Seeding Base Rock

There is no question that this hobby we've chosen can consume a significant amount of our time, not to mention our money!  The group at Tampa Bay Aquatics is committed to using any cost saving measure we can as long as it doesn't compromise the well being of our livestock.  One of the many expensive parts of starting a new reef or fish only with live rock tank is the addition of the live rock.

 Though we fully understand why some make the choice to have artificial reefs, none of us are particularly fond of them or the look (they also tend to be expensive).  Therefore in all of our new systems, with live rock typically retailing from $4.00 to $9.00 a pound, we'd be looking at a fairly large investment for just the rock.  Base rock, however, typically retails for $1.50 to $3.00 a pound.  As such, we are all supporters of creating your own live rock by seeding base rock.  

Not only will you save a fair amount of money, another benefit is that you'll be able to have a much more custom look to your rock arrangement and can be more artistic with your design.  It's much easier to bring home a box of base rock and take it outside and start chiseling away to create the exact look you want where as with the live rock, you're stuck with what you can find.

As the question was recently posed by a new hobbyist, we'll take this opportunity to mention that you cannot simply add any rocks you find interesting from your back yard or the local park in your tank.  The specifics as to why are beyond the scope of this article and will be discussed at a later time, along with a tutorial on how to actually create safe, do it yourself, man-made rock.

In almost all of our new environments, we start with a couple of good pieces of live rock either purchased from a retailer or borrowed from one of our other tanks, and fill the rest with base rock.  With a little patience, the microscopic life from your live rocks will start to migrate and the bleached out plain white rocks will be teaming with new life at a fraction of the cost.

Pond Hobbyists

We would like to extend a sincere thank you to our early visitors.  While we've had a fair amount of discussion about marine environments, the aim of Tampa Bay Aquatics is to be a comprehensive resource for all aquatic hobbyists.  While we continue to build content, we would like to welcome ideas and submissions from those with an interest in or experience building ponds or water gardens.  We would especially like to see, and perhaps feature photos of your creations.  Please feel free to contact us at TampaAquatics@gmail.com.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Amanda's Updates

Progress!  Amanda’s tank is coming along nicely with the addition of live rock, and two damsel fish (the anemone was a 1 day temporary resident Aunt Sue was moving to another environment).  Once the kalkwasser trouble was resolved, the tank settled and cleared beautifully.  Once cleared up, it was obvious how poor the stock lighted hood that came with her tank kit was.  She purchased a new, inexpensive, much brighter LED light for just under $50.  While it made a significant difference to the visibility and beauty of the tank, it is only appropriate for a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tank.  As Amanda intends to add corals at a later time, we would have advised spending the money now on reef appropriate lighting.  Even though it is a significantly higher expense, she’ll need to spend it at some point and she’ll be out the $50 on the light she bought now as she’ll have no use for it.  Hopefully they can make use of a site like Craigslist and re-coup some of the money when it is no longer needed.  Luckily, she won’t have to spend quite as much on a smaller light for a tank of this size than most of us do for our larger reef systems.  She’ll soon send detailed pictures of her fish.  Because of their popularity, we’ll be adding them as our first two “Spotlight Species”, a series where we’ll discuss individual aquatic species, from fish to inverts, in depth.  Check back soon for these additions.  As you can see, she's made quite a lot of progress since day 1!

Florida Aquarium Partners With National Aquarium of Cuba

 

Another relevant and exciting article from an August issue of the Tampa Bay Times.  It discusses groundbreaking cooperation between the United States’ Florida Aquarium, and the National Aquarium of Cuba to protect the world’s coral reefs.   Hopefully the Florida Aquarium's aquaculture research combined with the great work being done at the National Aquarium of Cuba will result in a strong further understanding of our reef ecosystems and how to prevent further damage to these "underwater rainforests."  Click HERE to read the article.  Click HERE to visit the Florida Aquarium website.  Click HERE to visit the National Aquarium of Cuba.  

Coral Bleaching

I recently read this article about Florida's coral reefs by Chelsea Harvey of the Washington Post that was picked up by the Tampa Bay Times.  She discusses this being a particularly bad year for coral bleaching due to rising ocean temperatures and a disease outbreak that is affecting the state's Atlantic barrier reefs.  There is a good summary of what happens during bleaching and how the reefs are disrupted.  Some of the threatened corals are over 400 years old.  Click HERE to read the article.  

Some coral along the Florida reef is afflicted with "white plague disease." A widespread bleaching event on the Florida reef tract has left coral vulnerable to disease. [Photo by Brian Walker via Washington Post]

Tampa Bay Aquatics would love the opportunity to feature your original photographs of Florida's reef ecosystems, or any US marine environments (full credit to the photographer).  If you have something to share, please submit to TampaAquatics@gmail.com.

Kalkwasser

Kalkwasser (German for “lime water”) or kalk, is a calcium hydroxide solution that is a beneficial additive in reef environments.  It adds buffering capacity to the water neutralizing acids and maintaining a high pH and adds calcium to the benefit of corals.  It is very cost effective and easy to use.  From any online pet supply retailer, one can buy a supply that will last months if not a year, depending on tank size, for around $12.  It is beneficial to use kalkwasser every time evaporated 

water is replaced.  It comes in powder form and a small amount is added to freshwater.  Similar to making a protein powder shake at home, the kalkwasser powder won’t dissolve into the water just by stirring.  It helps if you are able to shake the mixture for about 30 seconds in a container before adding to your tank or sump. 

The benefits and use of kalkwasser were described to Amanda and her parents.  They had a misunderstanding and thought they should use kalkwasser not just when replacing evaporated water, but when replacing ANY water; e.g. a water change.  They mixed their replacement water properly, but then added the designated amount of kalkwasser to the solution before adding it to the tank.  This resulted in a large quantity of undissolved kalkwasser making the tank extremely cloudy.  Luckily there wasn’t any livestock in the tank, and the water parameters haven’t been effected negatively.  The plan to slowly resolve the problem and salvage the water and sand that was already in the tank was to turn off the filtration for short periods, allow the kalkwasser to settle, then siphon it out from the bottom.  This was done about five times total with a great result.  This is a good lesson learned for all.  For more detailed information about kalkwasser, read an excellent article HERE at reefkeeping.com.

Saltwater Aquarium pH- Post 4

Most saltwater fish and inverts require pH to be higher than freshwater species.  In general, most saltwater tanks are kept at a pH of between 7.8 and 8.4, with reef environments being between 8.2 and 8.5. The reason for the different pH requirement is just simply because it is how these organisms thrive in their natural environment.  Just as a polar bear doesn’t live in the rainforest, clownfish don’t live in lakes.  The pH of the ocean is usually between 7.5 and 8.5 (ocean pH varies based on depth and ocean acidification- we will discuss this in depth later as we have a keen interest in the

conservation of our ocean resources).  In a reef environment with corals, the target pH is on the high end of the spectrum.  Corals make use of the trace elements in the water to thrive.  By using them, they are removing them from the water and reducing the buffering capacity.  Therefore it’s a little more complicated to maintain the right balance of minerals and necessary to maintain a higher pH in a reef tank.  Luckily the products available that we’ll most likely need anyway, will keep our environments right where they need to be.  In keeping with the “keep it simple” theme of this series, if you start with the right water quality, use the right salt mixture, and have the appropriate filtration and aeration, odds are your pH will be right where it should be.  We’ll soon discuss what to do if you have a pH problem.