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FILTRATION

General Remarks

All, or almost all, successful Reef Systems that I have ever seen have one thing in common: they segregate the various modes of filtration required to maintain optimum water quality levels and chemistry. We should try to learn from that empyric evidence, and duplicate the methods used by such successful Reef Keeping Hobbyists.

The various segregated methods of filtration that I am referring to here, include the following, most of which you are familiar with to some extent:

Mechanical filtration, or fine and micron:sub-micron filtration, to remove so-called detritus or particulate matter from the water,

Biological filtration, to break down ammonia, nitrite, and convert the latter to nitrate,

Chemical filtration to remove pollutants that the 2 methods mentioned above do not,

Foam fractionation, to remove e.g. protein before it breaks down further and pollutes the water,

Pressure filters - contact chambers for oxygen and ozone, this includes, for example, oxygen reactors, ozone reactors and such,

Miscellaneous methods, e.g. denitrators, specialized resins, tangential flow filters, biomesh filters, aerobic nitrate filters, etc.

Some of these will, for obvious reasons, not be used on the small Reef System that we are dealing with in this book: they are meant to be used on more automated systems, and several of them involve quite a considerable expense. Pressurized contact chambers such as oxygen reactors, for instance, can cost around $250.00, and tangential flow filters quite a bit more.

Filtration is of course the one important aspect of the total system that determines whether your Reef will be successful or not. It is, indeed, through proper filtration that the water is cleansed of impurities and unwanted compounds and chemicals. This, then, ensures a proper living environment for the fish and invertebrates kept in the tank. Because you add fish, corals and invertebrates, the water quality deteriorates; there is no way around it. A real minimum amount of filtration, that you cannot do without is, as a result, necessary for you to be a successful reef Hobbyist, as it will remove those unwanted noxious elements.

Everything ultimately boils down to the quality of the water. The better that quality, the better your Reef Aquarium will look. The worse the water chemistry, the worse the tank will look, and the more life forms will die, which in turn leads to even more problems. Polluted water is the nemesis of every Aquarist.

The accumulation of breakdown products of organic and non-organic nature will eventually drop the quality of the water so much, that the tank turns into an environment not suitable for animals. Keep it in mind! And if you do not take care of your system this can happen in a matter of days, sometimes even hours. Fish and invertebrates take the abuse for a while, and then suddenly things will deteriorate very quickly, often to the hobbyist's surprise, as only a few hours earlier everything "seemed" to be fine.

Good water chemistry does not happen by chance, it can be attained only in 2 major ways: continuous water changes (the so-called completely open system), or proper and well maintained filtration of at least four kinds, the ones listed higher up, mechanical, biological, chemical and foam fractionation. Fortunately for us, three of these four can nowadays be combined in one unit: the trickle filter. Not all trickle filters on the market, however, offer this feature. If you are in the market for one, check whether the filter that you are looking to acquire incorporates the required filtration steps on one hand, and does so in a segregated fashion on the other, allowing you to control and service mechanical, biological and chemical filtration separately, and in their own right without affecting anything else.

Only when such is possible, will you be able to work on your filters to service and maintain them, without affecting what is happening to the others. Mechanical filters need very regular cleaning, chemical filters need to be changed from time to time and rinsed to remove detritus, whereas biological filters should always be left alone.

Bacteria in the biological filters (chamber) should not be disturbed by the cleaning process, or by moving the material on which they grow, around or in and out of the filters. Doing so always results in a loss of bacteria, and a considerable reduction in the efficiency of the filters. The latter may result in an increase in ammonia and nitrite and stress to tank life forms. Stress often brings about disease. Usually parasitic disease. The latter is very hard to treat in Reef Tanks, as no copper or similar compounds can be used, because of the invertebrates in the tank. Both stress and disease can rapidly lead to massive outbreaks of parasitic infestations because one infected fish, acting as a host, brings about a rapid multiplication of parasites, which then attack other fish. A real vicious circle which is then very hard to control.

Filtration, and how its various components are set up is, therefore, very important for the long time appearance and health of the aquarium. The selection of the components of the filtration system must, as a result, be carefully planned and thought out in advance.

Many Hobbyists pay little or no attention to mechanical filtration. That is a considerable mistake. Mechanical filtration is, indeed, an important part of maintaining adequate water chemistry parameters. Biological filtration does get a lot of attention, perhaps too much sometimes. Chemical filtration is going through a growth stage, and more and more Hobbyists are starting to realize its importance, which is an excellent trend, of course.

In the subsequent chapters we will take a more in depth look at each of these strongly recommended forms of water filtration, and suggest how they should be incorportated in a small reef aquarium.

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