Hello!
edit: wow! sorry for the length!
I'm looking to set up my first reef tank in a month or two after i feel adequately informed on the subject. I just have a few questions as there are topics I've read conflicting information on or have been unable to find any information on period.
I'm an engineer and while sizing pumps and lights will thankfully be a breeze as well as any diy construction I have planned. I'm not exactly a marine biologist but i have a (un)fortune love affair with research so i feel i have a relatively strong grasp on the biology of the reef tank. Although i do feel I have lots more to learn. I'm not asking questions to save money or anything of the sort, just want to make sure my knowledge of the subject is complete so i don't doom any poor little fish or inverts with my lack of care.
One of the things i would dearly appreciate some advice on is filters as I've read several books on salt water tanks I've found some straight up contradicting opinions which could be due to either when they were written or, well, opinion .
The setup i have planned is a reef tank with live rock and a sand (or gravel, have not decided yet) substrate and with a protein skimmer located in a tank that is a split half-sump/half-fuge. I've read that an in-line chemical filter like activated carbon is essential and I've also read that it's not necessary. If you gentlemen/women have any opinion on that i would appreciate it. I've also seen setups that have a mechanical filter (at the output of the line from the tank to the sump using something like fibers) but have read that the liverock and substrate should do an adequate job mechanically/biologically filtering. although I would assume you would use a mechanical filter in-conjunction with a chemical filter to allow the carbon to "concentrate" on polar adsorption? That's just a guess and I'm not sure on the norm.
So i guess my actual questions on this subject would be:
-Is live rock and a protein skimmer adequate filtering?
-When do you use a chemical filter like active carbon?
-Is a mechanical filter necessary?
-Is it appropriate to use a mechanical filter in conjunction with a chemical filter?
My next question is regarding the substrate. I've seen people religiously vacuum their substrate when using straight gravel but i've also heard of people leaving it entirely up to their cleanup crew. My questions about this topic would be:
- do you only clean your substrate in fish only setups?
- do you still clean the substrate when it is a live sand substrate? Is the sand heavy enough to keep from getting siphoned out during cleaning?
- Is there a number of inverts necessary to keep a healthy substrate? (X number of snails/crabs per gallon/litre?)
- By not cleaning the substrate do you risk detritus build up which will hurt water quality and have the risk of toxin buildup underneath which when shifted will be released?
Also is there an exact method to figuring out the appropriate bioload (I've seen rough math for fish but i'm more talking inverts) a tank could handle or is more of a case of keep adding until water quality gets hard to manage or until your snails and whatnot start running out of food? I realize the experienced aquarium enthusiast will get a feel for this but i'm just curious if there is a starting point to work from.
My final question isn't so much a question as an observation followed by a question. I am literally floored by the amount of bio-diversity people attain on their tanks from copepods to different crabs and algae. I find it amazing that all that life is making it through the live rock transportation and all the curing cycles. Now do you find that you get a large enough amount of bio-diversity in your tank just from the live rock or do you find its helpful to share rock or substrate between other enthusiasts to help "seed"? I do realize the majority of animals you add in but i find the "surprise" of unknown critters to be pretty exciting. maybe i need to get out more
Anyways, thanks to those who read this 2000 page manuscript and I appreciate any feedback you have to give!
Cheers
edit: wow! sorry for the length!
I'm looking to set up my first reef tank in a month or two after i feel adequately informed on the subject. I just have a few questions as there are topics I've read conflicting information on or have been unable to find any information on period.
I'm an engineer and while sizing pumps and lights will thankfully be a breeze as well as any diy construction I have planned. I'm not exactly a marine biologist but i have a (un)fortune love affair with research so i feel i have a relatively strong grasp on the biology of the reef tank. Although i do feel I have lots more to learn. I'm not asking questions to save money or anything of the sort, just want to make sure my knowledge of the subject is complete so i don't doom any poor little fish or inverts with my lack of care.
One of the things i would dearly appreciate some advice on is filters as I've read several books on salt water tanks I've found some straight up contradicting opinions which could be due to either when they were written or, well, opinion .
The setup i have planned is a reef tank with live rock and a sand (or gravel, have not decided yet) substrate and with a protein skimmer located in a tank that is a split half-sump/half-fuge. I've read that an in-line chemical filter like activated carbon is essential and I've also read that it's not necessary. If you gentlemen/women have any opinion on that i would appreciate it. I've also seen setups that have a mechanical filter (at the output of the line from the tank to the sump using something like fibers) but have read that the liverock and substrate should do an adequate job mechanically/biologically filtering. although I would assume you would use a mechanical filter in-conjunction with a chemical filter to allow the carbon to "concentrate" on polar adsorption? That's just a guess and I'm not sure on the norm.
So i guess my actual questions on this subject would be:
-Is live rock and a protein skimmer adequate filtering?
-When do you use a chemical filter like active carbon?
-Is a mechanical filter necessary?
-Is it appropriate to use a mechanical filter in conjunction with a chemical filter?
My next question is regarding the substrate. I've seen people religiously vacuum their substrate when using straight gravel but i've also heard of people leaving it entirely up to their cleanup crew. My questions about this topic would be:
- do you only clean your substrate in fish only setups?
- do you still clean the substrate when it is a live sand substrate? Is the sand heavy enough to keep from getting siphoned out during cleaning?
- Is there a number of inverts necessary to keep a healthy substrate? (X number of snails/crabs per gallon/litre?)
- By not cleaning the substrate do you risk detritus build up which will hurt water quality and have the risk of toxin buildup underneath which when shifted will be released?
Also is there an exact method to figuring out the appropriate bioload (I've seen rough math for fish but i'm more talking inverts) a tank could handle or is more of a case of keep adding until water quality gets hard to manage or until your snails and whatnot start running out of food? I realize the experienced aquarium enthusiast will get a feel for this but i'm just curious if there is a starting point to work from.
My final question isn't so much a question as an observation followed by a question. I am literally floored by the amount of bio-diversity people attain on their tanks from copepods to different crabs and algae. I find it amazing that all that life is making it through the live rock transportation and all the curing cycles. Now do you find that you get a large enough amount of bio-diversity in your tank just from the live rock or do you find its helpful to share rock or substrate between other enthusiasts to help "seed"? I do realize the majority of animals you add in but i find the "surprise" of unknown critters to be pretty exciting. maybe i need to get out more
Anyways, thanks to those who read this 2000 page manuscript and I appreciate any feedback you have to give!
Cheers