DE Publishing - The CMAT Series
Captive Maintenance Advanced Techniques
Third Edition Out of Stock
Our newest book series is called CMAT or Captive Maintenance Advanced Techiques. Volume 1 is titled "The Environmental Gradient - Cryptic Sponge and Sea Squirt Filtration Models". This book completely describes how to setup a 100 % natural captive reef system that contains a bright light reef flat area along with a dark to low light cryptic habitat or zone. The two areas can work together as the photosynthetic organisms in the reef flat produce nutrients or wastes for the cryptic low light organisms. The particular filtration model described within this volume primarily utilizes living sponges and sea squirts within a low light cryptic zone. This new book contains 300 pages, has a color photo section with 24 large photos, with ~90,000 words, includes 30 tables and 30 figures. The second
edition has added 7 color photos for a total of 31. The front cover has also been updated
from one photo to 4 photos. This book also has a thick glossy cover. With the current release of the third edition of this book DE Publishing has drastically improved the quality of the book. All pages are now coated gloss paper. The resolution of the color image pages has been drastically improved. The book cover is now laminated which will not smear and will last for many years. The binding has also been drastically improved. This book now has a unique reinforced perfect binding that will last through many years of rough handling. Retail price now just $30.00 (California residents add 7.75 % Sales Tax).
The book chapters are Chapter 1 - Captive Filtration Methods; Chapter 2 - Expanding the Natural Filtration Concept; Chapter 3 - Developmental History of the EG; Chapter 4 - Introducing the Environmnetal Gradient; Chapter 5 - Cryptic Sponge and Sea Squirt Gradients; Chapter 6 - Establishing a Sponge/Sea Squirt Gradient; Chapter 7 - Operating the Sponge/Sea Squirt EG; Chapter 8 - Analyzing Organically Based Captive Systems; Chapter 9 - Analyzing the Gradient Over Time. Three of this books chapters will be interesting to all captive system maintainers regardless of which filtration philosophy they utilize. The users of the Berlin Method might be surprised to learn that their systems can be utilized as stepping stones to a 100 % natural system. The table of contents and introduction to this book are included below.
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Captive Filtration Methods
Introduction
The Naturally ‘Balanced’ System
Artificial Filtration Systems
The ‘Natures System’
Mini-Reef and ‘Berlin’ Protein Skimmer Filtration
Differences Between Natural and Captive Reefs
Natural Algal Filtration
Sediment Based Natural Filtration
Filtration Methods of the Mid to Late 1990’s
Natural Sponge and Sea Squirt Filtration
Chapter 2 - Expanding the Natural Filtration Concept
Introduction
Live Rock Cryptofauna
Shallow Water Cryptic and Semi-Cryptic Habitats
Sidewalls and Overhangs
Caves, Tunnels, Cracks and Crevices
Bottom Areas of Boulders and Rocks
Plating Corals and Thicket Colonies
Coral Atolls and Lagoons
Coastal Reef Habitats
Chapter 3 - Developmental History of the EG
Introduction
The Initial 1994-1996 Sponge Sump System
The Coral Blight of 1996
The First Skimmerless Sponge Based Filtration Aquarium
Design Testing 180 Gallon Sponge Based Systems
600 Gallon Divided Tank from Stephen Birch Aquarium
Research Phase 2 of the Environmental Gradient
Chapter 4 - Introducing the Environmental Gradient
Introduction
What is an Environmental Gradient ?
The Illumination Gradient
The Water Current Gradient
Constructing an Integrated Gradient
Establishing Gradient Boundaries or Zones
Cryptic and Exposed Nutrient Interactions
Chapter 5 - Cryptic Sponge and Sea Squirt Gradients
Introduction
Design Considerations
Sponge Scrubbers
POM Scrubbers
Vertical Integration Models
Horizontal Integration Models
Zonal Integration Models
The Difficult Task of Zoning Water Current
Semi-Exposed Suspension Feeding
Converting Berlin Reefs to Sponge/Sea Squirt EG’s
Chapter 6 - Establishing a Sponge/Sea Squirt Gradient
Introduction
System Setup Guidelines
Living Reef Rock
Exposed Zone Algal Growths
Installing Photosynthetic Corals
Increasing Sponge Density
Adding Reef Fish
Processing Herbivore Wastes
Step by Step Setup Procedure
Chapter 7 - Operating the Sponge/Sea Squirt EG
Introduction
Stabilizing Salinity and Temperature
Controlling Nitrate-Nitrogen
Chemical Replenishment
Excess Herbivore Wastes
Removing Large Dying Organisms
Promoting Growth of Reef Organisms
External Organic Food Input
Sponge Generated Detritus
Avoiding Toxic Organisms
Chapter 8 - Analyzing Organically Based Captive Systems
Introduction
Microbial Populations
Sedimentary Microbials
Primary Production
Dissolved Organics
Humic Compounds
Photosynthetic Coral Slime
Particulate Organic Matter
Herbivore Wastes
Dissolved Nutrients
Consumption by Planktonic Crustaceans
Chapter 9 - Analyzing the Gradient Over Time
Introduction
Water Transmittance or Color
Surface Film
Total Bacterial Density
Excess Supplemental Feeding
Sponge Growth
Sea Squirt Proliferation
Organism Blooms
The Lessons of Zonal EG Analysis
Epilogue
Overview
The New Zonal Approach to Captive Systems
Utilizing Zonal Gradients for Research
Appendix - Conversions and Equivalents
Glossary of Terms
Index
DE Publishing - Product Listing
The CMAT Series
The Captive Oceans Series
The Reef Building Stony Coral (RBSC) Series
Introduction
When I first began reporting to fellow aquarist that I was researching a new captive reef filtration philosophy that was 100 % natural and required almost no electrical power for the filtration devices, their most common response to me was that it sounded to good to be true. At that time, the most often utilized natural filtration method required an external aquarium were algae was maintained under artificial illumination. There were also deep sediment bed captive systems, but these are still currently being researched. The most common artificial filtration device used at the time of writing this book is the protein skimmer. These skimming devices typically require external power consumption due to the water pumps and or air pumps that power the device. The new natural filtration devices I was researching were living sponges and sea squirts. These natural organisms possess an ability to pump their own water. They do not come in fancy packages and they do not come with power cords attached to them. In fact, they derive their nutrients by filtering your system.
By the end of our first phase of research into this sponge and sea squirt filtration philosophy, (called Research Phase 1), it was obvious to me that this new filtration methodology worked extremely well and the potential it had to lower the startup costs of a modern coral reef aquarium was tremendous. How could such a low cost captive filtration method even be possible ? Since every component of the filtration method is a natural living organism, this type of self-filtration must be occurring somewhere on natural tropical reefs. That led me to research the scientific research and sure enough there were locations in nature where water exchange rates for a tropical reefs water was just as limited as it is in our captive aquariums. This meant that a completely natural filtration cycle must be occurring within these limited water exchange natural areas. The common belief that all tropical reefs experienced completely open water exchange rates was incorrect. The scientific literature also contained information as to how these cryptic animals (sponge and sea squirts) were able to filter dissolved organics, bacteria, phytoplankton and fine particulate matter from the captive systems water. A natural replacement for the protein skimmer was scientifically possible.
The utilization of these living sponges and sea squirts as cryptic filters can also provide the foundation for discovering additional new filtration techniques. It is even possible that this new Environmental Gradient filtration philosophy can even take the aquarist into entirely new realms of discovery. One of the new filtration techniques is the natural pelagic bacterial consumption that tropical sponges possess. Sponges can give the aquarist a natural method to control pelagic bacterial densities. The integration of cryptic habitats or zones into the captive reef system can also drastically increase the diversity of the captive reef. We have also discovered that there may be important organic nutrient exchanges that are occurring between different reef zones. Reef scientist should not view reef zonations as separate distinct ecosystems.
As I was writing this first volume of the CMAT series, the third volume of an incredible captive reef aquarium series was released. This of course was the third volume of The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium by Svein Fossa and Alf Jacob Nilsen. That book series represents the ultimate combining of science fact with aquarist observations. It is superbly done and represents the state of the art in ‘Berlin’ or protein skimmer based captive reef keeping. The berlin reef tanks established in 1995 and 1996 by the author of this CMAT volume can even be found photographed within the Modern Coral Reef Aquarium series (Fossa and Nilsen 2000). This CMAT book volume you are reading now, actually presents methods and techniques that can potentially take the berlin style reef keeper beyond a live rock and protein skimmer captive reef system.
The modern ‘berlin’ view of a coral reef is also the same as a casual divers view of a coral reef. I ask modern aquarist the following question. Why is it that the organisms within a reef that casual divers cannot easily observe are to be considered undesirable or difficult to keep ? For example, cryptic sponges are those sponges that inhabit the deep twilight zone that is inaccessible to casual diving observation. Yet these cryptic sponges can also be found within shallow water in areas of the reef platform that include: cracks; crevices; small caves; under plating corals; within large thicket colonies and inside internal cavities of reef rock. In fact these cryptic habitats make up at least half of the inhabitable surface structure found on and within a shallow water platform. This is not even including the vast deep twilight zone where cryptic organisms dominate. The recent volume 3 book release of The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, recommends that aquarist should not attempt to keep these deep water sponges because they are ‘heterotrophic’. Which basically means they have to get their nutrition (carbon and nitrogen) by capturing external food. The chapter on sponges within the third volume of The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium suggests that the shallow water exposed sponges which are assumed to contain blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) are recommended for the aquarist. We do recommend that some shallow water sponges with cyanobacteria can be kept within the environmental gradient system, but our primary emphasis is on the non-photosynthetic sponges. This is because the cyanobacteria sponges will meet part of their nutritional requirements from their symbiotic blue-green algae. In the Environmental Gradient reef systems we utilize sponges that completely lack photosynthetic symbionts and require external food. These cryptic organisms are integral components of organic based natural reef systems and should be integral components of captive reef systems. The more external food a sponge specimen requires, the more efficient of a natural filtration component it will be (Fossa and Nilsen 2000)(Tyree 1998).
Why are there two such drastically different views of sponges for the reef aquarium ? These Berlin style reefs were the actual type of system utilized as stepping stones into the sponge and sea squirt based filtration method. The basic reason for two such drastically different points of view is that the Modern Coral Reef Aquarium represents a casual divers point of view of tropical reef platforms. The Environmental Gradient point of view is based on reef related scientific research combined with the observations of a captive aquarist who has succeeded in keeping the sponge cryptofauna alive. This cryptofauna is the same organisms that The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium suggest are of no interest to the aquarist because they are heterotrophic (require external food). The third volume of The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium does contain the best chapter on marine worms and crustaceans that has ever appeared in aquarist literature. The ironic part of this is that many of those marine worms and crustaceans are heterotrophic, yet they are recommended for the reef aquarist. So the fact that cryptic deepwater sponges are hetereotrophic should obviously not be enough of a reason for the aquarist to ignore them. In fact it turns out that the types of dissolved organic nutrients these cryptic sponges and sea squirts consume are the same organics protein skimmers remove (Fossa and Nilsen 2000)(Tyree 1998).
Should it be assumed that the main reason an aquarist is advised to ignore the cryptic sponges is because the berlin aquarist is supposed to have a protein skimmer installed on their system ? This skimmer will be removing the food that cryptic sponges require. Could their be more to these divergent views on cryptic sponges than what we have illustrated here ? It is possible that a mindset has developed within the captive hobby that views the captive requirements of tropical reef animals from two basic points of inquiry ? One point being what type of filtration device does this organism require ? The answer in the case of the berlin system is the external protein skimming device. The other point of inquiry being what type of food do I need to give this organism ? The berlin school views the larger macro organisms that contain photosynthetic organisms as desirable since they can at least partially feed themselves. Hetereotrophic sponges are undesirable because they are non-photosynthetic and require food which berlin reefs lack (Fossa and Nilsen 2000)(Tyree 1998). After reading this volume 1 of the CMAT series, the aquarist should understand or at least perceive that another point of view is possible. That being how does this organism integrate into the tropical reef platform ? This basic viewpoint is then expanded to examining how different reef zones interact together. The reader of this book will eventually understand what we mean when we say ‘Get Zoned !’.
The first chapter of volume 1 of the CMAT series contains a generalized overview of the historical methods and techniques that have been utilized by aquarist to maintain ocean organisms within captive systems. This historical look begins with the plant and animal ‘balanced’ system concept and ends with the present day protein skimmer based ‘berlin’ methodology. We then discuss the basic differences that exist between captive and natural tropical reef systems. The modern trend back into natural filtration methods is covered with sections on natural algal filtration and sediment based natural filtration. We then summarize the captive filtration techniques that were common from the mid to late 1990’s. At the end of this first chapter we include a section that defines sponge and sea squirt filtration by contrasting it against other modern methods.
The second chapter within this book details the scientific evidence for the existence and importance of these large cryptofaunal organisms on tropical reef platforms. We begin the chapter with a section describing the live rock cryptofauna that modern reef aquarist have become familiar with. These cryptofaunal concepts are then expanded upon as we examine specific shallow water habitats and areas where cryptofauna exist on natural tropical reef platforms. The last sections of this chapter describe natural reefs areas that are semi-closed and natural areas that receive large amounts of external organic input. The existence of these areas demonstrates that natural filtration must be occurring. The third chapter within this book details the developmental history of the EG. This is a summary of procedures and techniques we utilized during Research Phase 1. The inclusion of a research overview should help the aquarist understand how the transition from a protein skimmer based reef system to a sponge and sea squirt filtration system occurred.
Chapter 4 of this book introduces the reader to the Environmental Gradient concept. The term itself is defined as well as the basic environmental gradients that occur on tropical reef platforms. By defining reef habitats or zones based on their relation across environmental parameter differences or gradients, the reef scientist and reef aquarist can make some interesting observations. For example, we have discovered that the exposed areas or exposed zones of the reef platform generate an incredible amount of organic matter. This matter can be utilized or processed by the organisms inhabiting the semi-cryptic and cryptic habitats or zones (the cryptofauna). The fifth chapter of this book contains formal descriptions and definitions for the different models of EG filtration that we have developed. We also include a section that describes some design considerations that the captive aquarist needs to be aware of before constructing EG models. This chapter also includes sections that describe techniques for establishing water current zones. Suspended organic matter consumption within the semi-cryptic and semi-exposed zones is also described. The final section within this chapter contains guidelines for converting an existing berlin aquarium to a sponge and sea squirt filtration system.
The sixth chapter within this book describes the techniques and methods aquarist can utilize to establish a working sponge and sea squirt EG filtration system. This setup process is very important and the chapter is concluded with a step by step setup procedure. Chapter 7 describes how the aquarist can maintain and operate an EG based captive reef model. There is very little maintenance involved with operating an EG system, however there are quite a few things the aquarist needs to monitor or be aware of. As this organic based captive system ages, the aquarist will need to utilize various procedures and techniques to keep it operating at peak performance. The eight chapter of this book contains scientific information that is important for analyzing the organic processes that occur within a captive reef system. We also include techniques that aquarist can utilize to monitor these organic processes. The final chapter of this book defines techniques that aquarist can use to monitor or assess long term EG system performance.
The environmental gradient system is a 100 % natural filtration method. There are no protein skimmers and no plenums. Natural organic processes are utilized such as the consumption of dissolved organics and bacteria by tropical sponges. If the aquarist wants to learn about cryptic sponges we recommend The Porifera (Living Sponges): Their Biology, Physiology and Natural Filtration Integration. That book covers all types of sponges and gives cryptic sponges the importance they deserve (Tyree 1998). This CMAT book you are reading now considers sea squirts or tunicates as cryptic and semi-cryptic organisms that inhabit the cryptic and semi-cryptic zones. Sea squirts are viewed as consumers of fine particulate matter, phytoplankton and bacteria. DE Publishing will be releasing the second volume of our Captive Oceans Series in early 2001. That book volume will cover the biology, physiology and captive maintenance of the tunicates (sea squirts). Our current experimentation and research with tunicates has demonstrated that these organisms can be integral captive reef filtration components.
Fossa, S.A. and A.J. Nilsen, (2000) The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium Volume 3. Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag. Bornheim, Germany. 448 pp.
Tyree, S., (1998) The Porifera (Living Sponges) - Their Biology, Physiology and Natural Filtration Integration. Volume 1 of the Captive Oceans Series. DE Publishing 204 pp.
