Nano Tank Sustainable Set-Up: Tips For Tiny Tanks.

May 19th, 2012

Today im going to make some suggestions for stocking a nano tank so that it is interesting, colourful and most importantly sustainable!

Anyone who knows much about keeping a nano tank (that is a tank whose volume is less than 20 gallons) would know about the crucial importance of setting it up and stocking it without incurring any of the 3 big “O’s” that is; Overstocking, Overfeeding and Overcrowding. For continued success each of these needs to be avoided!

Many people simply can’t resist “just adding one more” fish or other marine critter who’s presence will tip the sensitive balance between stable water chemistry and system crash! This happens fast and can often be irreversible in such a tiny environment. If you are one of these people; stick to a bigger tank!

Here are some of my tips to help you have a sustainable nano system that thrives for the long term:

  • Use a protein skimmer! Other than removing dissolved organics it oxygenates the water.
  • Keep a clean-up crew, which will consume excess algae, detritus and uneaten food (reef safe hermit crabs, snails and shrimp are best) A good rule of thumb is to provide 1 snail per 2 gallons, 1 hermit crab per 3 gallons of water and 1 larger crab species such as the Emerald or Sally Lightfoot crab per Nano aquarium. Shrimp such as the Skunk cleaner and Blood red fire shrimp will feed off detritus and remove any parasites; double bonus!
  • Aim to have at least 1.5 pounds of live rock/live sand for every one gallon of your tanks volume.
  • Stock wisely according to a written plan; only make marine life purchases off this plan!
  • Just a few fish that are small bodied, not territorial and are less active/slow swimming (so need less food and produce less waste for the bio filter to process) are the best choices. Consider these fish varieties: Basslets, Blennies, Cardinals, Chromis, most Clownfish, some Damselfish, Dartfish, Gobies, Jawfish, Pseudochromis and some smaller Wrasse species.
  • Regular maintenance is paramount with a nano tank, even 1 day of unchecked water evaporation can lead to system crash. Water changes performed regularly in a small tank are key to their life-supporting ability (10 –15% per week). Water testing should be performed daily (temperature and salinity) and a few times a week (pH, nitrates, phosphates).
  • When selecting corals bear in mind that corals requiring intensive lighting (like SPS corals) will need lighting that may heat the tank water too much, so a chiller or fan will be needed if you don’t want to fry your marine life. LED lighting options are by far the best for stony corals in tiny tanks.
  • Also aggressive corals (such as LPS corals with sweeper tentacles) need to be avoided as they can maim and kill other invertebrates and fish easily in such a small tank.
  • Beware “complete” set-ups; many are pretty far from complete and come with cheap components, my advice is to set up the tank with quality equipment yourself, preferably equipment with a higher rating than your small tank to give you some margin for error! Areas that are lacking with complete set-ups are usually water movement, lighting or protein skimming.

So how can you stock your tiny tank sustainably but still have it be colourful, exotic and interesting?

Despite their diminutive size, you can still keep a surprising range of small fish, corals, invertebrates and live rock/sand in nano systems…

If you nano is going to be a reef tank then corals should be the focus with maybe one fish. Nanos that focus on fish will need much more maintenance and attention because of the relatively large amounts of organic waste produced, so choose small peaceful fish of the families listed above.

Want something different and unique?

Try these biotope ideas or come up with something new and novel:

  1. The classic Nemo: A Clownfish (or mated pair) and compatible anemone.
  2. Colourful soft corals (mushrooms, polyps, leathers are best for nanos) and a fish or shrimp for movement.
  3. A Harlequin shrimp mated pair (prepare to feed them on choc-chip starfish!).
  4. A “my pet rock” nano; simply a centre piece of interesting live rock then say an anemone or soft coral on opposite ends and something for movement.

I hope you enjoyed todays Saltwater Aquarium Advice blog :)

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Beware: A Common Problem For Older Saltwater Tanks!

April 7th, 2012

Dont be caught out…Something bad can happen to your overall saltwater quality as your tank ages! But if you have a fish-only tank dont worry; this only really applies to systems that contain live rock and/or corals.

Old tank syndrome can affect any reef tank!

As we all know a good understanding of saltwater chemistry is crucial to your success keeping a marine system stocked with life that demand certain chemical parameters (especially corals). Usually this is as easy as keeping a regular eye on things like pH, nitrates, phosphates, temperature, salinity and calcium (for systems containing live rock and/or corals) using test kits (check out our awesome www.SaltwaterAquariumAdvice.com test kits here) and measuring devices (see our measuring devices here) and adjusting these parameters as necessary.

What’s happens to your coral life support system as your tank ages?

Over time your established marine aquarium water quality can and does deteriorate, this is especially true if you keep corals. It is a common belief that over a few years of successful coral keeping growth rates will dwindle and the corals will stop growing. Many aquarists experience this and this occurrence has been dubbed “old tank syndrome”…

What is old tank syndrome?

For a start lets define “new tank syndrome” which is the incapacity of newly established bacterial colonies in the biological filter to cope with the output of organic waste leading to system crash as toxic metabolites build up. This happens in newly established tanks especially when marine life is added before they have been completely cycled.

Old tank syndrome in a nutshell is slowly declining water quality over time (years usually) leading to less than ideal conditions for marine life survival. This decline is not as obvious as one might think and pretty much results from many things being added to the water and not ever being removed completely (water changes are the ONLY way anything can be gradually diluted out of your system).

Time is the crucial factor with old tank syndrome as parameters are gradually decreasing so slightly we cant detect them week to week and we aren’t really paying attention to the bigger picture anymore, parameters are starting to drift very gradually; we are lead to believe that everything is stable and predictable and become complacent…until suddenly we realise the tank is failing to thrive as it once had and we witness gradual decline of marine life such as the cessation of growth of corals and/or mortality of newly introduced fish or invertebrates as they are chemically shocked by the water conditions their other tank mates have been able to adapt to over time (there may be some fatalities over this time that the owner puts down to natural causes, but in reality these deaths may have been from less than ideal water parameters).

What are the causes of old tank syndrome and how can we remedy them?

1. Basically the main cause is neglect, as I said we become complacent, what we are doing is working so we get a bit lazy checking our parameters (water testing) less regularly and start doing water changes less often, basically we begin to take our tanks for granted! The key to long-term success is a diligent maintenance routine and care over the years.

Other causes for old tank syndrome are:

  1. Decreasing alkalinity over time, which gradually makes the water more acidic. Test your alkalinity! In my opinion the BEST test kit is this one here.
  2. Increasing nutrients, that never get completely removed from the system. Correct regular partial water changes can remedy this.
  3. Inhibition of light and water movement from coral growth. Upgrade your systems components if you need to as your corals get massive.
  4. Competition between corals resulting in chemical warfare (alleopathy), activated carbon can remedy this.
  5. Infrequent water changes. Water changes dilute nutrients in your system this is the only way to completely get rid of them.
  6. Feeding your marine life incorrectly. Feeding should be done frequently in small amounts.

This blog post should arm you with enough information to prevent old tank syndrome occuring in your system.

Also, click on “Home” (above) to see how else we can enhance your saltwater aquarium keeping experience.

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The Wonderful World Of LPS Corals…

March 17th, 2012

Which coral to keep???

Stony corals can be very particular about water quality, lighting and water movement, if you want to get into the challenging world of stony corals LPS corals are the logical first choice…

LPS corals have so many forms and are usually easier stonys to care for

As I have said previously (have you been reading?) if  you are new to coral keeping I really advise you to start with soft corals, then with success move to LPS stony corals, finally after you have mastered keeping these, move on to SPS corals which are the hardest to keep.

LPS corals have species that can be some of the easiest corals to successfully keep, but there are other LPS corals that are pretty demanding! Overall LPS corals are easier to keep than SPS corals, which all require absolutely pristine water quality, high lighting and high water movement because of their native habitats on the reef..

What exactly are LPS corals?

The stony corals come in two main varieties; the easier to keep large polyped stony corals (LPS) and small polyped stony corals (SPS), as you can probably guess the main difference between them is the size of the living polyps inside the calcium carbonate skeletons, LPS polyps are large and soft. SPS corals also have branching, plate-like or encrusting skeletons, whereas LPS corals come in many, many different forms. LPS corals are less fussy about their environment so are easier to keep.

The vital differences between LPS corals and SPS corals regarding their care and preferences…

Many LPS species are not even reef corals, instead hailing from thebottom of tropical lagoons of the world; many living on the sandy substrate, these species do rather well when placed on the substrate of your tank.

Lagoon environments typically have less pristine water quality than a reef environment (where SPS corals come from), so many LPS corals have a greater tolerance for sediment and nutrients in the water.

SPS corals come from just below the waters surface in high water movement reef zones whereas LPS corals come from deeper lagoon bottoms with less water movement so are less demanding for high light and prefer less turbulent water flow.

LPS corals really thrive with supplementary feeding, even though many have zooxanthellae, additional feeding really helps them do well. LPS corals have bigger polyps so many species can take bigger foods such as mysis shrimp and pieces of shellfish flesh. It can be a real joy feeding your LPS corals and watching them eat!

LPS corals are very popular because of their relative ease of upkeep (most LPS species) but also because of their usually extended large colourful polyps (mostly happens at night), which make them the most photographed corals in the world!

Large polyps also means that they are more easily damaged so care needs to be taken to keep them out of high water flow areas and away from physical damage as a hurt polyp often may not recover.

LPS corals are generally larger than SPS corals and also unlike SPS corals they are much harder to propagate (frag) in captivity so most specimens are wild caught. LPS corals tend to fully expand their polyps especially when they are doing well, this expansion is a lot more pronounced than with SPS corals. The extent of the expansion also depends on current, lighting and whether the coral is feeding or not.

LPS corals are multiplied in the homes system usually by budding (binary fusion) but they have also been known to spawn at home.

Beware stinging sweeper tentacles!

LPS corals have a highly developed stinging capacity similar to anemones so care must be taken not to place them to close to other species as they compete for space fiercely, this can easily result in a dead coral.

As well as a mighty sting LPS corals are equipped with sweeper tentacles; these unusually long tentacles are deployed and survey the area immediately around the coral looking for any competing coral or other organism which then gets attacked by the stinging sweeper tentacles until it moves far enough away or dies!

Different forms of LPS corals:

LPS corals form huge skeletons and therefore are slower growing than SPS corals.

There are 3 main skeletal forms these corals grow into:

-         Branching: this skeleton type resembles a traditional, typical branching coral like the multi-coloured Candy cane coral (Caulastrea furcata).

-         Ridge: the skeleton forms in masses of ridges like the brain coral (Acanthastrea, Favia, Favites, Lobophyllia, Trachyphyllia and Platygyra species).

-         Plate: well, like the LPS plate and disk coral (Heliofungia and Fungia sp.)!

In many cases the genus will dictate the skeletal form, but this is not a rule, for example the Hammer coral has branching and ridge forms.

In my opinion no saltwater aquarium set up is complete without some weird and wonderful LPS specimens…

Also, click on “Home” (above) to see how else we can enhance your saltwater aquarium keeping experience.

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Saltwater Aquarium Secret Weapon: Macro-algae!

March 4th, 2012

Today, I want to let you in on a great insiders tip to:

  1. enhance the look of your tank.
  2. provide food and shelter for your marine pets.
  3. outcompete pest algae species.
  4. oxygenate your tanks water.
  5. improve your water quality by removing phosphates, silicates and nitrates.

This tip is the strategic use of marine macro-algae; also known as saltwater plants and coralline algae!

Macro-algae (meaning big celled algae) species should not be confused with micro-algae (small celled algae) which are those common pest algae species such as  Cyanobacteria, Hair Algae and Bryopsis which commonly occur in outbreaks when there is too much nutrients in the water or the lighting is incorrect.

The benefits of macro-algae…

No one likes pesky micro-algae, but macro-algae on the other hand is very helpful and will be of great benefit to your aquarium by doing the following:

- Out competing the pest algae species by using up all available nutrients in the water faster and more effectively. This means pest algae will not have a chance to thrive.

- Provides a great supplementary food source to herbivores and omnivores alike. Occasional browsing will also encourage the algae to grow well. Tangs, Angelfish, Blennies, crabs and snails all benefit from algae growing in the tank. A diet rich in algae is said to dramatically reduce the incidence of head and lateral line erosion disease (HLLE) in Tangs and Angelfish.

- Acting as a water filter sucking organic nutrients out of the water such as nitrates, phosphates and silicates that come from the breakdown of food and waste. Corals especially are very sensitive to these compounds. Algae also helps to absorb heavy metals and any toxins released by marine organisms

- Add much needed oxygenation to the water column. Marine plants take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen, you can never have enough oxygen in a saltwater environment.

- Gives your aquarium a more natural, authentic look and provides habitats for invertebrates and hiding places for invertebrates and marine fish.

Creating an ideal habitat for macro-algae:

Macro-algae are very easy to care for and only really require fairly clean water and the same bright (high) lighting that photosynthetic corals and anemone require, so are perfect for reef tanks. They need about 8 hours per day of light to thrive. Interestingly pest micro-algae’s do better in dim lighting. They will not need any supplementary feeding, as they will mop up excess nutrients in the water. Coralline (red) algae also need a calcium supplement to grow best.

If your marine plants are growing too much (usually a pretty slow process) you can simply trim and prune them as you would land plants.

Personally I like to keep the base of my aquariums free from substrate (much easier to keep clean this way ;) and encourage the growth of encrusting macro-algae’s across the base and strategically plant clumps of Halimedia and Caulerpa on the live rock where it looks really pretty.

Types of macro-algae:

1. Caulerpa species: This rapid-growing and popular macro-algae comes from the phylum Chlorophyta which are the green macro-algae’s. There are more than 100 different species of Caulerpa some forms growing tall and others growing as mats. The “feather” and “grape” varieties named after the forms of their leaves are the most popular with aquarists. Caulerpa is a favourite snack for marine herbivores and is very good for filling in empty spaces in marine tanks. Caulerpa plants are attached to each other by runners or rhizomes, which they use for anchoring themselves to the rock.

2. Halimeda: This Hawaiian macro-algae also of the phylum Chlorophyta incorporates calcium into its plate shaped leaves so is not eaten by herbivores. It is a slow grower and forms baseball sized, circular clumps. It is an attractive and hardy macro-algae to have in your saltwater aquarium.

3. Coralline algae: The bright red/pink/white/purple encrusting varieties of coralline algae (phylum Rhodophyta) are a huge favourite of reef tank owners. They always come introduced on live rock but can also spread onto glass bottoms, they can also be propagated by taking scrapings or existing colonies to new areas. Also being calcium absorbing they need decent levels of calcium (400 – 440 mg/mL) like corals. Also like corals they don’t tolerate much phosphates or nitrates and also need magnesium, which will encourage them to thrive. Coralline algae is vital to holding together coral reefs in the wild and is said to produce chemicals that promote the growth of invertebrates, they also keep pest algae away and provide a magnesium source for the tank.

4. Turtle grass: Also known as Maidens hair Chlorodesmis is also from the phylum Chlorophyta and resembles fine blades of grass that look like tufts of bright green hair. In my opinion this is one of the most attractive macro-algae’s because of its colour and form. It wont be snacked on because it contains a deterrent in its leaves. It needs moderate to strong water current and lighting.

Using one of more of these species in your saltwater aquarium can also be your secret weapon to keep your water clean, healthy and pest algae free!

Also, click on “Home” (above) to see how else we can enhance your saltwater aquarium keeping experience.

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How To Choose The Best Marine Specimen For Your Saltwater Tank.!

February 28th, 2012

Did you know…..one of the best things you can do to ensure your long-term saltwater aquarium success is learn how to select the best and healthiest marine life possible.

So little space...so many choices!

Some of the stuff you read today you will already know, but my question to you is are you selecting your fish according to the right formula or are you one of those people who get swayed by the newest brightest fish or coral in the shop and makes that impulse buy? This scenario is the most commonly occurring mistake that even experienced aquarists make and then regret.

Intelligent Selection:

The reason intelligent selection is so important is because collection, transport, shipping and multiple acclimation procedures are without a doubt the most stressful event in a pet marine fishes life. Up to 80% of wild caught livestock die before they establish themselves in the home aquarium. So it makes sense to learn how to choose the healthy ones and leave the rest in the pet store.

The second reason intelligent selection is critical relates to your tank; the ecosystem you have created and what you have living there.

Here are some crucial considerations in regards to your prospective new pet and your tank:

  1. Available space in your tank, is there enough for the organism to be happy?
  2. Suitable habitat(s) for your prospective pets (for example Royal Grammas like caves).
  3. Existing water parameters and light levels.
  4. Availability of and ease of feeding any specialised foods.
  5. Longevity in captive environments (species like Moorish idols traditionally don’t do well in captivity).
  6. Compatibility with other species regarding territoriality, predation, toxicity, chemical warfare (for example as with Cowfish/Boxfish and certain invertebrates).

So, intelligent selection all comes down to 2 things: adequate research on the species you want to ensure you choose something you can provide for easily (or happily) and it will do well with your livestock and current tank environment. The second thing is going to pet stores and fish shops and choosing the best specimen available (or waiting to find the right one) of your researched, chosen species.


Doing good research…

I advise all my clients to do their marine life selection research according to a saltwater aquarium plan; this “plan” is a written proposal, a blueprint of your tank outlining all species and equipment that will be the evolution of your tank over time. This plan is designed to be adhered to and abided by to ensure the long-term harmony and sustainability of your aquarium will be paramount now and in the future.

Your plan should include a list of prospective species you want that are researched in terms of:

- Care required (and how easy they are to care for, can you provide for them willingly?)

- Size (at purchase and at maturity compared to the size of your tank and how many species you currently have)

- Diet (food and feeding, fish with difficult to provide for diets like Mandarins should be thought through very carefully before purchasing)

- Behaviour (shy fish cant be put with boisterous ones too easily, known bully species like Damsels should be shunned in a community tank)

- Set-up/water conditions required (additives, water movement, light levels)

- Compatibility with other marine life (will they get along?)

- Degree of aggression/territoriality (if high will cause other species stress)

- Can they be kept in pairs or groups?

This planning will allow you to make intelligent choices where every other relationship in the tank is taken into consideration. It may seem like a lot of work but it only needs to be done once and is well worth the effort made. I have had many people thank me personally for this advice, I hope it helps you!

Also, click on “Home” (above) to see how else we can enhance your saltwater aquarium keeping experience.

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Keeping Marine Angelfish

February 23rd, 2012

My reason for getting into this hobby in the first place was the allure of stunning rainbow hued marine fish swimming around in my home (well, actually in the tank at my home…;). The most beautiful fish family in the ocean (the same one that attracted me to the hobby in the first place) is the Angelfish or to be technical; fish of the family Pomacanthidae.

The "Emperor" of the ocean!

Angels of the ocean…

The Angelfish are stunningly beautiful, strikingly patterned, intelligent, feisty and majestic fish. They have vibrant laterally compressed bodies and are named for the spines over part of their gill covers (Pomacanthidae means “spine cover” in greek). They are similar looking in form to the Butterflyfishes but are not related, the gill cover spine differentiates these similar shaped fish.

Marine Angelfish are thought by many (including me) to be the most stunning fish family in the ocean. They are the most sought after “centre piece” fish for aquariums, have interesting personalities and are sure to add colour and interest to your tank.

What you can expect from an Angelfish…

An Angelfish is likely to become the boss of your tank, and are highly sought after for their colourful beauty, so often become the “spotlight” species; the focal point in the saltwater system they are in. Larger Fish-only set ups and FOWLR’s of over 220 gallons are often set up around a large marine Angel such as an Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator), a Queen Angelfish (Holocanthus ciliaris) or maybe a Koran Angelfish (Pomacanthus semicirculatus). Smaller fish focused tanks are often centred around a dwarf Angelfish such as the Bicolor Angelfish (Centropyge bicolour), the Coral Beauty (Centropyge bispinosa) or maybe the popular Flame Angelfish (Centropyge loriculus).

Most marine Angelfish are from the reef shallows (less than 50 metres deep) in the western Pacific, Indian or Atlantic oceans and spend the night hiding themselves away in holes and crevices so need plenty of rockwork to feel safe in your tank. Large genuses of Angelfish can reach up to 50cm while the dwarf Angelfish (of the genus Centropyge) doesn’t grow bigger than 15cm.

Another cool feature of marine Angelfish is the drastic change in coloration that takes place in many species as they grow from juvenile to adult. For example take the Emperor Angel; the juvenile is black with circular blue and white stripes and the adult is blue with yellow stripes and tail and a black mask outlined in fluorescent blue. This means you may purchase a juvenile that will be dazzling but it will grow into a stunning adult with completely different markings and colours! This visual change with age is thought to correspond to social rank.

Most experts say you should only keep one Angelfish per tank, but that said a huge tank with a lot of rockwork could house a few specimens, I have even heard of an Angelfish community tank. The reason for “one per tank” is that in the wild they are solitary fish except when they are part of a mated pair. This means in an aquarium environment they can be territorial and defend their turf with aggression towards especially other Angels of the same genus but also fish similarly sized and shaped. Angelfish usually end up as the dominant fish in a tank.

Which Angelfish to choose???

Most Angelfish are stunning, but some species do really well in captivity and lots have some of the worst survival records around…

There are 87 species in seven genera of marine Angelfish that all range dramatically in terms of aquarium suitability and ease of care in captive systems. This is mostly due to different genera dealing with the traumas of capture, transport and handling differently as well as some having diets difficult to cater to in home systems, for example those Angelfish that feed exclusively on sponges and tunicates.

The best Angelfish Genuses for saltwater aquariums are:

-         The dwarf or pygmy Angelfish (Centropyge): which are good for smaller systems, but should still be kept one to a tank. Primarily feed on filamentous algae.

-         Chaetodontoplus: this genus of 10 species are quite expensive, semi-aggressive and have a mediocre survivability. My personal favourite of this genus is the Blueline Angelfish (Chaetodontoplus septentrionalis).

-         Pomacanthus species: shy when they first get introduced to a tank, this genus soon will feel at home and grow big (so make sure you have a lot of space for them!), need a daily dose of greens for optimal health. This genus includes the Emperor and Koran Angelfish.

-         Holacanthus: hardy and the most suitable Angelfish for home aquariums. This genus needs a lot of greens for optimal health. The queen Angelfish is the most popular example of this genus.

Personally I feel other genuses of Angelfish should be avoided (there are a few species in the other genuses that can be suitable for captive life) in general either because of their specific fussy diets or because they simply don’t fare well in captive environments.

Also, click on “Home” (above) to see how else we can enhance your saltwater aquarium keeping experience.

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How To Catch Your Own Marine Fish!

January 5th, 2012

Live by the ocean? Going on a tropical island holiday this festive season…

Why not catch your own marine fish! Its fun, its difficult and it will give you a new found respect for your marine pets…

Collecting marine fish is fun but hard work!

First and most importantly you need to make sure you have correct permission to collect marine fish (as a hobbyist, not collector) where you are. If you dont know how to go about this ask the local dive shop or marine authority.

Next you need to make sure you have all the collection equipment you need (underwater collection bucket, probe/stick) and transport containers plus a tank at home waiting for you catch…

How to actually catch your own marine fish:

Trawling and seine nets will actually damage ornamental marine fish quite a lot as they will get knocked around. The best method is to snorkel or dive with SCUBA using a hand net with a mesh fine enough to catch smaller species but wide enough to stop fish fins getting fouled up in it. A too small mesh will make the net too visible and hard to move through the water and a too large mesh will let smaller fish escape and ensnare body parts more easily which increases the trauma to the fish.

The best mesh colour is green or brown not white because the fish can more easily see a white net coming! It is possible to make your own hand net; using a good coat hangar with some green mosquito netting over it works really well. Having a long handle also helps but not so long you cant make quick movements. The net will need to be deep enough once a fish is inside you can flip the top of the net over to trap it.

It is always easier to chase a fish into the net with your hand or a second hand net than swipe the net and catch the fish. This is because the fish have to be quick enough to get away from much faster predators than a human!

The best strategy is to is to observe rocky areas where your fish of interest inhabit, move towards the fish very slowly a few times to learn its escape route. Now you will need to decide on a good place to put your hand net so that the fishes only logical escape route is into it, now simply scare it in with your hand or another net or probe. This is easier said than done.

The most easy fish to scare into a hand net are: some Butterflyfish, Clownfish, Royal Grammas, Hawkfish, Puffers, Boxfish and Cowfish.

The barrier net…a collectors most effective tool.

For more serious collectors a barrier or fence net can be used in conjunction with a handnet and poker, this type of net catches about 80% of fish found in your LFS. This net can be set up in a “U” shape (use a rock to weight it into this shape) along a reef wall or rocky bottom and has a weight line at the bottom and a float line at the top. The easiest way to place and use these nets is when you are diving.

Fish such as Tangs, Butterflyfish, Damselfish and Wrasses can be scared along the seabed, driven into the concave of this net and are simply handnetted (sweeping the net up to catch them works best) off the barrier net and put into the collection bucket.

To learn more about how to sustainably and successfully catch your own marine life and many other saltwater aquarium insiders secrets check out what my mentorship program at www.SaltwaterAquariumAdviceVIPClub.com has to offer.

Also, click on “Home” (above) to see how else we can enhance your saltwater aquarium keeping experience.

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Solving Problems With Your Corals And Anemones

November 12th, 2011

Its no secret that non-moving or sessile (which means attached to the substrate) saltwater aquarium invertebrates are notorious for being difficult to diagnose if things go wrong, this is especially true for photosynthetic anemones and corals.

Often non-moving invertebrates do not display obvious symptoms like fish do (luckily!) which are specific to a particular problem. This lack of an obvious link between symptom and cause can make correcting the problem difficult. When things go wrong many just retract their polyps, wilt and gradually turn to slime.

Stress is the cause of most problems!

Up to around 80% of invertebrate symptoms are simply a result of stress usually caused by poor or fluctuating water quality or incorrect lighting, this is the case most of the time. However there are some pretty nasty coral pests,predators and diseases out there that you need to be aware of…Most of these will not often show up in an aquarium where the new corals have been acclimated correctly and then have been quarantined for 30 days before placing them into the display tank.

So, stress is the number one killer of corals and other invertebrates. So, what are the major forms of stress (in order of likelihood that these are affecting your invertebrate)?

1. Poor/fluctuating water quality (usually temperature and pH, phosphates, nitrates induced stress).
2. Incorrect or inappropriate lighting (bulbs too old, too new, too close or too far away).
3. Not enough water movement (you can never have enough of this in my opinion).
4. Incompatible tank mates (caused by predation, chemical turf wars, other physical damage).
5. Starvation (feeding with supplements really helps sessile invertebrates out and massively reduces the liklihood of starvation).
6. Physical damage (caused by collection, handling, pests, parasites, predation).

Stress causes these major symptoms in corals and other sessile invertebrates:

1. Tissue recession (or degeneration).
2. Slowing or stopping of growth.
3. Coral Alleopathy (chemical warfare between invertebrates).
4. Lack of polyp expansion in corals, collapsing of anemones.
5. Bleaching of tissue in corals/photosynthetic anemones.
All these symptoms can be fully recovered from if the stressor is identified (start by testing the water quality!) then kept to a minimum. Recovery will be sped up if the affected invertebrate is well fed.

So to diagnose your invertebrates problem start by checking your water parameters at least 4 times over a 48 hour period to rule out incorrect chemistry and fluctuations over time. Then check your lighting in terms of bulb age and appropriate distances to marine life (check the literature for this), whether or not you have enough water movement. Are you supplementary feeding? This can really help your invertbrate live thrive. Finally check for incompatibility in your tank and who could be causing any physical damage (if there is any)…

Good luck ;)

For more useful info go to www.SaltwaterAquariumAdvice.com (or click on “Home” above) to see how we can enhance your saltwater aquarium experience.

Saltwater Aquarium Advice

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Posted in Coral Disease, Coral Keeping, Disease Prevention, Uncategorized, marine Invertebrates | No Comments »

The Elusive Mantis Shrimp: A Live Rock Stowaway You Definitely Dont Want.

November 1st, 2011

The secretive Mantis shrimp looks amazing, like an (often) colourful cross between lobsters and shrimp, ive even eaten them in Vietnam and stalked them across the sea floor in Indonesia. However, you certainly don’t want these common live rock stowaways and efficient predators in your tank as pests…

Missing fish? This guy could be the reason.

Beware the Mantis!

Mantis shrimp dine on small fish or other invertebrates and live in crevices and holes. Big species can grow up to 30cm long. They can often be very hard to catch because of their cunning and have even been known to smash aquarium glass! They have predatory appendages at the front like preying Mantis’s these can either be spikes (spearers) or powerful clubs (smashers also known as “thumb splitters” by fishermen) which are unleashed lightning fast and can easily do you some damage if you try to catch them by hand.

Mantis shrimp can often be hard to detect but if you hear loud clicking (made by a smasher, spearers don’t make a sound) or have a series of smaller fish go missing, this is a good sign one is present in your tank.

Getting rid of them…

Unfortunately there is no easy way to get rid of these fish and invertebrate hunting beasties. Observation at night (when they are active) can reveal where their hole is in the rock (or follow the sounds). If you have found their hole you can remove the rock and dry it for a few weeks to kill the mantis, or keep it in a bucket of seawater to try and extract it out with food then trap it.

Sometimes a complete tank teardown will be necessary to find and remove the Mantis, manual rock removal is usually the best bet.

Luring them into a trap with bait can sometimes work well, but as they are very fast and devious this can sometimes take a long time or never work.

Good luck!

For more useful info go to www.SaltwaterAquariumAdvice.com (or click on “Home” above) to see how we can enhance your saltwater aquarium experience.

Saltwater Aquarium Advice

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Posted in Marine Livestock, Saltwater Aquarium Pests, marine Invertebrates | No Comments »

The Truth About Saltwater Nano Tanks Some Pet Stores Dont Want You To Know…

October 22nd, 2011

Today, I want to delve into a hot trend; tiny saltwater aquariums (basically aquariums that are less than 40 gallons (151 litres) and are as small as a few gallons with interchangeable titles of pico, nano, mini and micro) which are becoming increasingly popular because of their perceived low cost and ease of set up and maintenance; but successfully keeping such a tiny tank thriving actually requires a lot more skill and attention than a bigger tank.

Beginners beware...

A common nano tank story…

Many people are increasingly buying into the hobby because they are attracted to the small capital outlay, plug and play-ability, portability and lack of space required with a tank volume less than 40 gallons. These people often are sold the concept as a pre set-up mini reef (or a complete plug and play set up) from the LFS; the guy says is “easy” to take care of because it is small and houses fewer species than a bigger tank.

A few days, weeks or months later something goes horribly wrong with the mini tank and everything living is wiped out. These people then give up the hobby because of this fatal event that they weren’t prepared for…

This illustrates two points:

  1. Noone should get into this hobby without taking it seriously and learning about all that is required for marine life support before they jump into the deep end, especially with a smaller tank.
  2. Small tanks are inherently unstable and require special treatment and regular testing and monitoring compared to larger tanks.

The bottom line is a smaller tank is much less stable than a bigger tank in terms of water quality (which as we all know needs to be consistently good to keep your marine life alive). If you are contemplating a tank of 5 gallons or less, forget it! Really, this minute volume of water gives you NO room for any error; a big risk especially for less experienced aquarists, leave it to the pros or the uneducated is my advice.

A saltwater aquarium volume of at least 40 gallons is my recommendation for the beginner saltwater hobbyist. Remember, the greatest number of saltwater aquarium quitters turn their backs on this awesome hobby because of a very bad tiny tank experience…

Big versus small…is bigger really better?

A tank volume of 40 gallons or more gives you much more live stocking options because of more living space, so you can keep more species and more active species. A large tank size also lets you have a bit of artistic licence in regards to aquascaping and gives you a much greater margin of error for complete system crash in case you overfeed, something dies or the power cuts out. Finally, a bigger tank allows more natural behaviour of marine life through the greater range of natural conditions and habitats you are able to provide, so the more natural behaviours you will be able to observe.

Larger tanks have more water so have a greater dilution factor or buffering capacity should something go wrong physically or chemically. You have more time to react and correct the problem before marine life starts dying, which can happen in a matter of hours for a tiny tank.

Tiny tanks by their very nature are instable, inflexible and are much more likely to crash. When you compare the cost per gallon people usually find they are not much cheaper than larger tanks; a little known fact!

Marine life comes from an environment that is very stable, so the smaller the tank, the harder to keep conditions consistent, the more likely problems will arise…period!

Small tanks need species with low metabolisms and low activity levels to keep waste levels to a minimum, therefore there are less choices especially when you factor in who can live happily with who in such close living quarters. The smaller the tank size, the easier it is to overstock it.

Have I put you off tiny tanks yet?

I don’t intend to paint a totally grim picture, but there are many issues to be aware of regarding the limitations of tiny marine tanks. BUT, if you have carefully done your research and are willing to demonstrate patience, balance and proper set up with your tiny tank you can succeed! Many people successfully keep stunning mini tanks thriving, with a little forethought, planning and discipline you can too.

For more useful info go to www.SaltwaterAquariumAdvice.com (or click on “Home” above) to see how we can enhance your saltwater aquarium experience.

Saltwater Aquarium Advice

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Posted in Reef Aquariums, Saltwater Aquarium Health, Saltwater Aquarium Set-Up | No Comments »

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