Fish Tank Making

fish tank making

Metal Halide

In our opinion, metal halide lighting still represents the ultimate choice for marine reef aquariums, especially for sensitive hard corals. Metal halide bulbs look like incandescent bulbs but differ considerably in operation. Metal halide bulbs employ two tungsten filaments embedded in a quartz inner arc tube, spaced apart so when electricity passes through them, it forms an arc between the two. The electrical discharge excites metallic halogen gases in the arc tube which glow quite brightly.

Metal halide lamps produce an incredible amount of light. So much so, that like the sun, they should never

Some of these units are plain garbage, not "pulling down" anywhere near what their manufacturers claim, leaking, failing, going to fish-heaven in less than a year. There are reputable people in the trade, and a few more units on their way, thank goodness, that will hopefully oust the charlatans.

Placement of chillers is critical; they should be where you can reach them for cleaning and checking, but also positioned for thorough ventilation and no water contact/splashing.

Doing

fish tank making

About Temperature, and Establishing Cycling:

More important than any given temperature (within reason) is some sense of stability. Keeping your system in the upper part of "typical tropical seawater" range (upper seventies to lower eighties F) and not allowing it to vacillate more than a few degrees per day will optimize (shorten) the period of time it takes to fully cycle it.

Live Rock, Maybe Sand:

These nif

You have a few options, trying to reduce the toxic compounds through dilution, addition of anaerobic bacteria, adding macro-life to absorb the chemicals, selective chemical filtration, or moving the livestock to a system where there are less toxic conditions.

Dilution Solution: This is a matter of removing the ammonia, nitrite laden water and replacing it with pr

The same holds true with more nitrate. The more you have, the less viable/healthy your aquarium water is.

Take care to not place too much livestock too quickly (variable with type of system, filtration...), nor too much in the long haul, nor over-feed the system... as all can and will cause trouble with overloading your biological filtration (among other things).

Too Late! Ammonia, Nitrite Too HIGH!!!

Should you ever find your system ammonia or nitrite concentrations approaching 1.0 ppm due to overloading, mis-feeding,

African Cichlids in the aquarium

african cichlids

Cyprichromis leptosoma

The most popular African cichlids come from Lak.

Where to place my Zoa's??
I was wondering how much light most Zoa's need. I am thinking of putting the new frags lower in the tank, right on the sand bed or just a little above. I have a 26" deep tank and I am using 250W MH and pc Ac.

Goniopora Stokesi
I got this gonio two months back after confirming with the owner that it is not a dyed coral. Recently, there was speck of brown surfacing (refer to pic). Coral is place est. 11" away from light souce. Gonio rema.

UV Sterilization: What is it and How is it Used?
Some aquarists believe they help eliminate bacteria, parasitic, fungal, viral, algae, and other unfriendly pathogens in an aquarium, others believe that they are a waste of money. FORUMS: UV's - Anyone....