Reef Aquarium Gardening
Part 3
In this article on creating a Reef Garden, we cover filling our new aquarium and installing the skimmer. Please refer to the previous editions of these articles for our definition of a reef garden and why we promote the idea of treating your marine aquarium as a reef garden.
Positioning the Aquarium
After a 4 week wait after placing our order, our new aquarium and cabinet were delivered. We positioned the aquarium in a part of the office where it would receive the least amount of direct sunlight. Aquariums which receive significant amounts of sunlight generally suffer from algae problems and higher water temperatures due to the increased lighting. When setting up any type of marine aquarium, it is best to remove these potential problems by positioning the aquarium away from any direct sunlight.
Something which should also be considered when positioning the aquarium is to ensure that the floor is strong enough to hold the weight. If you have a wooden floor, position the aquarium so that it runs along a number of joists to ensure the weight is being distributed across several joists and not just one or two. The office which our aquarium was being installed had a concrete floor so this was not a problem for us.
Checking For Leaks
The next task was to fill the aquarium with tap water to check for any leaks. As this was a brand new aquarium this should not be a concern. However, it is something worth checking for. By using tap water, if there is a leak you will not have to discard all newly made salt water while your aquarium is being repaired or replaced. This can be a costly exercise.
Once full, the aquarium was left for 24 hours while we checked for any signs of leakage and then emptied. Once all the tap water had been siphoned out, the aquarium was wiped clean with a damp cloth to remove any dirt that may have accumulated. We were now ready to start to fill the aquarium up with saltwater so the RO/DI unit was switched on.
RO Water
Using RO or RO/DI water to make up saltwater is, in our opinion imperative as the quality of tap water is not suitable for the livestock we keep in our marine aquariums. Water companies often add different types of chemicals to the tap water for water purification and for keeping pipes clean. Although these chemicals are perfectly safe for human consumption (or so we are told), they are potentially dangerous to the corals and fish we keep in our aquariums. By using an RO unit, we can ensure that all the impurities of tap water are filtered out leaving us with perfect water for our aquarium.
The RO/DI unit that we used did not need to be installed as we already use this unit to supply pure water for a number of other aquariums we have. However, if you need to connect an RO unit to a water supply ensure it is connected to mains pressure. Please note, it maybe advisable to consult a plumber to help you connect your RO unit.
It is also worth remembering that the amount of good water being produced by an RO unit is dependent on temperature and water pressure. You will find that on hotter days the unit will produce more good water than on colder days. Also, if you have higher water pressure in the area were you live, the unit will also produce more good water.
A water container is needed to store the pure RO water in while the RO unit is producing water. As some containers can leak impurities, it is important to use food grade "inert" containers to prevent any form of contamination to the pure water being produced. We use 6 gallon Fermenter barrels used for making wine and beer. These can be purchased from chemists or winemaking stores.
Filling the Aquarium
After our RO unit had filled the 6 gallon barrel, we poured the water into our new aquarium and then added the correct amount of salt to ensure the water had a specific gravity (S.G.) of 1.023. To check the specific gravity you will need a Hydrometer. Generally, the acceptable range for specific gravity is between 1.015 to 1.032. Many hobbyists we have talked to keep their specific gravity at either 1.023, 1.024 and some at 1.025. Although it is important to on what specific gravity you choose, it is more important to maintain the stability of the specific gravity and not to let it fluctuate especially over short periods of time. It is also worth noting that specific gravity readings depend on water temperature.
To ensure the salt we added to the RO water was well mixed in, we installed a Aquaclear 802 power head into the aquarium which circulated the water while it was being filled. This ensured that the water was being continually moved around and came into contact with the new salt being added. We also installed a 300watt heater to the aquarium so that the water was being warmed to 78f (26c).
One thing to bear in mind when filling a new aquarium with RO water is to allow a great deal of time. Regardless of the RO unit you have, it will take a considerable amount of time to fill the average sized aquarium. Our 120 gallon aquarium took 6 days before our RO unit had produced enough good water to fill it.
Installing the skimmer
As filling the aquarium with RO water was going to take a number of days, it is a good time to get on with setting up some of the other equipment the aquarium is going to need. We decided to get to work installing our new skimmer.
Setting up the skimmer proved to be more difficult than we would have expected. For such a professional skimmer, we were surprised at the lack of instructions which came with the skimmer and had to resort to emailing other hobbyists on the Reefs UK CHAT email forum. After several emails between other hobbyists, we learnt how to connect it correctly.
As mentioned in the previous article, the Deltec AP850 skimmer was going to be placed next to the aquarium and not within a sump, so a small sturdy shelf unit was built next to the aquarium on the right hand side. The height of the shelf is important as the skimmer must be positioned so that the outlet on the skimmer is above the water level of the main aquarium. The shelf unit was made out of 2 inch thick wood and 3 wall brackets were screwed to the wall to ensure the unit would hold the weight of the skimmer once it was filled with water.
Once the skimmer was placed on the shelf unit, the piping from the outlet of the skimmer to the main aquarium needed to be cut to length and the joints glued together using silicone to prevent leaks.
With the skimmer in place and the outlet piping from the skimmer connected, all that was left was to connect the pump which would supply the water to the skimmer to the inlet of the skimmer. We had decided to use an existing Eheim 1250 pump for this task. Instead of just placing the Eheim 1250 at the bottom of the aquarium we wanted the pump to be much higher in the aquarium. The reason for this is to ensure in the event that the skimmer or its connecters leaked, the whole aquarium would not be drained. By positioning a pump just below the water level, the maximum water that would be lost would be about 6 gallons before the pump would run dry. If the pump is placed at the bottom of the aquarium, it would pump all the water from the main aquarium before running dry. Obviously this would have a devastating effect on the livestock and would cause a major flood in our office.
As Eheim pumps need to be placed on a flat service, we made a small glass shelf at the top of the aquarium. Silicone was used to glue the glass shelf unit to the side of the aquarium glass. This was easily done as the aquarium had only just started to be filled and the water had not yet reached the level of the shelf unit.
After allowing 24 hours for the silicone to dry, we placed the Eheim 1250 pump on the glass shelf and connected a length of 12mm Eheim flexible tubing to the pump and the other to the inlet connector of the skimmer. Now all we had to do to test the skimmer was to wait for the aquarium to be filled with water.
Costs to-date (UK pounds)
1 x Sebray Aquarium (60" x 30" x 24") including cabinet = 450.00
1 x Deltec AP850 protein skimmer = 300.00
1 x Eheim 1250 Pump = 50.00
1 x Eheim 12mm flexible tubing = 4.50
1 x Kent Hi-S Maxxima = 250.00
2 x Boots winemaker fermenters = 12.00
1 x Kent Salt (200US Gallons) = 47.50
1 x Hydrometer = 15.00
4 x Aquaclear 802 powerheads = 148.00
1 x Tronic 300 watt heater = 16.00
TOTAL : 1293.00