AEFW experiments and study

[Lacktaters]

I enjoyed following the "starvation experiment." Still laying eggs even after more than a week without food...very interesting! I've heard the eggs can take as long as six weeks to hatch. I'm curious to see what your findings are.

 

[tektite]

I'll soon start running a hatch time experiment, been concentrating on finishing up the separate AEFW system. Lot of equipment to get and clean, stands to build, etc. Been fun

 

[tektite]

Long time no post

Been working a lot on getting my dedicated AEFW system up and running. Had to build and paint a couple aquarium stands, clean a lot of old used equipment, wire up some new plugs to a dedicated circuit, program the Apex, plumb everything together, make frag racks, etc. Plus as part of the system has MH and a fan across the top of the tank, I had to do what I've been putting off in the fishroom for a few years, get a dehumidifier and install an exhaust vent - major PITA, with having to put a hole in the house wall, install a variable speed controller, put in the vent/box in the ceiling, and work in the crawlspace between floors (in a 12” x 14” opening in the trusses) to install the outside cap, hang the inline fan, run and tape duct, and run a bunch of wires back and forth to hook the fan up to an open circuit and the speed controller. So...hopefully that explains my temporary absence on this thread

Now the system is up and running! Moved a bunch of frags over from my main tank this past week, fragged out some of the colonies I bought, and am slowly moving them over too. Some are so nice its very hard to do that, one's coloring up to an awesome light blue...This next week I will be deliberately infesting each frag with some adult AEFW...I feel like I'm committing some sort of cardinal reef sin LOL!

Once my AEFW colony is going strong, laying eggs, I will have more than enough young and adult AEFW and eggs to perform many more of the experiments on my list. Hopefully if we can get our Microryza funding in time Dr. Kate Rawlinson and I will also be able to delve much deeper into the scientific side of the AEFW than I will be able to do on my own.

I will update this thread with new information as soon as I begin running new experiments. Stay tuned!

 

[tektite]

Stand building, I recommend NOT doing this in your living room...






Full system together. Consists of a 57 illuminata with the stand I just built for it, 75g sump, several 20 gallons (not currently running, for future experiments), chiller, dual 250w MH + T5 supplement fixture, JBJ ATO, Apex controller with 2 EB8's, mag 12 running both the return and chiller, K3 for the sump and WP40 for the 57 tank:


Sump area, chiller under the 57:


One of the 20 gallons to be used later, the tank behind the 57 is a 20 gallon ATO reservoir:


I was going to put another 20 gallon tank up above here, but it turned out to be a better place for equipment like an EB8, the MH ballasts, ATO controller, WP40 controller, temp control fans:


Apex under the 57, with the second EB8. Power cords held in place with electrical conduit holders:

 

[tektite]

57 illuminata with dual 250w MH, 4 36w T5 bulbs, and LED moonlights:


Some frags moved over (yes, some non-SPS for the moment...)


Frag racks I made for the tank, most holes are 1/2” but drilled some 3/4” for the square or larger bore frag plugs:




In tank before the old MH bulbs grew some diatoms:




Some of the colonies for the AEFW system:

 

[tektite]

Just because I wanted to play with the viewer I just built specifically for my macro lens + top down pics

 

[MJC]

Following and thank you

 

[Scoly]

Following along on this, great work

 

[Diesel]

Are these AEFW eggs?

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ge...ropora-acro-eating-flatworms-please-help.html

 

[Dowtish]

Are these AEFW eggs?

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ge...ropora-acro-eating-flatworms-please-help.html

Yes they are.

 

[tektite]

Yes, that's them.

 

[charliethetuna]

Just donated ...great cause I hate those worms they wiped out 3/4 of my sps in my old system

 

[charliethetuna]

Congrats they hit the goal last night there at $5146 ..the study will take place now .... ...

 

[reefwiser]

Yoo hoo thank everyone for donating to give the hobby a Christmas gift this year.

 

[Diesel]

I knew you girls would reach the goal.
Congrats and Merry Christmas.

 

[tektite]

The AEFW system is doing great so far! The acros are healing up from being fragged and starting to encrust already. I have most of the 22 colonies I purchased for the system fragged and moved over to it from my main system. Moved a few adult AEFW over as well on some of the frags, though most of my AEFW colony is still in my main reef tank. In a week or so as the newly moved corals are settled into their new tank I'll move more AEFW over and get a good colony going in preparation for Dr. Rawlinson's visit and our in-depth experiments.

I put a bunch of adults into a ziplock bag today, I anticipate several egg clusters to be laid on the plastic tonight. The ziplock will let me remove them easily from the tank for viewing under my microscope. I'll be watching the clusters to see how long it takes them to develop and hatch.

AEFW getting settled in to the new system:

 

[MattL22]

...

 

[MattL22]

Not sure if u mentioned or not but have u come across more then 1 type of aefw?
I'm wondering if there is aefw that don't give u those identifiable circular bite marks ?

 

[tektite]

I haven't come across any to make me think there's a second species of them out there yet. As far as the bite marks, that sometimes depends on the coral. There are some acro species that don't seem to show the bite marks in my tank though they are hosting AEFW that are eating them, and healthier/faster growing acros also tend to not show bite marks much.