The Basics-Reef keeping

About Me....

Hello, first a little back round so readers don't need to worry that the info I post are random and thoughtless idea's with regards to reefkeeping.
I am 37 years old and got my first fish when I was 6, it was a goldfish in a bowl, unlike many young people, I actually took very good care of this fish. My parents soon bought me a 10 gallon to keep more goldfish.

At around 10 years old I switched to topical fish, then cichlids. By 13, I had bred convict cichlids. Between 14-16, I started a 65 gallon marine tank this was back in the 1990's and I remember installing the pet-shop standard 2 Philips actinic blue fluorescent tubes and 2 cool white hardware store fluorescent tubes. A very small amount of light by today's standards. Believe it or not I actually kept a brain and hammer coral for a few years under this light set-up.

Between 23 years old to present I have had a 65 gallon mixed reef, followed by a 150 mixed and for the past 3 years, my current 60 gallon SPS only cube, that was torn down and moved and re-started, summer 2013.
I would say the technical side of my knowledge and experience has been expanding quickly in the past 5 years, since I spend many, many hours researching and testing idea's out on my tank. Also, since my most recent experiences are with SPS corals, this blog will be geared towards that aspect of the hobby.

How to run a healthy SPS tank

This blog is intended for beginner to intermediate or those reefer's looking for new idea's

These are my methods that have worked for me repeatedly, other people also have their own methods that may work equally well, but I can only suggest that which I have experienced for myself.

Essential equipment (main)

-Proper lighting for the corals you intend to keep
-2-part dosing equipment or a Calcium reactor
-Sufficient powerheads/wavemakers for an excellent overall flow
-Protein skimmer
-A sump similar in size to the display with chambers for a macro-algae/refugium and remote deep sand bed
-Controller
-Properly sized return pump with regards to the overflow and plumbing
-Auto-top off system to replace evaporated water
-RO/DI water purifier far any water needed for the tank
-Testing kits/ measuring devices for Salinity, Calcium,Alkalinity,Magnesium, PO4,NO3, Ph and temperature

Brief comments on each of these items

Lighting-I could speak for days on lighting, but for now I will say, spectrum DOES matter and intensity DOES matter, the best results will come from finding the right balance of the two for the corals you keep. It is very easy to have too much light, it is also possible to not have enough. IMO, there is usually too much over a tank or the right amount with room for improvement on the quality (wavelengths) of the spectrum. Recently, I have hopefully found a link between light and water parameters. There seems to reaction from corals in relation to levels of both light and water chemistry. ( Alkalinity + nutrient level + light intensity).
More in myths and facts at the end of this blog.

2-Part Dosing- These are the solution mixes and dosing pump you will use to replace the Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium used up by the growing corals. A calcium reactor does the same thing by dissolving crushed coral in a chamber with a low ph. The output will be rich in Calcium,Alkalinity etc... replacing what the corals use up while growing. Both methods are good, I prefer 2-part dosing for the independent adjustability of each element.

The doser shown above is the one I use, after researching the available dosers the Kamoer seemed to be the best choice and I am very happy with it.

Water motion- The powerhead war these days is between Ecotech and Tunze, I use both. IMO both have pro's and con's, but are far better than what we had years ago. I would shoot for a overall water movement everywhere in the display, without any hard jets of water directly hitting corals. Having a night-mode is nice to allow the extended night-time coral polyps a better chance at catching food.

Protein Skimmer- Some people want the biggest, most expensive skimmer out there, that's fine...but I feel it's a waste of money. Never forget the goal, to exchange gases in the water and to remove suspended organic waste before it has a chance to decompose adding Nitrates and Phosphates to the tank.
There are plenty of cheap skimmers that do a very good job at this. I use Bubble-Magus that is rated for 80 gallons and overall my system is about 70 gallons. Many reefers would suggest a skimmer rated for double the tank volume, I recommend against that. The key to low organics (not no organics). The fact that you use a huge over-sized skimmer for your water volume is not the make or break. It's the design of the entire set-up and how the different parts work together to remove pollutant's. Using a skimmer that is over engineered or too large for the system will strip out too much and not leave enough organics and elements for the corals to use. So instead of buying the $800 skimmer, you can make a solid choice in the $200 range that will do a very good job.

Sump/Refugium- The sump is basically another aquarium or box-like container usually below or beside the display tank. It serves as an area of extra water volume to hold filtration devices, skimmers, a refugium, a macro-algae scrubber, a deep sand bed and as a safe zone for dosing elements such as Calcium and Alkalinity.
It may contain some or all of the items mentioned, any combination of those items or even other items not mentioned. It is basically the heart of the system and its proper design should be a priority. The overall water quality and tank health will be maintained by the sump. I recommend it be at least 30% of the display tank size and the bigger the better. So if you have a 60 gallon display you should have at least a 20 gallon sump. Some people may proudly say they have no sump, or a very small sump, that's fine, but it's not the method I have found to be the best over the long term. In fact, my dream tank (one day) will have a refugium equal in size to the display, next to the display for full viewing. I would make it into a lagoon type ecosystem feeding the display with plenty of micro-fauna and bacteria.

Controller- This is like a mini-computer to monitor and control such things as temperature, ph, lights, pumps and dosing. It can control many other things but I won't list them all. Personally, I find that controller's can be confusing to program, but once you figure it out they are a very good way to automate certain devices in your system. I use mine basically for heating and cooling and it is far more precise than running a heater and relying on the heater's own built-in thermostat.

Return pump- This is simply the pump that pushes water from the sump back into the display, increasing the water level in the display so that tank water continuly overflows back down to the sump. The return pump flow rate is a popular topic of argument, but I notice no difference in water quality with a higher volume or smaller volume. Currently I use a fairly low flow rate at about 300 gph, with the size of the plumbing that came with my tank, it is the most I can have, and it is not a problem.

Auto-top off- You can replenish evaporated water by pouring a bucket into the sump everyday, or you could install a ATO system. The ATO has sensors or float switch's to turn on and off a small pump in a container of RO/DI water near the sump. The sensor's are installed in the sump since this is were the water level will vary, not in the display. It is also a very good item to have because since minerals don't evaporate the salinity of your system will increase with evaporation. It is important to constantly replace evaporated water with an ATO to ensure a stable salinity.

( My ATO is hidden in a fake plant beside my display)

RO/DI- There are 3 common options for supplying new water to your system for filling, water changes and evaporation. Tap water, RO water or RO/DI water. Tap water has many unwanted elements such as silicates and phosphates which will fertilize problem algae or kick-start a bloom, RO water is quite pure and a good choice, but for a few bucks more you get very pure water with the slightly bigger RO/DI filter. These filters connect easily under a sink or in a laundry room in the home where there is a water line.

Testing-You can't expect to have good results unless you can control your water's parameters.There are many test kits available, and after having tried many, as well as comparing their results to Lab tests I have settled on these.
Calcium,Alkalinity, Magnesium: Red Sea reef foundation pro test kit
NO3:Red Sea Pro
Phosphates:Hanna checker
Potassium: Coral Shop "K"
Salinity:Deltec Seawater Refractometer

I have a chemist friend who kindly gets professional lab results for me to confirm my water parameters etc.. These kits give accurate results, the coral shop potassium gives very accurate results.

Important points about the water

The chemistry of your water can vary greatly from every other reef aquarium because it is made up of many variables.

Source water+salt mix(brand)+calcium/alkalinity/magnesium suppliments+anything else you may add=your final water quality/chemistry.

There are many choices of salt brands, 2-part mixes and additives, the sum of all of these items and whatever else you add or happens to be in your water will add up to your final water quality/chemistry. Each of these items have the elements intended to be added to the reef as well as a number of impurities. The amount and type of impurities vary between type of products and brands.
Then, there are the products aimed at boosting the health/color of your reef. The problem here is none of the manufacturers can possibly know exactly what is in your water to begin with. The elements in additives may give a desired effect, and they also contribute to other possibly unwanted elements/impurities accumulating in the reef. This is not an assumption, it is a fact. what goes in, must come out, be used up or accumulate.

I have tried additives in the past and Lab reports showed certain elements in my tank water far out of balance during color additive dosing. I no longer use these products. Many people will dissagree or will say they have great results with certain products, I am not interested in a debate. I am glad for those success stories, but after having seen what is in those types of products, they are simply not for me.

Water changes are your biggest alie. They replace used up trace elements and remove unwanted waste and organics. I recommend weekly or by-weekly 5-10% water changes, I personally do 10% by-weekly with Instant ocean salt. I chose the frequency based on my NO3/PO4 levels. IMO, water changes with a good salt are all you need in the way of boosting 95% of trace elements.

The Main Elements, aside from the salt itself, IME there are 7 key elements that contribute to the overall health/color of the reeftank.

3 main very important elements to monitor and adjust are : calcium, alkalinity and magnesium.This is not negotiable if you want the corals to survive.

2 also important but not as crucial are potassium and strontium.

The 2 last somewhat optional elements that I find keep things looking good, are Iron and Iodine. After that, there are many lesser elements occurring in tiny amounts that do not seem to effect the general health of the reef unless they are found to be at very high levels. This phenomenon is usually caused by impurities in anything you may have added to the tank or the accumulating effect of dosing additives.

Target levels

These levels vary slightly depending on who you ask, but everyone is usually in the same ballpark. These are my target levels that have worked very well for me.

My Tank Natural Sea Water

Salinity 1.026 1.0265

Calcium 430-450 ppm 420ppm

Alkalinity 7.0-8 DKH 7.2 DKH

Magnesium 1350-1400ppm 1290ppm

Potassium 400-450ppm 392 ppm

Strontium 5-10ppm 8ppm

Iron 0.05ppm 0,00006ppm

Iodine (total) 0.06ppm 0.06ppm

Ph- 8.0-8.2 8.2-8.3

Temp. 78-79.5F 75-82F

As you can see, I don't keep the exact target levels of these elements as in natural sea water. Here is why in simple terms.
Calcium, Alkalinity and magnesium levels in an aquarium containing calcifying animals such as corals, snails,clams etc.. can drop quite quickly. Keeping the levels slightly higher than in NSW (natural sea water) is advantageous in that there is a buffer zone where you will have the opportunity to react to and adjust dropping Ca/Alk and Magnesium levels before they fall low enough to stress corals. In the sea, the levels are very stable since the volume of water is enormous, so there is no fluctuation and no need for a safety zone.
As for the other 4 elements mentioned above,my personal observations backed by researching :
Potassium-contributes to coral growth (calcification) and when I keep it between 450-500ppm the blue colors in my corals become intense.
Strontium-contributes to coral growth (calcification) when levels drop below 5ppm the new growth tips on my corals become thin and frail, instead of dense and solid.
Iron- Used up by every living organism and helps boost maco-algae growth, which in turn increases nitrate/phosphate export. Also rumored to increase green and red colors, I can't confirm this.
Iodine- Helps pink corals stay intense pink, over 0.09ppm can kill inhabitants of your reef. When testing, you must use a test kit such as Red Sea Iodine pro, that tests for both Iodide and Iodate to accurately find the level of I2 in your tank. I add a few drops of Iodide per week to maintain I2.

Nitrates and Phosphates-These are the organic by-products from fish food, fish poo and the biological processes in the aquarium. Levels should be very low, but not 0 ppm. I aim for nitrates to be between 2 ppm-5 ppm phosphates around 0.03-0.06 ppm. Higher levels can cause algae blooms, and even without testing you can see your tank start to look dirty (film algae etc) when PO4 and or NO3 are on the rise.GFO and macro algae are helpful in removing phosphates should they get out of hand.

The biological side

In the display (and/or in the sump) you will need live rock (LR), this is where bacteria will grow, tiny animals will arrive into your system on the LR and for the most part are beneficial, there are some pests to look for like: problem algae, aiptasia anemones,mojano anemones,mantis shrimp etc... I personally prefer to keep the display bare-bottom or with only a dusting of sand no more that 1/4-3/8" deep, this prevents detritus from accumulating and later on polluting the system. I keep a separate 25 gallon sump with a 8-10" deep of 1mm -2mm grain sized sandbed. The fact of having a remote DSB keeps it clean and it can continue to biologically remove ammonia,nitrite and especially nitrates for years. There will be another section in a sump for macro-algae, such as chaeto. This serves to remove nitrates and phosphates naturally. There are many different ways to add a sump, above, beside, or under the tank, it doesn't matter, but its an important part of the system.
So with a very good overall flow in the display, the LR will remove ammonia and nitrites, in the sump/sumps the remote deep sand bed will remove nitrates and some phosphates and in another section of the sump the macro-algae will remove nitrates and phosphates as well. All of these work well together to remove unwanted pollutants from the water, while allowing micro-organisms to grow and reproduce adding food to the system.

More specifics on equipment and items

Lighting, I recommend Metal Halide, T5 or LED. I have many years of experience with MH and some more recent experience with LED. I honestly prefer MH, however the MH bulb generates a lot of heat that can easily overheat a smaller tank and thus must have cooling fans installed to blow over the water surface or in worse cases a chiller must be installed.
If your not worried about these added expenses the MH bulb uses LOTS of electricity. Don't forget the bulb will be either 250 or 400 watts on for 8-10 hours per day. And one bulb covers only 2 feet of tank.
Pros:great coral color and growth    Cons:Heat generated
         shimmer lines in the tank                  Bulbs need to be replaced every 9 months
         reasonable initial cost                        high electric bill
Bulbs I recommend: 400w Radium 20k
250w Radium 20k
250w Phoenix 14k
250w XM 10k

.T5, these are high powered thin fluorescent tubes, they give both good growth and color and are best at giving corals a more even overall color. MH and LED tend to be more focused causing white or dead areas between coral branches, T5 does not cause this as much
Pros: less heat transfer to aquarium     Cons: requires many bulbs to generate enough light 6-10 bulbs
         many choices of bulbs                           no shimmer lines in tank
         reasonably priced bulbs                         bulbs should be changed every 4-6 months
         excellent coral coloration
For T5, I use them to suppliment my MH with extra blue and to add to the photoperiod before and after the 8hrs of MH. This cuts heat and electric costs while contributing to a total of 12 hrs photoperiod. T5 tubes like fiji purple and super blue have excellent par as well as highlighting coral colors.

LED, at first I did not believe in LED as a good option, but as time goes on and my research on lighting progresses I am enjoying the precise spectrum flexibility of T5 and the shimmer and penetration of MH that LED lighting produces. That said, I do not find as of 2012 LED gives as good results as MH or T5 lighting.
The fact that each led light is one pure color (except white) causes spectral hot-spots and I have seen strange uneven results in my own corals under Led lighting. perhaps in the near future, Led lighting will become more homogeneous spectrum-wise and eliminate this drawback.

To successfully use LED or any light for that matter, you must first understand the wavelengths of light that corals need. The above images show what wavelengths are necessary for photosynthetic corals to grow and thrive. Even then,as |I mentioned above, the way led lights illuminate in very specific spectrum's tends to produce spectral hot-spots which is not necessarily well accepted by corals. One other reason why I personally prefer the homogeneous spectrum of metal halide.
When you use MH light, there is a wide spectrum of color wavelengths coming out of the bulb, a LED is different, aside from white LED's, colored leds basically emit only the wavelength of color specified for that particular LED. So if you install a Royal Blue LED, its spectrum is around 450nm, but a blue MH bulb such as a 20k bulb will have all the blue wavelengths from <400nm to 500nm having certain peaks within this range. In a way, its like giving the corals a buffet instead of a plate of food...

Above, is the spectrum of a 400w Radium Metal Halide, a high peak in the 450 nm zone and a little bit of every other wavelength with peaks .

Below,in this image we see how every colored LED has one specific peak and very little of any other spectrum

Below, is a white LED, it helps fill in the missing wavelengths of colored leds, but is still not as intense as many metal halide's in the spectrum area of 400 nm-420 nm,485 nm-500 nm and above 650 nm.

About the Corals

The reason why we do all the things previously mentioned above is to provide the best environment possible for corals to grow and be colorful. All of those items and methods together will contribute to your water being lacking in undesirable elements such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and phosphates and containing the proper levels of such important elements such as calcium and magnesium for example.
Adequate water flow will remove waste and gases from around the corals surface while bringing food and elements to the corals.
The symbiotic zooxanthellae (algae) contained within the corals "skin" uses the light as mentioned above for photosynthesis. This process removes carbon dioxide and waste from the corals while providing a carbon source (energy) and oxygen to the coral for growth. If your lighting is not of the proper spectrum for zooxanthellae photosynthesis or not intense enough the zooxanthellae will die. If your lighting is of the proper spectrum for photosynthesis of the zooxanthellae but too intense, the zooxanthellae will produce too much hydrogen peroxide ( photosynthetic by-product) for the coral and be expelled by the coral host. This phenomenon is known as coral bleaching, the coral decides how many zooxanthellae live within its skin, however if the coral is stressed do to over lighting or anything else, the expulsion of zooxanthellae is only good for the coral very short term. In the days that follow the coral must rely on its polyps to catch enough food for survival, the situation which caused the bleaching must be corrected and if the coral is able to feed via its polyps, over the following weeks the population of zooxanthellae in the coral will increase until normal populations are once again established. So corals use at least two main sources for food, the symbiotic zooxanthellae can provide up to 100% of the corals daily food requirements, and the polyps can actively catch food in the water column. In an aquarium with limited resources it is important to try and provide the maximum of both of these food sources for your corals. There are many zooplankton type foods available to feed the corals a few times per week, and a good choice of lighting will take care of their photosynthetic needs.

My 11 month old 60 vugallon images (2011 now closed)

I will admit due to many different experiments on my own tank, coral colors have suffered a little, that said, thanks to those experiements, I have found some interesting observations.

A few corals in my new 60 gallon system. 3 months running. Day of addition pic (july 2013) vs 3 months later. ( Oct.2013)

and

Picture are only enhanced for sharpness and T5 super blue's had been added to the original MH. So the results are the actual results of improving lighting.

Here are some bIgger and older tanks. The larger water volume and time/stability makes all the difference.
First tank is by Jono Chang in New Zealand.
Second tank is by Barry Gatt in U.K

Myths,Facts and Ideas worth further investigation.

Myth- NO3 and PO4 (nutrients) need to be kept very low if not 0.
False. Most of the best reef tanks in the world have some measured nutrient levels. In fact, if there is a level to measure, that is only what has not yet been used up by corals/algae etc..So there are always some nutrients. Nothing to panic about.
Myth- Many of the general rules of thumb.
The required light for X tank can be selected with a watts per gallon rule False.
The maximum amount of fish in X tank can be estimated with the inches per gallon rule False
Corals can only look amazing if special additives are used False.

The variables of each tank: inhabitants, equipment, water chemistry, lighting type and filtration, make any of these statements impossible.

Here is an idea that I have written after experimenting with light intensity and water chemistry. I am currently working on repeating the results to try and prove this idea.

the secret to colorful,healthy corals....obvious to some,elusive to many

Well for the past year I have been researching online to try and figure it out, at first I thought it was mostly lighting dependant, and I blamed my Radion (LED) for my pale corals. I have crossed-referenced years of beautiful TOTM tanks as well as info from coral health companies, articles and my own observations.

Today, I believe there is a very real link between light intensity and Alkalinity level. I also believe there is a 3rd important factor involved nutrients PO4 and NO3.
According to almost all of the data, it seems that strong light, along with low-medium Alk levels ensure good coral color/health. It also appears that in many cases tanks with slightly higher levels of Alk get away with it by have nutrients higher than 0 ppm (PO4/NO3). Its as if the nutrients ensure the zooxanthellae have at least the fuel to keep their populations reasonable, which then keeps the corals from becoming pale in a harsh high Alk environment.
This is my hypothesis and here are the reason's why:

In my own tank, my Alk over the past year was at 9-10 DKH (high),my PO4/NO3 was 0.00ppm/0 ppm always. My corals would become pale, growth was good, but not color. at one point, I removed my GFO and fed the tank more, after a few weeks, algae started to grow, my PO4 and NO3 had risin to 0.08ppm and 1 ppm, I was able to increase my LED intensity to the highest level I ever had, coral growth exploded and colors intensified. Due to the increased algae, I became concerned, replaced the GFO and increased water changes. PO4/NO3 dropped to 0 again, algae dissapeared and so did my corals colors.

Here are the Alkalinity parameters suggested by KZ /Fauna Marin and Aquaforest to ensure best coral growth/color. These companies mention that strong, adequate lighting and very low PO4/NO3 is also required.

KZ 6.5-8 DKH
FM 6.5-8 DKH
Aquaforest 6.5-7.5 DKH (color) and 7.5-9 DKH (growth)

so we can assume 7.5 DKH overall.

The ocean: 7.2 DKH and the lighting is ofcourse the very intense sun and nutrients are very low.
Here is the data from 18 amazing colorful TOTM tanks, I basically went straight down the list from 2012 and 2011 in a U.K based forum.

(Light):                          (Alk):                            (PO4/NO3) levels:

(T5)                             (7 DKH)                       (0.00 ppm/0 ppm)
(250w MH+Led)       (9 DKH)                      (0.08 ppm/48 ppm)
(250w MH/Led)      (8.6 DKH)                      (0.08 ppm/2 ppm)
(T5)                          (8 DKH)                        (0.01 ppm/5 ppm)
(400w MH)              (8 DKH)                      (0.01 ppm/0 ppm)
(250w MH/T5)         (7.8 DKH)                 (0.01 ppm/ 4 ppm)
(T5)                         (8.5 DKH)                     (0.08 ppm/0 ppm)
(400wMH+T5+Led) (7-7.5 DKH)               (0.00 ppm/0.75 ppm)
(T5 (6 hres max.))   (8-10 DKH)               (0.02 ppm/0 ppm)
(VHO)                     (9.6 DKH)                  (0.00 ppm/0 ppm)
(T5)                        (9.0 DKH)                    (0.03 ppm/10 ppm)
(VHO)                    (11 DKH)                   (believed to be 0 ppm (not often tested))
(250w MH)            (8.4 DKH)                   (0.02 ppm/0 ppm)
(T5)                        (7 DKH)                       (0.00 ppm/0 ppm)
(T5)                        (9.5 DKH)                    (0.05 ppm/3 ppm)
(250w MH)            (8 DKH)                      (0.01 ppm/0 ppm)
(250w MH)             (8-9 DKH)                 (0.00ppm/10-15 ppm)
(150w MH)          (7.8 DKH)                      (0.00ppm/2 ppm)

So what does all this mean: Well aside from the many contributing factors such as food, other parameters, additives etc...I wanted to see if there was a common link between amazing tanks.
There appears to be !

In a nutshell, assuming you use intense lighting, you can usually get away with a higher Alk level if you also have PO4 and/or NO3.
If you have very low nutrients, then it will usually give you best results with a natural Alk level 7-8 DKH. As shown above, the coral coloring-up additive companies all recommend Alk levels between 7-8 DKH, strong lighting and low nutrients, which is one of the sucessful combinations. If nutrients are truly zero,a higher Alk level 10 DKH + combined with intense light will most probably damage corals, higher nutrients under this senario could be the only factor to reduce this damaging combination.
Here are levels that according to my theory will not harm corals, starting with the best combination for balanced color/growth:

Light: Intense (various T5's, a powerful LED unit or MH 250w/400w)
Alk: 7- 7.8 DKH
NO3: 0.5 ppm- 3ppm/ PO4: 0.01ppm-0.04ppm

other combinations:
Light: Intense
Alk: 7.8 -9 DKH
NO3: 2ppm/PO4: 0.04-0.08 ppm

Light: Medium intensity
Alk: 8-11 DKH
NO3: 2ppm/PO4: 0.04-0.08ppm

Light: Intense
Alk: 9-10 DKH
NO3: 5ppm+/ PO4: 0.05-0.08ppm
ETC....