Sunday, March 6, 2016

Why You Need A Regular Reef Aquarium Maintenance Programme

By Ann Walker


An aquarist becomes a stewardship for marine life in their aquarium. They take good care of corals, invertebrates and fish living at home. Good care means formulating plans to maintain good aquarium health. One good foundation to do this involves creation of an aquarium maintenance timetable. To create one, certain information regarding these environments calls for understanding.

Water pH and alkalinity form two vital elements. Carbonates buffer in saltwater, steadying pH. Measure carbonates by determining alkalinity. Mix-ups in saltwater make good buffering and sets pH to eight decimal two and eight decimal four. Tank natural processes form acids that neutralize buffers. Alkaline declines when encrusting marine life create skeletons of calcium carbonate, reducing carbonates. Lower alkalinity leads to lower pH. Test Alkalinity, pH or calcium one time each week.

Track nitrite and ammonia in a new biological filter and reef tank. It is critical that you do this for the first thirty days. Levels will reveal no change but then fall to zero fast. Once a biological filter attains full functionality, test for nitrite and ammonia one time per month. No reason leads to increments unless there is something amiss. This includes invertebrate or fish deaths, which infers water quality testing is necessary.

Nitrates arise from biological filtration. Ammonia turns into nitrite followed by nitrate. Installation of a new filter or aquarium leads to gradual increase in nitrate levels. Such an increment means a biological filter is working adequately. After a new reef has seen operation for several months, nitrate testing should fall to once per month.

Phosphorus remains both a nuisance and an essential element. Every living thing needs phosphorus for survival. It comes into aquariums as metabolism waste products by animals and plants. Its measure involves phosphate-testing kits. It interferes with how corals grow through inhibiting calcium skeleton formation. However, phosphorus is not toxic within a reef environment. Too much phosphate often stimulates algae development. Water changes or usage of phosphate removal media keeps it within limits and its testing should happen one time each month.

Filters must remain clean. Clean them by removing afflicted components such as dirty cartridges, aged or slimy chemical media, and clogged sponges. A cleaning operation leads to messy floors or sinks which may put you off. Delays will clog up canisters, turn sumps into pits of sludge and overflows of gunk in protein skimmers. Ultimately, delay will compromise water quality. Prevent these infliction with a monthly filter and skimmer cleaning up.

An artificial reef does not have tides to flush out everything for an owner. As such, they must change water often to facilitate dilution of organic compounds building up naturally. A water change replenishes trace elements required by algae and invertebrates. Water changing removes excess nutrients like phosphates and nitrates stimulating growth for algae. A clean up should happen twice a month. Some aquarists prefer regular changes of small amounts of water while another lot go for bi-weekly full water amount changes.

An aquarium scheduled maintenance programme makes it look much better. You get a chance to tune into occurrences. Notice of coral budding and presentation of chances to pluck tuft off before they take over arise this way. Stick to a maintenance programme and avoid too much work or emergencies.




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