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Storms In A Reef Tank
Around the world
our ocean reefs are subjected to tropical storms. Not always in the form of
hurricanes & typhoons but storms like we experience on land. All ocean storms
have the ability to stir up the ocean floor, especially around shallow reef
areas. Reef life have developed coping mechanisms to weather such storms.
Though we may think of storms as "bad", in our reef aquariums, they can be a
very good thing.
A method I
highly recommend to help clean our tanks as well as "feed" our inverts & corals
is called "storming" a tank. This is done by gently blowing our rocks & around
our corals with a turkey baster. Blowing lifts detritus (fine dirt) out of the
rock crevices & suspends it making it more available for removal via our skimmer
etc. Storming also lifts up & suspends plankton materials deposited by tiny
microorganisms therefore making them available for our corals & inverts to feed
on. So, in a nutshell, storming our tanks helps to clean the tank as well as feed our
corals. I like to storm my tanks at least once a week & just before I do
my water change.
Please be
aware that most corals do not like to have detritus sitting on their tissue.
Storming may allow detritus to settle on your corals & cause some (like
Sinularias & Toadstools) to slough (bathe by closing, secreting a mucous then
shedding it). In some cases detritus can burn coral tissue, even making a hole
(commonly seen on Toadstool corals) so if after storming your tank you see
detritus sitting on your corals, gently blow it off them.
Lastly, do not storm your tank if you know or even suspect your tank has
cyanobacteria (commonly known as Red Slime Algae) as storming will just break up
the cyano and cause it to spread more through your tank. If you just have
nuisance algae, storming is good as it robs the algae of excess nutrient that's
feeding it.
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