Looking back on the recollections of my hobby as keeping marine fish,I found many years passed & a lot of things happened ,sometimes with much excitement ,often with a slight sigh.Many fish delightedly swam in my small tank and many died ,saying farewell to my sad face. The years are the 40 years if I count. Though the term of my keeping corals are only two years,I would like to make a special report of my keeping corals in small tanks ,using the new aquarium techniques as well as my experiences of keeping marine fish. I would be grateful if all the readers gave me more advices or suggestions.
The merits of small tanks
It is often said the small tanks are unstable concerning the water ouality ,compared with the big ones.However it is also clear that many aquarists are enjoying reef tanks in small tanks like myself.
Let's see the merits of small tanks.
Enjoying as if they were doll houses or small gardens.Less costs of maintenance.(About 1000 yen /month)
Easy to change of water on emergncies of water status. Less costs for the water change.
Easy to lessen the damage caused by earthquake or other disaster.( we need to think of the troubles especially in apartment houses)
Seen above,we easily to find enjoyment of keeping fish& corals in small tanks as well as that of big ones.
Water status
The main theme of keeping marine fish is to cope with the
ammonia ,NH3 &NH4. As we well know, any keeping text book shows the procedure
;NH3 is changed into NO2 under the bacteria process, finally making NO3,the
safe chemical substance for marine creatures. In keeping marine fish ,this
is the final chain we have to make in our tanks for ourselves: the chain we
often experience as basic theory in keeping fish. NO3 is the final terminal
we are looking for ,but in keeping corals,the aspect is quite different:most
of marine fish accept NO3 of 50mg/liter,on the other hand, corals about half
(1/2)of the amount.As to Acropora colals, the amount must be below 5mg/liter.Otherwise
they are surely melt down!
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Marine fish ; maximum 50mg/liter of NO3
Corals : maximum 20mg/liter of NO3 (Acropora requires 0-5mg/liter of NO3.)
Such technologies as bacteria dosing and up-dated equipments enable us to lessen the water change drastically. (In Japan,we have to note the water from waterworks contains about 3mg/liter of NO3.)
The application of up-dated technologies and theories.
As I said above, all we have to do is to overcome the troubles given by NH3 &NH4
The target points are
1. The reduction of NH3 & NH4.
2.Handling the NO3 ,not so danger to all marine creatures.
So,with the developments of technologies and some of my experiences. it seems there are some ways available below to cope with the targets.
1, Bacteria Plankton system - Vodka Method.
2, Ozone
3. Zeolite
Vodka Method (Please see the details of Vodka Method.)
Vodka Method is the chemical way to dispel the NO3 or PO4 by using bacteria in tanks'water ;once they are given Carbon resource as Vodla(Ethanol) ,they bloom drastically while consuming NO3. Seen as AZ-NO3 (A .Greek),Nitrate Minus (Tetra)- they are using the same chemical theory. When using Vodka,it must be dosen carefully .
As my experience,it seems better to start the BP system after the water status become stable. When it started,the amount of dose is only 0.1ml for 100 liter tank-very little amount. (Over dose is very dangerous!) The amount of NO3 surely becomes 0 or almost 0 while dosing Vodka ,step by step, with the use of chart or graph. About one month would be required.
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It is the essential to use powerful protain skimmer when we start with Vodka Method because of the comsuption of much oxgen.So air lift skimmers are not recommended. Basically they dose Vodka for rather big tank i.e. 100 liter or so. But so for as I see, the way is available for small tanks below 50 liter.Vodka dose not select good bacteria and bad bacteria.All of them bloom in the same way.To avoid the undesirable result given by bad ones,some use vinegar or sugar.Though the Vodka Method works very well for reef tanks, in fish tanks,the system often cause such disease as Aeromonas and Vibrio - we need be careful of this.( As I experienced in 30cm cube tank,I lost African Pigmy angel and Pomacantus Imperator because of the disease)
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Ozone
The use of Ozone has been discussed for long time ,The discussion groups are divided into Pro or Against.Its basic function is strong oxidation:it chemically changes the toxic substances into safe ones. but too much ozone sometims gives rise to the damage to creatuers. In spite of the strong oxidation,the oxgen is the fundamental elements to all living things from bacteria to fish. Joreg Kokkt recommend the use of ozonizer for the Vodka Method in order to get enough oxgen.
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E@Supply of enough oxgen for Vodka Method.
E@Ozone directly changes NH3 into NO3 in oxdation. NH3 + 2O3 ¨NO3|{O2{H{{H2O
E Ozone destroys bad bacteria or germs .(Some reports show it works against white spot disease,)
The dose amount of Ozone is 5mg/liter /hour for 50 liter tank. If some fish seem nervous,the amout should be decreased.The ORPmonitor is the best way to see the ozone status in tank.Ozone sometimes decrease P.H .The regular monitor is required.
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Zeolite
The zeolite has a special function called "Ion Exchange". It parmanetly chrarged with minus electricity(called the eternal electric charge). With this scentific effect.it always absorbs the substances charged with plus ion.The famous substances charged with plus ion are like NH3 ,NH4 , calcium and potassium.They are easily absorbed by the ore whose chemical stractures are alike solid sponge. Therefore,the filter filled with zeolite is the effective absorber to the substances of plus ion for long time. Virtually NH3 is difficult to detect when used Zeolite. In the bacteria rich tanks with Vodka Method,the zeolite also absorbs the bacteria which like to have NH3 ion.Finally with the assist of bacteria,it is changed into NO3 & N2 gas, released to the air.The products applied to this theory are well known as Zeovit or Ultralith. (Please see the details about Zeolite filter of Jens kallmeyer.)
Usually it is the proper way to use zeolite for the reduction of NH3 when the tank is newly set,but the ore strongly effects the corals. So the users of zeolite should be careful because the ore absorbs calcium & potassium very quickly. There are many kinds of zeolite sold in the shops. Note we have to choose the zeolite for aquarium use,especially for marine creatures.Both of Zeovit and Ultralith also strongly suggest every day we strip bacteria film on the zeolite with shaking the filter.The film helps the corals to change their color because they are the nice food for them.
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As I said above,some people say Vodla Method is dangerous because of the chaos of bacteria blooming. The others say the use of zeolite are not sometimes acceptable because it gives the undesirable effects to corals due to the strong absorption of plus ion substances.Ozone divides the group into Pro or Against. Though I know the risk aspects, why do l challenge to take risks? The answers are as follows.
1. Any challenge often gives us other windows and new discoveries.
2. The aquarium markets control the aquarists at will,whatever they need or not.We need the sharp eyes for ourselves.
Anyway,let's enjoy keeping corals in small tanks! I would be glad if my essay gives you the nice guidance to your tank. Thank you for reading my essay.
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Yosirin(Japan)
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My 45cm tank spec
Filter type: Outside filter + Inside filter + power skimmer.
Tank size :45 (about 40liter)
Light FLED 24w Crystal white (Marine blue) ~2 Metal hydro-lamp Neobeam 24w ~1
Skimmer@: SA2011 powered with Rio 1100 (23liter/min)
Water temperature conditioner:Tetra Cool Tower CR3
Heater: 200w ~1
Pump: Eheim 500 (8L/min) {@Hydor@Crystal@i7L/min) + Koralia 1 (15L/min)
Airpump: Adex (max 6000cc/min)
Ozonizer:Sander 50mg/hour (5mg/hour for use)
Water: Reef Crystal (A.systems) 20-30% water change /week
Fish: Cherub Fish. Purple fire goby. Fire goby ,Pseudanthias pilcherrimus
Corals:About 20 spieces (Acropora .Star polp .Disk coral etc)
Food: Sure.Mega bite.Dell etc
Supplement:Alaga Milk .Bufa 8.4 ERhowa PO4. RED SEA Success culk.
Gravity/Salinity 1D024`1D027
v @Temp 24 `26
og:8D0`8D4
KH: 8`10
mg3 0D1mg/liter NO2 0D1/liter mn3 0`2D5mg/liter @PO40.1mg/liter
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