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skimmers - arguably now a vital component
for successful filtration.
circulation pumps - you always need
more water movement than you think and it's surprising how an aquarium
can soak up the power of pumps. In our tank we don't have many corals
that require high water flow but we found that our original setup
was not enough. We had 2 Eheim 1060s (2300 lph) for turnover and
5 Maxijet 1200 (1200lph) for movement within the tank. We now have
one 1060 for turnover and a Deltec 100\80 (9000 lph) for movement.
The Deltec is plumbed in a closed loop.
temperature control -even
in the UK the weather sometimes gets to hot for the health of the
aquarium inhabitants. When the weather's hot the tank temperature
rises. If it's above 84 F or is rising more than a couple of degrees
above your usual tank temeperture then you need to take some action.
cooling fans - directing a fan at
the tank water can be very effective as it makes use of the principal
of evaporative cooling. The problem is getting the fan close enough
to the water while still being safe. Also the marine environement
is very corrosive and normal room fans have metal components - we
found they worked but were awkward to position, took up a lot of
room and after a few weeks began to rust. Another popular solution
is to use 4" computer fans. Rust/corrosion may be a problem
and you also need a DC adapter. After some searching I found a 4"
fan which is actually designed to withstand a marine environment
(for boats I guess). This is the fan we now use. It is fitted on
the wall next to the sump and mounted on angled brackets and a wooden
frame. This has worked well and can drop the tank temperature 3-4
degrees in a an hour or so.
thermostatic control - we got bored
with having to turn the fan on and off so the next step was to connect
the fan to a thermostat. Ideally this would have been a probe but
this proved expensive and may not have been safe. The solution was
a room thermostat sited above the sump. Unfortunately most thermostats
here in the UK are for central heating - they turn a device on when
the temperature drops, for cooling you need the opposite. After
much searching I found a room thermostat designed for air-conditioning
systems. This now controls the fan.
Monitoring -
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