There are many of you setting up new tanks. The first thing I ask of you is patience. You will decide if you want to go softie, Fish only, fish with softies, or the hardest SPS (small polyp stonies).
Which ever you decide I hope that you research or ask a friend with a little experience to help you. There are more than willing people in the club to support you.
I talked with people tonight about lighting. There are many different oppinions on lighting. The more efficient reflector you have the more lighting is multiplied. Vicki recently did some research on T5 ligting.
I like T5 lighting because of the 460 nanometer bulb. The bulb produces the same par as a Radium 20 k bulb. I am not sure which bulb is more efficient when it comes to comparing T5 lighting to VHO. I will tell you I have witnessed some very nice SPS grown with VHO from Fragman or Paul H in Covington. Paul trades corals quite often with a large amount of people. I have learned that diffent lighting produces different colors of corals.
As Rick stated at meeting this March 2006, Metal Halides produce more intense lighting increasing the growth rates of corals more than often.
Especiallly Small Polyp Stonies or Long Polyp Stonies which are basically the same but different body structures. Thats right, SPS and LPS require the same type of requirements. The LPS are more frequently forgiving than SPS.
Another factor is good water quality. When I think of good water Quality I think of Tamarai Tai or Dangs Aquariums in Redmond at his Restuarant. Dang does weekly 30 percent water changes. Those water changes with same salinity and close to same temperature as tank and added slowly not to stress the corals too much. I have repeatedly been told that Dang purchased his Tamaraii Tort as a brown fuzzy stick that was not very attractive. Proper water quality and good routine maintenace has shown how his fuzzy dull brown stick has turned into a Swan that many want.
So those that want to start saltwater. I highly recommend a refractomer, a accurate thermometer to monitor your temperature, I myself recommend a PH meter to monitor your Ph. PH swings often stress animals. Those invisible things that kill stuff. How do we keep PH with a minimum amount of swing. We have to keep track of CO2. Thats right CO2 is the main contributor of PH swings. That is why a good skimmer to remove amonia, nitrates. Then a refugium to operate at a reverse cycle when your lights are off on the aquarium. Thats right when your lights are off on main tank. Why, because plants produce CO2 when lights are off. They produce Oxygen when lights are on. That reminds me. You ever left your aquarium completely covered. If you have, you have also risked the chance of interupting the gas exchange in your aquarium.
ok, now to first step in setting up aquarium. You have your tank. You mixed your salinity to close to NSW levels. You premixed your salt in a bucket before adding it to your tank. Why do you do that? Because your water needs to be aeorated or mixed properly. Often salt is not properly disolved and Ph is not adjusted to addition of new salt. Never mix salt in a aquarium with live animals inside it. You risk the chance of killing your animals. Select the live rock you want to use for media filtration and aquascaping. As you are aquascaping make sure you have adequate flow around the rock. Try to prevent any dead spots. Any dead spots are places for build up of waste. More waste build up, more chance of poisoining your animals. Good water movement also promotes good calciifation or supplies foods to corals more readily. Now you have to wait for your rock to cure. Run your protien skimmer as your rock cures for at least 8 weeks. I highly recommend the best skimmer you can afford. Then add animals slowly and let your tank adapt to new changes. If you want fish, then your PH and temperature are going to be the two things to monitor closely. If you want corals, invertebrates (snails, crabs, starfish, corals) Then you need to monitor your alkalinity, salinity, and try to keep your parmeter changes at a minimum
So you want Corals.
Thats right corals need calcium. Calcium and alkalinity kits along with magnesium kits work together as one unit. I recommend a calcium level of 400-420 ppm. A alkalinity level of 2.8-3.5 meg/L. Those numbers have been very safe for me. Those numbers will not be accurate with saltwater unless your salinity is close to NSW. I recently learned from Bob Fenner that your magnesium plays a big part in balancing your calcium and alkalinity. The formula Bob gave me was 3 parts magnesium ppm to 1 part Calcium ppm. In other words if your calcium is 400 ppm, your magnesium should be around 1200ppm.
Another lesson Bob introduced me to in February was that Algae combats other algae. Bob recommended getting different type of Macro algae for your tanks refugeum. He even recommended running two refugeums in a sump. Those of course run on different or reverse cycles of main aquarium. Ok, my light bulb is running low on energy. But remember to visit your local Aquarium club for information, help, and often supplies that are overstocked. We all support each other in a hobby that is a lot more fun shared.
Here is a link to NSW and recommended saltwater parameters by RHF.
A well know chemist that is heavily involved in the saltwater hobby.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php :wink:
