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Maintenance and the Nano Reef Tank


Nano sapiens

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Nano sapiens

After reading through five years worth of multiple tank issues directly related to maintenance (or lack thereof) I've created this guide to help anyone who wishes to keep their new reef tank going strong for an extended period of time. Since most nano reef tanks are set up with a shallow (1/2-2”) sand bed and live rock I’ll be addressing this common setup and only delving into 'physical maintenance' here in any depth.

 

Background: As a typical nano reef tank matures, certain substances start to accumulate (nitrate and especially phosphate are of particular importance) which can lead to runaway algae blooms featuring various green algae, cyanobacteria, diatoms and dinoflagellates. As well as being unsightly, these blooms can smother and kill coral and other sessile organisms. They are a clear indication that at least some of the tank’s nutrients are too high and the system is deteriorating. Unfortunately, a myth sometimes perpetuated in articles and on the Internet is the idea that all the tank’s waste products are somehow magically dealt with internally and rendered harmless. The good news is that a tank, whether large or small, has the potential to run indefinitely (baring any major equipment failure, prolonged power outages or major aquarist errors), but certain maintenance procedures are necessary for long term health.

 

Maintenance Techniques (and the reasons why):

 

Q: In a reef tank where are all the built-up waste products?

 

Water Column: The water itself is a repository for various dissolved substances. To deal with a portion of the waste in the water column, as well as replenish trace elements, water changes are the norm (typically, 10-20%/week). Clean, natural salt water or artificial salt water (good salt brand + very clean fresh water, usually RO, RO/DI or Distilled).

 

Live Rock and Live Sand: The majority of waste resides in the live rock and live sand in the form of ‘detritus’ (small, light grayish/brownish particles). Removing excess detritus from your tank (usually along with the weekly water change) is a most vital maintenance task, but is often underemphasized or even absent from much of the literature.

 

Detritus Removal from Live Rock: A kitchen ‘Turkey Baster’ or a small hand-held power head can both be used to dislodge detritus. Don’t be afraid to force water into the holes, nooks and crannies since you’ll want to flush out as much of the rock’s interior detritus as possible. Twice a week is good, but more often is even better if build up is heavy.

 

Detritus Removal from Live Sand: The use of a siphon hose or a commercially produced ‘Gravel Vac’ can be used to remove detritus from the sand bed. Vacuuming up just the detritus and not the sand is a skill to master, but carefully squeezing the siphon tube to reduce flow is helpful. Alternatively, a plastic valve (hardware store) can be spliced into the siphon hose to allow regulation of flow. Another method is to stir up a small portion of the sand bed and then immediately siphon off the ‘detritus cloud’. CAUTION: If you are disturbing a sand bed in an established tank for the first time, begin vacuuming in only a small area each week to avoid liberating large amounts of waste products all at once. If not, you could end up with large scale algae blooms (or worse). Vacuum all the way down to the bottom glass in the area you are working in. There is no need to worry about killing off bacteria with vacuuming since the process has minimal effect. You may lose some small worms and crustaceans, but the benefits of a clean sand bed far, far outweigh any potential benefits from a few small organisms. As much as possible, vacuum under the live rock sitting atop the sand bed since this is where much of the detritus collects due to advective flow. Another very important reason to clean the sand bed is to provide water flow to the bacteria it contains. These bacteria are responsible for nitrification and denitrification processes which optimally keeps ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at very low levels.

 

Sumps (if you have one): Some sumps are set up with a DSB (Deep Sand Bed) of typically 4-6”. Disturbing more than just the top ½” layer is not advised due to release of potentially harmful substances (hydrogen sulfate, etc.). If one has a bare bottom sump, by all means vacuum out any buildup of detritus at least once a month.

 

Pumps: The pumps need to be maintained to provide consistent, powerful output. Typically, they should be taken off-line, disassembled and cleaned about every 2 - 3 months (more often, perhaps, if your bio-load is high). Proper flow is important in keeping food particles and detritus in suspension as long as possible for coral feeding as well as moving stagnant waste water away from corals so that they don’t suffocate in their own waste products as well as a lack of sufficient gas exchange.

 

Heaters: Remove and take off any growths every 6 months. A clean heater will heat more efficiently and likely last longer, too.

 

Viewing Glass Cleaning: The magnetic algae cleaners generally work well for light duty cleaning, but an old credit card works wonders for tougher deposits for either glass or acrylic. Be careful not to pick up any sand, bits of shell, etc when cleaning or you could scratch your viewing surfaces.

 

Lighting: Keep any reflectors clean of dust and salt deposits. Dirty reflectors can cut lighting intensity in the tank by up to 50%.

 

Conclusion: Ultimately, the goal is to have a balanced system where your imports (food) match your outputs (water changes and detritus removal) to keep nitrate and phosphate steady at levels low enough to inhibit most algae growth. Proper, consistent husbandry will allow one to feed the animals in ones care sufficiently while worrying much less about the negative effects of nitrate and phosphate buildup.

 

Addendum: Nano tank cleaning supplies:

 

NanoTankCleaningSupplies052213Smaller_zp

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Overall, a pretty good writeup.

Proper, consistent husbandry will allow one to feed the animals in ones care sufficiently while worrying much less about the negative effects of nitrate and phosphate buildup.

Phosphate is a bit different than nitrate (and, I would argue, more of a problem). It is introduced by feeding (even if all of the food is consumed). Cleaning does little to eliminate the problem, although water changes will export the same percentage as the percent of water changed. It can be easier to control nitrate via water changes than phosphate.

It is important to start testing prior to the outbreak of blooms. The bloom will be consuming nutrients in the water to support it's growth (helping to mask the actual cause of the problem). The target level of phosphate is 0.03ppm (or less), so a reliable and readable low range phosphate test kit is critical in maintaining acceptable phosphate levels.

Phosphate reducing filter media is often needed to keep levels at or below 0.03ppm. This could be running a media bag of Phosguard in a power filter, or running a media reactor with a granular ferric oxide (GFO). Again, testing is important in determining when it's time to replace the media.
207093-Phosphate-Pro-Test-Kit-Red-Sea_1.206200-Hanna-Checker-Phosphate-Colorimet

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Nano sapiens

Overall, a pretty good writeup.

 

Phosphate is a bit different than nitrate (and, I would argue, more of a problem). It is introduced by feeding (even if all of the food is consumed). Cleaning does little to eliminate the problem, although water changes will export the same percentage as the amount of water changed. It can be easier to control nitrate via water changes than phosphate.

 

It is important to start testing prior to the outbreak of blooms. The bloom will be consuming nutrients in the water to support it's growth (helping to mask the actual cause of the problem). The target level of phosphate is 0.03ppm (or less), so a reliable and readable low range phosphate test kit is critical in maintaining acceptable phosphate levels.

 

Phosphate reducing filter media is often needed to keep levels at or below 0.03ppm. This could be running a media bag of Phosguard in a power filter, or running a media reactor with a granular ferric oxide (GFO). Again, testing is important in determining when it's time to replace the media.

207093-Phosphate-Pro-Test-Kit-Red-Sea_1.206200-Hanna-Checker-Phosphate-Colorimet

 

Thanks, Seabass, for your input.

 

My intent was to keep the write-up simple since it is for the Beginners Forum and focus on a physical maintenance plan since this aspect of reefing is often underemphasized (it's not too 'sexy' of a topic). This hobby has many facets, some of which you have mentioned here.

 

Physically keeping the substrate clean allows nitrification/denitrification to proceed efficiently. This keeps nitrate at low levels in properly maintained/functioning aquaria. In my experiences early on in reef keeping, water changes had only a very short-term effect on nitrate reduction when the substrate and live rock was filled with detritus.

 

A reasonable bio-load, moderate feeding plus a proper maintenance schedule (if adhered to) will go a long way to ensuring that an algae bloom doesn't occur. As you mentioned, testing is always a good idea.

 

We differ somewhat on the phosphate media issue. In a properly maintained and balanced tank (again, with a reasonable bioload and moderate food input) inorganic phosphate will often remain at or under 0.03ppm. However, using quality media to correct somewhat elevated phosphate levels or possibly as an 'insurance' to keeping phosphate levels low is a common practice.

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Great right up!!!!A definate refresher on everything I have read and learned over the past several months. It magnifies the importance to keep siphoning and turkey blasting the detrious out of the tank. My only issue is how to clean the sand bed when it's full of frag plugs?

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Nano sapiens

Great right up!!!!A definate refresher on everything I have read and learned over the past several months. It magnifies the importance to keep siphoning and turkey blasting the detrious out of the tank. My only issue is how to clean the sand bed when it's full of frag plugs?

 

You could buy or create a simple raised plastic rack (or racks) for the frag plugs. When it's time to vacuum, simply relocate (or remove) the racks with the frag plugs, vacuum, then replace.

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  • 1 year later...

Do you all ever vacuum under live rock? And if you are rearranging LR and disturb the sand bed is that bad?

 

Just like vacuuming the exposed sand bed, it is best to vacuum a small area under the live rock structure each time. The longer the tank has been set up (and the sand under the live rock hasn't been distrubed), the smaller the area that should be vacuumed each time. You don't want release too much nasty stuff all at once.

 

Cleanup under the live rock at least once in a while will assist in keeping nitrate and phosphate in check with little or no chemical media. I just had my tank's water analyzed (Triton) and my phosphate was actually below a typical natural reef's level.

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  • 2 years later...
Nano sapiens
6 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

6 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Good stuff. 

 

5 hours ago, vlangel said:

+1 nano!

 

Thanks.  I remember writing this up a good while back after seeing too many posts saying "Do not touch your sandbed".  Thankfully I don't see this misapplied advice (pertains only to classic DSBs) nearly as much as I used to.

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natalia_la_loca

This is such great advice.  Essential for avoiding so-called Old Tank Syndrome (recently given a more accurate title: Lazy Ass Reefer Syndrome).

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Nano sapiens
14 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

This is such great advice.  Essential for avoiding so-called Old Tank Syndrome (recently given a more accurate title: Lazy Ass Reefer Syndrome).

 

"Who knows what lazy thoughts lurk in the minds of reef keepers...LARS knows!"  (sounds like the beginning of a horror movie, doesn't it?) :)

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