- Location
- Dingmans ferry PA
thought this was very helpful for people getting into SPS
Without a doubt one of the most difficult things to do in this hobby is keep a colorful and growing SPS system successfully long-term with a high bioload. One of the most common questions asked in the hobby is how many fish can be placed in an aquarium of ?X? gallons. The truth is that if you supplied the same aquarium to 100 different reef aquarists the answer of how many fish could go into each of those aquariums would vary greatly for every setup. Even the same system, complete with all of the same equipment, would support a different bioload depending on which reefers were running it. I am often asked how I am able to keep so many fish, long-term, while keeping my SPS in a perpetual state of good color and growth. If I only have one sentence to address this inquiry I would say ?Just say NO to detritus?. Many people are overwhelmed when it comes to water quality in our hobby, but all of these expensive and technical contraptions and methodologies we use serve the purpose of keeping the water in our glass boxes in the same state as a freshly made up batch of seawater. I will attempt to break down a more comprehensive answer in this section.
The heart of my system is my Euro-Reef skimmer, built before I set up the system in 2004 and still running strong today. I worked with Jeff Macare on this skimmer when Euro-reef was just starting on recirculating models, and it is most equivalent to today?s Reef Dynamics (previously Euro-Reef) INS500E model. It has two recirculating pumps on a 12? diameter body that is about 30? high and is a beast! I skim very wet, preferring to take out as much waste as I can before it has a chance to break down. While it?s an expensive initial investment, a protein skimmer is perhaps the single most important piece of equipment on today?s reef systems.
I also use 100-micron filter socks as mechanical filtration on the drains leading into the sump from each tank. These serve the same purpose as the protein skimmer, allowing me to remove organics before they have a chance to break down. I change these out about twice weekly. High water flow is not just important for coral growth, but also for the breakdown of wastes through the nitrogen cycle and to keep much of the detritus in suspension so that mechanical filtration could take care of it. Water flow technology is one of the often overlooked huge benefits to our success in the hobby in recent years. As high flow in any one direction for any period of time is not as beneficial to SPS corals, much of this technology has addressed that need of switching currents on a continuous basis.
In order to export nutrients after they?ve broken down I have a 40 gallon refugium on the system lit by 110 watts of low Kelvin power compact fluorescent bulbs, exclusively setup to grow Chaetomorpha algae to be harvested. Sometimes we have to step back and simplify our often complicated hobby. When it comes to nutrients in our tanks, it?s rather simple? nutrients go in, and nutrients need to go out. Harvesting macroalgae is a great way to do that, exporting the nutrients out of the system.
I change fifty gallons of water a week on the system. This amount works best as I do not need to measure salt, just dump one fifty gallon bag in and mix. I?ve used Instant Ocean and more recently Reef Crystals exclusively for years, and have never had issues. Water changes are one of the best and most inexpensive ways to keep water quality high. Sometimes when water changes are done I vacuum out any visible detritus in the system. Again, keeping your system free of detritus everywhere is nearly essential in my eyes to keep a successful SPS system with a high bioload long-term.
In terms of water quality, I can tell more from looking at my corals than any test kit can tell me. I know my system well enough that phosphates and nitrates do not become an issue. The only test I regularly do is for alkalinity, as this can fluctuate greatly according to growth in the system and if it runs low your corals will often suffer before you have a chance to rectify it. I run my dKH between eight and ten. While running in the sevens is not an issue, this gives you less wiggle room if something goes wrong. I?ve found low alkalinity can be a major problem, much more so than low calcium. Nowadays, I know that with the way I replenish alkalinity and calcium that if my alkalinity is okay my calcium will be in line. In addition to that, testing water is not fun to me, and alkalinity, unlike calcium, is a simple test.
I maintain my alkalinity, calcium, and all other levels exclusively through my calcium reactor, 2-part solution, and water changes. That is it for supplements other than food. The calcium reactor I use is the same I used on my old TOTM back in 2004, a My Reef Creations CR-2 dual chamber filled with Caribsea ARM media. While this is probably undersized for my system, it functions fine if I refill media on a more frequent basis. I use a pH controller on the calcium reactor, but only for emergency purposes as I had a regulator go bad years ago that dropped the pH of my system after spewing CO2. I supplement about ? of a cup a day each of B-Ionic 2-part solution using two Drew?s Doser Peristaltic Dosing Pumps. Years ago I noticed a benefit in my coral health when using 2-part solution in addition to the calcium reactor, which I didn?t see in my test results. So, I?ve kept using it. It also adds redundancy should either of the two systems fail."
__________________
Cliff Babcock
Without a doubt one of the most difficult things to do in this hobby is keep a colorful and growing SPS system successfully long-term with a high bioload. One of the most common questions asked in the hobby is how many fish can be placed in an aquarium of ?X? gallons. The truth is that if you supplied the same aquarium to 100 different reef aquarists the answer of how many fish could go into each of those aquariums would vary greatly for every setup. Even the same system, complete with all of the same equipment, would support a different bioload depending on which reefers were running it. I am often asked how I am able to keep so many fish, long-term, while keeping my SPS in a perpetual state of good color and growth. If I only have one sentence to address this inquiry I would say ?Just say NO to detritus?. Many people are overwhelmed when it comes to water quality in our hobby, but all of these expensive and technical contraptions and methodologies we use serve the purpose of keeping the water in our glass boxes in the same state as a freshly made up batch of seawater. I will attempt to break down a more comprehensive answer in this section.
The heart of my system is my Euro-Reef skimmer, built before I set up the system in 2004 and still running strong today. I worked with Jeff Macare on this skimmer when Euro-reef was just starting on recirculating models, and it is most equivalent to today?s Reef Dynamics (previously Euro-Reef) INS500E model. It has two recirculating pumps on a 12? diameter body that is about 30? high and is a beast! I skim very wet, preferring to take out as much waste as I can before it has a chance to break down. While it?s an expensive initial investment, a protein skimmer is perhaps the single most important piece of equipment on today?s reef systems.
I also use 100-micron filter socks as mechanical filtration on the drains leading into the sump from each tank. These serve the same purpose as the protein skimmer, allowing me to remove organics before they have a chance to break down. I change these out about twice weekly. High water flow is not just important for coral growth, but also for the breakdown of wastes through the nitrogen cycle and to keep much of the detritus in suspension so that mechanical filtration could take care of it. Water flow technology is one of the often overlooked huge benefits to our success in the hobby in recent years. As high flow in any one direction for any period of time is not as beneficial to SPS corals, much of this technology has addressed that need of switching currents on a continuous basis.
In order to export nutrients after they?ve broken down I have a 40 gallon refugium on the system lit by 110 watts of low Kelvin power compact fluorescent bulbs, exclusively setup to grow Chaetomorpha algae to be harvested. Sometimes we have to step back and simplify our often complicated hobby. When it comes to nutrients in our tanks, it?s rather simple? nutrients go in, and nutrients need to go out. Harvesting macroalgae is a great way to do that, exporting the nutrients out of the system.
I change fifty gallons of water a week on the system. This amount works best as I do not need to measure salt, just dump one fifty gallon bag in and mix. I?ve used Instant Ocean and more recently Reef Crystals exclusively for years, and have never had issues. Water changes are one of the best and most inexpensive ways to keep water quality high. Sometimes when water changes are done I vacuum out any visible detritus in the system. Again, keeping your system free of detritus everywhere is nearly essential in my eyes to keep a successful SPS system with a high bioload long-term.
In terms of water quality, I can tell more from looking at my corals than any test kit can tell me. I know my system well enough that phosphates and nitrates do not become an issue. The only test I regularly do is for alkalinity, as this can fluctuate greatly according to growth in the system and if it runs low your corals will often suffer before you have a chance to rectify it. I run my dKH between eight and ten. While running in the sevens is not an issue, this gives you less wiggle room if something goes wrong. I?ve found low alkalinity can be a major problem, much more so than low calcium. Nowadays, I know that with the way I replenish alkalinity and calcium that if my alkalinity is okay my calcium will be in line. In addition to that, testing water is not fun to me, and alkalinity, unlike calcium, is a simple test.
I maintain my alkalinity, calcium, and all other levels exclusively through my calcium reactor, 2-part solution, and water changes. That is it for supplements other than food. The calcium reactor I use is the same I used on my old TOTM back in 2004, a My Reef Creations CR-2 dual chamber filled with Caribsea ARM media. While this is probably undersized for my system, it functions fine if I refill media on a more frequent basis. I use a pH controller on the calcium reactor, but only for emergency purposes as I had a regulator go bad years ago that dropped the pH of my system after spewing CO2. I supplement about ? of a cup a day each of B-Ionic 2-part solution using two Drew?s Doser Peristaltic Dosing Pumps. Years ago I noticed a benefit in my coral health when using 2-part solution in addition to the calcium reactor, which I didn?t see in my test results. So, I?ve kept using it. It also adds redundancy should either of the two systems fail."
__________________
Cliff Babcock
