Water Works Wonders

The most common mistake new aquarium owners make is to put fish into a new aquarium within the first couple of days after it has been set up. This often leads to the death of all or some of the fish as the tank has no way to get rid of the toxic ammonia based waste products that the fish will produce. While there are short-term ways to keep fish alive in an uncycled aquarium, the best course of action is to help the aquarium develop its own biological nitrogen cycle before adding any fish.

The most important thing to know about any aquarium is the nitrogen cycle. This continuous series of chemical reactions in your aquarium governs when it is safe to add fish, how many fish you can add, how much food to put in the aquarium, what kind of filters you need, and how often to change the water. If you get any of these wrong, you risk all of your fish dying from the accumulated poisons that will build up in the aquarium.

When you first set up your fresh water aquarium, with clean fresh water and a good filter sized appropriately for the tank, there is virtually no microbial activity in the tank. In a healthy aquarium, there will be a thriving population of microbes that are constantly working to break down the toxins released by the decomposition of organic matter or in the waste products of the fish themselves. The most harmful of these is ammonia. When establishing an aquarium, you should buy a good test kit that will let you check levels of ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. By watching the levels of these chemicals in your water, you can determine whether your tank has an operating nitrogen cycle and whether you can safely add fish to your aquarium.

In the old days of aquarium keeping, the nitrogen cycle would be started simply by adding fish. Ammonia would build up in the tank and would provide a food source for the microbes that would convert the ammonia to nitrites. Nitrites are less harmful to fish than ammonia, but still toxic. Once a level of nitrites was built up in the tank, a new type of microbe would establish a population and begin converting the nitrites to nitrates. Nitrates are much less harmful to fish, but still need to be removed from the tank through periodic partial water changes.

It would generally take about 4 weeks, give or take a couple, for the proper levels of microbes to establish themselves in an aquarium. In the meantime, the toxins would reach very high levels and often kill the fish that had been placed in the aquarium, especially if there were several fish added before the tank had completely cycled. The second set of fish added to the tank would do better since the nitrogen cycle had been established by sacrificing the first batch of fish. Now, we know there are better and more humane ways to establish the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium.

Lack of basic knowledge about the nitrogen cycle and how to properly control the levels of harmful toxins in the aquarium is one of the most common reasons for new aquarium owners to give up and abandon the hobby altogether. Read the other articles on this website for complete information on how to establish and maintain a working nitrogen cycle in your aquarium without killing your first batch of fish. Future articles will also address preventing and curing common aquarium fish diseases, choosing the right fish for your aquarium, and many more helpful topics for both new and experienced aquarium owners.

Salt creep is a common and unsightly ailment in saltwater aquariums. Salt creep occurs as water in the tank is splashed up on surfaces. The water evaporates but leaves behind a salt deposit- an unattractive dry white crusty mark. Salt is a corrosive material and, as such, it may leave permanent marks on surfaces to which it adheres. Salt can corrode metals and etch glass over time.

The best way to deal with salt creep around your marine tank is to prevent it in the first place. Once a month, wipe down all surfaces that come into contact with water from your tank. This includes the tank lid, lights, interior exposed glass and exterior glass. In most cases, simply wiping it down with water is sufficient but if salt creep is becoming noticeable, use a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water. Do not use vinegar on the inside of the tank as it can alter the pH levels of the tank water.

Take a moment to assess the area around your tank: the walls, floor and even ceiling. Is salt water spraying on these areas? Do you see any staining or deterioration? If so, rearrange the area around the tank to protect those surfaces. If water is spilling on to the floor, protect it with a rubberized surface. Put a cardboard shield behind the tank to protect the wall if necessary.

If you already have salt creep in or on your tank, it’s important to take immediate action. Salt can permanently cloud aquarium glass and salt creep can block light from your aquarium fluorescents. The first step if you have salt creep on your aquarium glass is to remove the fish to a fresh tank. Dump the water out of the original tank and thoroughly rinse the interior with dish soap and water. Move plants and gravel to separate containers and thoroughly rinse. Rinse the gravel until the water runs clear. Fill the tank half full of lukewarm water and top up with standard white vinegar (5 or 6% concentration). Let soak for 12-24 hours. The vinegar, which is an acid, will eat away at the salt deposit. After 12 hours, wipe the tank interior with a wet cloth and determine whether the salt deposit is coming off onto the cloth. If not, let it soak longer. Once the salt can be rubbed off with a cloth, dump the vinegar water out of the tank and rinse thoroughly with clean water several times. There should be no odor of vinegar when you are through. This is extremely important as vinegar can change the pH of the tank and stress the fish into hosting disease.

Remember to protect biological filtration systems including live rock from contact with the vinegar and from drying out in order to prevent the necessity of restarting your tanks nitrogen cycle. Every marine aquarium enthusiast encounters salt creep at one time or another. Protecting against it and cleaning it up when it happens is an important part of tank maintenance.

There are many different filtration systems that you can choose for your saltwater tank including protein skimmers, canister filters, under gravel filters, and wet/dry trickle filters. Each of these types of filters performs a specific task in the tank.

Protein skimming, also known as foam fractionating, works by using air bubbles trapped in the filter to clean out tank pollutants. The nasty particles stick to the surface of the air bubbles through surface tension until they are deposited into the filter’s collection cup. Protein filters work well in saltwater tanks but the technology is not advanced enough to work with hobby freshwater tanks. Many protein skimmers hang on the side of the tank and are convenient to work with and one of the least expensive options. Protein skimming should be used in addition to other filtration for a healthy saltwater tank.

Under gravel filters work by pulling water through the filter which contains nitrifying bacteria. They work equally well in saltwater and freshwater applications. Under gravel filters require a fair amount of maintenance to keep the pathways and surfaces clean.

Canister filters can be used alone or in conjunction with other filters. Canister filters can be filled with activated charcoal or other absorbent matter to filter out both pieces of floating material in the tank and biological contaminants. A canister filter can be used as a pre-filter to take out the large particulate matter before it hits a more finely tuned filter. Canister filters can be used for saltwater tanks but are most often found in freshwater applications.

Wet/dry trickle filters work by sucking water out of the tank through a filter that removes both biological and chemical matter. The wet/dry filter requires oxygen to work and this is provided within the filter. Because of the tendency to build up nitrates over time, the wet/dry filter is not recommended for reef aquarium communities.

Many saltwater aquarium setups use more than one filter, although the wet/dry trickle filter is the most popular. The combination used must include biological, mechanical, and chemical filtering. Biological filtering renders the most dangerous by-products of the tank, ammonia and nitrite into nitrate which can safely be removed by other types of filters and by regular water changes. Mechanical filtering is simply removing the pieces of waste from the water before they break down and produce dangerous by-products. Mechanical filters are useless, however, on already-broken-down material. Chemical filters take impurities out of the water using either activated charcoal or resins. These filters become frequently saturated so they should be changed on a regular basis and new filtration material added.

Choosing your filter set up for your saltwater tank is ultimately a matter of preference and budget once you have the three types of filtration- biological, mechanical, and chemical- covered. As in any other mechanized product, look for highly-rated filters manufactured by companies that stand behind their products with satisfaction guarantees. Regardless of the type and quality of filtration used, you must perform regular partial water changes as well.

Proper lighting in a reef tank is one of the most important determinants of whether the tank succeeds or fails. If there is too much light, algae will take over the tank and throw it out of balance. Too little light will make the coral pale and suffer. There are many different light systems advertised in the market today, including both fluorescent and incandescent. Spending time upfront before you add your corals to your tank will save you great expense and grief down the road.

Many corals use the “farming” method of eating. They grow algae in their tissues to harvest as food. This is a symbiotic relationship. The algae provide the coral food and oxygen and the coral provides the algae food from its wastes. These algae thrive and multiply through the process of photosynthesis- they harvest energy from light and turn it into chemical energy which the algae can use to expel oxygen. Photosynthesis requires adequate light and reef tanks that contain these “farmer coral” need to adjust the lighting so there is enough for the symbiotic algae but not enough to allow an algae bloom to get out of control and choke the tank.

The symbiotic algae contain pigments called chlorophyll “A” and “C”, which take in blue and red light for photosynthesis. Many reef aquarium lights will appear purple because they are a combination of red and blue lights.

The intensity of lighting is important as the wrong intensity can inhibit and eventually kill the symbiotic algae. The minimum light required is called the compensation point. This is the point where the oxygen that gets produced by photosynthesis is equal to oxygen requirements of the algae. Any less and the algae cannot effectively feed from the coral’s waste products. At the other end of the spectrum is the saturation point- the point where any further increase in light does not help speed up photosynthesis. Lighting in a reef tank must be maintained between these two points to keep the algae and the coral healthy.

The least expensive lights for the reef aquarist are regular 48 inches long fluorescent lights. Generally, six of these will be required- four “daylight” tubes and 2 Actinic tubes that produce blue light. They will have to be changed out every six months or so. Even though they will still seem to be bright to your eyes, the intensity drops over time. If you leave the lights in too long, you may notice damage to your corals. Compact fluorescent lights (CFL’s) are recent additions on the aquarium supplies market. They take up less space and give more output. You may consider these for a smaller tank space. In any case, the lights should be no more than four inches above the surface of the water. There are many reasons to not use standard incandescent lamps. The most important one is that they do not produce light in the correct spectrum for the algae. They also produce substantial heat which can heat the tank to dangerous levels. The final reason not to use them is the cost. Incandescents need to be replaced more frequently than fluorescents and cost far more over the life of the bulbs.

Lighting your reef aquarium is not difficult but it can be one of the more expensive parts of your aquarium and does take some time and planning upfront to keep your coral and fish happy and healthy.

Catfish are popular both for sport fishing and as a table fish, especially in the Deep South. Channel catfish can be found in rivers, lakes and ponds across the United States. They can get as big as 40-50 pounds with the world record channel cat weighing in at 58 pounds. A catfish is so called because of its cat-like “whiskers” around its mouth. These whiskers help the fish to taste which allows it to determine what is and isn’t food in murky waters.

Catfish are increasingly farmed both commercially and by hobbyists. Building a catfish pond is relatively easy and will provide both sport and food for many years if maintained carefully. Catfish are one of the only farmed species that can thrive in ponds less than 1 acre.

The first consideration in building a catfish pond is location. If you are converting an existing pond, then this has already been determined for you. If you are building a pond from scratch, however, you will need to consider such things as access to rainfall, watershed design, and soil structure.

All ponds are subject to evaporation and water must be replenished regularly. Although you can use nearby streams or wells as a water source, most smaller ponds are refilled with rain water. This means that the pond should be located where it has full access to rain and not under an awning or other obstruction.

The design of the surrounding watershed is also important. A watershed refers to the drainage of water from the highest surrounding point to the lowest. If your pond is uphill from your house, for example, you may experience flooding when rainfall overflows the pond. The watershed design is also important if your property is surrounded by farmland. Chemical runoff and animal feces may contaminate your pond if located downhill from the fields.

Your soil structure will dictate whether or not you need to line your pond. Sandy soils will drain away your pond water without lining. You can purchase lining material from an aquatics store or your can used the rubberized roofing material used by roofers. Your pond is likely to be wider than a single sheet so you will need to glue the seams together.

When digging your pond, consider the size of the mature catfish. They need enough depth to be able to hide from predators like raccoons and cats. Your pond should be at least 36 inches deep to make the fish comfortable and to keep it from freezing solid in winter.

Once the pond has been lined, it can be filled. If using a chlorinated source of water like a municipal supply, let the chlorine dissipate naturally into the air for 48 hours before introducing the fish. Catfish should be stocked at a scale of between 300 and 500 fish per acre. An acre is 42,000 square feet so if your pond is less than this, reduce your stocking level proportionately. Keep in mind that the fish will procreate in the pond and the population will increase. There are many great books and articles on managing a catfish pond.

Catfish can be one of the easiest and cheapest (not to mention, tastiest) meats you can grow yourself. Having your own catfish pond gives you another excuse to sit in the grass with your fishing pole and your daydreams.