Aieration

[russell]

Hi all
Have just set up a reef system 4x2x2 with a 4 inch DSB two medium power heads and an eheim external. living rock arrives tommorow. will be 90% corals with a few clean up crew. plenty of lighting available.
Now as to airation. is it best to have a clear water flow of do I set the heads with a fine bubble mist.

 

[Navarre]

No bubbles. This will irritate the corals.

4x2x2 is 100 gallons (450ltrs), this means you need a minimum of 1000gallons (4500 ltrs) per hours turn over to keep corals happy. I would advise to get as high as 20x turnover or even higher but 10x is enough to begin with.

If you are running a DSB in your tank than when you add your cleanup crew remember taht a sandsifting starfish is NOT an option as it will sterilise your sand (makes it nice and clean though)

You basically have the same size tank as i do (although i have a sump attached). Are you heading for soft or hard corals? For a tank that is 2ft deep i would say that you really need Halides. Most other lights cannot punch down deep enough.

I have 400w halides over mine.Good luck

 

[russell]

Sorry posted wrong size in fact the tank is 48x15x12. with the DSB it is 8-10 inches to top of waterline. I have built it up at one corner and deeper in another so it gives different heights. so it can be adapted to corals I purchase.
as to lighting I have my own fish house and have plenty of Natural light from above as well as 1 daylight tube and 1 actinic blue. Believe me light is not a problem and its natural.
the water turnover can be increased, but I dont want to much turbalance as I am given to understand that some corals can tear if agitated to much, even if I deflect it against the tank walls.or am I wrong.

Thanks for the tip on airation. should have realised?

 

[Navarre]

I have natural light on a part of my tank and it really does make a difference however i dont realy on it (not with the UK weather).

As for not having too much turbulance. This isnt true, consider the world that coral livein, they are subject to very strong surges. In fact the power of the oceans surges is something that "we" as aquarists cannot match effectively.

Hard coraqls for example secrete a substance that helps deal with UV light from the sun (if you use natural light then this is will be an issue). If the flow is not strong enough then this coating builds up and eventually suffocates the coral fro light and thus kills its sybiotic algea. It needs a powerful flow to remove the coating and thus allows the coral to grow.

However. NEVER direct a pwoerhead directly at a coral, the stress of a continous powerhead on a coral will kill it eventually. They are better suited to indirect flow.

This doesnt mean that all corals need strong flow, some dont but if you intend hard corals then powerful flow is essential for them. Leather mushrooms (sarcophyton) need good flow to remove the mucus they produce every now and then.

If you ever dive on a reef edge you will see first hand the power of hte ocean, its enough to throw you onto the reef itself, the surge is taht strong

When you look at powerheads that are available, the best on the market is called "Tunze" Tunze Streams make marine type powrheads that are designed to throw out 12000 ltrs per hour. they are designed to have at least 2 in a tank of 100 gallons.. this means 24,000ltrs per hour!!! Im afraid i dont have these yet but they definately are on my wish list