Any marine nano reefers here?

[SunTracker]

Yeah, harvesting sea grass in Florida is illegal.  I ordered mine from a place in New York.  

I also made my own live rock.  Developed a new technique for it, got some acclaim for it  

The downfall of my seagrass tank was the addition of crabs and snails.  They harvested the seagrass and macroalgae like miniature lumberjacks.

Used a 400watt metal halide to light my tank.

[octospider0]

Originally posted by Gunthr
Was that the 29 incher? Rittoris are the largest growing carpet anemones I believe. I wanted one for a Percula clown, but had to face facts that it would get too big for my nano reef.

no he is pretty small, about 8" in diameter.

sea grass and other macros are great.  I have a rough time getting them here due to the fact that Califorina made it illegal to sell them.  Too many people were putting it into the bays where it was taking over.  The majority of my supply (I own a fish store btw) comes from locals here growing it for me to sell.


that plant tank sounds pretty good.  what is your cO2 exchange rate and are you using any other chemicals? ie. "flourish" products?

Odi

[octospider0]

Originally posted by SunTracker
Yeah, harvesting sea grass in Florida is illegal.  I ordered mine from a place in New York.  

I also made my own live rock.  Developed a new technique for it, got some acclaim for it  

The downfall of my seagrass tank was the addition of crabs and snails.  They harvested the seagrass and macroalgae like miniature lumberjacks.

Used a 400watt metal halide to light my tank.

what was the technique you used?  Are you doing HQI halides or standard ones.  20k or 10k?

Odi

[SunTracker]

Most homemade live rock is made in sand molds.  I created some molds out of foam blocks from Walmart and was able to create some very neat designs, especially tonga branch.  Combined with baking in the oven, I could have a piece ready to cure within an hour. I used crushed oyster shell and crushed coral along with concrete mix to make the rocks.  Of course you need at least one piece of 'real' liverock in your tank to get the deadrock seeded.

I lucked out on my metal halide light.  A guy was selling about one hundred 400watt lights on ebay for $60 each.  They were from a factory.  I used a 4800k bulb and a 10k bulb, depending on how I wanted the tank to look.

[Gunthr]

Sorry Odi. I do not test for exchange rates or anything else. Hate to say so, but if it dies, it dies. My water chemistry is fairly pristine, mostlly because I do serious water changes every couple of days. What do you  think about my method?

[Rett]

Nice looking pics gunthr. Nce to see another reef tanker that is as anal about water quality as i am. I have a 75 gallon running a berlin system and find that i dont need that frequent of a water change just supplementing with RO and kalkwasser. But, it still isnt natural sea water . I talked with a few local reef keepers and they said  do a change every now and again with fresh seawater from an incoming tide. Before  doing that  check with department of heath for bacteria levels and any hazards. Usually that opens up all the corals for a feeding frenzy and makes for a nice view.

If you are interested one of my best friends runs an online reef store that has some of the wildest colors that i have ever seen since he uses mostly VHO blues and whites and has some crazy amount of watts per gallon (14.5 or so i think). anyhow check out his website at www.riptidesreef.com

[Gunthr]

Say every 10 days. Labor intensive, I know.  Still, all my creatures seem stimulated. I have some sponges who want some disolved oganics, and I balance it as much as I can. Ultimately , my sponge will die, if I can believe the literature. Still, I will try. I hope I am not contributing to a needless death.

[Gunthr]

Nice looking pics gunthr. Nce to see another reef tanker that is as anal about water quality as i am. I have a 75 gallon running a berlin system and find that i dont need that frequent of a water change just supplementing with RO and kalkwasser.

Thanks Rett. I have no protien skimmer. 75 gal is beyond my experience. I do try to keep my water pristiene, but not too, because I'm trying to keep a sponge alive. I do add kalkwasser, but have no dripper. I just top off a bit every couple of days. I do it mainly for my calicerifous plants.

Its really good to hear from serious reefers here.

Gunthr

[NUKE]

Gunthr, and Flyboy, awesome pics!

[Gunthr]

Mike; I'm close to Pompano Beach...

[octospider0]

Originally posted by SunTracker
Most homemade live rock is made in sand molds.  I created some molds out of foam blocks from Walmart and was able to create some very neat designs, especially tonga branch.  Combined with baking in the oven, I could have a piece ready to cure within an hour. I used crushed oyster shell and crushed coral along with concrete mix to make the rocks.  Of course you need at least one piece of 'real' liverock in your tank to get the deadrock seeded.

I lucked out on my metal halide light.  A guy was selling about one hundred 400watt lights on ebay for $60 each.  They were from a factory.  I used a 4800k bulb and a 10k bulb, depending on how I wanted the tank to look.

nice!  think I might give that a try.  Are you also using actinics then?  My main display reef at the store has 2 400watt 20k.   you can now get 20k bulbs for standard mogal and hqi which takes away the need for actinics.

[octospider0]

Originally posted by Gunthr
Sorry Odi. I do not test for exchange rates or anything else. Hate to say so, but if it dies, it dies. My water chemistry is fairly pristine, mostlly because I do serious water changes every couple of days. What do you  think about my method?

hehe, I learned along time ago that if somthing works as far as fish go, dont "F" with it!  With water changes that frequent.  I would say there is nothing wrong with your water quality.  Do you alot of algae growth or not enough to worry about?  If there is hardly any algae growth but your plants are growing well, I say all the power to you mate.

[octospider0]

Originally posted by Gunthr
Say every 10 days. Labor intensive, I know.  Still, all my creatures seem stimulated. I have some sponges who want some disolved oganics, and I balance it as much as I can. Ultimately , my sponge will die, if I can believe the literature. Still, I will try. I hope I am not contributing to a needless death.

what are you feeding as far as organics go?  Have you ever tried DT's phytoplankton?  Pretty good stuff although it needs to be kept refrigerated and shaken before each use.  I have a sponge that is quite possably 14 years old although cant be sure as it has been passed on 3 times and I'm the 4th.

Odi

[Flyboy]

Here fishy fishy (sorry about the size)

[Gunthr]

what are you feeding as far as organics go? Have you ever tried DT's phytoplankton? Pretty good stuff although it needs to be kept refrigerated and shaken before each use. I have a sponge that is quite possably 14 years old although cant be sure as it has been passed on 3 times and I'm the 4th.

Odi

Because of the frequent water changes and fast growing macro algae in the refugium I can feed the tank pretty freely without too much worry about the excess nutrients. Every now and then I'll get a cyanobacterial bloom, or the brown diatoms on the sand but the next water change takes care of it. I use a 8 hr/16 hr photoperiod.

I've wanted to use DT's phytoplankton, but I'm reluctant to pay the ridiculas shipping charges for cold packs and overnight shipping to keep the stuff alive.

I have a 10 gal tank I use to culture nanocholopsis - with mixed results. (The culture has to be kept sterile and uncontaminated or it crashes.) So I feed the green water when I get a good batch, and I also feed Kents Zooplankton for the filter feeders. But they seem to like the live micro algae better.


Flyboy - Thanks for shooting me down this morning.  I was going to say "Bite Me", but in light of your photo, I don't think I will