Putting It all Together

The planning is almost complete. The only aspect that I have not discussed is how water is draining from the show tank into the sump. I am using an overflow.

I know that many aquarists do not like overflows. And probably for good reason. Many of the cheaper, mass produced overflows are not reliable. This results in sea water on your floor, burnt out pumps, and dead animals. If you don't want an overflow, the other option is to have the tank drilled. If I had a bigger tank, this is what I would do. (Um, WHEN I have a bigger thank this is what I WILL do ) Some tanks come pre-drilled, others are drilled after purchases.

The overflow I have chosen is the Lifereef overflow box. This overflow is designed to handle twice the amount of flow that I am going to be putting through it. I have read every review I can find and compared it to most other overflows available on the market. I would say all, but I might have missed one. The conclusion is unanimous. This overflow is the BEST on the market.

The secret is in the design. Since both ends of the siphon tube are in water at all times, even when the return pump is off, the siphon is never lost. The large flow (up to 600 gph) through the unit is due to the construction. The backbone is constructed from one piece of acrylic, not a few pieces glued together. I am confident that I will not have any problems with this overflow.

And that's it! Over the next few weeks I will slowly purchase the hardware and put everything together. I have ordered the overflow, and plan on testing it when it arrives. It may arrive Friday! I need to make sure that the pump doesn't drain the sump faster than the sump can fill, and I need to find my minimum and maximum fill lines.

Let the fun begin....

Water Movement

In my opinion, water movement is the second most important aspect of an aquarium. How well water is moved will directly effect the outcome of what ever I put in my tank. Without correct water flow the aquarium can not filter properly, animals will not be able to eat, waste will not be distributed, air will not be distributed, and the tight water parameters needed to maintain these sensitive animals will not be able to be maintained.

Coral are sessile, living, organisms. They don't move around. But, they still produce waste. Fish are consumers. They eat whenever they are fed for the most part. And, what goes in must come out. What is not used as energy ends up as waste. All of this waste is confined to a tank, or in my case a system of tanks. If the waste can not be dispersed efficiently, it will build up and become toxic to the tank inhabitants.

Let's go back to the "coral are sessile organisms" line. Since corals can not move around to search for their food; the food needs to find them. In nature, corals grow around nutrient rich food sources. In an aquarium, if you can not direct food to your animals, they are not able to eat. If they can't eat, they die.

Water movement in a natural reef is significant. Most experts suggest that an aquarium be able to turn over 10-20 times an hour in order to replicate natural conditions. My system, which is approx. a 35 gallon system between the sump and the show tank, will need to turn over 350-700 gallons an hour in order to meet this recommendation. All this flow should not originate from one source; and consideration needs to be given to what animals I want so they can have a place in the tank. Not all animals like high flow situations, and some can not survive without it.

The Plan
Here is my initial plan. Because I have a sump based system I need a return pump that will pump water from the sump to the show tank. The flow through the sump should not be real fast, because the deep sand bed (DSB) and the macroalgae in the refugium would be pointless. The water needs to be in the refugium long enough for a nutrient exchange to occur. For this task, I have chosen a Mag 3 pump. The Mag 3 is an internal pump, and as a result will contribute some heat to the system. Probably not a significant amount, but it does need to be considered. The pump will have about 3.8 head feet on it, after the plumbing is considered, and will end up pumping about 290 gph. This is about 1/3 the total volume of water I need to turn.

I will have a protein skimmer in the sump as well. The skimmer I have chosen, the Tunze Nano, turns about 39 gallons an hour. Not a lot, but a piece of the equation nonetheless. The rest of the circulation will be in the show tank.

At this point I have about 339 or so gallons an hour moving. The rest of the movement is going to come from a power head. The Tunze Nanostream is a little gem of engineering.

This powerhead can turn up to 660 gallons an hour and mount anywhere in the tank. Yes, 660 gph of flow is way more than I need. I don't expect to get that much out of it though. This powerhead has a wide, 1.5" diameter outlet. If I face this unit so that the water flow bounces off the glass; or is placed so that the flow is obstructed by some rock, it will accomplish a few important things. First, it will reduce laminar flow and have more erratic flow. This is more typical of the flow seen in a natural reef. Since the outlet has such a large diameter, laminar flow is greatly reduced anyway. Second, it will probably reduce the amount of water going through the power head. Third, this power head is one that I can easily move into a bigger tank. And lastly, this pump pushes more water than most and uses less power than most. It uses approx. 110 watts per gallon. "Other" power heads pump 1/3 the amount water, use about 592 watts per gallon, and use laminar flow. I am very excited about this powerhead.

In my next post I will talk about how I am moving water between the two tanks.

Filtration

Now that the lighting has been figured out, it is time to decide on everything else! Two aspects of the aquarium I have not touched on yet are filtration and water movement. These are easy compared to the lighting.

Filtration
Filtration involves biological, chemical, and mechanical filtration. The biological filtration will be done with live rock, primarily, and a deep sand bed (DSB). What makes the rock live? The bacteria. Bacteria are responsible for the breakdown of the products of the nitrogen cycle: ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. These metabolites are toxic to the reef inhabitants.

The deep sand bed (DSB) will be located in the middle section of my sump The DSB serves as a place for further breakdown of nitrate to nitrogen gas. In order to be efficient, the sand must be at least 4 inches deep so an anaerobic environment can be achieved and maintained. The anaerobic bacteria will further break down nitrate into nitrogen gas. The nitrogen gas will then be lost to the air at the water surface. Macroalgae will planted in the DSB as well. This will serve to further collect nitrates, which the marcoalgae need to grow, and to be a breeding ground for copepods and amphipods. Copepod and amphipod larvae are a primary food source for many fish and coral. If I can grow a healthy colony of copepods and amphiods, then I will have to feed the fish less processed food. Less processed food ultimately means less chemicals added to the aquarium. Once the system is operational, which will take about 6 weeks to grow and develop, there should be very little nitrogenous byproducts in the aquarium.

Mechanical filtration will be done by a protein skimmer. The skimmer will remove dissolved organic compounds from the water column. This is the particulate matter that gives the aquarium a cloudy appearance. Some type of sponge, or prefilter, will remove the large, viewable debris that will end up being knocked loose by the tank inhabitants. The skimmer will make the water will shimmer! I plan on buying the Tunze Nano protein skimmer.



Chemical filtration will have a limited place in my aquarium. I may use activated charcoal on an "as needed" basis, but that will probably be the extent of the chemical filtration The condition of the fish, how well they are eating, and the condition of the water are some variables that will dictate how and when I end up using activated carbon.

And The Winner Is...

So, three blog posts later, what light is best for me? Here is recap of what type of reef I am building and what I need out of a light.

• I want to design a mixed reef system with soft, LPS, and SPS corals w/ at least one clam.
• I would like to design a semi-efficient system that doesn't use any more power than necessary
• I want to buy something that will last with minimal maintenance
• I want a system that will allow the coral to show themselves off
• I do not want to make my own hood, I want a pre-made system.
  

My show aquarium is a 29 gallon (12" x 18" x 30") glass aquarium. My choices for lighting are:

1. 1, 150 watt metal halide bulb
   
2. 1, 250 watt metal halide bulb
   
3. A 24 inch, 4 bulb, T5 fixture
   
4. A 30 inch, 4 bulb, T5 fixture
   
5. A 24 inch, 5 bulb, T5 fixture
   
6. A 30 inch, metal halide with 2 T5 bulbs fixture.

The 4 bulb, 30 inch, T5 bulb fixture contains 24 inch bulbs in a 30 inch casing. As a result I will not talk about this fixtures since it doesn't work any differently than the 4 bulb, 24 inch, T5 fixture. Also, the MH w/T5 is too expensive for me to consider so I will not talk about it either.

250 Watt Metal Halide
The 250w metal halide fixture produces the most light, hands down. It will also produce the most heat. I would probably need to buy a chiller if I were to buy this light. There is also the potential for electricity problems due to the huge wattage on the bulb. Any new livestock added to the tank would require a long photo break in period to adjust to the intense light. In the end, this light would probably make the tank look the nicest, and the SPS corals would thrive. I don't think this is the best choice however

150 Watt Metal Halide
The 150 watt metal halide wouldn't be a bad choice. It may or may not generate enough heat to require a chiller. I should be able to adjust the temp with fans blowing over the water. The question with this set-up would be the PAR ratings. PAR would be high near the top, not so great near the bottom. I have seen PAR ratings taken on tanks that range from 1000 at the water line to 160 at the sand bed. Granted, the bulb used and the depth of the sand bed makes a difference as well. (note: PAR of sunlight is around 2000)

Four bulb, 24 inch T5
The four bulb T5 system uses 4, 24 inch, 24 watt lights and a single reflector over all the lights. The single reflector is inefficient, and a fair amount of light is lost within the lighting unit. I have seen statistics that say about 60-70% of the available light actually makes it into the tank. The total wattage is 96 watts. This is probably not enough light to grow SPS corals. PAR ratings would be fairly equal throughout the tank, but not very high. This light would probably work fine for soft and maybe LPS corals. I think this fixture would not produce enough light for the reef I want to grow. It would be fine for a less light intensive set up, or a fish only set up.

5 bulb, 24" T5
The TX5 light uses 5, 24 inch, 24 watt lights. Each light has its own reflector. The light that actually makes it into the tank is better than 90% of the light produced. The total wattage is 120 watts. This is less total light than I would get from the 150 metal halide, but there is one difference. There is more usable light. The PAR ratings on this light start around 700 (or better) at the top, and are still almost 400 at the bottom for a tank my size. Granted, the intensity of the TX5 light is not as high as what a 150 watt metal halide bulb produces. The TX5 will produce slightly less heat than the 150 watt metal halide, but the heat is spread out because of the larger surface area of the fluorescent tube. Since the spectrum of light can be adjusted by the fluorescent bulbs, I will have a lot more control of the spectrum of light in the tank as well. With the metal halide, I get what is in the bulb unless I want to supplement with fluorescent lights to add spectrum.

As I said before, I have a 30 inch tank, and the TX5 light is only 24 inches long. As a result, I will have to hang the light, and that is inconvenient. This light is more expensive than than the 150 watt metal halide fixture as well. Metal halide bulbs start loosing spectrum after ten months. The T5 bulbs are rated up to 18 months, but nobody seems to able to keep them that long. 12-14 months seems to be normal. The TX5 requires less energy than the halide light system as well. Every little bit helps since the light is probably the most energy intensive part of the aquarium AND it will be on 8-10 hours a day.

SO, I feel that a mixed reef system with my dimensions and my requirements will be most benefited by the TX5 light. Specifically, the 24", TX5 light by Aqauactinics. We shall see how it does.

What Are My Light Choices?

There are two types of lighting that are with maintaining healthy coral: fluorescent and halide.

Halide bulbs produce a lot of light in a small package. They are a type of HID, or high intensity discharge, lighting. There is a good, simple description of how HID/halide lights function at Halcyon.net. Here is a quick summary. Electricity is passed through metal vapor that is under high pressure. Now a little chemistry. Electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom in shells of energy. They are not specific orbits as much as they are clouds surrounding the nucleus of the atom. Electrons can be forced out of their orbits when supplied with energy. After electrons are knocked out of their orbits, however, they fall back to the original orbit. As they fall back, the excess energy is released in the form of light, heat, and other types of radiation. The metals used in the "metal vapor" and the energy supplied to the bulb determines the light given off.

In my post Lighting is Complicated, I talked about PAR (photosynthetically available radiation) and PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) ratings. Halide bulbs can be given PPFD ratings. As Sanjay Joshi describes in his article, Facts of Light-Part 2 , a PPFD rating does not consider the spectral distribution of the light produced. This is the downside to halide lighting. Without testing your bulb, or finding the results of someone who has tested your bulb, you don't know the spectral distribution of that bulb. If you don't know what wavelengths of light the bulb is emitting, you don't know what wavelengths of light are entering your aquarium. In other words, some bulbs may be more beneficial to your aquarium than others.

Fluorescent bulbs work differently than HID/halide bulbs. Blurtit.com has a relatively simple definition. To summarize, a gas that can produce a smaller wavelength radiation than visible light, like ultra violet radiation, is excited by electricity. The UV radiation in turn produces excess electrons that excite another gas/chemical/etc that will produce light when the extra energy is applied. This is called fluorescence. The color and intensity of the light depend on what the molecules/atoms/substances are fluorescing. Fluorescent bulbs produce light, heat, and other types of radiation; but distribute it over the length of the fluorescent tube. The result is that fluorescent bulbs do not feel as hot as halide bulbs do. Fluorescent bulbs come in different sizes, wattages, and colors. The color of a fluorescent light is more specified than a halide light because atoms (etc) fluoresce certain colors.

High output fluorescent bulbs don't work any differently than normal fluorescent bulbs. They just use more energy. More energy in turn yields more light. This article, How Fluorescent Lighting Works, seems to explain it pretty well.

The downside to fluorescent bulbs is that you are not buying one bulb. One fluorescent bulb can not duplicate what one halide bulb can produce. An array of fluorescent bulbs can, however. They usually come in 4,5,6,7... etc. bulb arrays to encompass better color variations in a reef. Even though multiple bulbs are used, less energy is used in a fluorescent array than would be used to run a comparable halide bulb. The difference is in PAR ratings. PAR ratings from a fluorescent system are not as high as what you would get from a halide system. What makes it a viable alternative is that the PAR ratings produced (under the right conditions) are more even through out the tank. Less light overall, but the light present is more usable.

How beneficial light is to an aquarium depends how well the light is reflected in to the tank. Here is an example of experiment done to test PAR values of different Halide lamps 8 inches below the bulb. If you follow the link, and then look at the graphs at the bottom of that page, you will see that not all halide bulbs are the same. In fact, some are just useless.

Here is a website that does the same thing (sort of) with T5 fluorescent lamps. Small note, T5 refers to the size of the fluorescent bulb. It is a high output bulb, and the only affordable alternative to halide lighting on the market right now.

The jury is till out as to which lighting system is better overall, but here is one of the only tests published that compares T5 to halide lighting. In Coral Coloration and Incident Light a T5 system was tested against 3 halide lights. One of the conclusions drawn is that the T5 system had an almost equal effect on SPS corals, the most light intensive corals, as a 10K halide bulb. The other conclusion is that a 20K halide bulb has the most dramatic effect on coral coloration.

In my next post I will talk about which light I am choosing.

Lighting is Complicated

Lighting is complicated. People have won Noble prizes studying light and the effect it has on... everything. This little inquiry into light is by no means meant to be complete. It is a small snapshot of how light applies to the reef that I plan on building. This post will explain the importance of choosing the correct lighting for a salt water aquarium.

Light is energy; it is life sustaining. If someone desires to grow coral in their tank, which I do, then a light source capable of sustaining these light intensive animals is needed. There are, of course, many different types of coral. At the lowest levels of classification, corals generally fall into two categories: hard or soft. Hard corals come in two varieties, large polyped stony corals (LPS) and small polyped stony corals (SPS). Here are some examples. The picture on the top is of a soft coral, the middle picture is an LPS coral, and the picture on the bottom is of mixed SPS corals.




The best advice I can give to anyone interested in starting a salt water aquarium is to pre-plan what you want in your aquarium. For example, if you know that you want coral in your tank it will be cost affective to buy the right hardware in the beginning. It is difficult and expensive to incorporate corals into a tank that did not plan on having them in the beginning. I am designing a mixed coral tank. I want to incorporate corals that don't require a lot of light (soft corals), corals that require a lot of light (SPS corals), and everything in between. As a result I need a light strong enough to support the growth of the most light intensive corals, the SPS corals, but no so strong that it will burn everything. Yes, you can have too much light...theoretically. That is not for this discussion however.

Coral contain symbiotic, photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae. First, a brief discussion of zooxanthellae. A basic description of zooxanthellae can be found on Algone.com. Next, photosynthesis. To avoid confusion, I will restate two facts I have already mentioned. Yes, corals are animals, and yes they harbour photosynthetic algae in their tissues. Very interesting indeed. Photosynthesis occurs in the visible light spectrum. As the diagram in the previous link shows, the visible spectrum of light is between 400 and 700 nanometers (nm). This is more important than it may appear. There are multiple colors (wavelengths) that contribute to the visible spectrum. Remember ROYGBIV: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet? These colors and their combinations give us the color that we see in life. Now, let's consider a plant. They are green for the most part, correct? That is because they absorb all colors except green. Because they reflect back green, they look green. But, they use the process of photosynthesis to derive energy from the light they absorb.

Corals don't look green, not all of them anyway. But they still use the process of photosynthesis to derive energy. Corals do more than just reflect and absorb light. The zooxanthellae are more diverse, and as a result, utilize light in different ways. Advanced Aquarist published a series of articles on corals and light. The articles, Fluorescence, Green Fluorescence, Yellow and Orange Coloration, Red Fluorescence, and Non-Fluorescent Chromoproteins touch on the importance of light spectrum and energy to corals. I suggest reading these articles to get an idea on the many different ways coral, zooxanthellae, and light interact. A quick summation of the articles is that through absorbance, fluorescence, and reflecting corals exhibit different colors under different wavelengths and energy levels of light.

So here is my point. The idea is to buy a light system that will allow the coral to display their most beautiful properties and allow them to thrive. Or, stated a little differently, the idea is to buy coral that can live in your tank based on the type of lighting you have. So how do you do this?

The best way to judge a light is by PAR ratings. In Facts of Light by Sanjay Joshi, PAR is defined as photosynthetically active radiation. PAR is measured in PPFD, or photosynthetic photon flux density, between 400 and 700nm in one square meter. Sanjay continues by stating that different bulbs have different spectral distributions. Even though two lights may have the same PPFD rating, the distribution of the wavelengths that contribute to that PAR rating (hint: that is the PPFD) probably differ.

Now is the time to introduce the hardware. There is fluorescent lighting, VHO fluorescent lighting, power compact lighting, T5 fluorescent lighting, and metal halide lighting. These are different types of bulbs that produce different amounts of energy at different wavelengths or color. In my next post I will talk about each briefly, and then explain why I choose the light that I choose.

Plumbing the Return

The next stage in the life of the aquarium was to build the return. I needed to start with a return pump, and decided on a Danner Mag 3. This pump is run magnetically with only one moving part. It doesn't use a lot of electricity and does not transfer a lot of heat to the system. This pump seems to be reliable , in use in many aquariums, and as a bonus is made in the USA. I also decided on 3/4" schedule 40 PVC for the plumbing. The pump attaches to the PVC via 6 inches of flexible hose to decrease pump noise.

I knew nothing about plumbing before this project. I have never handled PVC, although I knew what it was. The most useful website I found was, "An Engineering View of Aquarium Systems Design: Pumps and Plumbing" by Sanjay Joshi, PhD, Nathan Paden & Shane Graber, from Advanced Aquarist online. This article talks about the physics behind water movement and includes an Excel spreadsheet that was helpful.

After I figured out what PVC pieces I needed, I purchased the PVC, some primer, and cement. This is how the final product came together.


This is how it will look in the tank:



I water tested the return by placing the pump in a bucket, with the return attached, and plugging in the pump. There doesn't appear to be any leaks, but I will not say so until the whole system is running. Next, I have to order my overflow, plumb it, add fresh water to the system to make sure it works and then buy the live rock and sand.

From there the aquarium will need to cycle. I will describe that later.

Adding water

It has been over 24 hours since I siliconed the baffles into the tank. That means it is time to water test the baffles. This also seems like an appropriate time to make a confession.

I have not made sure that either tank is leak proof. In other words, I have not added water to either tank yet. I was given the sump tank...thanks mom...and had it on her word that it didn't leak. Now I can move on.

I added water to the two end chambers first, checking that no water found its way to the middle. Both ends seemed to be water tight. I next added water to the middle chamber, what will the refugium, and it too looked good. Next, I poured water into the chamber that will accept all the water from the top tank and made sure water flowed through the new sump like it is supposed to. This also worked perfect. Lastly, I filled the tank up 3/4 the way full. I filled the tank so that each chamber has a different water level in it.. I did this so I can tell if one chamber has a weak spot that was not immediately apparent. If the level between any two chambers levels out, then I have a leak between the baffles. If everything stays as is, I will consider the sump complete.

I am pleased with how everything has turned out so far. I was surprised how much the plexiglass bent under the water pressure. Everything is sealed good though. Aside from the whole Lowe's problem, which you can read about it in my blog post titled Lowe's Blows at my other blog Origin, everything is moving along nicely.

My First Pictures

Here are some pictures of my tank. At this point I have both tanks and the stand. I have put the sump together, but not tested it.

This is the setup:


This is how I plan on designing the sump:skimmer, refugium, return:


Almost ready for silicone:


The sump to be:



The sump has to set for 24 hours and then I will water test it. I have a Mag 3 pump on the way also.