Man 'O man--I can't believe nobody posted any amplifications or corrections.
I found one error myself. I claimed that it was universally accepted that water was the key ingredient in any tank. Doing a search I see I was wrong. In a poll posted in the Lounge a full 27% did not feel water was important. With such added comments as, "You mean there are other forums than the Lounge?" and "Like Wow Man-Why would anyone waste their time keeping fish when they could be polishing and detailing their '66 Alfa Romeo?"; it appears that I was wrong.
I don't go to the Lounge that much. Like other Easterners, about the only time I do is when I want to see what is happening on the West Coast.
That should draw a few comments.
Well, as long as I'm here I'll add a bit more to this thread.
In his PM's Chicopee Phill asked about filtration. My reply was that a tank with good live rock and sand would provide all the filtration he needed. Having a sump to provide circulation and a skimmer would complete the basic system. Phill wondered about other filtration systems to compliment the LR/LS. I asked him to amplify what he meant and he stated he was thinking about a wet/dry.
Let's talk for a moment about what we want to achieve. The idea in any tank is to convert ammonia to less toxic forms and eliminate them from our tank. Part of this is accomplished by removing protein with a skimmer. Ammonia is broken down and converted to nitrite then nitrate by bacteria on the rock and sand. If our sand bed is active and deep enough areas of very low oxygen are established. Here the oxygen in the nitrate is used by bacteria and the nitrogen bubbles from our tank as simple nitrogen gas.
Now an undergravel filter defeats this by pulling oxygen through the sand bed and not allowing areas of low oxygen to be formed. That is why they have been abandoned in reef tanks. Wet/Dry's allow the sand bed to function properly yet many feel they are "nitrate factories". This term, at least to me, is a misnomer. You should not produce any more nitrate than the waste protein that enters the tank.
Still the consensus is that Wet/Dry's are not a good filter and most people remove the bioballs and just use the filter as a pre-plumbed sump. I have proposed that one possibility is that cyanobacteria grow on the un-submerged portion of the filter and convert atmospheric nitrogen to nitrate through the process of nitrogen fixation. I lack the resources to prove this theory and nobody seems to know if this really happens. Recently Chemistry Droid, Doc Randy, posted an article on nitrate. His thoughts are that having nitrification happening away from the zones where denitrification occurs may lead to complications. With a wet/dry the nitrates are formed in the filter and enter the water column throughout the tank. This spreads them out and makes it harder for the denitrifying bacteria in the lower portions of the sand bed to do their jobs. Either one of us of perhaps both of us may be right. Of course, you are not going to believe a droid over me are you?
Here a link to Randy's article
Droid Randy on Nitrate
Phill asked me if he should put LR and LS in his 20 gallon sump. Current thinking is that the minimum flow from the sump should be at least 10X the empty tank volume. In many cases reefers use more. This means the water in Phills 20 gal sump is only going to be in there for a minute or less. To me this is not enough time for the bacteria that would be on rock or sand in the sump to provide a lot of treatment. In Phill's case I would not place either rock or sand in the sump. Another thing is the location of the sump. If it is to be under the tank stand I would not be inclined to have very much in the sump other than a skimmer and heater. WaterKeeper is getting older and does not want to be bending over to do maintenance on a sump in a confined space.
Things are different if you have a large sump that is located in an out of the way place like the basement. This is great as you can do a lot more with your sump. LR, LS and macroalgae can all be maintained in an isolated sump. This can really help in nutrient export from your tank. When setting up a sump you want to read the articles Greg wrote for
ReefKeeping Magazine that I posted above. Also, you can use the handy calculators (they're on the left margin of the RC home page about halfway down) to size the pumps, overflows and sump itself.
One of the things you want to do is have plenty of valves and disconnects on your sump plumbing. They do add somewhat to the head loss but they are worthwhile when you have to do such mundane tasks as cleaning out the gunk that grows in the pipes.
Once you have your sump set up you are pretty much in business. If you have a new tank a good rinse with RO/DI is in order. If you bought a used tank you may not be sure where that tank has been. A better cleaning is in order. I just got back some results from a little experiment I did on using citric acid to clean tanks that have been exposed to heavy metals. The results were very promising and I'll post them over at the chemistry forum when I get some time. Meanwhile, for an old tank, fill it with warm tap water and add two to three heaping tablespoonfuls of citric acid. You can pick this stuff up in the canning section of a grocery and at some health food stores. Let it sit overnight then dump it and rinse the tank well with water followed by a final RO/DI rinse. You can use that treatment for the sump, plumbing, submersible heaters, etc. You want to limit the contact time with pumps to a couple of minutes as they often may have metallic or ceramic-metallic composites that might be etched with prolonged contact.
With everything in order and in place you have one more task while the tank is empty. Get out the old level and if the tank slants shim the stand to bring it into level. With the tank level, you can fill the tank with good old RO/DI.
Move away from that bucket of salt there buddy!!!
Don't add salt yet as there is always a chance of a leak. Hold off on that urge to add salt until everything is topped off and the tank has had a chance to sit overnight. Carefully inspect you handiwork for any signs of leaks the next day. If a new tank leaks you can take it back. If you get your stuff used, as your truly often does, you need some patching. Locate the leaking seam and remove
all the silicone from the
entire length of the seam that leaks. It is important to do this as new silicone will
not stick to older cured silicone. Once remove get an epoxy glue that says it will bond glass and brush it along the glass seam. Allow it to cure overnight then run a bead of silicone glue along the seam and feather it out using a trowel or knife. Let it cure and then retest the system. It most cases this will fix the leak.
Check your tanks level once more. Better now than later when it has water, rock and sand in it. If it is OK you can make saltwater.
Most times you don't want to mix salt in your tank. With a new tank, with nothing in it, it is easier to get the correct specific gravity mixing it up in the tank. In Phill's case he can add a bag of salt mix that makes 100 gallons. In a plastic trash bin he can then make up a 25 gallon batch to finish off topping the tank and filling the sump. With that done start up the pumps and turn on the heaters. When the tank reaches temperature, usually between 78-80 degrees, it is time to check the specific gravity (SpG). A lot of people run the specific gravity down at 1.023. There was a theory at one time that the lower SpG inhibited parasites. This theory has kind of fallen by the wayside and quite a few people run it at 1.025-1.027, which is more in line with natural seawater. You can choose either method as long as you keep the SpG fairly constant. If the SpG is too low you can add increments of salt to the sump to bring it up. If it is too high remove some water from the tank and replace it with RO/DI. Give some time for the tank to completely mix and come to temperature before taking readings.
Well we now have seawater in our box and hopefully everything is running well. Next time I add to this thread it will cover adding sand and rock. I might even get into the cycle.
Ok, Ok, you can go down to the LFS and look at that Hammerhead shark you plan for your 29 gallon tall with mirror back. 