25 year old 75G Jaubert Plenum on top with 30G EcoSystem Mud/Macro

[Subsea]

Just added 1000ml of very dark Tetraselmis phytoplankton to 100G system.

I have moved Sea Apple and most of all sponges from 120G while I experiment with peroxide treatment.

Since Orange Tree Sponge has been in this tank, a slight dusting of algae begin to accumulate. Now, there are chunk bites where Hippo & Sailfin Blennie helped themselves to the banquet. Sponge is bright and healthy looking. They saved me the toothbrush manicure required on my part. Yes to beneficial janitors.

I will take more tank pictures later when phyto clears.

Initially used led tape to power phyto generator but heat gain pushed temperature into 90 degrees. Now I got a rigid grow light with eggcrate spacer to vent heat.

 

[Subsea]

90 minutes after phyto dose. It will get much clearer.

Sea Apple and Gorgonions are very happy.

 

[DxMarinefish]

All looking good. I always look forward to your updates.

 

[vlangel]

Looks like the RFA are pretty happy too!

 

[Subsea]

Looks like the RFA are pretty happy too!

I really like this tank. Unfortunately, I have an epidemic overpopulation of Asterina Starfishes in both of my display tanks. While they have their place in ecosystems, because I desire ornamental macro in my display they are undesirable.

 

[DxMarinefish]

I really like this tank. Unfortunately, I have an epidemic overpopulation of Asterina Starfishes in both of my display tanks. While they have their place in ecosystems, because I desire ornamental macro in my display they are undesirable.

How do you intend to tackle this epidemic?

 

[Subsea]

How do you intend to tackle this epidemic?

These small starfish are problematic for display of ornamental macro. They eat biofilm, which is what a snail does, but they are more aggressive than snails and they expose macro flesh, which is then attached by pathogens. In the case of Red Macro, iridescent orange indicates dying macro.

In the case of my 75G tank, because it is easy to get to, I am that janitor that removes them manually. In the case of 120G, I will get a Harlequin Shrimp. I am told a Bumblebee Shrimp will also eat Asterina Starfish.

 

[Paul B]

Hello Sub my friend. I have enough of those starfish to be able to call it the Andromeda Galaxy.

I like them and wish they would eat my sponge as it is invasive and is inching up almost to my bed.

 

[vlangel]

I have some asterinas but for some reason they have never gotten over populated so my macros are safe for the moment. I have syphoned them out during water changes in the past in former tanks.

 

[Subsea]

@Paul B

One man’s invasion is another man’s prize. I have the Andromeda Galaxy in my tank and you have invasive sponges in bed. I think we should reevaluate what’s in our tanks.

Last time we chatted, before sunup you walked to the beach through the snow. On that same day, I had hardy red water lilies blooming in my small pound. Today, everything is frozen. I suspect you will be getting our last winter storm tomorrow.

 

[vlangel]

Ha ha, I like "one man's invasion is another man's prize!". Good quote Patrick and so true when it comes to our fish tanks.

 

[Paul B]

Sub, I came back a little while ago from walking through our ice filled roads. I love it.

 

[Subsea]

Sub, I came back a little while ago from walking through our ice filled roads. I love it.

Here in Austin, we are not accustomed to that stuff. For a short time, I worked in the Arctic. In short doses, it’s OK. However, I must admit, there is a beauty to fresh fallen snow

 

[Subsea]

Hippo Tang in this tank makes ornamental macro difficult. At present, I have a Red Gracilaria from GulfCoast EcoSystems that the blue tang does not eat. I think it is G Cervicornis. Note burgundy color on bottom and red coloration closer to the light.

Because I want to grow ornamental macros, I am cycling a 30G to use as a macro mixed garden lagoon with mollies as the only fish.

 

[vlangel]

Beautiful Patrick, I love the brilliant burgundy contrasting with the green from gsp.

 

[Subsea]

I was just rereading my tank thread on another forum after converting Jaubert Plenum to reverse flow undergravel filter. I was asked about micro fauna & fana with respect to feeding Sea Apples. It was a long answer:



Thank you for that question. I know so much more now than then about biofiltration and sustainable reef keeping methods. Yes to micro fauna and fana. I spent 6 months developing the substrate micro inhabitants before adding the first carnivore fish. Include plankton & bio-plankton in with food webs. Bacteria are the microbial overlords in our ecosystem we call a reef tank.

On the natural reef, the reason inorganic nutrients read scarce in bulk water is because bacteria consume it, then move it up the food chain as a sustainable food source. I have been skimmerless for 35 years, because I choose to allow the coral holobiont to “conduct the orchestra”.
Patrick


As I reviewed history of this tank, I realized this tank is 1/4 century old. Longer than the time span between
World War 1 & World War 2

I guess that makes me an “old dude”. For me, the beauty of the reef is an expression of Creation. Each of us, is a master sculpture. I choose the route of “Master Gardener”. Nuisance weeds and good weeds (veggies & fruits) all need the same thing: food & space. For food, some need light and some need flow to bring food to it. The uglies have had numerous billions of years to develope strategies to survive.

Let’s do a case study on Cynobacteria.
I just did a 20G lagoon tank breakdown on a newly set up tank at a church multi use facility. Because of other time demands, the tank floundered two months after set up. Cynobacteria covered tissue of green sinularia and green star polyps and literally dissolved organic biomass. Because tank was 20 miles away, I did not see the issue until too late. Visitors at morning Bible Study were admiring the dark red mat contrasting the vivid green of the sinularia. After everyone was gone, I pulled out tooth brush to do “damage control”. When I brushed off the burgundy slime, I saw craters missing inside main stem of this leather coral. The stench was smelled by a friend from 20’ away.

Some years ago, Randy Holmes Farley article on survival techniques of Cynobacteria with respect to phosphate scavenging of inorganic phosphate that was deposited as calcium phosphate, caught my attention. This calcium phosphate is normally associated with limewater addition used in reefkeeping “alkalinity management”. In geologic time of early earth history, athmosphere was a combination of methane & sulfur gases. Cynobacteria used survival techniques to adapt to changing environments and converted those hostile environments to oxygen rich.



Because my groundwater comes in at
950 TDS, all of the evaporation makeup is limewater from 1000’ down in a subterranean basin called the Edwards Aquafuer. Well is in a fault zone between both Edwards & Trinity Aquifier which covers 2/3 of ”Texas Hill Country”. Because Texas was a shallow marine sea, silicates are a part of my water input to all of thousands of gallons I maintain.

Fourteen months ago, I incorporated sponge filtration as the third leg of biofiltration in my nutrient management methods: bacteria, algae and sponges.
I replaced macro with cryptic sponge. Because sponges consume DOC and produce DIC & Marine Snow, both of which are food for coral. It’s a nutrient food web, that feeds itself. I have not used granulated active carbon in 16 months on this 100G system.

Food webs are a complex soup. I have read a 6 Part series on Advanced Aquaria by Dana Riddle on “Coral Nutrion”. My favorite sentence in the series is “Photosynthesis is the connection between the inorganic and organic world”.

BRS TV Video release on Friday two weeks ago was on “coral nutrition”. Serious inquires only. This stuff is complicated and for me, reinforces natural biofiltration in my Laissez Faire reef keeping.

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Laissez last bonne temps roulee,

 

[DxMarinefish]

Great info Subsea. I just hopped over to the other forum and read some of the posts on your thread there.

I too have been focusing more on improving the requirements for more sponges. all the sponges I can see and monitor are responding well, and I can see more sponge spores developing into small colonies. My orange sponge is especially doing well.

Regarding Algae filtration, my main filtration for now is 2x waterfall ATS.

Question I have is would a wider variety of macro algae provide better filtration?

I once had a fuge in my sump but the chaeto died off as my ATS established, despite using a kessil H380 light.

On my ATS i can distinctly see GHA and Ulva.

 

[Subsea]

Better Filtration?

with respect to ATS, any fast growing macro will do. Ideally, harvesting Ulva would allow feeding herbivore fish.

Reefcleaners recommends different macro species in refugium to reflect different needs in system:

Stocking a Refugium - Reef Cleaners

A refugium is a safe place in your system. It is usually a tank that is plumbed into your main system where you keep delicate species, or try to grow copepods,

www.reefcleaners.org

Our Philosophy:

You want both consistent nutrient uptake and pulse nutrient uptake macros and saltwater plants in your tank.

Here is what I mean by those terms: (They use similar terminology in phycology by the idea is exactly the same)

Consistent Macros- Macros that need nutrient at a high levels, all the time to thrive. They filter out nutrients quickly and are effective at dealing with established nutrient problems.

Pulse Macros - Can handle periods of low nutrient levels well, and are long lived plants

Middle of the Road Macros - as you may have guessed, these macros and plants are somewhere in the middle. They grow quickly in high nutrient tanks, but can endure longer periods of low nutrition as well

 

[Subsea]

@DxMarinefish

The reason for the question mark on better filtration is “it depends on how you define better”. In my high nutrient systems, I am not focused on nutrient export. I focus on nutrient recycling because that uses organic & inorganic nutrients to grow live food for hungry mouths.

 

[DxMarinefish]

@DxMarinefish

The reason for the question mark on better filtration is “it depends on how you define better”. In my high nutrient systems, I am not focused on nutrient export. I focus on nutrient recycling because that uses organic & inorganic nutrients to grow live food for hungry mouths.

Yeah should have explained "better" or used another word.

I was trying to see whether adding additional types of macro algae will improve feeding of my tank inhabitants. I already feed tons and still get low N0 and P0 levels which I am happy about (most days).

There are more types of Macro algae in the sea than we have in our tanks. Would a larger variety make a an improved impact to our rather limited imitation of the Marine ecosystems we are trying to emulate?

Like you I focus on nutrient cycling as much as I can without N0 and P0 becoming an issue.