{"id":1750,"date":"2016-04-12T09:19:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T08:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2016-04-12T09:19:05","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T08:19:05","slug":"the-marine-aquarium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/the-marine-aquarium\/","title":{"rendered":"The Marine Aquarium"},"content":{"rendered":"Enchanting beauty: Damselfish, butterflyfish, corals, invertebrates&#8230; Give life to an explosion of colour and beauty and will enthral you right from the word go.You no longer have to be an expert or have a large aquarium to keep a marine aquarium.\u00a0 Thanks to the major advances over recent years, there has been a significant increase in the marine aquarium sector in the market, which is becoming increasingly important.<blockquote>Marine aquariums\u2026 are no longer just for experts!<\/blockquote>Another major advance is the breeding of marine fish in captivity, which has meant that prices have dropped considerably and that they are more acclimatised to surroundings different to their natural habitat, making them more resistant and free of parasites.Below is a brief summary of the key points required to ensure the success of any enthusiast when keeping marine aquariums.&nbsp;<h5><\/h5><h5><b>The biological cycle of the marine aquarium<\/b><\/h5><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" alt=\"acuarios_marinos_6\" src=\"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/acuarios_marinos_6.jpg\" width=\"166\" height=\"308\" \/>The biological cycle of a marine aquarium is similar to that of a fresh water aquarium.In the process known as ammonification, fish excrements are converted into <strong>ammonium <\/strong>(NH4+) and <strong>ammonia <\/strong>(NH3) and, through aerobic bacteria oxygen consumers, are transformed into <strong>nitrites<\/strong> (NO2-) and, in turn, into <strong>nitrates<\/strong> (NO3-) in the process known as nitrification.Finally, the nitrates are converted into <strong>nitrogen gas <\/strong>that rises to the surface (N2), eliminating all of the harmful nitrate from the water. This process is known as <strong>denitrification <\/strong>and is the major problem in marine aquariums.<b>Both ammonia and nitrites are very toxic <\/b>to fish.\u00a0 Although less toxic, nitrate is also harmful to corals and invertebrates and they must all be monitored using analysis tests.The <strong>classic filters <\/strong>are very effective in keeping ammonia and nitrites under control following an initial period of filter maturing of around 4 weeks.\u00a0 Fish must not be placed in the aquarium during the period, except in the case of the <strong>Hydra filter,<\/strong> which is the only one that does not require this waiting period.The presence of anaerobic <strong>heterotrophic bacteria <\/strong>is required (i.e. those requiring almost no oxygen) to <strong>lower nitrates <\/strong>(NO3-). These bacteria are produced in places where water flows very slowly, such as inside <strong>live rock<\/strong>. Not having these bacteria in the aquarium will greatly affect the success of keeping a marine aquarium, as the water would have to be continuously replaced to decrease nitrate levels.&nbsp;<h5><\/h5><h5><b>What a skimmer is for<\/b><\/h5>This is an absolutely essential accessory for <strong>marine aquariums <\/strong>because it acts as a pre-filter.\u00a0 It extracts the proteins from the aquarium before they become toxic nitrogenated compounds in a process in which the <strong>skimmer<\/strong> uses the high density of the salt water to generate a large amount of tiny bubbles that drag the waste towards an external dry foam chamber.<blockquote>Water proteins are eliminated thanks to tiny bubbles<\/blockquote>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/acuarios_marinos_10.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"acuarios_marinos_10\" src=\"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/acuarios_marinos_10.jpg\" width=\"214\" height=\"283\" \/><\/a>ICA has launched a new multi-function skimmer, the <strong>Dophin PS1<\/strong>, which combines the effectiveness of a <strong>skimmer<\/strong> with a simple <strong>canister filter<\/strong>. Highly recommended for small and medium-sized marine aquariums.<span style=\"font-size: 0.83em; line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0<\/span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<h5><\/h5><h5><\/h5><h5><b>Tips and recommendations<\/b><\/h5><a href=\"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/acuarios_marinos_5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"acuarios_marinos_5\" src=\"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/acuarios_marinos_5.jpg\" width=\"230\" height=\"175\" \/><\/a>To improve the effectiveness of skimmers, the aquarium should remain in permanent movement and \u201cdead spots\u201d must be avoided where there is no water current.\u00a0 To do so, <strong>water circulation pumps<\/strong> such as the Wavemakers should be installed.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>UV<\/strong> <b>lights<\/b> clarify the water, reducing algae, bacteria, fungi and protozoa.Another fundamental element of a marine aquarium is a UV light to eliminate waterborne pathogens (germicide effect) and suspended algae (anti-algae effect).\u00a0 We recommend the simple AAUV3W-9W and 24W model lights.&nbsp;Intense lighting is very important and, therefore, we recommend you use at least 2 strips of <strong>LED<\/strong> lighting, one of which should be <strong>blue<\/strong> because it encourages coral and invertebrate growth.<h5><a href=\"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/acuarios_marinos_3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"acuarios_marinos_3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.icanews.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/acuarios_marinos_3.jpg\" width=\"398\" height=\"156\" \/><\/a><\/h5><pre>Dry Live Rock.<\/pre><pre>Live rock are exoskeletons of coral reef, with a very porous structure that is colonised by different beneficial bacteria.\u00a0 A type of heterotrophic bacteria is generated inside it, where there is a greater presence of oxygen and a very slow flow of water, that is capable of consuming the nitrate (NO3-).\u00a0The use of live rock in aquariums has become popular thanks to the Berlin system in which 1\/3 of the volume of the aquarium in live rock is recommended, giving excellent filtration results and exceptional decoration.\u00a0 The problem is the extremely high price of this live rock, given its maintenance and expensive transportation.\u00a0 ICA has \u201cdry coral rock\u201d that will soon be converted into live rock in your aquariums and perform the same function.<\/pre>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enchanting beauty: Damselfish, butterflyfish, corals, invertebrates&#8230; Give life to an explosion of colour and beauty and will enthral you right from the word go.You no longer have to be an expert or have a large aquarium to keep a marine aquarium.\u00a0 Thanks to the major advances over recent years, there has been a significant increase [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fishkeeping","tag-hot"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icanews.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}