1 © Andrej Brummer – 2014. Introduction to Creating The Perfect Tank Environment ...................................... 7 Creating a Perfect Environment .............................................................................. 7 1. Ensuring Good Quality Water ............................................................................. 7 Why is Water Quality so Important to Saltwater Aquariums? ................................. 8 Poor Water Quality Can be Fatal ............................................................................ 8 The Keys to Good Water Quality ............................................................................ 9 Testing Water Quality ........................................................................................... 11 How pH Works in Your Tank and How To Adjust It .............................................. 13 Ammonia/Ammonium, Nitrite and Nitrate .............................................................. 14 Water Hardness .................................................................................................... 16 Carbonate Hardness (dKH) .................................................................................. 16 Salinity/Specific Gravity ........................................................................................ 18 Phosphates ........................................................................................................... 19 Where Do These Phosphates Come From? ......................................................... 20 How You Get Rid Of Phosphates ......................................................................... 22 Calcium ................................................................................................................. 24 Here are 2 easy to use water testing charts to help you: ...................................... 25 Heating and Cooling Your Saltwater Aquarium .................................................... 27 Get a Good Heater! .............................................................................................. 27 Temperature Controller Units ............................................................................... 28 Heater Tips ........................................................................................................... 28 Chillers .................................................................................................................. 29 The Nitrogen Cycle In Detail ................................................................................. 30 Getting Rid Of Nitrates .......................................................................................... 32 Nurturing Your Beneficial Bacteria ........................................................................ 33 Biological Filtration in a Nut Shell ......................................................................... 33 Protein Skimming = Mechanical Filtration ............................................................. 34 2 © Andrej Brummer – 2014. What Exactly Do Protein Skimmers Do? .............................................................. 34 How Does Protein Skimming Work? ..................................................................... 35 What Skimmer Should You Get? .......................................................................... 35 So, What Makes a Good Skimmer? ...................................................................... 36 Different Types of Protein Skimmers .................................................................... 36 Counter-current and Co-current Skimmers ........................................................... 37 Venturi-style Skimmers ......................................................................................... 37 Needle Wheel Skimmers ...................................................................................... 37 ETS's & Down-Draft Skimming ............................................................................. 38 Cone Skimmers .................................................................................................... 38 Protein Skimmer Summary ................................................................................... 39 Beneficial Micro-Organisms in Rocks and Sand ................................................... 39 Setting Up a Live Base For Bacteria ..................................................................... 40 2. Compatibility in Your Saltwater Aquarium ......................................................... 42 Common Incompatibility Causes .......................................................................... 43 Dealing With Territorial Behaviour ........................................................................ 45 How To Put Together The Right Saltwater Aquarium Clean Up Crew That Will Help Do Your Work For You .................................................................................. 47 Why marine tank janitors? .................................................................................... 47 Your Clean Up Crew and Live Rock/Live Sand .................................................... 48 Beware; It‟s Easy to Make Poor “Clean Team” Choices… ................................... 49 Clean-Up Crew Fish Predators and Other Killers ................................................. 50 Here are some examples of popular clean up crew species to avoid or obtain and why: ...................................................................................................................... 51 Setting Up And Stocking Nano Tanks Sustainably With Some Really Cool Marine Life... ........................................................................................................... 54 Here are some of my tips to help you have a sustainable nano system that thrives for the long term:................................................................................................... 55 3 © Andrej Brummer – 2014. So How Can You Stock Your Tiny Tank Sustainably and Still Have It Be Colorful, Exotic and Interesting? ......................................................................................... 57 Some different nano tank stocking ideas .............................................................. 59 1. A Harlequin shrimp (Hymenocera Picta) mated pair nano: ............................... 59 2. A “my pet rock” nano: ....................................................................................... 60 3. Mated pair of Clownfish with an appropriate anemone: .................................... 60 The Importance of a Quarantine Tank and Quarantining ................................... 61 Why Quarantine? .................................................................................................. 63 A Quarantine Tank Will Serve Multiple Purposes: ................................................ 64 So What Do You Need To Set Up A Quarantine Tank? ....................................... 64 This is How You will Set Up Your Quarantine Tank .............................................. 66 Here‟s my Super-Simple Quarantine Procedure ................................................... 67 How do You Quarantine Corals and Other invertebrates? .................................... 68 Quarantining Sick Marine Life ............................................................................... 69 Tank and Fish Troubleshooting ............................................................................ 69 What Happens To Your Water Chemistry As Your Tank Ages ............................. 70 What Is Old Tank Syndrome? ............................................................................... 70 What Causes Old Tank Syndrome And How To Remedy .................................... 71 The 10 Most Common Saltwater Aquarium Mistakes Ever Made ......................... 75 1. Buying Marine Life Without Knowing Enough About The Specimen................. 75 2. Taking Things Too Fast .................................................................................... 77 3. Marine Life Incompatibility ................................................................................ 77 4. Marine Aquarium Overload Causing “New Tank Syndrome” or System Crash 78 5. Lack of Tank Maintenance ................................................................................ 79 6. Using Poor Quality Water ................................................................................. 80 7. Unwittingly Purchasing Sick Marine Creatures ................................................. 81 4 © Andrej Brummer – 2014. 8. Diagnosing Disease Incorrectly ........................................................................ 82 9. Poor Water Circulation and Filtration ................................................................ 83 10. Too Much Medication ..................................................................................... 84 Common Tank Problems and How to Remedy ..................................................... 84 Poor Water Quality ............................................................................................... 84 Invertebrates Surviving the Copper Treatment Method ........................................ 85 What To Do If Your Marine Aquarium Gets Too Hot............................................. 85 So Now That We Have Established Too Much Heat Is A Bad Thing, What Can You Do About It? .................................................................................................. 86 Invertebrate Problems and How to Solve Them