|
|
"GoldMine" <goldmine@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7goKf.26$Qq1.9@xxxxxxxxxxx
> My marine aquarium gave me quite a shock when I first set it up.
> Freshwater fish are not adversely affected by ammonia levels fluctuating
> +1 ppm, but in a marine environment, all the expensive, colorful fish
> die. I quickly became an "expert" in artificial filtration and
> biological filters using enzymes to mimic the natural ocean, without
> having a trillion or so gallons of salt water. I never had a pH problem,
> though. When they measured the changes of CO2 in Antarctica's ice cores,
> the changes in CO2 were millions of years before records were kept.
> Also, if you ever check the pH of rainwater, it is almost always neutral
> (7), unless there is a regional acid rain problem (from SO2 emissions),
> but most of those have been cleaned up somewhat.
>
> Jean's chemistry seems about right, to me. The CO2 guy must have had a
> pre-ordained agenda, paid for the one of the greenie groups. Scientific
> opinions are bought and paid for daily. If you don't know the author's
> or their reputation, it wise to be skeptical, nowdays. Volcano's
> contribute sulfuric acid to the ocean, and there are a number of
> underwater events. There is one in Hawaii that is forming a new island.
> No fish are dying around there, that I have heard of. The volume of the
> ocean is like outer space, huge. It would take a lot to change it, but
> it is always good to keep a watchful eye on it. Where else can one get
> swordfish and tuna, or in Florida, that tasty Pompano?
>
He's out of Stanford, for what that's worth. Yeah, ammonia levels are
really bad for marine tanks, but nitrites are much worse. The first thing
anyone needs to learn about Marine tanks (and freshwater, for that matter)
is the nitrogen cycle, and how to fully cycle a new tank. As for
filtration, I have no artificial filtration on my system (unless you want
to consider a large protein skimmer to be artificial filtration). I
usually let a new tank cycle for no less than 25 days before adding any
vertebrates, and I'd never add invertebrates unless the tank has been set
up at least two months, and then only sparingly (and even then, only the
most hardy ones) until the sand bed is fully cured and live rock slowly
added.
I have a 5-inch natural aragonite sand bed in the primary tank (55-gal)
with 150 lbs of live rock, an 18 gallon refugium below containing a small
intake sump, a 3 inch sand bed with live rock with macroalgae gallore with
a slightly larger return sump section at one end. Oh, and I've recently
(in the last year) added a wavemaker that has no moving parts. Darn thing
evaporates water like crazy, though so I hae to be carefull about the water
additions and salinity. But it greatly enhances the redox.
The great thing about a refugium is that you can not only significantly
reduce the nitrates in your water by growing and then harvesting the
macroalgae, but you can re-sell the algae back to your pet shop. And that
refugium will grow little critters that you almost never see in the main
tank because it they are isolated from the fish and other predators. This
tank has been set up, with some major changes (i.e., the refugium), for
about 16 years. Other than the live rock, it contains two maroon clownfish
(the female is 15 year old), a State champion yellow tang, a green brittle
star, leather corals, star polyps, brown polys, yellow polyps, four
medium-sized sponges (unknown species), feather dusters, other small
feathered worms, a large long-tentavled anemone, dozens of chitons and
turbo snails, and lots of small cleaner hermit crabs. I know there is much
more in there, but who knows what all of it is. That's the beauty and
sometime the bad part of Marine reefs; you never know what you will find
next. Hopefully, none of it is bad. But my fish have never gotten ill in
all the time I've had this tank. And that brittle star is simply amazing.
Here is an image of my clownfish. The large one is the old female:
http://home.insightbb.com/~jryates/clown.jpg
George<proud reef caretaker>
|
|
