Al - here are a few terms I want to jot down - ask questions about these as and how you want to:
- LFS (Local Fish store)
- sump (second tank acting as the biggest filtration component of marine tanks - here's where your skimmer, chemical, and DSB filtration lives, as well as your heater, phosphate reactor, return pumps)
- DSB = Deep Sand Bed = sand bed consisting of particles between 0.5mm and 1mm in size, being between 100mm and 150mm thick/deep
- skimmer - protein fractinator - filters tank's water by collecting proteins (from DOM's and POM's) and taking the proteins out of the water, before they are broken down to nitrates (by the denitrification cycle)
- chemical filtration: ie. activated carbon, phosphate remover, etc
- phosphate reactor - seperate device (usually similar to a fluidised bed filter) that contains phosphate remover - to remove phosphates in the water
- you would need to investigate "live rock", "live sand" ("live rock" - usually rock that is extremely porious that is taken from the sea - it is "alive" because it contains tiny micro-fauna, as well as bacteria that assists in filtration of the water, the same goes for "live sand")
- Metal halide lighting (a form of a spotlight often used in marines - mostly for keeping mor light-hungry corals), and T5 fluorescent lighting (this is what they also call "High Output fluorescents" ("normal fluorescents" - like those you usually use in fresh-water systems - are "Normal Output fluorescents")
- Macro algae and nuisance macro algae (algae is mostly the plant-like things you get in a marine tank) - the macro algae can be used as a filtration method, and "nuisance macro algae" means some macro algae that is unwanted in a marine tank, and that can overtake corals and kill the corals eventually.
- "Clean up crew" - usually one or multiple of the following: hermit crabs, certain snails, certain brittle starfish, etc...
- pumps/power-heads: the pumps that supply water flow INSIDE the tank, as well as return the water from the sump (which is usually below the main display tank) to the main display tank
- water flow - in a marine tank you usually require random tubulent flow - something like what you would get in the sea on a tropical reef environment
- testing kits - you would require to use different testing kits, ie: ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, alkalinity (and later on) calcium, phosphate, salinity/SG, etc....
- please take care that you always ask questions about compatibility of different fish, and different corals together - as not all fish can be put together in a tank, and not all coral can be put together in a tank
- please take note that ALL anemone's usually require VERY high lighting
- most soft-corals can be kept in slightly less lighting, BUT not LOW lighting (Normal output fluorescents are usually termed "low lighting" in keeping marines)
- you requre FRESH water to toptup the tank, which loses fresh water due to evaporation - this should be done NOT with normal tap water, BUT with RO water (water filtered through a Reverse Osmosis filter)
I think that is it for now....
Please ask as many questions as you can....
