Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

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Mangodude said:
Hi Peter, quick question, how many breeder/quaruntine tanks are in your fish room and what will you be using them for?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I don't have a firm answer for that yet Mangodude. First I don't have the Quarantine tank in the room yet. Nor have I established the Hospital tank yet either.

I do have 7 enclosures in the first Mars system that is being converted for coral dominant ecosystems. Three are reserved for coral rotation for the main tank. Three are reserved for isolation prior to entry into the main tank. The largest enclosure is tentatively reserved for softies that can't go into the main tank similar to Chingchai's arrangement. He has indicated that it is extremely difficult to maintain a suitable quality of life environment for the varieties he has chosen and I believe I can learn from his experience and add top it from my own as well. With Mr. Wilson's help, we might bring some useful data to the forum to perhaps codify a set of best practices for this kind of aquaria. I am changing the lighting and some of the other internal equipment to better suit a coral environment than the retail consumer stuff that came with the original configuration.

I also have 18 enclosures in the second Mars system which will carry a number of functional purposes relevant to minimizing risk in the main display tank from physical or social behaviours not conducive to community living for the tank inhabitants.

I will reserve three or four tank enclosures for fish husbandry. Three additional enclosures for isolation before entry into the main tank. Two tanks will have some corals present to determine which if any fish have clear indications of carnivorous behaviour around corals before they are invited to any picnics in the main tank. Two tanks will be reserved for fish that I like that for whatever reason can't be kept in the Display tank. None of the Mars systems are interconnected to the Main display tank but they will benefit from shared supply services such as ro/di top off and salt water supply.

The hospital tank will be purpose designed to make it comfortable but utilitarian when it comes to the extreme maintenance requirements.

This is all, as you know, subject to change without prior notice. :o


Peter
 
nineball said:
Welcome back Mr. Wilson. About the skimmer.....I now have the manual......I think I am reading it correctly when it says it skims 25 gallons per minute at peak but ideally when everything settles down it operates in the 15 gallons per minute. Does that make sense??Did I interpret it correctly??

Peter
Click to expand...

Manual? Who uses a manual? Don't tell me you stop and ask for directions when you are driving too :)

25 GPM sounds about right. That means is has a 1500 GPH pump moving water through it. The second (bubble generating) pump likely moves a greater volume of water, but it's a closed loop (pulling water out of the skimmer and putting it right back in with lots of air sucked through a venturi valve).

If they suggest that you dial it down to 15 GPM (900 GPH) that means you are processing the display tank once every 90 minutes. Keep in mind, that's considering an empty tank. You need to add the sump volume and subtract the displacement of rock and sand for your actual water volume.

When I went to the Shed Aquarium on monday there was a one hour line-up to get in. I noticed a sign for a "behind the scenes tour" for $14.00. The tour got me to the front of the line so that was worth the price of admission already. I didn't learn much on the tour but I had the chance to ask one of the workers a few questions when the guide wasn't looking. She said their 90,000 gallon Caribbean Reef system gets filtered once every 90 minutes (just like yours). I got a chance to see the two 15' tall skimmers along with a 1000 gallon vat labeled "de-aeration chamber" (whatever that is). The skimmers weren't foaming as far as I could tell. They had two large Ozotech inc. ozonizers fenced in for safety that I assume do most of the filtration. The other question I asked was about water changes and she said they don't do them very often. They use Instant Ocean salt mix.

Now that we know the throughput of your protein skimmer (900-1500 GPH) we know the ideal throughput of your tank (900-1500 GPH).
 
Briney Dave said:
Peter,

can't wait for the water test pics!! My tank should be crossing the border as we speak. My building crew has developed and changed their plans to get the tank into my classroom about two dozen times now. I think they have settled on bringing the tank into the building then trying to develop a plan with the tank in front of them. LOL

I wanted to say thanks again for being so detailed in sharing your build. I have amended plans based on what I have seen in yours and Ching's builds and the great discussions that have gone with them.
Click to expand...

Thanks for both the encouragement as well as sharing your class enthusiasm for the hobby. I trust you are documenting this so we all get to share????

Peter
 
nineball said:
With Mr. Wilson's help, we might bring some useful data to the forum to perhaps codify a set of best practices for this kind of aquaria.
Peter
Click to expand...

Does this help?...


Quarantine & Hospital Tank Checklist

1) A lid to keep in and deter jumpers:

You can use glass, egg-crate, or fiberglass screen. Wrasse and gobies are far more likely to jump in a small empty QT/HT tank. PVC pipe and fitting hiding places are best as they are inert, non-calcareous (no calcium structure to absorb medications), easy to clean and sterilize, and smooth so they won't damage fish as they scratch their parasites off. Using a dim nightlight will minimize the stress of the lights coming on and off instantly and reduce shock jumpers. Some fish can thread themselves through a needle so be sure to cover every possible exit hole in the lid, as they will find it.

2) A dedicated heater with a reliable thermostat:

A heater is much more important to a QT/HT than in a display tank because you are dealing with a much smaller volume of water and fewer pieces of equipment that add heat. Stability in temperature is more important than the actual temperature. Unlike freshwater ich, marine ich (Cryptocaryon & Oodinium) is cued by temperature increases rather than decreases. Having said that, an elevated temperature (84-86F) will speed the life cycle of ich to 10 days rather than 14. This is good news if the water is medicated and bad news if it is not. Let's assume you have a treatment regimen that is steadily reducing the population of free-swimming ich in the tank by 80% per generation. A shorter life cycle of 10 days will assure that you can eradicate the ich quicker as the population shrinks with each consecutive generation as they enter the swimming stage of their life cycle. If you are not treating the water with ich medications, the parasite population will increase with every consecutive generation, so a shorter life cycle will assure a quicker demise of your fish.

A heater will provide a consistent temp that will limit fish stress and pathogen reproduction cycles. Fish have a faster rate of metabolism at a higher water temperature, increasing 10% with every 1C increase. Obviously you won't have any 10F increases in temperature, but you can use this as a mathematical model. They eat, swim and grow at a faster rate at a higher temperature. They breathe more rapidly and there is less oxygen in the water. The target temperature of a QT/HT should be that of the display tank as it takes weeks for fish to fully adapt to climate changes.

When acclimating new fish to a QT/HT you should avoid floating the bags as this causes undue stress to the fish. Instead, you can use bags of ice to quickly drop the holding tank water to match that of the shipping water. Make sure the water is mixed well as the cold water can drop to the bottom and linger. As the ice melts, the salinity does not change as long as your bag doesn't leak. If you need to raise the temperature of your water, a heater will get you there quickly and safely.

3) Indirect, diffused light:

Try to keep a ten hour photo-period to reduce stress. Many antibiotics are photo-degradable, so direct light should be avoided. Deep water fish like certain anthias do not adapt to bright aquarium lighting.

4) A biological filter:

This can be a bio-wheel or canister filter that is normally run on the display tank to keep it cycled. It is too small to adversely affect the display tank. Remember not to use carbon as it will remove medications. Alternatively, you could just store the filter media in the display tanks Sump to keep the bacteria viable. Running the biofilter on a QT/HT with no bioload will slowly kill off the beneficial nitrifying bacteria that you need to control the nitrogen cycle. Biofilters have fallen out of fashion with reef tanks but they are still vital with QT/HT.

5) Plastic cups to catch and move fish:

Unlike freshwater fish, marine fish haven't adapted to breathing atmospheric air even for a brief period of time. Most secondary bacterial infections are caused by fish net abrasions. Reef fish have tiny delicate scales that are easily bruised or removed. A trip to the Dollar Store is in order.

6) Ultraviolet (UV) sterilizer:

They cost a couple hundred dollars but they will pay themselves off after they save a few fish. The bulb will last a long time as it will only be used while you have fish in the QT/HT. You could borrow a UV sterilizer from the display tank without causing too much trouble. UV sterilization should be discontinued if you are using antibiotics as they will be prematurely degraged. Copper sulphate, formalin, malachite green, and methylene blue are not significantly affected by UV irradiation. Ionic copper such as Mardel's Coppersafe and Seachems's Cupramine become more toxic as the chemical bond is broken by UV, so UV should be discontinued or copper sulphate should be does in its place daily to maintain a safe therapeutic level of 0.20 ppm. If you are running a series of QT/HT tanks, a properly sized UV unit assures that a 100% kill ratio occurs so diseases can be contained to individual tanks.

7) A good camera:

A camera will help you take pictures to submit for help in diagnosis and treatment. They are also handy in picking up defects in the fins and scales that you may miss with the human eye. You can zoom in on your photo in Photoshop for a really close inspection without the fish moving. While you are there you can Photoshop any missing scales and torn fins for a virtual recovery ☺

8) Low salinity (hyposlainity) of 1.013 (HT) to 1.018 (QT):

Stressed marine fish can dehydrate when placed in standard salinity water (1.023+). They don't have a healthy slime coat to regulate osmotic pressure and have to work a lot harder to pump salts out of their bodies. A lower salinity will also slow fish metabolism and kill parasites. Ammonia is also less toxic at a lower salinity as well. Fish adapt well to being moved to water with a lower salinity. They adapt poorly to moves to higher salinity so slowly reintroduce them to display tank water of 1.025 salinity. In cases of oodinium the salinity can be lowered to 1.013 but for no longer than 10 days. A salinity of 1.017 can be maintained for three weeks while the fish is developing a healthy slime coat.

9) Premixed saltwater:

Use display tank water for QT/HT water changes. Add new saltwater to the display. This will remove nitrogen compounds from the QT/HT and supply fresh pro-biotics (micro-organisms that will out-compete with pathogens). The quarantined fish will be acclimated to the display tank water at all times, with the exception to the lower salinity. You can add fresh RO/DI water accordingly to correct/lower the salinity. Remember to top-off medications when you adjust salinity. One week before moving the QT/HT fish to the display tank, you can start adding more display tank water to slowly raise the salinity to avoid osmotic shock. Moving the fish to a safe zone in the sump assures you can monitor feeding, let the other fish get used to the "smell" of the new fish, and allow you to catch it if it gets sick again.

10) Large pvc pipe segments for hiding places:

Paint the back and side walls to provide additional shelter. Reef fish do poorly if they don't have hiding places.

11) Household bleach (sodium hypochlorite):

If a disease breaks out, sterilize the tank with bleach before re-use. Make sure it is pure sodium hypochlorite with no fabric softener or scents added. You can also buy chlorine (bleach) from pool supply shops. You can use a 20% bleach treatment for a few hours, then change 100% of the water and dechlorinate the new water with sodium thiosulphate or a commercially prepared dechlorinator like Seachem's Prime. I prefer Prime because it detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Prime should be on hand in large quantity for emergencies. Do not use too much bleach as it can damage some equiment such as fish nets and brittle plastics. A more gentle alternative would be to use hydrogen peroxide as it leaves only water ad oxygen as residuals.

12) Five gallon bucket for fish & coral dips and baths:

You can use a bucket of aerated freshwater of equal temperature to the QT/HT for freshwater dips. Freshwater dips will kill parasites and only stress the host fish. The duration depends on the fish species, size and condition, but two minutes is a good rule of thumb for "freshwater dips", and 20 minutes for "freshwater baths". Don't use RO/DI water for freshwater dips or baths. Tap-water has a closer pH and general hardness to saltwater. The chlorine is also medicinal as an oxidant to a certain extent. Do not add medications to freshwater dips or baths as they are not effective and drug toxicity levels differ from that of saltwater.

13) Bare bottom QT/HT:

A QT or HT should never have a substrate as it can harbour parasites in their early life cycle. A bare bottom tank allows you to wipe the inside surfaces daily (if HT). This will dislodge and kill parasites in the tomont, trophont, and dinospore stages of the parasite's life cycle. A diatom filter will remove items as small as 1 micron, and these pests are typically 25-50 microns.

14) A bright flashlight:

There are many fish parasites or cysts that can only be seen with a flashlight as they cast a shadow over the parasite you don't get with aquarium lighting, while aquarium lighting casts a shadow over the side of the fish, obscuring the parasite or damaged tissue. A flashlight is an invaluable tool for evaluating fish health.

15) A dedicated net:

You can use 75mg/gallon potassium permanganate, iodine, peroxide, bleach or methylene blue as a net disinfectant or sterilizer. Segregate any thermometers, towels, feeding devices, and wash your hands to avoid spreading pathogens to the display tank and other QT/HT tanks.

16) Medications:

Keep medications on hand so they are there when you need them. You don't want to have to rely on your local aquarium retailer to stock what you need when you need it, especially in the middle of the night on a holiday weekend.

I will briefly touch on the basics here as disease control and treatment warrants a lot more time, beyond the scope of this checklist. The only difference between QT & HT is the amount and variety of medications used. A QT should contain therapeutic levels of prophylactic (preventative) medications, while a hospital tank requires whatever it takes to get the job done. All newly imported fish will have a number of pathogens (diseases) present. If they are dealt with early in their life cycle, they will not cause serious health issues or mortality later on. Here is a brief outline of what I recommend for a QT prophylactic treatment regimen"¦

- 50 mg/gal chloramphenicol added every second day for three treatments for bacterial infection.
- 250 mg/gal neomycin added every second day for three treatments for bacterial infection.
- 0.20 ppm Coppersafe or Cupramine ionic copper maintained for the duration of the QT for the treatment of Amyloodinium
and external parasites.
- 25 mg/gal quinine sulphate added every second day for three treatments for Cryptocaryon and protozoans.
- 6 mg/100g of food Rifampin fed daily for one week for Tuberculosis.
- 40mg/gal isoniazid added every second day for three treatments for Tuberculosis.
- 2 ppm praziquantel added weekly for two treatments for Flukes and flatworms.
- 1 mg/20g of fish praziquantel "“ given in food daily for one week for treating intestinal worms.

The above preventative treatment will allow for optimum water quality with minimal impact on nitrifying bacteria and will not cause significant mutation (resistant strains) of pathogens. The QT should receive a 50% weekly water change using display tank water to help with water quality, acclimation and to slowly increase the salinity from 1.018 to 1.025. While it is true that copper can adversely affect a fish's immune system, the benefit far outweighs the negative aspects, and the QT level of 0.20 ppm is on the low side. Certain "scaleless" fish such as wrasse, gobies and blennies should not be exposed to copper medications; Quinine-based treatments and metronidazole are preferred treatments for these copper-sensitive fish. Quarantine marine fish for a minimum of 21 days to insure parasite life cycles are complete to prevent re-infection.

The following medications are valuable for dips, baths and treatment, but adversely affect water quality, or are better used in target treatment so they are not appropriate for QT.

- Malachite green in a HT or bath for ich & parasites.
- Methylene blue in a bath for parasites and to aid breathing.
- Formalin in a dip, bath or HT for Brooklynella, flukes & ich.
- Nifurpirinol in a bath or HT for fungus, bacterial infection, and parasites.
- Nitrofurazone in a bath or HT for fungus and bacterial infection.
- Erythromycin in HT for bacterial infection and cyanobacteria.
- Metronidazole in HT for internal & external parasites, bacterial infection and cryptocaryon.
- Kanmycin in bath or HT for bacterial infection.
- Gentimycin in bath or HT for bacterial infection.
- Piperazine in food for intestinal worms.
- Oxolinic acid In bath or HT for bacterial infection.
- Oxytetracycline in bath or HT for bacterial infection.

A new, sharp, single edged razor blade can be used to trim away lymphocystis (cotton-like lesions) on the margins of fins. Oxidizers like the following can be used for treating open wounds by swabbing the area with a Q-Tip.

- Potassium permanganate
- Potassium dichromate
- Lugols iodine
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Merbromin
- Magnesium sulphate
 
FYI... a de-aeration chamber is commonly used in commercial aquariums to remove the fine air bubbles from the water before it is sent to the display. It is a water clarity thing. I can't remember exactly how it works.
 
4) A biological filter:

This can be a bio-wheel or canister filter that is normally run on the display tank to keep it cycled. It is too small to adversely affect the display tank. Remember not to use carbon as it will remove medications. Alternatively, you could just store the filter media in the display tanks Sump to keep the bacteria viable. Running the biofilter on a QT/HT with no bioload will slowly kill off the beneficial nitrifying bacteria that you need to control the nitrogen cycle. Biofilters have fallen out of fashion with reef tanks but they are still vital with QT/HT.


I have heard this many times before but have a question if you use a bio-wheel in the hospital tank then use copper won't that get in the wheel. then when you put the bio-wheel back in your tank till next time won't this put copper in your display tank? or do you use a new wheel each time?
Thanks,
Terry
 
Untamed12 said:
FYI... a de-aeration chamber is commonly used in commercial aquariums to remove the fine air bubbles from the water before it is sent to the display. It is a water clarity thing. I can't remember exactly how it works.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I suspected as much, but was secretly hoping for something more exotic :) It had a small viewing porthole near the bottom so you could see the bubbles I guess. Public aquariums can afford to spend $20,000 on a bubble trap I suppose :)
 
member of the maintenance team

member of the maintenance team

Hi All,


my name is Jamie Grimm and would like to introduce myself, 3 of my colleagues along with myself will be taking on the task of bringing this monsterous tank to life!!

to say the very least we are extremely excited about this opportunity, and will be giving our total devotion to the project. We are always open to any suggestions, and are more then happy to share our experiences through pictures and words with the rest of you reefers that follow the blog.


Jamie
 
Last edited:
killerbee181 said:
I have heard this many times before but have a question if you use a bio-wheel in the hospital tank then use copper won't that get in the wheel. then when you put the bio-wheel back in your tank till next time won't this put copper in your display tank? or do you use a new wheel each time?
Thanks,
Terry
Click to expand...

Using a new biowheel each time would be costly but cheaper than losing fish:)

I would use a copper remover like cuprisorb with carbon to remove the residual copper. It's a good practice to remove old copper from the QT so you are starting fresh each time. It makes dosing safer. It's the calcareous (calcium-based) materials that absorb copper that you need to watch out for. This is less of any issue with ionic or chelated copper. If you're really paranoid about copper, soak it in RO/DI water and test for copper.

You could dose the QT with ammonia when you anticipate the addition of new fish, but who are we kidding these are impulse buys. Depending on the style of bio-filter, you could incorporate your filter floss or sponge from the display's mechanical filter into the filter. HOT filters are good for this.

You can also do a water change and add fresh display water to the QT so it has some beneficial bacteria. The nitrifying bacteria grow on detritus in the substrate so you don't need to prefilter the old water before adding it to the QT.

In commercial QT they often employ air-driven sponge filters. These sponges can be stored in the filter of the display tank and moved to the QT filter as needed. It's all about conditioning the bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria reproduce faster when the temperature swings (lag) so they won't be harmed going to the cooler QT water. What ever you do, don't rinse the filter media or disturb it as the delicate biofilms can be lost.
 
thanks for your quick reply i've been doing daily water changes from the display to my QT's and hospital tanks so i'll just keep doing that
Thanks,
Terry
 
Thanks Bax. I know i'm lucky and this is truely an opportunity of a lifetime.

I appreciate your concern dave.m, but I have my other 3 crew members to watch my back. lol.... thanks though.


Andrew
 
Agrimm said:
Thanks Bax. I know i'm lucky and this is truely an opportunity of a lifetime.

I appreciate your concern dave.m, but I have my other 3 crew members to watch my back. lol.... thanks though.


Andrew
Click to expand...

I just realized that you and Jamie are brothers. Can we call you The Brothers Grimm? :)
 
Peter, I have started a small thread on the Toledo reef club site. For what ever reason hardly anyone uses the R/C site. Once I get a few pictures together I will make a duplicate but stream lined post on the large tank forum here.

I am down to needing just a few goodies. I am going with Ozone per Mr. Wilson and Ching.

Another glass company came into my class this morning to bid on taking the tank through the window. I left with the crews heads all together debating that option. I am so lucky to have a group so willing to go over the top in helping a smelly, wet sleaved teacher out LOL
 
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