Adding The Animals

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jhnrb

Reef enthusiast
Introducing Animals to the Reef (PART-1 OF 6)

One of the decisions hobbyists are faced with when setting up their aquarium, after having added the LR (live rock) and LS (live sand), is what to place in the tank next: the fish or the corals. Do you add one or the other or does it not make any difference?

We know that we want to introduce the LS and the LR, and also the sand stirrers. After this has all been done the tank needs to cycle before we actually start adding anything else at all.

What is our next move? Do we get fish and put them in the tank, or do we buy corals first and add those?

There are just about as many opinions as people to whom the question is asked, is probably a good way of putting what the result of such a question would be. In this hobby this happens very commonly. Ask a question and you get 10 different answers. So what do you do then?

I guess you need to follow someone's recommendation, that is unless you have prior experience and have dealt with a similar situation before. If you have not, my suggestion is to read up on the subject as much as you can, or ask others for their input. Then think the answers you have received through and apply the method that makes the most sense to you.

This principle holds true not just for this particular question, or dilemma, but in general in the hobby and maybe in other life situations as well. Where it comes to the hobby I do not think that anyone has all the answers to all the questions that you may have. Some may think they do, but unfortunately such is not the case. The subject is way too complex for one person or one group of people to have all the correct answers for all problems you may be facing or all difficulties you may have to deal with.

What happens though is that certain people who have been in this hobby for a long time have acquired certain areas of expertise and can be relied on to give sound advice for those particular topics or areas of concern you may have. Take their advice, making sure that you do agree with what they advocate.

What is going to be suggested here with regard to how to go about adding animals to the tank is one method. Others may tell you differently and that is fine.

What Is being suggested is what has worked over the years. Techniques become habits and, as time goes on, we refine these habits until we end up with what appears to work best under the circumstances. Each time we can improve on something, we do and learn how to do a particular task more efficiently.

Remember we have instant tea and instant coffee but we do not yet have instant aquariums, however much we would like to have them. We still need to go through a process, a sort of building block approach that leads to a stable and aged aquarium that runs without problems.

(CONT. PART 2 )
 
Part-2

(CONT. FROM PART-1)

To accomplish this we set our aquariums up and add the LR and LS and then let the tank cycle. Whether we use real clean rock or not, whether it comes from exotic parts or from Florida really does not make much of a difference. Rock is rock and if it has life forms on it some of these are going to die off. Since the nature of LR is to have life forms on it, some die-off is going to occur. More if we use rawer rock, and less if we used rock that has either been cured, or cured to some degree.

Rock from different suppliers, sold under the same name, may (arrive) looking totally different because there are no standards for what live rock really is and what it is supposed to look like or what type of live forms it should have on it. All we can say is that it has life forms on it and may, or may not, have a certain amount of bacterial bed capacity already.

By cured I mean that the rock has been kept either in the dark or not in the dark for a certain amount of time, and has been given time to build up a bacterial bed inside its structure and pores. Since the main function of LR is to act as a filter inside of our aquarium that is exactly what we want.

Regardless of what kind of rock you receive, when you place it in the aquarium additional die off may occur or it may not. The point though is that the rock is fresh and needs to age for a while and build up a filter bed within its structure that has adjusted to the water quality and parameters in "your" aquarium. This takes time. There is no way around it though.

It is assumed at this stage you have taken the necessary steps to make sure that your LR has cured and that tank water quality parameters are in line with what is generally recommended for the tank to receive animals.

The remarks made about LR apply to some degree, but to a lesser one, to LS as well. Live Sand usually come in with a pretty good bacterial bed already. Flown to you overnite, or bought from a local store, the bacterial bed should be pretty much intact and should not give you much of a problem with ammonia and nitrite due to die off that occurs. Ideally you will also have ordered to sand stirrers needed at the same time. This will ensure that your live sand is being moved around slowly and bacterial growth occurs everywhere in the sand.

The rest of the equipment is now in place too such as your skimmer and lighting and perhaps a kalkwasser dosing system or a calcium reactor set-up if that is the way you have decided to go.

Before we go into placing animals in the tank, we need to make sure that all other conditions are met and under control. A skimmer is a must and you should not be running a reef tank without one (although I know hobbyists who try to do so, and others who suggest that it may not be necessary). At this stage of the game it still is.

The first step to take before adding "any" animal is to run a batch of tests on your tank and keep notes somewhere so you know what your water quality readings are. You can use a regular diairy, a computerized program or a special pre-printed book to do so but, doing it is what is really important. Having historical data available on an aquarium is very important.

Keep track of the following parameters (it is better to err on the too much side than on the too little). Use high quality test kits too. To get accurate results you need high quality test kits.

-Ammonnia: (especially in the beginning and when you add new rock,sand, or animals)
-Nitrite: (especially in the beginning and when you add new rock, sand or animals)
-Nitrate: (you should be testing for nitrate on a regular basis and make sure that after the tank stabilizes that the NO3 or N-NO3 reading goes down)
-Phosphate: make sure it stays in the 0.0x ppm range, preferably 0.03/4 ppm. This will avoid the appearance of green undesirable micro-algae
-Silicate: should stay below 0.5 ppm to avoid the appearance of brown diatoms
-Oxygen: should be at saturation or higher for the temperature your tank runs at
-Temperature: Keep it at 79 or 80 degrees, 78 is fine too. Check the results of the survey posted to our web site recently (over 220 hobbyists answered that survey)
-Specific Gravity: depends on temperature. It is better to measure salinity and keep it at 35 ppt. You will find that you may need to increase the usual 1.023 to reach the 35 ppt salinity. There are charts that allow you to compare a specific s.g. at a certain temperature and see what salinity it corresponds to.
-pH: usually the recommended levels are between 8.2x and 8.4x (AM and PM). Note that to get accurate pH results it is best to use a pH meter rather than a test.
-Copper: should be unreadable on aquarium tests
-dKH: varies depending on whether you are using limewater or not. If you are a dKH of around 7 or 8 is fine. If you are not you can run a dKH that is higher e.g. 12
The above are the important ones to monitor and keep track of. You could also measure the ORP, the Magnesium level, the Strontium level, the Iodine level and so on. If you are into culturing macro-algae the iron level may be of importance and you may also wish to monitor free carbon dioxide. These are all esoteric type measurements though and not too many hobbyists keep them. There is obviously nothing wrong with doing so. The more information on your tank you have available for reference the better off you are and will be.

(CONT. PART 3)
 
Part 3

(CONT. FROM PART-2)

You may think that sure "is" a lot of testing! Indeed it is but, if you want to have records on your aquarium, and if you want to be able to gauge not only what shape the tank is in and how its present condition compares to, say, how it was a month ago, those are the kind of numbers you will need to be able to make comparisons. Unless you keep the information written down somewhere or stored in a computer program they will be of no value. It is important to test but it is equally important to record the results you come up with.

The results, and the historical data collected, do indeed become very valuable over time. They allow you to make decisions that influence the actions you will be taking or not taking, e.g. change protein skimmer, add more circulation, change pumps, add more animals, do something about nutrient loads or not, and so on.

They also allow you to see how the tank is evolving over time in terms of its water quality and, after all, that is the most important factor to consider as that is what all animals are dealing with from the minute you add them to the tank. If it is not up to par the animals will become stressed.

Stress creates problems. Stress leads to corals and fish that do not do well and may become diseased. Whatever you can do to relieve and reduce stress is a positive action. It will avoid lots of crisis management actions that you would have to take if you did let stress become the norm or happen too frequently.

Now that you are testing and keeping records for a few weeks, the logical next step is of course to take immediate action should you notice that anything is out of order or out of line. Do not wait. Act immediately. The sooner you solve the problem the less stress the animals are subjected to.

At this point it is assumed that you have taken care of all of the above and that your tank has cycled and that all parameters of your water quality are in line. It is also assumed that you have added enough live rock and perhaps also enough live sand (althoug one can run a very good looking aquarium with live rock alone and only a fine coating of live sand at the bottom). No one is trying to imply (and certainly not me) that unless you have inches of live sand and maybe even a plenum, that you cannot be successful. Nothing is further from the truth. You can run a tank with or without live sand and even when you use live sand you do not necessarily have to use inches and inches of it.

Having a decent live sand bed though will help you run a more stable tank. That is why many hobbyists have now adopted that method. It is just one further enhancement, or one more building block, in the total picture that leads to a stable and well running tank that you should consider if you have not already added LS to your aquarium.

All the introductory material was necesary to set the premise and to make sure that we all understand what kind of aquarium conditions we are talking about before we even begin thinking about putting animals in the tank.

One of the first decisions you will need to make is what type of aquarium you wish to run. Whether you are going to focus on small stony polyped corals (SPS corals) or large stony polyped corals (LPS corals), or whether you are going to have a mixed type aquarium, perhaps one in which you keep anemones. This is important in as much as the order of what you put in the tank first.

Three main possibilities:

-SPS Type Tank
-LPS Type Tank
-Mixed Tank

There are variations but the above covers the three main categories pretty well. A further possibility would be a species tank for instance or a biotope tank (e.g. only animals from a certain region - Red Sea for example).

The difference is important, not crucial. Remember, this all goes back to drawing on prior experience and then refining the technique (in this case adding animals) until one is found that appears to give better results than other ones. So even though you could just add what you feel like adding, there is a better way.

If you want to, you can put the animals in the aquarium in a helter-skelter fashion but, if you do that you will not get as good results as when you follow a routine, and a time-frame based pattern of adding animals.

The main reason for waiting and practicing patience when setting up an aquarium is that if corals or fish or both are placed in a tank too rapidly, the water is still to raw for lack of a better word and stress is created. Aged water supports life forms much better and the animals are not stressed when they are placed in such a tank.

You may actually have noticed this already yourself if you now own a tank. If that aquarium is aged, and you already have life forms in there, adding one more animal never seems to create much of a problem for the new animal, regardless of whether it is a coral or a fish.

The reason for this is simple: the water in that tank is conditioned by the time that the tank has been running and by the fact that chemical reactions that occur in new water have all taken place. Because they have, whatever you place in the tank is subjected to far less stress, if any at all.

This, then, leads up to how animals are added to the tank.

Animals that can be considered more resistant and less touchy, or sensitive, should be added first. Animals that are more sensitive and more likely to become stressed should be added later.

In all cases animals should be added after the tank has completely cycled and been running for some time (and all water quality parameters are where they should be).

(CONT. PART 4)
 
Part 4

(CONT. FROM PART-3)

In this part we are getting to the meat of the article and will explain what animals are suggested that you consider as the first ones to add, but, just a few more caveats first.

The key in this whole process is to have a tank that is "ready" for the animals so to speak, a tank where the water quality is as good as you can make it be by adjusting all the parameters before you start adding corals, fish or anything else.

This being done, you are ready to start adding lifeforms. It was not meant to drag this out but, only to ensure that after reading the previous parts you understood that it is really important for the tank to be "conditioned" and not just brand new and full of "raw" water or maybe still not completely cycled as such conditions creates stress, whether it is for the fish or the corals.

So what are you going to add first? Add what is considered hardier first and what is more touchy to deal with later. Later, in this case, means that the tank is now older and that it has aged some more. This usually suits sensitive animals a lot better. They are less likely to give you problems if the tank is older than when the tank is too new.

This series of articles prefers to start adding corals to the tank first and fish later. That is my personal preference and represents what the article stated in the beginning. This does not mean that all corals you will ever have are added before a single fish is placed in the tank of course. It does mean though that you add a fair number of corals to tank before you add any fish at all.

Some corals, such as Bubble coral, Elegance Coral, Candycane (Caulastrea) are considered hardier than others, for example hardier than some of the Euphyllia, Plate, Lettuce (Turbinaria), Cactus (Pavona) type corals. That is, however, not the "only" criterion to look at. The question is really a matter of how healthy the animals you are getting are when they arrive. This may sound obvious but is often overlooked. Animals even if from the hardy category that have traveled a distance to get to you by some overnight delivery service are stressed and need, to be acclimated to the tank longer than those that are not stressed.

If they have traveled for some time because you ordered them from mail order, or on-line store or company, the animals are more than likely stressed and need to be acclimated slowly to the tank conditions. This applies to both fish and corals, not just fish. And, as stated earlier, this applies to your hardy corals as well.

Anything that is stressed needs more time to adjust to your tank than an animal that is not. You should take that into consideration as well. If you obtain an animal from a local pet store that is reputable, and you can see for yourself that all lifestock is healthy, you are dealing with a coral that is not stressed and that can be added to the tank with less acclimating time than the former ones that got to you after an overnight trip.

When you decide to set up a reef tank you should make decisions with regard to corals that are based on your experience level. This means that if you have never kept a reef tank you may wish to start with only corals of the hardier type. You can always progress to the more delicate ones when the tank has aged some more and you have gained more experience with reef aquariums.

Below is a list of corals that are considered hardy:

-Star Polyps (all colors) (Parazoanthus, Clavularia)
-Palythoa (Sea Mat)
-Zoanthids and Parazoanthids (Rock anemones and similar names such as Buttons)
-Ricordea (Ricordea)
-Plerogyra and Physogyra (Bubble corals)
-Catalaphyllia (Elegance or Elegant)
-Favia and Favites (Moon and Moonstone corals)
-Nememzophyllia (Fox coral)
-Blastomussa (Brain)
-Lobophyllia (Brain)
-Caulastrea (Candycane)
-Tubipora (Pipe Organ)
-Pachyseris (Elephant)
-Sarcophyton (Leather, Toadstool)
-Lobophytum (Leather, Finger)
-Cladiella (Colt)
-Actinoduscus (Mushroom)
-Xenia (although some hobbyists sometimes have difficulty with these)
-Anthelia (same comment as above)
-Discosoma Mushrooms
-Amplexidiscus (Elephant Ear)
-Rhodactis (Elephant Ear or Large Mushroom)

Below is a list of corals that are considered more difficult to deal with

-All Euphyllia types (Hammer, Frogspawn, Anchor)
-Acropora (especially if you have never kept SPS type corals)
-Galaxea corals
-Fungia and Heliofungia (Disk and Plate corals)
-Goniopora (Flowerpot)
-Turbinaria (Lettuce, Pagoda)
-Pavona (Cactus)
-Trachyphyllia (Open Brain)
-Tubastrea (Orange cup corals)
-Herpolitha (Slipper)
-Pocillopora (Bird's Nest)
-Alcyonium (Finger)
-Many of the SPS corals if you have no experience with them yet
Gorgonians (Muricea, Briareum etc.)
Finger corals (Diodogorgia)

Suggestion is two-fold: start with corals from the hardier category and do not add fish yet. The fish are best added after the corals have been in the tank for a week or two.

How many corals should you add right after the tank has cycled and before adding any fish? Recommend one coral per 5-10 gallons of actual water volume. After you have added a few corals to your tank and waited for a couple weeks you can start to introduce some fish.

Remember that in all cases the corals and the fish need to be acclimated and that the more stressed the animal is the more you will need to acclimate it.

(CONT. PART-5)
 
Part-5

(CONT. FORM PART-4)


Within the list of hardy and not so hardy corals there are some that are really considered the hardiest types. They have been placed towards the top of the list and the same applies for the less hardy (the ones at the bottom of the list).

If you have never set up a reef aquarium or if you have never dealt with delicate corals you may wish to refrain from adding them until you have gained sufficient knowledge about their requirements so you do not run into immediate problems with them.

Once you have a more stable tank, and that usually means one that has been running without problems for a longer period of time, you can start adding some of the more delicate corals. Again though, before you embark on adding any corals at all, gather as much information as you can on the animal(s) you are planning to add to the tank.

After you have added a number of corals and all has gone well for about 2 to 3 weeks you can start adding fishes to the tank.

Which fish do you add? That is really a matter of personal decision. There are many to choose from. An excellent book that gives lots of input is Helmut Debelius' Fishes for the Invertebrate Aquarium (H. Debelius, 3rd Ed. Aquarium Systems, 1989, 160 pp). Although a few years old it is still very good book to select fish from.

You will find that there are other fishes you may wish to add such as six-line wrasse, or cleaner wrasse and so on. These are specialized fish that you add for specific functions (eat bristleworms, clean other fish of parasites and so on). That is of course perfectly ok to do.

Remember that as is the case with corals, you will need to acclimate the fish to your tank conditions. This may take a relative short or longer time but it is important that you do it.

This covers the basics of adding animals to the aquarium. Should you have any questions regarding specific animals (there are so many that I really cannot cover them all) send me Email Please.

I will be glad to help you with your questions.

(CONT. PART 6)
 
Part 6

(CONT. FROM PART 5)


A brief closure to explain how to add live rock.

Figure out how much rock you need for your aquarium or if you are adding extra rock, decide on an amount. One pound per gallon should be plenty. I usually do not use that much especially in tanks with live sand. Half a pound to three quarters of a pound per gallon should be sufficient.
Obtain the rock either from an LPS or from a mail order place
Have a large piece of plastic or an inexpensive tarp available.
When the rock arrives, place it on the tarp, each piece in its own spot, do not stack them but leave space between the rocks.
Have a clean and well rinsed aerosol squeeze bottle available and fill it with saltwater. Lay the rock out and just leave it there. Every 15 minutes or so, spray it with saltwater from the squeeze bottle to keep it moist
Inspect the rock and remove what appears to be dying, is dead or will die (e.g. sponges)
As time goes by you will find that some undesirable animals (if there are any) will crawl out of the rock (this is a good way to get rid of bristle worms, mantis shrimp and stone crabs).
You will need to really look very closely at the rock as some of these undesirables (especially small stone crabs) are not that easy to see.
Turn the rock around from time to time to expose other areas.
Spray from time to time to keep it moist and keep looking for undesirables and matter that should be removed.
Do this for about one hour and you will find that you have a nice amount of worms and so on that will not end up in your tank.
Have two buckets with saltwater available.
In one bucket swish the rock around so dead material and dying matter falls off.
Do not put the rock in the tank yet but place it back on the tarp.
Viewing all the rock, its sizes and shape, and looking at your tank, decide where each piece is going to be placed. Take your time to do so. Nothing will happen to your rock as long as you keep it moist.
When you feel confident that you have removed all that needs to be removed from the rock and that whatever was going to crawl out, has, add the rock to the tank in the manner you have decided based on its shape and the space you have available.
This really helps to prevent a lot of worms etc. from actually getting in the tank. It is amazing at what you may find on the tarp after all the rock is removed. Plenty of stuff that you probably did not want in the tank and, if there are small animals that should go in the tank, they can always be added after all the rock is in.

END
 
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