Where the heck does the time go? Last time I prepared a Reef Ramblings it was back in August 2008 and all of a sudden Christmas has come and gone and we’re well into 2009!!

We’ve been tremendously busy at Midland Reefs, expanding our range and getting all our new products out into the market place. With of things that have been going on it has been difficult to find time to do much writing. I hope things have now settled down enough to let me get back to carrying out research and preparing articles.

News.

As far as I’m concerned the most interesting bits of news of late are my latest coral spawning! On Monday 17 February 2009, whilst I was doing my morning round of feeding my eye was caught by a number of small particles drifting in a group in one of my soft coral tanks. This is a low flow aquarium with moderate light levels, home to a collection of large specimens of Klyxum species, various assorted polyps, and a number of large mushroom corals, probably Rhodactis inchoata. It took me some time before I was able to identify the source of the eggs or egg/sperm bundles floating around the tank – and to my surprise it turned out that a single specimen of R. inchoata was responsible.
The mushroom coral Rhodactis inchoata is a broadcast spawner, spasmodically ejecting small numbers of egg/sperm bundles, say 5 or 6 at a time (I’ve seen a reference somewhere to separate sexes so it could be just eggs) These gametes were similar size to Briareum and of a cream to grey colouration.
I’m also seeing indications that it may have spawned on a number of different days without me witnessing the event.

From the research I’ve managed to carry out so far it looks as if this is quite an unusual event. Indeed this sort of spawning event seems to be rarely recorded even in the wild.

There was a repeat of this event 12 days later on Saturday the 28th February and again around a month later during the last week of March.

But that’s not all …

Shortly after the Rhodactis inchoata spawning I noticed that in another of my tanks I’d had a Briareum species, Star Polyp, spawning; this isn’t too unusual occurrence in this particular tank where there’s been half a dozen or so spawnings in the last few years. What makes this spawning event unusual is that the planula larvae have actually settled this time! The daily hunt for primary polyps proved quite exciting and it was immensely rewarding to eventually find numerous primary polyps scattered about the tank.  I believe I may now have enough information to induce spawning in this species but this will have to wait until the baby corals have grown large enough for me to safely remove them to another system.

Curiously, at around the same time, I’ve also noticed newly settled sponges on the glass of a couple of my tanks. Perhaps it’s a sign of Spring!

Why Sexual Reproduction in Corals Matters.

You may wonder why sexual reproduction of corals is so important an aim. There are two main reasons to be considered.
Primarily it may help to preserve genetic variability. New, emerging coral diseases are often associated with loss of coral in the wild during bleaching events. Corals that spread by growth, in a manner similar to the way reefkeepers frag corals, are identical clones, which could be vulnerable to emerging diseases, whereas different genetic strains might demonstrate resistance to new diseases, allowing a species to survive possible extinction.
If one day it becomes possible to induce coral spawning on demand it may become an important tool for reef restoration. Some scientists are looking at species of corals that demonstrate resistance to bleaching, so being able to produce these species through sexual reproduction could be immensely important for preserving reefs in the future.

Late news.

The Briareum has continued to spawn, the latest event taking place over 2 days with the same polyps being seen to eject planula on the 14th and 15th April.  I started to see settled primary polyps from this spawning from the 21st April, 7 days after the spawning took place.

Reef Ramblings FAQs and Reef Ramblings Q & A

I’ve added the new category of FAQ’s to address some of the queries that are apparent from the search key phrases I see when I take a look at the statistics for Reef Ramblings. In this way I hope to answer some of the questions relating to Reefkeeping, aquarium hardware, etc., that aren’t already being covered within the existing articles posted at Reef Ramblings. Some of these search phrases seem a little brief but it’s usually pretty obvious what the query relates to. From the mix of queries I’m seeing it’s obvious that all the things we’ve learned about reef aquaria over the last 10 years are not being passed on to new reefkeepers …

Reef Ramblings Reef Aquarium Q & A has been added to address some of the more common problems afflicting new reefkeepers in a lengthier format than that used in print magazines. Some of these are from past print articles, others are new generated by the constant stream of reefkeepers asking me for advice.

Hints ‘n’ Tips.

Water Changes.

At the recent meeting of the Coventry & Warwickshire Reefers Club I had a great time talking with the many reefkeepers who attended the evening. Thanks for coming along and making it an enjoyable event. I hope to cover some of the stuff that came up in conversation that night in my articles here at Reef Ramblings. To start off lets have a look at the subject of water changes, this came up in conversation with John Thomas who followed up our chat with this email.

Hi Tim I spoke to you after your talk at Coventry Aquatics, I can still see the look of horror on your face when I said I don’t do water changes (almost 5 years now) anyway after listening to your reasons for them I’ve decided to do 10 litres a week, this is only about 2% of my system because I don’t want to upset the balance but it’s a start, I’ll let you know if I notice any improvement.
I’ve added a few photos of the tank just to give you an idea of how the tank is doing at the moment, the only added filtration is an algae scrubber deep sand bed and Chaetomorpha.

John.

Thanks for the email John.
OK, so why am I so adamant that water changes are a good thing? The practice of water changes seems to have originated with fresh water aquariums, indeed before aquarists fully understood the concept of the nitrogen cycle and started to apply the idea of biological filtration this was the only way of maintaining good water quality. The idea behind water changes is very simple and summed up in the mantra. “The solution to pollution is dilution” When biological filtration began to be applied to freshwater aquariums and people started to use test kits to monitor water quality it soon became apparent that water changes were still required as levels of nitrate were seen to continue to accumulate – in this situation it’s very easy to determine a water change regime by deciding what the maximum nitrate level is that you’re prepared to tolerate, then carrying out regular water changes to maintain this level.
Unfortunately this method doesn’t quite translate to the reef aquarium, as a properly constructed reef should naturally keep nitrates to acceptable levels. So if you don’t see a steadily increasing nitrate value, indicating pollution over time do you still need to carry out water changes? I believe the answer to this question is a resounding YES!
Even though we no longer have a convenient indicator of pollution in the form of nitrate, the water in a closed system is still deteriorating in quality due to biological processes, and the concentration and depletion of various elements, major, minor, and trace. This deterioration is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify and, furthermore, will vary from reef to reef depending on the organisms present.

John’s reef uses a DSB for natural filtration along with Chaetomorpha, which is presumably being regularly harvested as a means of nutrient removal. I don’t know what his feeding regime is or what supplementation is being used, but going into the tank will be food and, I’d guess, Calcium and Carbonates. These will be taken up by the organisms inhabiting the reef along with the various minerals and trace elements they contain. Not all of these minerals and trace elements will be used and there is evidence that some of them may accumulate in the reef aquarium to unnaturally high levels. Corals, particularly octocorals (or soft corals), produce an arsenal of chemical weaponry to wage war on the other species of corals that they share the tank with – again these chemical compounds can accumulate within the aquarium if no steps are taken to deal with them – if carbon is used to filter out these compounds it may also remove some desirable ones, producing a depletion. The harvesting of macro-algae, while removing some undesirables such as nitrate and phosphate, will also deplete other elements such as Iodine, depending on species.

Now we could try to supplement for every thing being depleted but it would be next to impossible to accurately determine what should be added and in what quantity. Aquarium test kits can be best described as a guide and many of the more esoteric tests such as those for Iodine, Strontium are of questionable utility.

Part of my general philosophy of reefkeeping is the belief that for best results you need to do the following:

• Supply water movement and lighting appropriate to the requirements of the species being kept.

• Feed high quality nutrition i.e. natural foods containing no additives or artificial preservatives.

• Maintain Calcium and Carbonates according to the biological demand of the reef.

• Perform water changes on a regular basis to dilute pollutants and to replenish minor and trace elements.

It’s worth noting that the cost of doing regular water changes is far lower than that of supplementing with the very many supplements offered by so many manufacturers. And that on the natural reef, with very few exceptions, reef organisms are continually exposed to, what is in effect, fresh clean seawater.

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Any questions or comments, or if there are any particular topics you’d like to see covered here, please feel free to get in touch with me: tim@midlandreefs.co.uk

Tim Hayes
Midland Reefs
©2004 – 2009

Reef Ramblings Reef Aquarium

Q & A – Aiptasia.

This is one of the many letters I’ve answered on the subject of Aiptasia pest anemones. As with most pest based problems remember that there’s no such thing as a quick fix, patience and perseverance are required for success. (more…)

To start the category off, this article that goes some way towards explaining some of the problems and other considerations involved in troubleshooting reef tanks.

Why Doesn’t It Work For You,

When It Works For Me?

or

C.S.I. – Reef.

Reef keeping is a very odd hobby, we’re all trying to do a similar sort of thing, but no two of our reefs are ever going to be identical. As people build up their personal reefs, from time to time they run into trouble, often I’m consulted to help sort out their problems. This brings with it a number of interesting problems (interesting to me, that is!) that I’m often asked to help solve; trying to sort out someone’s reef at a distance can be tricky. If I receive a letter, unless there’s the mention of something going on that’s glaringly obvious, all I can do is to make generalised comments concerning the actions usually required to remedy that problem. If I get an e-mail, at least if doesn’t contain enough information for me to come up with a potential solution, I can always sent back for more information. Talking is always a better way of exchanging information relating to tank troubles, be it on the phone or in person. And of course the best way of all to trouble shoot an aquarium is for me to actually see the tank in question myself, in the company of its keeper, who I can then ask about the normal routine of maintaining the tank and whether anything out of the ordinary has recently occurred.

Leaving aside the personal visit, where I can make my own assessment of the situation and perhaps measure water parameters myself, lets have a look at why remote troubleshooting can be tricky and not always successful. Sorting out problems in a reef tank is a forensic exercise, think, “CSI – Reef Tank”.  You need all the facts about what the problem appears to be. Then, given that a captive reef is a complex system of biological and chemical interactions, you need to know what the animals are that inhabit it, how interaction from the aquarist affects the environment, and importantly, you need to know the history of the reef. Lets backtrack a moment. A problem apparent to an inexperienced aquarist may not be of any cause for concern; it can be a naturally occurring event or an unrecognised animal that someone with greater knowledge or experience might be familiar with. The apparent problem may not itself be the problem, rather its a symptom of something else going wrong; this can lead to the less knowledgeable aquarist spending time and money fruitlessly trying to cure the symptoms and never getting to grips with their cause.

Treat the Cause, Not the Symptoms.

Three prime examples of treating the symptoms rather than the cause are those involving low pH, persistent pest algae, and problems of high levels of nitrate in a reef.
Inexperienced reef keepers complaining of low pH in their tanks usually start off by looking for some form of chemical solution to their problem, and unfortunately too many shops are quite happy to just sell them some form of buffering agent without investigating much further. It’s far preferable to examine why the tank’s pH is low and tackle the cause. In the case of pH
The problem of persistent pest algae or frequent outbreaks of a dusty looking brown algae on the glass and rockwork all to often comes down to the aquarist being reluctant to buy a RO unit. Thankfully this is one problem that seems to be dying out these days but it’s a classic example of trying to save money by not buying an expensive piece of equipment but then spending more, albeit in a number of smaller amounts, buying all sorts of water treatments to cure the problem!
The same sort of thing holds true for problems concerning high levels of nitrate. Nitrate just shouldn’t be a problem in a correctly put together “natural approach” reef. Live sand beds, mud systems, or live rock are all quite capable of keeping nitrate low; if a system is based around these methods something is awry, is some inappropriate form of man made biological filtration being used? A trickle filter or fluidised sand bed perhaps? If that is the case the answer is not to add an extra filtration device, a nitrate filter of some description, but rather to discontinue using the offending biological filter.

Troubleshooting and Seeking Help.

If you’re addressing a query to myself, or some other advanced reefkeeper, remember, we’re completely reliant on the information you can offer about your reef. This information is frequently going to be inadequate. A lot of the trouble shooting process is, along with experience, down to individual perception of what is and what’s not relevant to the problem at hand.  Things you think important may be of no consequence whereas something you consider unimportant and neglect to mention may be vital. Your reef is unique with a unique history; background knowledge is extremely helpful and up to a point, the more you can tell about the history of both the problem and the reef the better.
Start with a brief summary of the problem, don’t overload your adviser with information right from the start, but do have extra information ready for when it’s requested. It’s most disheartening to be asked to solve a problem and then find the reef keeper can’t come up with values for some of the common water parameters, things like salinity, temperature, pH, calcium, carbonates, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate.

Potential areas for causing problems can be divided up as follows:

• Livestock
• Mechanical failure
• Water quality
• Inappropriate design of habitat
• Inappropriately specification of equipment
• Aquarist induced problems

Remember though, that due to the interactions taking place in the environment of the reef tank it’s quite likely that you’ll find a combination of two or more factors responsible for your problem.

When you go to someone for help concerning an apparent problem with your reef tank you need to be able to supply as much relevant information about your set up as you can. The trouble is in knowing what’s relevant; in such a biologically complex environment as a captive reef it can be quite easy to overlook something or dismiss it as irrelevant.

So how should you go about troubleshooting a reef tank? First I reckon it’s essential that anyone keeping marines should possess a library of good quality, up to date reference books. To be a successful reef keeper you must have knowledge of the animals you’re keeping. You need to know what their requirements are in the way of lighting, water flow, food, companion species, space and territory, and whether they have any particular characteristics that mean they could be a danger to other reef inhabitants (or you and your family).

Maintenance and Observation.

I know that when faced with a problem it may seem a little bit redundant to be told that prevention’s better than the cure but conscientious servicing of all your reef equipment will go a long way towards reducing the incidence of problems caused through mechanical failure.
I’d also suggest being scrupulously honest with yourself. Are you really as meticulous as you’d like to think you are when it comes to water changes and everyday maintenance? We all let things slide every now and again; there are always other things that crop up in our lives, which take our attention away from our hobby, so just don’t pretend to yourself that you’ve been looking after your tank when you haven’t.
Keep a diary of your reef. Log all equipment servicing, additions, and replacements; mark up in advance service and replacement intervals. Record livestock additions and all test results in your diary, along with details of what supplements you’re adding to the tank. This information can help you to detect trends occurring in your reef; obvious things like an increased calcium demand as you add more corals or as the corals increase in size, less obvious things such as slowly increasing levels of pollutants which could be caused by increased bio-load or perhaps by the nature of materials used in either the aquascape or added as some form of supplementation.
Has anything out of the ordinary happened lately? This is a very broad question that takes in livestock, recent equipment changes or additions, changes in procedure, supplementation, etc., plus external influences on the aquarium.
These are all things that you ought to be recording. Usually, when trouble shooting a reef aquarium, if the cause of a particular problem isn’t immediately obvious, you can more or less guarantee that you’ll find it somewhere in the recent history of the system.
When performing water tests check and double check if you find you’re getting unusual readings. Check the test kit is in date, that it hasn’t been left open or incorrectly stored, and that you know how to use the kit and interpret the readings. If in doubt get a second opinion at your local shop or buy a new test kit. This goes for measuring salinity and temperature as well as the chemical parameters.

Livestock.

Livestock additions can result in stress for both existing inhabitants and the newcomer. Corals need to be placed correctly in terms of flow lighting, and proximity to other corals. Do you really know what size your corals may be expanding to during the night? Fishes and corals can bring in disease or undesirable organisms if not properly quarantined and observed, if the environment isn’t suitable they can become stressed and as a result succumb to disease, the same goes if fish become stressed due to fighting as the tank hierarchy is being altered and established. Externally factors such as ambient temperature, direct sunlight, small children, teenage parties, adult parties, spring cleaning, decorating, parasite control for other family pets, can all have a negative influence on the reef tank.

Water quality.

Water quality is of paramount importance. It’s not something you can see, to determine what state your water’s in you need to test. You don’t need all the test kits going but you do need to be able to periodically monitor the more common parameters. Think in terms of the nitrogen cycle: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH although the first two are of more importance in the early days of a reef they’re certainly worth checking if you have livestock losses, especially when you haven’t been able to recover the dead body; also bear in mind that ammonia toxicity is influenced by pH. Nitrate, phosphate, and pH are worth checking during pest algae outbreaks. Calcium, carbonates, pH, and phosphates are the ones to check when you have coral problems. Don’t forget temperature and salinity, generally 35 ppt, otherwise appropriate to the requirements of the species being kept. The consequences of poor water quality can be disease and death. So do those water changes; it’s difficult to do too many water changes, and at least one US writer isadvocating up to ninety percent weekly water changes!

Inappropriate habitat.

An inappropriate habitat is stress inducing to fishes and leads to disease and death. Factors to consider here include aquascaping, light levels, water flow, substrate, and companion species. Of course much of this also holds true for corals and other invertebrates. Causes for concern here includes keeping animals that need a substrate for food or for burrows in a bare bottom tank, deep water fishes kept in a brightly lit reef tank, and tidal animals that need to emerge from water being kept constantly submerged.

Inappropriate equipment.

Inappropriate equipment is frequently the cause of problems in the reef aquarium. As I mentioned earlier, items like fluidised sand beds and trickle towers have no place in a reef system based on our current understanding of how a captive reef works. You can also add undergravel filters and all the more usual forms of manmade biological filters associated with freshwater fishkeeping. It’s unfortunate that many of these pieces of equipment are still being sold to unsuspecting new reef keepers by retailers lacking up to date knowledge, as they invariably lead to problems.
Note: we’re talking reef aquariums here, certain of the above mentioned items of equipment can have an application in fish only systems.

Aquarist induced problems.

Well, this can cover a whole bunch of things from sheer stupidity through forgetfulness to “it seemed a good idea at the time”!
Ignorance is forgivable; we all start off with little knowledge of how a reef tank works, you need to learn about the animals you want to keep and the best ways of maintaining them. Research into your livestock is a major key to success with a reef tank and as you progress so you knowledge increases.
Stupidity is another thing altogether. Choosing animals purely on the ground of what colour they are so they blend with your room décor, putting together a selection of fishes so you have one of each different colour, ignoring advice about your fish selection from those with more experience – “I definitely want that shoal of Green Chromis to go with my Lionfish in my fifty gallon reef”, buying any animal without knowing its requirements just ‘cos it looks pretty, thinking that if ten millilitres of some supplement is good for your tank just think what one hundred millilitres will do … I could go on but it’s just too demoralising. These are all examples of behaviour from aspiring marine keepers that I’ve either personally experienced or others in the trade have passed on to me.
Forgetfulness … Doh! You did turn that pump back on after you cleaned it didn’t you? You’re sure you mixed the salt into that water you warmed up and aerated in preparation for that next water change? How much water do you think can syphon out of your tank when you’ve been called away to the phone? “Hey that was a great chat, I think it must be time for a cuppa …” (Check out Raising the Orchid Dottyback, by Martin Moe, for some intriguing suggestions on how to remind yourself that you’re syphoning water.)
Taking the bottle of some liquid supplement to the aquarium, then measuring out the quantity to be dosed above the surface of the water may have seemed to be a time saving strategy but when you get distracted for some reason and end up pouring half the bottle into the tank it becomes just the opposite. Scraping coralline algae of the glass with a razor blade but unfortunately dropping it behind the rockwork, realising this means stripping out half the tank to retrieve it, so just writing it off as of little consequence – bad idea! (The solution, by the way, is to extract it using a magnet.)
OK, we’re all capable of mistakes or getting distracted while we’re in the middle of something, I know I certainly am, but try to minimise these things happening. A moment’s distraction and you can be paying for the consequences with weeks of corrective work.

Afterword.

Lastly, if you want to ask for assistance, please don’t send a long list of queries. If you find yourself jotting down an endless list of questions with the intention of sending it to me or someone else, stop and reflect on what you’re doing. If you’ve that many questions that need answering perhaps you should be building up your library of aquatic reference books. Have a look at my review of reef literature, elsewhere in Reef Ramblings, to get some idea of the books you should be reading.

Tim Hayes
Midland Reefs
©2009

Reef Ramblings Reef Aquarium

Q & A.

I’ve always had a problem when it comes to the typical aquarium magazine “Ask the Experts” or “Ask the Panel“ format of questions and answers. The reader’s question tends to be answered by one of the magazine’s resident writers in just a few lines or couple of paragraphs. To me it seems insulting to treat the reader’s query in such a brief manner as the answers offered are frequently inadequate,`most likely leaving the questioner confused and still wanting a solution to their problem. I feel that these short replies tend to be sometimes patronising and, frequently, may do more harm than good. Consequently a couple of years back I resolved to no longer participate in that method of answering readers questions and to only tackle questions when they could be dealt with in sufficient depth to render as near a complete answer as possible.

Every reef aquarium is unique. Each contains a unique combination of animals, plants, and bacteria in a one-off aquascape, in an aquarium of a particular volume and proportion. What applies to one reef will not necessarily apply to another – this is one of the reasons that keeping reef aquaria can never be refined into an exact science. One size does not fit all, or, as I’m fond of saying to my American friends “Mileage may vary”

This category comprises articles on troubleshooting hobbyist tank problems. Some have been previously published, others are new. Many of these refer to the commonly encountered problems inherent to the reef aquarium, some are more specific or unusual.

Hopefully these articles may address problems that you’re currently suffering by providing you with a solution. You are welcome to send in your questions for me to answer and subsequently publish here, but I must warn you that there is no guarantee of a quick response – that’ll only happen if you phone me and even then I’m not always going to be available to take your call.

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

©2009