A visit to Sustainable Aquatics

The words, "Tennessee" and "Coral Reef" are not often heard together, but perhaps they should be. Nestled in an industrial section of Jefferson City, Tennessee, Sustainable Aquatics is growing clownfish -- and its business.

Ultimate Aquariums was invited for a tour of the facility by Sustainable Aquatics CEO John Carberry. His son Matt -- a marine biologist and expert on breeding clownfish and other species gave us a tour. While we (Son, Ben Carlin and I) were there, we also had to buy some fish to bring back to Ultimate Aquariums.

Sustainable Aquatics is the perfect name for this operation. The idea is pretty simple -- reduce pressure on the world's coral reefs by growing some of the most popular species in captivity.

I can tell you as a retailer that clownfish (Nemo's) are the most popular fish in the hobby. Everybody with an aquarium wants at least one clownfish. No need to get into all the various varieties here -- but there are many, and they all do well in aquariums. Luckily, they are among the easiest fish to breed and grow in captivity, (though few do it) and the Carberry's have perfected the art.


Inside a rock-solid industrial building -- "It used to be a bomb shelter," Matt explains as he leads us on a tour, is room after room after room of aquariums. Some have breeding pairs of fish (up to 20 years old), some have fry, some have full grown fish ready for market, and most have fish somewhere in between. It's an amazing sight.

In another building across the parking lot, Carberry showed us another, newer effort at sustainability. Here, juvenile, wild-caught fish are raised in captivity and trained to eat the same foods they will be fed in aquariums. Like the captive bred fish, it means a much higher survivability rate for the fish. And there's more.

"Alot of these fish would be captured and left on the beach to die," explained Matt of the super small yellow tangs, hippo tangs, and other species he's now accepting. "Most wholesalers won't take them because they either won't sell or won't survive."

The Carberry's thinking goes something like this: Young fish are more likely to perish in the wild from natural causes -- so the practice focuses on fish that are not likely to survive in the wild as opposed to established, adult fish. Because of the techniques used in the warehouse, the fish have a higher survival rate than they would in a more typical wholesale environment. Then, because they are held -- often times for months -- while they grow and become stronger, the fish have a much better chance of living, once they make it to a home aquarium. Plus, they are already accustomed to eating prepared foods. Sustainable indeed.

Beyond the science -- and there's a LOT of science including sophisticated filtration, proprietary grow out and feeding systems, and a zen like adherence to protocols which have created a "disease free facility" -- Ben and I noticed that these guys really like fish.

For instance there are aquariums in every office -- just so they can watch -- you know when they are not working on the stock. They even have a man-made lagoon which is full of unique fish including a trumpet fish that sticks it's snout out of the water wanting a treat. (Usually a deformed baby clownfish). "We all love this lagoon. It gives us a place to come watch the other fish in a more natural environment," Said Matt.

On this trip we picked up a large selection of yellow and blue tangs, but also 4 Rainford's gobies, which have been reared on commercial foods, and several other species which typically are given a poor chance at survival in a home tank. It feels good to have a chance to offer some of these species for sale knowing they have a much better chance at survival.

Thanks to Matt for the tour and the effort. He's supplying fish to most of the nation and Puerto Rico, and says demand is growing.

We are pleased to see what Sustainable Aquatics is doing, and to offer their products for sale at Ultimate Aquariums.

Click here to see cool :35 video of the unique way juvenile clownfish school in a tight ball.

Progress on the 120 Reef

The next time you plan to switch to a larger aquarium, read this first. You might change your mind.

In a recent post, I wrote of plans to upgrade my 72-gallon bow front to a 120-gallon reef ready tank.

I am happy to report that the switch is complete. There were times during the day on Saturday when I was not so happy. I wouldn't go all the way to un-happy, but there were lots of furrowed brows and a few extra trips to Lowes for plumbing supplies.

If you are reading this, I'll assume that you are interested in the details. If you're at a party and speaking with a non-aquarium enthusiast, the story goes something like this:

"Yeah I installed a big new aquarium today. It took me and a couple of buddies all day, and it was a total pain in the neck. I was worried because I have a lot of money tied up in the fish."
Friend -- turning away to talk to someone (anyone) else: "Gee, that's um, nice."

If you actually care about aquariums, read on.

I never counted the corals living in the bow tank... but 40-50 wouldn't be stretching it.


Fish included a sailfin tang, a sunrise dottyback, a magenta dottyback, a flame angel, a pair of clownfish, a yellow watchman goby, (which I had not seen in more than 2 months) and a green banded goby,(which I had not seen in 12 months -- more later).

Inverts included a sea cucumber, pistol shrimp, random hermit crabs, and some snails.

The switchover was to happen in the den, which has hardwood floors, and a fairly pricey oriental rug. Luckily my wife was working outside the home that day. We never really spilled anything, but it looked and smelled pretty toxic for much of the afternoon.

Job one was pulling everything out of the bow. We (myself, business partner Sam Dates and son, Ben) arranged a number of buckets, and a huge flat bin that we use for this purpose when handling customer accounts at the store. Into this we siphoned 25 or so gallons -- enough to cover the corals. We added a powerhead for flow and carefully placed the corals where they would not sting each other. Since most were attached to rocks we also needed to be careful not to crush them and to place them where we would remember the coral when it was time to re-stack in the 120.

With the corals out, we then removed the rest of the live rock to the bin. We filled several 5 gallon buckets into which we placed the wildlife. Heaters were attached to the buckets, even though room temp was 72.

Once the remaining water was siphoned into the yard, we moved the bow aside and hoisted the 120 into place on it's new stand, which I had outfitted with extra power strips, and shelving to hold the ballasts for the metal halide lights. (One of the drawbacks from the 72 stand is that there was not room for the Blue Wave ballasts.

We moved some of the live sand from the bow into the 120, but most of it went to the basement with the old tank which will be reconditioned for sale at the store.

With the bow out of the way, it was time to take care of the plumbing. The tank has dual overflows, so we needed to construct drain systems to the sump. This was accomplished with ribbed hoses not unlike those for a swimming pool.

The water drains into a 20 gallon sump, where it is filtered by a filter sock, and an Octopus skimmer, and pumped back to the tank by a Mag-5 pump. (more later)

Just to make the plumbing interesting, we plumbed in a 15 watt UV filter to the right hand return, and installed a flow valve on the left. This sounds pretty matter of fact, but the 3/4" interior diameter hose likes to keep its coiled shape, and it gave Ben (my son the aquarium installer) fits. After about two hours of wrestling with it in tight spaces, he had it just right.

We added the ballasts to the nifty shelving and plugged them in. (Also a pain in tight spaces)

We then stacked the live rock on the bare glass bottom. It sounds scary but it's quite safe, and better than having the stack toppled later by burrowing critters.

The dicey part comes when replacing the rock with attached corals, and here's why:

The water from the bow was mostly in the bin with the corals. Take the water out and the corals are high and dry. Leave it in and we had to use our new water from the store -- which is great except it was 30 degrees outside and the van (with the water tank in it) had been in the driveway all day. I had visions of freezing my beloved 40-50 corals.

Alas, we put in about 45 gallons of the cold water and most of the rest of the warm water, cranked up three heaters and hoped for the best. (The fish stayed in temp controlled buckets.)

Ben waited a while for the house and the heaters to do their thing, and then started stacking the rest of the rock with the corals on it. (Next blog -- the effect we are seeking with the rock work)

Of course the water was getting cloudy by this time, but Ben is truly a master at this. Low light corals went low in the tank. High light on top, pretty corals in plain view lesser corals off in the distance.

Just as we were getting close to being finished, I had to leave to take Mary to a Valentine's Ball. Imagine all that work and not getting to see the tank take shape! Ben text-ed pictures to the ball so at least I could get a feel for it. (Whew.)

The cold water had little effect on the corals. Two days later and most are back to normal.

Ben floated the fish in bags, though the sailfin and the flame angel went to a 55 gallon in the basement.

When I got home, still in my tux, I released the fish and added the aragonite substrate.

It's still a work in progress, but the 120 is up and running.

Thanks for listening.

New 120 Gallon Aquarium

So many options, so much anxiety.

It’s time to take a step up in the reef world. My personal tank is about to go from my long loved 72-bow front (pictured) to a 120-gallon reef ready beauty.

Choosing the tank was easy. I have four feet of wall space so tanks that are six feet long won’t work – no 125 or 180. I didn’t want one too deep – no 150. Besides, I like the look of the 120.

Not so easy will be what to put in the tank. There are soooo many options! If you’ve been watching developments on the Ultimate Aquariums YouTube Channel, you may have seen my recent podcasts on a planted 29-gallon freshwater tank. There is a significant part of me that wants to swap out my actinic lights for daylight bulbs (6700 K) and watch the plants grow while small fish swim in schools through this huge space. Can you imagine a school of 40 cardinal tetras, and a similar sized group of rummy noses swimming amongst carefully planned greenery and driftwood, while dwarf cichlids, say German rams or apistogrammas, darted in and out of the rock work?

Alas, the guys at the shop would never have it. Nothing will do but a full-on living reef. My recent re-found fascination with plants has been described as “backsliding.” And I must admit, while the planted tank is tempting, the 120 reef is what I have always wanted to do.

Be that as it may, there are still multiple options: Do I do an “SPS” (small polyp stony) tank? What about a beautiful “LPS” (large polyp stony) tank with some large leathers? (Like our very popular 180 gallon display tank in the store.)

More sophisticated, but less popular options are detailed in a book given to me by Jeff Turner of Reef Aquaria Designs, entitled Reef Secrets. Authors Alf Jacob Nilsen and Svein A. Fossa, describe unique options such as:
• “Beach Zone” with mangrove roots, sponges and fish and invertebrates that inhabit them.
• “Seagrass” option showing the, “shallow fringes of the coral reef community.”
• Or the “Reef Gorge” biotope, which caters to deep water inhabitants;
• “Rubble Zone” which calls for a single large rock with smaller rocks around it. All of the corals would grow from the large rock as a unique focal point
• “Cave” option for low light corals and other unique crabs and inverts.
• “Pizza Anemone” biotope with 2-3 of these anemones, porcelain crabs, anemone shrimp, sexy shrimp and domino damsels.

Any one of these options would be great. Each would provide its own challenges and rewards, and have the added benefit of being something few other people would have.

Right now the tank is empty. I have made no decisions beyond the background color, which will be black. (as opposed to blue.) The second coat of paint will go on today.

Plenty of time to ponder.

The new lame website

Promises promises.
When one of the best web designers in the region promises to build you a website at no cost, that's an exciting day. But when it's at no cost, you are powerless to push for that day to come. It never did.

So for 6 months Ultimate Aquariums had no website. We launched a Facebook Fan page, which has done incredibly well and served as a great way to communicate with our customers. It will continue to do so.

In the meantime, I learned the value of Google sites, and created a new website for the business. I am a bit of a writer, photographer, video producer and social media junkie. My REAL job is public relations executive, and small business owner. I really don't have any business "designing" websites.

But I did, and if you are reading this you likely passed through. (Thanks) If you are like me, you found it to be a place that showed how Ultimate Aquariums is a true aquarium specialty store offering a wide array of stuff you really can't find anywhere else around here. That goes for the advice that comes from our dedicated staff too.

If you are like my son, the college student, who also works in the store -- you thought the website was, "lame" or as a friend of mine used to say, "Bo-Bo."

So be it. We have a Bo-Bo website. No fancy cross faded pictures, no depth to the style of the text, and a very basic design.

Over time, however it will be more about the content than the Bo-Bo-ness. It will be your portal to our YouTube page where we do better than average videos, to our Facebook Fan page where customers meet to talk about their tanks, and yes, this -- The Ultimate Blog.

So welcome to the blog, welcome to the website, and welcome to Ultimate Aquariums. The website design may be "lame" but I promise the content won't be.