10000L Coral reef at The Maritime Museum & Aquarium Sweden

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Okey! So you found some Dendronephtya now?

Yes, I've also been thinking about cutting a couple of branches and make frags. But also want to wait a couple of weeks before I do it to avoid more stress now.

The white one, looks white to me. Don't get stingy, make sure you share on the cuttings. Don't forget your friends.LOL

 

[Sallstrom]

My thougts on the use of medicine or chemicals in a display tank with a live corals etc.

Everyday I see more and more threads about tank problems and suggestions how to solve them fast. Many of these fast solutions involve medicines or chemicals. It could be to get rid of green hair algae, Cyanobacteria, Dinoflagellates, Acropora eating flatworms etc.
We have had all of them and I’m not saying I have the best solution how to get rid of them. But even if they are a pain, I would still not treat a whole tank with a product just to get rid of one thing.

A reef tank is a small ecosystem and our goal is to make it work as well as possible. We need the bacteria for take care of waste from the animals etc, we need algae for nutrients export and food for not only fish but small crustaceans and molluscs etc and polychaetes that takes care of a lot of the food that ends up uneaten on the bottom and so on. That’s a very simplyfied image of some of the organism in our tanks.

This is the ecosystem in which we put in a medicine. Do we know it only affects the organism we want to estinguish? Or does it also affect a lot of the organisms we want in our tanks for them to work?
I don’t have the answer to that, but I would not take the risk. IMO it’s crazy to see people with amazing(and expensive) corals and tanks that take that chance. Do we know the long term effects?
So one of my points are that a medicine might kill some of the beneficial organisms in a tank, which then affects the stabiliy in the tank. And even if you get rid of one problem you might just get another one due to the big change in the biology in the tank.

Another things are the competitions for space. Many of these unwanted algae or cyano take up a part of the ecosystem(and surface area on the substrate). If they are removed in a day the space they took up will be free for other organisms to settle on. Maybe that will be Dinoflagellats, Diatoms or other opportunists? Thats another reason I prefer long term solutions with less radical changes in the ecosystem.


I just needed to write some about that. Now it feels a bit better

Hope you have a great weekend. And don’t forget to watch the World Cup today, both Brazil and Germany enters the tournament!



/ David

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

GOOOOOOOOOAL to Mexico

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I think you jinxed it for Germany

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Germany says to Mexico "Que milonga". What a dance.

 

[Sallstrom]

What a first half from Mexico! Really cool!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I had to hear it on radio. Commentator expressive. That was a match

 

[Sallstrom]

I had to hear it on radio. Commentator expressive. That was a match

It really was! Started this thread yesterday for World Cup talk
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/world-cup-2018-thread.406745/

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Whatever you say might watch it. Just might jinxed it. LOL

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I just aclimated something. Like four of them.

 

[Sallstrom]

Here's the five Scleronephtya in our experiment/frag tank. Looks like they expand more and more
Won't change any dosing, gonna let them get used to current feeding.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Here's the five Scleronephtya in our experiment/frag tank. Looks like they expand more and more
Won't change any dosing, gonna let them get used to current feeding.

The smallest specimen is it red stalk?

 

[Sallstrom]

Some pictures from today after cleaning the window. I like those reflections

And a short video for documentation of the NPS corals, the Scleronephtya in one of the frag tanks behind the scenes. As it shows in the background there's also a lot of SPS frags in the same tank. They also like the extra phytoplankton feeding

 

[Brew12]

I'm sure I should know the answer to this question, but I can't seem to find an answer. Hoping maybe you can help.

Why won't phytoplankton reproduce readily in our aquariums? Or does it, and it gets filtered out as fast as it grows?

I understand it is carbon limited in the ocean, but I'm not sure that also applies in our reef tanks.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Dr. Sallstrom has the last say. My thinking is hard to duplicate the ocean. In such a small micro world.
My 2 cents.

 

[Sallstrom]

I'm sure I should know the answer to this question, but I can't seem to find an answer. Hoping maybe you can help.

Why won't phytoplankton reproduce readily in our aquariums? Or does it, and it gets filtered out as fast as it grows?

I understand it is carbon limited in the ocean, but I'm not sure that also applies in our reef tanks.

My guess is that most of the plankton in our tanks ends up in the skimmer cup.
But I haven't had the chance to test how much plankton we actually have in our tanks. That's on my to do list. Just have to find the right researcher at the University with the right machines
I've seen a nice article in one of the online reef aquarium magazines with these kinds of tests. I'll try to find that one.

I'm not sure aquariums offers the right criterias for phytoplankton to grow and reproduce. Maybe they need larger mass of water?

/ David

 

[Brew12]

My guess is that most of the plankton in our tanks ends up in the skimmer cup.

This is my best guess as well but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure aquariums offers the right criterias for phytoplankton to grow and reproduce. Maybe they need larger mass of water?

Most set ups I have seen for growing phyto are small and use lower quality lights than our reef tanks.

 

[Sallstrom]

This is my best guess as well but I'm not sure.


Most set ups I have seen for growing phyto are small and use lower quality lights than our reef tanks.

But in those algae cultures there are often quite heavy bubbling (probably not the correct English ). So I think they need a flow that keeps them suspended in the water. In the ocean it might be a thermocline that keep them in the light zone long enough to start growing in the spring for example.
Not sure the flow or the substrate in a reef tank is the best for phytoplankton.

 

[najer]

My lfs cultures their own phyto, I add it randomly, my guess also is that a lot gets skimmed out, I add it it to the fuge so it has to go through the fuge, return chamber, 2 displays and the drains before it hits the skimmer!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Here's the five Scleronephtya in our experiment/frag tank. Looks like they expand more and more
Won't change any dosing, gonna let them get used to current feeding.

Boy who ever mentioned to install Scleronephthya on their side, sure deserves a frag or two, one day, when they thrive. He must be smart. Who ever recommend that. Just saying