The old way....

Here is the "wet dry" and sump of the current tank. The water falls from the tank, over the bio balls, some gets sucked up into the protien skimmer, then it is pumped back up into the tank.

This is the process: Fish produce ammonia, which is very toxic. There is a bacteria that uses the ammonia as food and turns it into nitrite. Unfortunately, the nitrite is also toxic, but there is a second type of bacteria that turns that into nitrate. These bacteria live on surfaces, specifically the bio-ball's surface. The cat also thinks that bio-balls make great toys.

This is the simple principle of the nitrogen cycle. Unfortunately, the Nitrate slowly builds up in this type of system, which is not toxic exactly, but not very good for them. I have to change water to get rid of it. The bacteria that eats the nitrite can only live in an oxygen-free environment. The magic of the 'Live Rock' is that its centers provide this environmnet and the nitrate truns to harmless nirtogen gas. The new tank will use the live rock as filtration.

The protien skimmer removes organic particles that happen to dissolve. This is a very important device, as it prevents this stuff from making the water nasty. The red 'algee' growing in the tank is proof that these are not working well enough. Soon, a new happier cleaner tank.

'night!

Kitchen Granite is installed

Why is this relevent? Because the new tank project cannot procede until the Kitchen is complete. Pictures to follow...

New tank's current home

The new 155 gallon tank is living in my sister's garage. She was kind enough to send me some photographs. It is on the stand backwards right now, so that is the back of the tank painted blue. I am waiting until the kitchen is done with remodeling before setting it up, and we are nearly done. Granite will be installed tomorrow!





Thanks for the pictures, Deb!

Shedd Pictures

In case anyone has ever noticed, photography in a room with glass walls is particulrly tricky, especially when the lights are down low. You can turn the flash off and use longer exposure if you have a tripod and the subject is very still (ever try to get a shark to hold still?), or use a flash which reflects off of the glass and destroys the shot. The few images that came out are the macro shots of tanks with corals, because the light is stronger for the coral. The Camera is a Cannon Powershot G6. I'm sure that it can do better, but I have not figured out all of its bells and whistles yet.

enjoy.

Water Change

Tonight I changed 5 gallons of water out of the old tank. It involves running the RO/DI water a day in advance, adding salt and a heater, then letting it sit. 5 gallons is siphoned out and replaced with the new. Simple, but the most work involved with keeping the tank. There is also a lot of cleaning and scraping algae off the glass.

goodnight.

Shedd Aquarium

We went to the Shedd Aquarium this weekend and saw an amazing array of sea live. I will post up a few pictures later, but for now here is a movie (.avi) of the Carribean Reef, the large central tank in the building. MOVIE

NOTE: THIS IS A VERY LARGE FILE. HIGH BANDWITH ONLY, please.

Every Day

Feeding is the only job each day, although I check for diseases while they eat. The agressive clown fish has been testy with the Coral Beauty lately, so space is at a premium in the old glass box. I clean out the prefilter sponge and the protien skimmer every few days. The other tank work is to add new water to make up for what has evaporated. The colder and drier it is out, the more water evaporates. I replace 1-2 gallons every 2-3 days right now. RO/DO all the way. Then I change out 5 gallons every 2 weeks. Theraputic work.

Today's Tank Statistics

Temperature: 78.7
Salinity: 1.024
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nirates: 15
Phosphates: 1.0

I have also received the new overflow box for the new tank! It will be a little while before I can see how it works. Follow the Lifereef link to the right for more information -->

The Old Tank

I currently run a 40 gallon "breeder" style tank, 36" wide, 16" tall and 18" deep. It is set up as "Fish Only" tank. This means that there are no invertibrate creatures living in there, other than algae and bacteria. It also implies that the filtration is "Wet Dry" type. More on what this means in later posts.

As you can see, the water quality and clenliness are not the best: There are levels of Nitrate and Phosphates that are acceptable to the fish, but not really great for them. Many corals would not tolerate the chemicals. The reddish algee only grows in the presence of phosphate, so that is why you can see that the water is not ideal.

The new tank will use Live Rock as filtration, which will help to remove these chemicals from the water.




Photography is done with a Cannon powershot G6. Excellent camera, although I am not yet skilled in its use.