Myka's Guide to Reef Keeping Basics; Getting Started

[Myka]

Editor's Note: :lol: Here I go again...this one is going to be quite the ongoing project as I add information as I see repeated newbie questions popping up. Feel free to suggest additional "chapters" or add your two cents. :)

So you’ve decided to take the plunge! Welcome to the addiction – err the uh hobby! ;) I’m going to try to keep this as short and straight forward as possible so it is easy to skim, and less of a book. I will give you brand names that I prefer, so you know what to look for, and in some cases I will give you approximate prices. I am concentrating on reef tanks, so some of this won’t apply to those who don’t wish to keep corals.

So, first things first: Everything written in this text is my opinion based on 15+ years of freshwater keeping, 10+ years of saltwater and reef keeping. I have also worked 5+ years in retail aquaria sales. Having said that, I claim to be no expert, but I do have a wide knowledge, and the wish to help others. If I had someone around that knew something about fish when I first started it would have saved me a lot of money, and a lot of grief that is for sure!

This one is definitely going to be a book, so here’s a list of the “chapters” in the order they appear:

~ Your Budget
~ The Aquarium, Sump & Refugium
~ Tap Water Purification; RO and RO/DI
~ Salt
~ Live Rock
~ Sand
~ Lighting
~ Filtration
~ Powerheads
~ Cycling your Tank
~ Water Changes
~ My Favourite Suppliers



Your Budget:

Figure out how much money you want to spend on start up costs whether it is $300 or $15,000+. Prices vary greatly on what you intend to keep in your aquarium, the size of the aquarium, and how technologically advanced you want your aquarium to be. Feel free to send me a PM with your budget and what you would like to keep in your aquarium and I can give you an idea of the size of aquarium you could setup for that cost, and what type of options you would have given your budget.



The Aquarium, Sump & Refugium:

Within reason, buy the largest aquarium you can afford to setup. Changes in the water chemistry happen much faster in smaller aquariums, and that can make them difficult to keep for novice reef keepers. I would suggest a tank 40 to 90 gallons. The 40 gallon “breeder” tank is a great tank for a beginner with a lower budget as the shallower depth allows you to save money on lighting. If you plan to keep Tangs I would suggest you buy a 6 foot tank as the fish as very active swimmers. A couple of the smaller slightly less active species will do ok in a 4 foot 90+ gallon tank, but there are few exceptions.

Rectangular aquariums are easier to light than corner, hexagonal or cylinder tanks. 5 foot tanks are much more challenging as there are few lighting options.

You need to decide whether you want a sump or not. A sump increases the water volume, which is always good. The larger the water volume the more stable parameters are, and the easier it is to look after because changes happen slower. I find the biggest benefit though, is that you have the ability to hide almost all of the equipment in the sump. The heater, the skimmer, a refugium (if you like), different reactors, etc. Having a sump requires the tank to be drilled preferably or you can get a vacuum overflow, which I have found to be quite unreliable, so I don’t recommend. You can include a refugium in your sump design. This is a perfect project for the DIYer, or you can buy premade sumps which are rather costly. Do a Google search to find various sump and sump/refugium designs.

A refugium is usually a chamber of the sump where you put macro algaes like chaeto, maybe some filter feeders, and other critters. The point of the refugium is to grow the macro algae as quickly as possible. The macro algae sucks excess nutrients out of the water column thus helping to control nuisance algaes. By lighting the refugium on the opposite cycle of your aquarium you can help to decrease the pH drop a tank normally experiences at night. Incorporating a refugium into your sump design is very beneficial.

To learn more about pH refer to Myka's Guide to Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, pH, and Salinity (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=48321).



Tap Water Purification; RO and RO/DI:

RO/DI stands for Reverse Osmosis / Deionization. In my opinon, it would be a very poor choice after spending all this money on your tank to skim out and not spend $200 on an RO/DI unit. An RO/DI unit will make your tap water ultra pure – 0 ppm TDS (total dissolved solids). You should use RO/DI water from day one. Some tap waters are worse than others, but in general most tap water contains a lot of icky things we don’t want in our tanks like heavy metals, chlorine, ammonia, nitrates, phosphates, etc. Using an RO/DI unit will greatly improve the water quality of your aquarium. I cannot stress enough how important I believe an RO/DI unit is to the success of your reef. Buy a handheld digital TDS meter (about $30) when you buy your RO/DI unit, and test the RO/DI water every time you use it to make sure the unit is still running at 0 ppm TDS. As soon as the unit reads 1 ppm TDS one, some, or all of your cartridges need to be replaced, but I won’t get into troubleshooting the RO/DI unit in this article.



Salt:

I use Instant Ocean salt. When mixed up to 1.026, IO usually has readings of 360-370 ppm calcium, around 11 dKH alkalinity, and around 1280 Magnesium. This means that you will need to bump up the Calcium and Magnesium to the proper levels before doing your waterchange. Even though I have tried many different brands of salt I always go back to IO because I haven't seen a difference using "better" salt, and IO costs WAAAAY less, even after supplementing.

To get the proper readings, for every 5g of water change water I make with IO salt I dose:

15mL Kent Liquid Calcium (everyone knows liquid is expensive to supplement)
1 tsp SeaChem Reef Advantage Magnesium
Alkalinity is ok

So, if my calculations are right I will go through 1 1/2 of the 16oz Liquid Calcium jugs (about $15), and about 1/2 of a 600g container of the SeaChem Magnesium (about $4) for each bucket of salt. So that's a total cost of about $19 of additives for each 160 gallon bucket of IO salt. So that makes each bucket of IO cost me about $59. Any other $59 bucket of salt you have to put additives into it too, so that makes it cost more. SO...at $59 per 200g bucket of salt with additives included, IO is the cheapest.

Be sure to test every new bag, box, or bucket of salt. Mix it up to 1.026 specific gravity and test the calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels. Adjust as necessary. See also the chapter in this article entitled “Water Changes”.



Live Rock:

Live rock is your reef’s main mode of filtration. It is the base of your reef. It is important to buy high quality live rock. Look for rock that is porous, and light weight for its size. It is normal for uncured rock to be smelly. Once it has been cured the smell will go away. Pick out pieces with different shapes, and try to stay away from the round rocks and rocks that look like bricks. Try to get some branchy looking pieces, and some flatter pieces. The more porous the rock is, the less weight you will need, so it will cost you less as well.

Some people pack their tanks full of live rock, and once they start putting corals in there they realise there is no room for coral growth!! In my experience, if you can find some nice really porous rock you only need about ¾ of a pound to each gallon of aquarium water, but you may need up to 2 lbs per gallon if the rock is denser, and of lower quality. Buy however much you need to look good in the tank, and don’t worry too much about how many pounds per gallon you have.

If you can afford to buy all live rock, do it. But if you need to save some money you can buy dry rock as well as live rock, and the live rock will eventually seed the dry rock, and it will become live rock. The more live rock you use in comparison to the amount of dry rock the less time it will take for it to seed, but expect it to take at least six months for the dry rock to visually blend in with the live rock, and about a year before the dry rock will reach its maximum filtering potential. In this time you may battle nitrates as the anaerobic bacteria in the live rock convert nitrates into nitrogen gas which is then released out of the aquarium. These anaerobic bacteria are the slowest to colonize dry rock. This is why it is important to get good quality dry rock. Bulk Reef Supply and Marco Rocks have very high quality dry rocks. Be sure to cure or even better “cook” the rock before you use it.

For more information on live rock refer to Myka's Guide to Tank Cycling, and Live Rock Curing & Cooking (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44859).

[Myka]

Lighting

Lighting will probably be the single most expensive component of your aquarium, so take a close look at lighting options before you buy your tank to be sure you haven’t bought something that will require more expensive options.

Personally, I see only two options when it comes to the main lighting of your tank. T5s or metal halides (MH). I don’t like power compact lighting because it puts out a lot of heat for the amount of light it puts out, and is generally not bright enough for tanks any larger than nano (under 20-30 galons).

Ok this is really generalizing, but if you intend to keep softies and/or LPS go for T5 lighting. Some of the lower light SPS will do great under T5s. There are even some SPS tanks out there that only use T5s, but I think that is more of an option for the more experienced reef keepers for many reasons. If you intend to keep mainly SPS I would suggest MH lighting.

If you are using T5s and you want to keep mainly softies I would suggest one bulb per 6” of aquarium width, and if you want to keep LPS I would suggest one bulb per 3-4” of aquarium width. MH will cover a 24x24” area, so if you have a 4 foot aquarium you will need two MH lights, and if you have a 3 foot aquarium you will need some supplemental lighting (like T5s) to spread the light over the length well.

For T5s, the Sunlight Supply TEK fixtures are decent quality, and very popular. For smaller aquariums, or when fewer bulbs are needed, the Hagen GLO units are dependable, and with their reflector upgrade are decent units for an affordable price. For bulbs my favourites are AquaScience, Korallen-Zucht, AquaZ, and URI/UVL. Usually an even number of “white” bulbs to blue bulbs creates nice coloring. If you have two plugs to your unit put the blue bulbs on one and the white lights on the other. That way you can set a timer for the blue bulbs to come on an hour earlier than the white ones, and stay on an hour later to get a dusk and dawn effect which is easier on the inhabitants of the tank. I suggest blue bulbs (Fiji Purple would count as a "blue" bulb in this case) instead of actinics because the PAR (a measure of intensity) is much greater, and the effects are as good or better than actinics. Personally, I like to use even numbers of Korallen-Zucht Fiji Purple and AquaScience 22,000K for "blue" supplementation.

For MH I personally prefer the Giesemann brand for "stationary" fixtures, stay away from Coralife. Try to stay away from any “U” shaped reflectors. Pendants have the best reflectors. The best pendants on the market in order would be LumenMax, LumenArc or LumenBrite, and PFO Mini pendants. Most people like to supplement MH lighting with blue bulbs to create a dusk and dawn effect as described above. Different ballasts will run different bulbs totally differently. You will get not only a higher or lower PAR value, but also a higher or lower Kelvin (spectrum color) by running the same bulb on two different ballasts. Choose a bulb that goes well with the ballast you have chosen. A poorly chosen bulb for your ballast will result in poor PAR, and wasted electricity. Here is a great site to help with this: Sanjay's Reef Lighting (http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting)

When picking a Kelvin (color of the light) keep your main lighting 10,000 – 14,000K for whiter lighting (and higher output), and up to 50,000K for blue lighting, although 20,000K is considered blue. Actinics are measured in nm, and a pure actinic will be 420 nm. 450 nm bulbs are actinic with blue light as well, so are combo bulbs. Most T5 bulbs will cost you about $20-40 each, and MH bulbs will be $60-150 each. T5s should be replaced every 8 months, and MH every 12 months. As bulbs age they start to produce more red spectrum lighting which increases algae growth, so it is important to change your bulbs when it is time.



Filtration:

The main mechanical filtration in a saltwater aquarium comes from the use of a skimmer. Many people run their tanks skimmerless, and this is definitely doable, but I strongly encourage novice reefers to use not only a skimmer, but a good quality skimmer. Don’t waste your money on a poor skimmer.

The purpose of a skimmer is to remove organic compounds from the water column aka waste. The waste is removed from the aquarium before it has the chance to break down skipping the biological cycle, and reducing nitrates and phosphates. A good skimmer will help hugely in keeping your nitrates and phosphates low which is important to keeping your corals happy, and your tank nuisance algae free.

When choosing a skimmer be sure it is rated correctly to the size of your aquarium. For those with sumps I would suggest EuroReef, Vertex, and ASM which all start in the $200+ range. Deltec would be a higher quality skimmer starting at about $600. If money is not an issue Bubble King is the industry leader, but a Bubble King will set you back $1000+ depending on the size of your tank. For those without sumps I would suggest Deltec which start at around $350. The Tunze 9002 nano skimmers which will cost you a bit less than $200 are great nano skimmers perfect for small tanks, the Red Sea Max, and BioCubes.

Power filters can be used to run carbon and phosphate media. Do not use ceramic medias, bio balls, or other biological filtration medias. These will turn into nitrate factories by trapping the detritus and allowing it to break down. We don’t want that, we want the skimmer to catch that.

If you have a sump you can use a filter sock to polish the water and catch the tiny particles. However, you NEED to change that filter sock at least once a week, but 2-3 times a week is even better. They are machine washable (don’t use detergent), so buy two to switch them out. If you don’t have a filter sock you can use either a foam block or some floss media in a power filter, but it needs to be replaced just as the filter sock needs cleaning. The foam blocks can get expensive to replace (they aren’t cleanable enough), so it may be a good idea to buy a sheet of filter media which is inexpensive, and you cut it to size. You don't need this media or a sock at all. Some people believe they do more harm than good by catching all the beneficial water goodies like plankton.

A Two Litte Fishies PhosBan Reactor (package is about $100 from J&L Aquatics and includes RowaPhos media) is a god send. When filled with phosphate absorbing material is will dramatically help reduce phosphates and thus help to keep low nutrients in the water column, and nuisance algaes under control. The proper flow is when the media just barely gently “boils” which is about 100 gph depending on how much media is in the reactor. Bulk Reef Supply also has a reactor which is much cheaper that looks really good, but I have yet to try it. Whichever media you buy be sure to get the reddish brown type, the white type is nearly useless.

You can run phosphate media and carbon in the same chamber (be it a PhosBan Reactor or a power filter) but be aware that optimal flow through phosphate media is about 100 gph, and optimal flow through carbon is about 300-400 gph. The phosphate media needs time to absorb the phosphate, where carbon absorbs quickly, and does the best job if you can get as much water to touch it as possible. So, if running both together be sure to run the chamber at about 100 gph to optimize the phosphate media, and the carbon will still do a good job. Place the carbon so that the aquarium water runs through the carbon before the phosphate media. If carbon is run through a power filter be sure that you use a media sock that allows you to pack the carbon tightly as carbon should not move as the water passes through it. If it does, it will rub off carbon dust and put that in the tank, that is not good. Rinse both carbon and phosphate media with cool RO/DI water (not tap water!!) until it runs clear.

For carbon I prefer Kent Reef Carbon. Black Diamond carbon is also a very high quality product and is cheaper than Kent, but it is VERY dusty and requires a lot of rinsing. When buying a phosphate media buy a rusty reddish brown one (ferric oxide), NOT a white one (aluminum based). My favourite phosphate media is Bulk Reef Supply’s High Capacity Granular Ferric Oxide, a close second (but a bit more expensive) would be RowaPhos.



Powerheads:

Coming soon!



Cycling your Tank:

Please refer to Myka's Guide to Tank Cycling, and Live Rock Curing & Cooking (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44859).



Water Changes:

When doing water changes get your fresh saltwater mixed up to the proper specific gravity and allow the water to circulate and match the temperature of your display tank with a powerhead and heater for 24 hours. Then retest the specific gravity and adjust as needed. Test the calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels. Adjust as necessary with additives, then proceed with your water change. By doing your water changes this way, it is often unnecessary to dose your aquarium between water changes if you don’t have a high calcium and alkalinity demand, and do water changes often enough. This practise reduces the risk of overdosing your tank. It is good practise to figure out how often you need to do water changes to maintain your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels without dosing your aquarium however, it is impossible in high demand aquariums. A very general guideline to start with would be 10% weekly water changes or 25% biweekly water changes. See how that works for you and your reef, and learn whether you need to do water changes more or less often by watching your inhabitants, and keeping an eye out for detritus build up.
For more information on water changes and water parameters please refer to Myka's Guide to Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, pH, and Salinity (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=48321).



My Favourite Suppliers:

J&L Aquatics (http://www.jlaquatics.com)
Bulk Reef Supply (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com)
Marco Rocks (http://www.marcorocks.com)
MOPS – Mail Order Pet Supplies (http://www.mops.ca)

[Pan]

hmm, just a thought but if you buy better salt you don't have to dose at the start. Just my two cents. I guess with the price of instant ocean it may work out that its cheaper to dose cheap salt rather than buy a bit better salt in the first place. hmm, anyways keep it coming Myka :)

[Myka]

keep it coming Myka :)

Thanks. I enjoy writing these little articles. I just like writing. :)