Stability Promotes Success of Your Aquarium

Many novice aquarists wonder what really matters in running a reef tank or what they should do to keep their aquarium healthy and visually pleasing. Beginners often wonder how to set up and maintain a beautiful acropora aquarium at the beginning of their path. However, what in our passion brings the most benefits is patience.

Experienced aquarists know what is the key to success, and it is none other than the stability of the aquarium.

In this article, I will discuss several aspects related to the stabilization of the tank and tell you what should be taken care of to maintain stable parameters. The task of mastering the parameters is not easy, but it is a challenge that you should not be discouraged from. Trust me – learning marine aquaristics is a very rewarding adventure!

Chemistry

Controlling stable chemistry in the aquarium means maintaining the right parameters. A trivial statement, and at the same time a very difficult task! In this part of the article, I will try to bring you closer to the topic of parameters. I also hope that this topic will be quickly picked up on Social Reef and my examples will be supplemented with many interesting observations of aquarists active on the platform.

Let’s start with salinity. So what is it? The table below shows which components are most abundant in sea water.

In terms of chemical properties, water in a marine aquarium is a solution, that is

a homogeneous mixture of many components. In sea water we will find: macronutrients, which are over 99.9%, and micronutrients. In order to maintain constant water parameters in terms of chemistry, we must take care of all elements, both macro and micro.

See the table below for the desired levels for macro- and micronutrients.

How to ensure the stability of chemical elements in seawater?

There are several methods. The simplest of them is to do regular water changes. A 10% water change once a week will be sufficient for the proper maintenance of easy corals.

A more advanced method is the dosing of components. In this case, we measure 3 basic parameters: KH, Ca, Mg. The components will usually be available in 3 separate bottles, which, in addition to the aforementioned macronutrients, will also contain micronutrients in the right proportions. Corals and other animals should consume macro and micronutrients in equal proportions. For example: if we add the Ca component, then apart from calcium we also add other elements that are in the composition of this liquid. The dose is adjusted to the consumption, which we determine by measurements.

The advanced method is the measurement of basic parameters such as KH, Ca, Mg and performing cyclic ICP-OES measurements. In this case, we dose the components as above, and after the ICP-OES test, we precisely supplement other elements. So if the test shows that we have, for example, too little zinc, we add additional zinc as recommended.

The method of dosing is free. The most important thing is that the chemical environment is stable.

Additional elements that need to be taken care of while keeping the salinity at a constant level (constant salinity parameters in the aquarium):

Good quality RO water. We use it as a base for water changes and add it to replenish the evaporated water to the aquarium. Tap water contains minerals, if we do not purify it, we will introduce additional elements in an uncontrolled way.

We make sure that no dirt, such as rusting metal parts or other unwanted elements, gets into the water. If we do not manage it, a lot of pollutants will get into the aquarium in an uncontrolled way, and our elements, such as iron, nickel, tin, zinc, etc., will harm the corals.

If we do water changes, the salt must be checked – we must be sure of its composition. We don’t want to make salt substitutions that will turn out harmful instead of helping us. If its composition is doubtful, it can raise some element high, and this may (but does not have to) harm our corals.

Biology

Another important issue in marine aquaristics is maintaining a stable level of biology. In marine aquaristics, in great simplification, biology is expressed by three parameters: NO3, PO4 and water pH. Based on these parameters, we know what is happening in the tank. Of course, there are also many more parameters that determine the level of biology in an aquarium, but this is a topic for a separate article.

When building a marine aquarium, we develop a filtration method to control NO3 and PO4. If we started the aquarium well – on high-quality rock and the tank is not overstocked – then we can basically assume that NO3 and PO4 should maintain themselves at the appropriate level. On ReefPedia you will find several separate articles on filtration and maintenance of NO3 and PO4.

Generally speaking, the point is to keep these parameters constant. So choose the type of filtration and keep the biology on the right level.

The subject of pH is described by me on ReefPedia in the simplest possible way. From the available articles you will learn, among other matters, why your pH is too low and read about ways to raise it. Make sure to read the article on ReefPedia about the role of pH in a marine aquarium, and you will understand why a constant pH is crucial.

Temperature

Maintaining a constant temperature seems simple – buy a heater with a thermostat and the matter is settled. In my experience with marine aquaristics, I have seen many catastrophes related to temperature. It was the heater that broke down, and it was too hot in the room in the summer and the animals overheated. Therefore, trust me – it’s worth spending some time to get to know the topic of temperature better.

Our task is to maintain a constant temperature. It’s worth getting a temperature monitoring device with alarms, for example: one of our production. For the summer period, it makes sense to invest in AC or a water conditioner (or at least fans) in the room where the tank is kept.

The temperature range that‘s acceptable in a marine aquarium is 23-28 ℃ / 75.2 – 82.4 ℉.

Lighting

A constant level of lighting is not only a repetitive cycle of sunrises and sunsets – it is also a constant quality of light.

Gear

In this part I’d like to mention our devices that support the aquarium, such as circulation pumps, skimmers, circulators, etc. They work and we assume that they’ll keep working, but sometimes it is worth securing yourself with an additional piece of gear or checking the availability in a friendly marine aquarium shop.

Summary

I believe it’s necessary to discuss this topic. I invite you to the Reef Pedia Facebook group, where we talk about the stability of parameters and more! Let us know what else you think we need to take care of. What’s more, you should do to have a beautiful, stable aquarium.