Aquarium Portrait: Janka Heissinger
From: http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/cont...nka-heissinger
Aquarium Portrait: Janka Heissinger
By CORAL Editors - Posted on 21 July 2010
Extraordinary reef after two years, with thriving Goniopora and other large-polyp stony corals housed in a converted 610-L (161-gal) freshwater aquarium.
One Woman's Dream Aquarium: A Beginner's Notes
Text and Images by Janka Heissinger
I am someone who marvels at other people’s reef aquaria and who has tremendous respect for those who employ great care and technical know-how to convert their aquarium-hobby dreams into reality.
With just two years experience as a marine aquarist, a woman in a male-dominated hobby, I regard myself as being light-years behind the achievements of some professionals, and so I am all the happier when my own aquarium also finds its admirers.
From Discus tank to coral reef
When I started in the reef aquarium hobby in 2007, I had long dreamed of owning a marine aquarium. Until then I had been keeping Discus (Symphysodon spp.), which some people regard as challenging to keep. I was told that my experience with these delicate fishes would be a good basis for maintaining the inhabitants of tropical coral reefs, and so, after first consulting with my partner Robert, I began planning.
The freshwater aquarium was broken down, various books were devoured and Internet forums trawled as additional sources of information. In October 2007 I was finally ready to begin the adventure.
Acrylic aquarium
The tank from the Discus era, a very high-quality acrylic aquarium, was now to be used as my reef aquarium, and because it had only a small internal chamber with two holes drilled in the rear panel, I needed to make arrangements to house essential equipment such as the protein skimmer.
On the one hand, I don’t find hang-on protein skimmers attractive, and on the other it wasn’t possible to fit one because of the top construction of the aquarium. In the end, I chose a powerful internal protein skimmer from Tunze. Because I didn’t have a sump to accommodate the rest of the filter equipment, the external filter from my Discus days was resurrected in short order and filled with activated carbon and phosphate adsorber.
The circulation pumps and end panels are covered with faux coral rock (“Atoll Riff Deko"), and an acrylic framework was constructed to support the reef.
Reef construction
In creating a reefscape with live rock, I deviated somewhat from the norm, as my aim was to be able to alter the rockwork at a later date without tearing the whole tank apart, and to be as flexible as possible if the need to rearrange things came about. One possibility was to use racks of eggcrate, but that didn’t appeal to me. Instead I used various sizes of shelves with legs, made from clear acrylic sheet and rods, and the live rock was simply positioned loose on these.
The result is a very “airy” reef construction, which provides the fishes with numerous caves as hiding-places and plenty of swimming space.
Deep Sand Bed
The choice of bottom covering was a so-called Deep Sand Bed (DSB), a decision some told me was controversial because of the possibility of biological instability. In addition this type of system is sometimes criticized as a waste of space, as it reduces the aquarium depth available.
But I find it very useful, as on the one hand its functioning as a biological filter stabilizes the system, and on the other it produces large amounts of zooplankton that throngs in the sand bed. There is nothing more gripping – especially at night, when many of the organisms living in the substrate become active – than to sit in front of the aquarium and watch the lively activity. Much better than television!
Close-up of the deep sand bed through the front panel – it provides habitat for various creatures whose reproduction creates plankton and also functions as an effective biological filter.
In order to maintain the biological activity of the sand bed, I “inoculate” it every four weeks with bacterial culture and add fresh sand from time to time – sometimes obtained via retail channels, but by preference from our holiday trips to places like the Caribbean or the Maldives. This ensures that the diversity of species is maintained and no bacterial monoculture can form.
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