are cought off guard and the tank is not set up.  Since you will be changing out water from this tank you will ned to check the copper levels as well and adjusting the copper levels as per the manufacters directions.  You will need to do this after every water change.

Once your fish are in the copper treated quarantine tank and have been in there for the copper treatment as per the manufacter’s directions (some copper treatments last up to 14days)you will want to change out water to reduce the levels of copper.  Your main tank should be fish free if fighting ich for nearly 1 month (sometimes longer) so your fish will need to stay in quarantine until your main reef aquarium is free of Ich.  This gives the fish some time in quarantine to acclimate to copper free water (remember your changing out the copper treated water for fresh saltwater after the treatment) and for you to watch to see how your fish is acting and see if it’s feeding well.

After your main reef tank is Ich free and your quarantine reef fish are free of infection you will need to acclimate them in a seperate container with your main reef aquarium’s saltwater. After acclimation to prevent any residual copper it is best to net the fish into your main reef tank.  This will prevent any residual copper treated water from getting into your main reef aquarium.  Remember, even though you changed out the copper treated water for fresh saltwater in your quarantine tank there still will be a small amount of copper left in the water which is why you net the fish instead of dumping it in.

Out of all the difficult choices a reef aquarist has to endure when setting up a Reef Aquarium is deciding on what their aquarium will look like.  Reef aquarium aquascaping  is a pleasure to some and a pain to others, for me its a little bit of both.  I have changed the look of my aquarium several (dozen?) times over the last five years and endured the pleasure and pain of the aquascaping experience.

If I had to tell a new reef aquarium hobbyist how to plan and change there reef aquascaping I probably couldn’t, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I could, however, give some pointers on what should be done to provide a safe living environment for the new owners livestock.

First, Consider your coral and fish’s water flow needs, so that you can get a better understanding on how your live rock placement will effect your reef tank’s water movement.  Live rock comes in all different shapes and sizes and if you are fortunate enough to live near a good fish store then you can usually hand pick the pieces that you want.  But before you do all the live rock picking, you should come up with a plan for your rock placement.  Live Rock should not be obtrusive in that it will block water movement but should be placed so that it will assist it, creating canyons, slopes, valleys and pillars will help assist this.  To assist holding your live rock in place it is recommended that you superglue, putty (aquarium safe) or drill in PVC or plastic dowels into your rock work.  While this is recommended by many reefers it is somewhat permanent and not necessary in most cases.

Keep in mind that certain corals have specific requirements that have to be met for the welfare of the coral, this usually include height and substrate placement.  Also if you are going to have corals with sweeping tentacles then its important that they can not reach other corals.  Always research your corals and make sure that they will fit your reef environment.

Here are a few examples of reef aquarium aquascaping.

Notice how on the above picture the rock work is not entirely laying on the sand.

The above picture I like to refer to as the Valley, this is an actual hobbyists reef aquarium and not an imaged picture.

Having proper water flow in your reef aquarium is extremely important  to your reef’s health, especially when dealing with corals.  It is so important that I would rate it up there with feeding, lighting and skimming.  After all, proper water flow delivers food and removes waste from sessile organisms in the reef aquarium.  Proper water flow also exchanges oxygen and keeps detritus suspended in the water column.

Getting the right type of water flow is often difficult to achieve in the reef aquarium because of all the options that are presented to us.  On top of all the pumps, wave boxes and diy closed loop systems that you can utilize there is still the matter of placing this equipment in your reef aquarium so that you can reap the full benefit from it.  Keep in mind that live rock and other obstacles in the aquarium can prevent proper flow throughout the reef aquarium if not set up correctly.

So what are the different types of water flow and how do us reef keepers use them?

Pretty simply there are two types of water flow for the reef aquarium that you should be concerned with. They are Laminar and Random.  If you search on any online reef aquarium forum you may be able to find more in depth but not as practical ways of creating water movement.  I say “not as practical” because most reef keepers will not be able to recreate these different water flow options as easy as the two mentioned above.

Laminar water flow is generally the easiest flow to create in the reef aquarium.  laminar simply means one direction movement of water, as you probably guessed by now most submersible pumps and powerheads will produce laminar water movement.  Laminar can get tricky, since it is a constant jet of water in one direction you will not be able to place corals directly in front of this stream.  Most corals will not be able to last the powerful water jet and there flesh will eventually erode off there skeletons if exposed for long periods of time.  Many reef keepers utilize powerheads and submersible pumps but do it in a fashion where it is less abrasive on corals,  which brings me to Random flow.

Random water flow in the reef aquarium is hands down the best easily obtainable way of re-creating water movement similar to that of the natural reef.  It is simply obtained by using laminar flow (powerheads, pumps etc..) against either obstacles such as the glass of the aquarium or against other laminar flow.  Since there is no right way to create random flow in the reef aquarium because all reef aquariums are different, it is up to the reef keeper to try and test different ways to see which one is right for the aquarium. I personally like to direct two powerheads against one another (one on each side of the tank opposite of each other) to create this type of flow. I will then take another one and point it at the front pane of glass.  The possibilities are endless with this type of water flow since there is no right way of doing it.  Instead of using powerheads you may want to try a closed loop system which involves a large external pump and some diy (do  it yourself) plumbing to avoid unsightly powerheads.

Which ever way you decide it is best to make sure that you don’t have any “dead spots” in the reef aquarium, dead spots are simply just spots in the aquarium with little to no water movement.  These dead spots are where detritus will accumulate and if not removed can cause some problems with your reef aquarium’s water parameters.

So how do I know if my water flow is adequate?

Make sure that you have a good amount of movement in your aquarium, furthermore you should be able to create flow that will make your coral polyps extend and move around randomly.

One of the most common creatures kept in the reef aquarium trade other then corals and fish are feather dusters.  Feather Dusters come in many diffrent sizes and colors and the more common ones such as the Sabellastarte indica (shown above) are very hardy and easy to keep.  Feather dusters offer the reef aquarist diversification within the reef tank and it is an interesting subject to talk about as most people in my experience don’t realize that it is a marine worm.

Purchasing a Feather Duster

Picking out a feather duster is not an easy task as it may seem.  There are several things you should look for when purchasing a feather duster.  One of which is if the crowns (the feathers) are still attached.  The feather duster should have a full crown, the crown should look healthy and the worm should retract into it’s tube when scared or if approached from the side of the tank.  The marine worm should react and retract to shadows as well.   When looking to buy a feather duster its best that the feather duster be in the dealer’s reef tank for a while.  If the feather duster has been in dealer’s reef tank for some time then it should be well acclimated and well fed.  Newer deliveries of feather dusters tend to be hungry from being moved from tank to tank or tank to bag.  Make sure that the feather duster you are picking out has a complete tube without any damage.

Feeding and placement of a Feather Duster

 Depending on  the type of feather duster you acquire you will want to research where the best possible placement is for it.  The most common feather dusters as pictured above will feed on live brine shrimp, nuapali, rotifers and finely minced “meaty” foods.  They capture the food particles in there crown of feathers and bring it down to there mouths, they may retract after capturing food.  Placing a feather duster such as the one pictured is relatively easy for us that have a full blown reef tank.  The feather duster prefers vigorous water movement so that it can help with the exchange of wastes and the capture of food.  Most common feather dusters prefer to be placed in the sand or if you have a bare bottomed reef tank then between rocks (as long as its not crushing them!).   If the feather duster does not like where it is placed then it will abandon its tube and look for another spot.  The feather duster above, has moved before and ended up living in a hole in my live rock.  Another thing to note is when moving your feather duster its important not to expose it to air if at all possible, captured air bubbles in a feather duster’s tube can spell disaster for the feather duster.

Water Parameters for a Feather Duster

 To keep a feather duster in your reef tank it is recommended that you have very good water quality.  From my experience, they will loose there crowns if you have an excess in nitrate.  I would also assume other water quality issues such as ammonia, nitrite and salinity would also come into play.  If you are not sure of what your reef aquarium’s water quality should be at then check my post marine aquarium water parameters.

If you would like to share your thoughts and information on on the marine feather duster please do so with the comments button below.

In case anyone missed the news back on August 4th of 2008, Tonga live rock is no longer available for exporting.  There was talk about cutting back on the corals from that area as well but I cannot find any more information on it.  This is unfortunate for us reefers because we will loose out on some great looking pieces of live rock that come from that area, such as the Tonga branch. 

Here’s a bit of news from live aquaria: http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=461

This next link is a letter written from Walt Smith (One of the world’s leading Live rock exporters) addressing the issues that he has had trying to keep the live rock exporting going until Tonga could start an aquaculture program.  http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1437433