From the biological point of view, all chemical elements, inorganic substances and organic matter found in natural seawater works together. No part of this synergistic system should be omitted. That is why coral-shop team works hard to the most perfect attainable copy of natural seawater in every-day reefkeeping practice. Continuous long-term extensive testing by independent marine aquarists helps to prove right direction of coral-shop evolution, based on the Natural Seawater Mimicking philosophy.
The complete product scale of the coral-shop company considers all reefkeeping specifics as opposed to the natural oceanic environment. All products are made in naturally identical composition, solely - without exception - of raw materials of maximum commercially attainable purity and without any use of synthetic dyes, stabilizers and preservatives. The coral-shop reefkeeping concept always prefers the natural biological processes against any artificial methods.
The objectives and tools of the coral-shop concept are:
In contrast to a reef tank, the mass of all living matter in an oceanic environment is negligible with respect to the total mass of water. The oceanic environment is in addition an open system with functional geochemical cycles of all elements and compounds and also food chain is complete. This considerable differences lead to the following problems:
Continuous depletion of nutrients
Continuous accumulation of unwanted matter
Continuous lack of natural food resources
This leads to higher vulnerability of aquatic animals to various diseases and results in a need for regular replenishment of depleted matter, regular removal of unwanted matter and regular feeding, prophylaxis & optional medication.
Successful operating of reef tank in all its forms stands on three basic pillars:
Professionally designed tank
Professionally designed sump with a high-quality technology
Subsequent regular care of seawater
Subsequent regular care of animals
Point 1 is a key as possible lately detected deficiencies in the planning and construction phase of the tank and during technical equipment installation either cannot be corrected at all, or only with the investment of significant sums of money. Furthermore, some unfavorable tank and equipment parameters may have a strong negative effect on the subsequent long-lasting and regular care of seawater and animals.
Daily regular care of seawater and the animals will never be effective enough without a professionally planned and constructed tank, equipped with a high-quality and appropriate technology.
For the regular care of seawater and the animals these are the key parameters:
Correct spectrum, spectral power and intensity of the light
Correct characteristics of the inner water flow in the tank
Only 0,3 % of mass differentiate the sea water from salted water used for spaghetti cooking... The Shelford"s law of tolerance is valid also in the oceanic ecosystems:
Every organism is capable to survive within certain limits of their living environment factors.
and related Liebig"s law of minimum:
If all conditions mentioned in Shelford"s law of tolerance in the living environment of an organism are met and one is not, then this one condition acts as the limiting factor.
The following results from seawater composition and above stated laws:
Marine organisms endure much, but not everything
It is necessary not to omit chemical elements and organic compounds, occurring in seawater in practically negligible concentrations
When applying any substances into a tank, occurring there in relatively high concentrations (base, major and minor elements) extreme attention has to be paid to their purity
When applying any substances into a tank, occurring there in relatively low concentrations (trace elements and dissolved organic matter) extreme attention has to be paid to their types and concentration ratios
Let"s imagine any running marine aquarium full of the animals where water circulates between the tank and the sump. In simple words, water entering the sump has following properties:
Increased concentration of unwanted matter
Inorganic and organic particles
Protein impurities
Dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus compounds
Other undetermined dissolved unwanted matter
Lowered concentration of major elements and nutrients
Calcium, magnesium and carbonates
Minor elements, trace elements and dissolved organic matter
Increased, lowered or proper temperature
Thus, following has to be made in the sump:
Trapping the particle impurities to avoid their decomposition to nitrates and phosphates
Proteins removal by skimming
Removal of nitrogen compounds
Removal of phosphorus compounds
Replenishment of depleted matter by means of additives application
The role of particle prefiltration is irreplaceable. Without any particleprefiltration, all formed particulate organic matter (POM) will:
Partially decomposes and pollutes the tank with ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates and other dissolved unwanted matter. This situation requires powerful nitrification-denitrification technology and intensive phosphate removal.
Partially creates sediments which could initiate unwanted anaerobic processes in "dead" zones of the tank
Lowers the transmission of light through water and negatively affecting corals photosynthesis
Mechanical prefiltration is not able to trap already dissolved unwanted matter and proteins passing freely through the filter. Chemical methods or skimming for the latter must be used instead.
Certain molecules - belonging to the Unwanted Matter category in reefkeeping - pass through the particle prefilters and even the fine particle filters and the only chance how to remove them from seawater is the protein skimming - which role is therefore irreplaceable.
The design of P.R.O.S. protein skimmer is not based on reefkeeping fashion trends. It is robust, easy to use and maintain and highly effective.
Protein skimmer removes not only the proteins, but numerous of other compounds such as fats, amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, some metals such as copper and trace elements such as iodine. Therefore it is highly recommended to switch the skimmer off for about an hour when feeding or applying Dissolved Organic Matter additives.
CS Concept prefers natural removal of nitrogen compounds above all. In simple words, following is needed for successful removal of nitrogen compounds from the tank:
Source of bacteria
ANN 9505 BioCat
Quick energy source for best control of bacteria propagation
CS NitraClean
Bacteria inoculation chamber
R.A.N.N.
Both high and low oxygen zones for bacteria colonization
Natural reef rocks (both for nitrification and denitrification)
Trickle filter or aerated media filter for nitrification (A.L.F.A. or XL MR HO)
Media filter with low water flow and low oxygen for denitrification (A.R.M.S. or XL MR LO)
In some cases - especially in the tanks with large fish population - additional direct removal of ammonia by means of CS DeChlorAmm application can be very helpful.
The graph bellow shows the absorption time behaviour for the most of absorbers (sorbents), which is rather problematic for bellow mentioned reasons:
P1 Time Period - Immediately after the new absorber is applied the absorption rate hits the ceiling and is higher than needed. Zero phosphorus concentration is undesirable - trace phosphorus concentration in seawater is required - more information can be found in related article about phosphorus. Many absorbers also release unwanted matter - often toxic (orange area) - causing sometimes pH value changes as well.
P2 Time Period - In the course of certain time the absorption rate is optimal - phosphorus concentration is held on trace level.
P3 Time Period - From certain moment absorption rate falls gradually. The logical economical dilemma arises - when to proceed with absorber exchange? Particularly at this time period the absorber can also be colonized by various bacteria and if kept too long time in a tank, unwanted biological processes can be initiated.
Summary
Uncontrollable non-linear time behaviour of absorption
Risk of negative influence of seawater chemistry after the application of new absorber
Risk of negative influence of seawater biological environment at the end of absorber life time
Absorption capacity can never be utilized on 100%
CS DispoPhos
As results from the graph, the regular application of CS DispoPhos enables to maintain phosphates concentration on long-term stable trace level - contrary to the use of sorbents. The use of CS DispoPhos is targeted, controlled and economical. Based on the results of phosphate concentration testing CS DispoPhos can be applied:
As regards to the depletion of elements and organic nutrients, CS Concept offers three alternative solutions: Platinum Reef, Marine Line and Profi Plus. All three conceptions are cross-compatible.
Platinum Reef: 3-products solution - most easy to use and most economical way of reef tank maintenance. No need of calcium reactor. Profi Plus products are compatible and can be used for fine tuning of seawater chemistry.
Marine Line: 4-products solution mainly for calcium reactor users. Profi Plus products are compatible and can be used for fine tuning of seawater chemistry. Calcium reactor can be replaced with Ca Profi Plus and KH-Buffer Profi Plus.
Profi Plus: Each element and group of organic compounds has its own product. No need of calcium reactor. This conception offers highest level of seawater chemistry control. Even it can be used alone, it is primarily intended as a support for Platinum Reef and Marine Line conceptions for fine tuning of seawater chemistry.
CS Marine Salt is a professional, 2-component marine salt of highest commercially attainable purity, intended for reef tanks. Product guarantees the following benefits for made seawater: Naturally identical composition - Perfect homogeneity - Highest commercially attainable purity.
We recommendregular water exchange in the amount from 5% for large tanks to 20% for smalltanks monthly. Nevertheless, the best solution is automated continuous waterexchange.
More information about seawater exchange can be found in the articles linked bellow. In simple words, the following shall be considered by all reefkeepers:
Each reef tank is unique, with different depletion rate of nutrients, while marine salt composition is always fixed. Seawater exchange as a sole tool for seawater chemistry maintenance will never work in a long run and cannot replace the role of additives.
Majority of commercial marine salts is enriched with trace and minor elements - boosted salts. This is presented as an advantage - which is not.
The seawater exchange versus additives options:
Boosted Salt - No Additives
Problem: Imbalance of nutrients
Critical time: 12 - 18 months
Boosted Salt - Use of Additives
Problem: High concentration of nutrients
Critical time: 6 - 18 months
Naturally Concentrated Salt - No Additives
Problem: Low concentration of nutrients
Critical time: 12 - 22 months
Naturally Concentrated Salt - Use of Additives (CS Concept)
Prophylaxis and - in worse case - treatment of diseases
Feeding: There is a plenty of live, frozen and dried food preparations on the market and each reefkeeper will certainly find its own combination of products. Nevertheless, we recommend including the CS CoraTroph Reef (more information in linked article) in feeding plan. Its unique composition ensures boosting of immunity and improvement of metabolism of all animals.
Prophylaxis: Most often prophylactic precaution in reefkeeping is a use of UV lamps and ozonizers. This is of course possible in CS Concept, but not necessary. The prophylaxis is there arranged via feeding (see above) and also via application of wide-spectrum anti-pathogenic preparation CS CoraSound Multi, which can be used in several ways:
As a natural dip for corals and seawater fish
As a preventive precaution when importing or purchasing animal
As a general prevention with direct application into the tank
Precise dosing of the additives and removers can only be made with preceding precise water analysis. New and steady expanding CS TEST product line currently offers following precise titrimetric test kits for seawater:
CS TEST Calcium
CS TEST Magnesium
CS TEST ALKALINITY
CS TEST Potassium
CS TEST Organics - (DOM - Dissolved Organic Matter)
CS TEST CHLORINITY - (basically NaCl content)
CS TEST Sulphates
CS TEST STANDARDS 1
Reference solutions for calcium, magnesium, alkalinity and chlorinity
CS TEST STANDARDS 2
Reference solutions for sulphates, potassium and phosphates
CS LABSET Testing
Professional set of glass labware
CS LABSET Consumables
Plastic spare labware set (syringes, tips, gloves)
New colorimetric test kits for pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates are currently under development.
CHANNEL ONE Modular Dosing System for aqueous solutions and suspension puts the accent on following aspects:
Reliability
Ease of use
Aggressive environment resistance
Modularity
The modularity enables to create the tens of various configurations from several basic modules exactly according tothe users needs and to dose not only aqueous solutions but also inorganic and food aqueous suspensions including temperature sensitive ones. Another configurations serves for top-up and continuous water exchange.
