One of the main components in a reef tank is the live rock. The denitrifying bacteria deep inside the live rock where there is low oxygen content, you can either buy cured rock, semi-cured rock or uncured rock. Uncured rock is the cheapest but the most worth. To cure live rock what you do is take a garbage can like this, power head and heater and let it cure. A filter and protein skimmers are nice to have but not a must. What happens in curing sponges and other live organisms that were on the rock fall often die. This causes ammonia in the garbage can to spike and smells incredibly bad for about one week. When the ammonia spike goes down, so thus the smell. I buy semi-cured rock at the store and tanked it for about a week.
The substrate is what we put on the bottom of the tank. Some people like to live the tank with no substrate on it because it is easier to clean. I like crash coral, it gives the tank a nice finish look. Increases the light at the bottom of the tank as it reflects the light up and helps with the denitrifying bacteria.
There is a big debate among the fish community about how deep to make your sand bag. As the deeper you go if untended, a sand bag can develop into a breathing ground for toxic gasses. My advice is not to go too deep. One half to two inches with two inches be in the top.
Carbon is an essential part of the chemical filtration process, it removes odor and impurities. Also, I like to add a—it is beneficial in the control of loosing algae.
Proteins skimmer, one of the most important parts of your tank is the protein skimmer. Any tank over 20 gallons should have one. What it does is it takes out the dirty particles of your tank on a molecular level. The skimmer works by injecting massive very fine air bubbles into the tube. By means of using either air stones or a high pressure water pump on an air bulb. The rising air bubbles act as a lift in a tube allowing the dissolved organic compounds to attach to the bubbles and hitch a ride to the surface where they are captured in a collection cup and dispose off.
The most confusing question faced in the beginning reef keeper is which protein skimmer to get. You have different designs such as air stone venturi, needle wheel bucket and spray induction. Here are few examples to help you get started thinking about which one you would like for you tank.
Then you have to choose from a hang on in sump and stand alone skimmer. This is an MTC 3000 which is an air stone design. It runs on power head and then air pump that pushes the air through the air stone to make the bubbles. Air stones are the oldest technology in protein skimming but some still work very well. The main drawbacks of the hang on, is that you see them hanging on the tank. For small tanks up to 50 gallons, a high quality hang on skimmer should be sufficient.
If you have a lot of fish or a tank over 50 gallons, you should seriously think about it and some skimmer. And some skimmer can usually handle up to about 150 gallons depending upon the bio-load.
This one has two injectors thus increasing its sufficiency. Usually in some skimmers don’t have tower height to maximize dual time which is the amount of time the bubbles have to react with the water. Dual time in bubbles are what makes the skimmers work. I strongly recommend a high quality stand alone skimmer for anything over 150 gallons. As they tend to be more efficient skimmers. This is a beckett style MTC 1000.
Protein skimmers are often over rated by some of the manufacturers. As a general guide, I like to use one threaded for at least four times what they say they will do. So, if I have a 100 gallon tank or 400 gallon protein skimmer is what I like, always get the biggest skimmer you can afford or fit in the space you have. I have never had a tank that was too clean but had seen many that were too dirty.
Personally I'm not a fan of the needle wheel design because I feel they do not wear well—I have found over the years of service of many skimmers seem to hold up the best. The downside to the beckett skimmer is that it will make slightly more noise and needs a larger pump. Venturis are you see a part of another skimmer design. The spray inductors can be good and/or quieter than the beckett or you see you don’t have the sizes service larger aquarium.
If you have a smaller tank 55 gallons or less, you might want to consider using a canister filter. I prefer not to use the canister filter, it goes to flows and it will build up nitrates. If you have a fish on the tank then you could consider using a canister filter because the build up of nitrates won’t bother the fish but please keep your canister filter clean and your nitrates down.
There are two types of pumps, internal and external. I’m a firm believer in the external pumps to run your tank with. If you have the space because they tend to be more powerful, more efficient and don’t add much heat to the water as inline pump that sits in your sump or fish tank. I do like to use inline pumps and hose to help move water around for water changes. We like to turn over the whole tank volume 8 to 10 times per hour.
Power heads are important component of any reef aquarium. Water moving is essential to wash away waste, deliver food to corals and help exchange gasses. Pumps alone are usually not strong enough to move the necessary amount of water a healthy system needs. A rough guide is to move the tank volume 8 to 10 times per hour. So, if you have 100 hundred gallon tank, you’re going to move the tank volume 800 to 1000 gallons per hour.
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