Cleaning Marine Tanks

[crackmonkey]

I have had discus fish for around 2 years now and im thinking about setting up another tank for marine fish. I was wondering how you go about getting the crap off the bottom of the tank when you have a load of heavy coral in the way.

 

[billa_bong]

clean up crew. in marine tanks there is always a invertabrate that will shift through the sandbed, eat algea, clean the glass algea. etc.

its really cool

 

[fraservet]

unless you have a large fish only tank like mine!

I can't find anything that won't get snacked on rapidly.

I even have a fish that eats urchins in the wild - so they're out.

 

[crackmonkey]

So they'll eat fish ####?

 

[Ethos]

I'm sorry, Most of us dont know what fish number-number-number-number is

And, yes.


Edit: I guiess it was funnier ion my mind.

 

[daniodude]

lol, it was..... kinda funny. lol how big is the tank? small hermit crabs, small stars, and snails won't really get eaten by any fish. they do a mighty fine job in my 90 gallon salt.

 

[superman]

One of the things that hasn't been mentioned is the importance of keeping unwanted organics suspended in the water column via FLOW!! In marine tanks the turnover amount needed is rarely met. The idea that 10 times the tanks volume per hour is good enough is simply laughable. In most marine tanks, anything under 30 times turnover is very much lacking any replication of the wild. So if you are taking care of the tank and replicating the flow seen in most environments that the fish and corals we keep live in, then you should have no problem keeping organics suspended in the water column where your trusty protein skimmer can extract it.

 

[fish_newbie]

well your water turnover really depends on what kind of coral you're keeping. sure 30 times turnover is great, but only for SPS that is. if you were keeping shrooms and softies in there you would tear them right off their rock/skeleton. you have to remember not all corals come from the same place, softies are more from a lagoon and deep water area where the flow isn't as strong as out in the ocean where the SPS thrive. besides keeping organics in the water column is more of knowing how to place PHs or whatever gives you your current to rid your tank of dead spots rather than turnover. i mean whether you have 10x or 30x ..if your current is blocked by a bunch of rocks you're bound to get dead spots and have s*** laying on the sand.

 

[superman]

Couldn't disagree with you more. Even in areas of the ocean where current is mild it would still equate in many cases to over 30 times turnover. I was making a broad generalization that would accomodate all types of corals when I stated the 30 times per hour. For an SPS only tank it would be wise to shoot for a 60 times per hour turnover rate. Keep in mind that this should not done by one powerhead, or one nozzle on a return from a sump pump, but instead a larger amount of nozzles, so you aren't going to be tearing corals "right off their rock/skeleton". If you are wondering more about flow recommendations I woud direct you to the Book of Coral Propogation by Anthony Calfo, or Anthony Calfo's forum on ReefCentral.com. I know that if you have been used to the really low flow turn over in freshwater tanks, the recommended turnover rates for reef tanks can be jaw dropping.

 

[Ed4567]

In an ideal world every tank would have a Calfo style manifold or an array of streams creating a large amount of dispersed flow. But for the less involved person with hardy corals that tolerate higher DOC levels this is a bit unrealistic, hence the use of powerheads with lower turnover rates.