Benthic sharks with urchins?

[LadAShark]

Wouldnt large reactors cut down the need for as many water changes. And 10percent bi weekly, granted you have a great clean up crew for detrius is 100galx2 per month... nitrates will be biggest factor which arent so toxic to fish. And having the nutrient eating plants in the sump and live rock. Accompanying reactors should keep water decent i suppose... would an algae scrubber maybe also further the reduction of you water changes? Also powerheads dusting the bed and rock to keep detrius out.

Exactly what I was planning.

Besides, I'm going to buy quite a few powerful detritivores. Particularly queen/milk conches and some cowries. They will be getting rid of the detritus quite quickly, thus nitrates won't explode. If those guys can't do it, I'll get a warm water horseshoe crab, as horseshoe crabs are tolerant of nitrate, and use it as my detritivore.

From there, after reducing the need for water changes that much, I can just bring in a huge amount of seawater every 6 months. 200 gallons a month? No problem, bring home 1200 gallons. And I can even eliminate the need for RO/DI by making up for the water evaporation using a drip irrigation system connected directly to my water supply, dripping through granular activated carbon and then into my tank.

This might actually work out really great!

 

[meir]

Yeah I am planning on making something like this with a whole lot of extremely porous rock. I'll put some live rock in there and turn it all into live rock. I'm actually considering using a barrel to do this, although that's problematic in many ways, so I might just stick to plastic.


Yeah, I was pretty much aware of this. I'm one of those people who get worried about the off chances. Like it might not kill me getting stung, but what if a fish gets stung? So if I get a ray, I will be debarbing it.



That's excellent news. And since I'm not planning to get horn sharks (which are literally made to eat urchins) then I can grab a few urchins. I know that shark skin is tough, but I also know that it's sensitive and can grt scratched by thing that wouldn't bother us :/



Yeah caveways are the plan. I was already planning to have a 200-300 gallon sump filled with macroalgae and porous live rock. I might, however, just get some large barrels and stack some of those extremely porous rocks vertically (barrels can get tall, tanks can't).

Rodi is not that much of a problem. Salt? I'll just buy it bulk... Or so I say.

I'm not really sure if it will require a 300 gallon water change. Maybe if it was once a month it might require that much. Do remember that that's a 30% water change. Anyway, if I really do need monthly water changes of that size: I can get some sort of drip irrigation system going that slowly pumps out old saltwater at a rate 6.6-10 gallons per day while refilling it with an equivalent amount of premixed saltwater.

Plus, electricity is cheap where I live (yay Oregon!), so I'm not really worried about my overall monthly costs running that high. Including energy costs, I'm looking at around $75 monthly, actually. Cheaper than the phone bill lol. The highest I could actually end up paying monthly if I am horribly inefficient is $200 a month. Of course, this isn't taking into account the fish food, though I don't think that will take up that much if I shop right.

Who needs their yearly $1000-$2400 dollar vacation anyways? Haha.

By barrels u mean wooden or metal? If I were you I'd stick to glass or plastic it won't corrode and leek lethal chemicals or rotten wood into the DT

 

[LadAShark]

By barrels u mean wooden or metal? If I were you I'd stick to glass or plastic it won't corrode and leek lethal chemicals or rotten wood into the DT

Eh, whichever's cheapest and most efficient. I'm not looking for beauty in this case. Even wood and metal barrels could be waterproofed and made to not corrode or leak chemicals if you coat them right.

 

[meir]

I'd still stick with plastic or glass

 

[BoneXriffic]

Not saying to use wood lol but as for water. I know salt water is corrossive. But theres still water mains in an adjacent city to me that are wooden and near 200plus years old in service. They dont leach and at there age have handles 60plus psi for longer than class pvc and and as for steal... well no...ductile iron yes.And depending on type of plant that water can be equally corrosive lol. If it was a visible barel wood would make for cool asthetics and a properly treated wood barrel will last forever. Hense whiskey stored in wood barrels.

 

[LadAShark]

I'd still stick with plastic or glass

Meh. I'll still stick with whatever's most efficient ;P

Not saying to use wood lol but as for water. I know salt water is corrossive. But theres still water mains in an adjacent city to me that are wooden and near 200plus years old in service. They dont leach and at there age have handles 60plus psi for longer than class pvc and and as for steal... well no...ductile iron yes.And depending on type of plant that water can be equally corrosive lol. If it was a visible barel wood would make for cool asthetics and a properly treated wood barrel will last forever. Hense whiskey stored in wood barrels.

Yeah. Exactly.

 

[meir]

Meh. I'll still stick with whatever's most efficient ;P

Yeah. Exactly.

I'm just saying you don't want to take a chance but it's ur tank ur decision

 

[BoneXriffic]

I'm just saying you don't want to take a chance but it's ur tank ur decision

Do some research on wooden barrels and watermains. I trust it more than alot of materials if done right, especially more than glass as its stonger.. but your a bit youger and wood for water distribution and storage is an age old method. You might find it interesting

 

[meir]

Maybe but still plastic doesn't rot it's not organic

 

[LadAShark]

I'm just saying you don't want to take a chance but it's ur tank ur decision

Don't worry, I won't be taking chances

Do some research on wooden barrels and watermains. I trust it more than alot of materials if done right, especially more than glass as its stonger.. but your a bit youger and wood for water distribution and storage is an age old method. You might find it interesting

Will do, not sure if wood is the cheapest or the best way to go about it, but I definitely think it's worth trying. And I am aware of the capabilities of wood.

Maybe but still plastic doesn't rot it's not organic

(1) Yes it is organic. It's made from crude oil, which is basically just dead organisms from a very long time ago.
(2) it might not rot, but many plastics are known to leach into water, especially warm or hot water. You can't just grab any plastic and expect it to not poison your fish. It needs to be food grade.

 

[BoneXriffic]

Maybe but still plastic doesn't rot it's not organic

Well 200yr old water mains....his kids kids probally wont outlast a well constructed wood design.

@LadAShark my comment to do research was at meir sorry for the confusion. It is expensive but could be beautiful if done right

 

[meir]

Don't worry, I won't be taking chances

Will do, not sure if wood is the cheapest or the best way to go about it, but I definitely think it's worth trying. And I am aware of the capabilities of wood.

(1) Yes it is organic. It's made from crude oil, which is basically just dead organisms from a very long time ago.
(2) it might not rot, but many plastics are known to leach into water, especially warm or hot water. You can't just grab any plastic and expect it to not poison your fish. It needs to be food grade.

U know what I meant so ok get food grade

 

[LadAShark]

Well 200yr old water mains....his kids kids probally wont outlast a well constructed wood design.

@LadAShark my comment to do research was at meir sorry for the confusion. It is expensive but could be beautiful if done right

I like to think of myself as young as well ;P

Beauty eh? Guess I might have to pass up on it :/
Here's the goal: one barrel will be a live rock/bacteria set. Coat it with concrete, fill it with porous rock, add some live rock to get it started.
Another similar container will instead contian sheets and sheets of algae to form an algae scrubber.
I have also heard cleaner clams are pretty good filter feeders (though they don't last more than a year). Should I consider using them?

 

[LadAShark]

U know what I meant so ok get food grade

Yeah I'd have to do that.

Hmmm, I don't know where I could find what I need...

 

[meir]

Yeah I'd have to do that.

Hmmm, I don't know where I could find what I need...

Craig's list u cld find it for cheap

 

[LadAShark]

Craig's list u cld find it for cheap

Probably yep. I'll just wait for something cheap I can use on craiglist.

 

[AlexG]

If you are worried about nitrates just make a good denitrification filter or buy a denitrification reactor. Live rock is not needed for all denitrification. The filter is easy o make supply surface area and an environment for anaerobic bacteria. Nitrates will be controlled by the anerobic bacteria. I would make it a multi stage filter so parts of the filter can be cleaned from time to time. I am planning to make this for my 1600 fallon build. Get hdpe containers for sumps or water storage as the are strong and a normally made to a food grade standard.

 

[LadAShark]

If you are worried about nitrates just make a good denitrification filter or buy a denitrification reactor. Live rock is not needed for all denitrification. The filter is easy o make supply surface area and an environment for anaerobic bacteria. Nitrates will be controlled by the anerobic bacteria. I would make it a multi stage filter so parts of the filter can be cleaned from time to time. I am planning to make this for my 1600 fallon build. Get hdpe containers for sumps or water storage as the are strong and a normally made to a food grade standard.

Yeah this is the conclusion I came to as well. That's what the whole barrel discussion was about, I was thinking of a cheap setup to turn a bunch of concrete/porous rock into liverock in an outside barrel, though I'd probably be better off getting something like a bead filter.

I'm gonna invest in building an algae turf scrubber of some sort, just don't know what it will be like. Would be cool if I could make a pressurized box that allowed water to flow up and down several layers of algae suroounded by lots and lots of light and lots and lots of reflective surfaces. I'll be maily relying on it, and (if that's not enough) a bead filter and a protein skimmer as back up. And a good well armored cuc will help as well.

With what I am planning I might actually be going way overkill.

 

[AlexG]

Using algae is fine but I would look more towards a passive denitrification filter as there is no need to over complicate the process. I am going to use a 150gallon tank for my refuge filled with macro algae. If that's not enough the denitrification filter will be added.

 

[meir]

If you are worried about nitrates just make a good denitrification filter or buy a denitrification reactor. Live rock is not needed for all denitrification. The filter is easy o make supply surface area and an environment for anaerobic bacteria. Nitrates will be controlled by the anerobic bacteria. I would make it a multi stage filter so parts of the filter can be cleaned from time to time. I am planning to make this for my 1600 fallon build. Get hdpe containers for sumps or water storage as the are strong and a normally made to a food grade standard.

Or u don't have to spend that much money and get a 100 gal plastic bin[emoji2]