GlennF's 300 gallon DSR reef.

[syedjilani]

One of My favorite Tank...

 

[joshporksandwich]

Wow! Amazing tank.

 

[glennf]

Do you separate the unhatched cysts from the live artemias? Or just let the bottle flow? I like to strain mine out as the unopened shells can damage fish gastro tracts

Hatching Artemia eggs is pretty easy.
- First make you own hatching container!
- Take a 1 liter soda bottle and cut out the bottom.
- Place the bottle upside down into an holder (a pot for preserved vegetables)
- Fill the bottle with saltwater and add one tea spoon of artemia eggs
- Pllace a 5mm pipe connected to a air pump into the bottle
- After 24-36 hours most eggs will be hatched at 25 degrees Celcius
- Take out the air pipe and let i rest for 10 minutes, the empty egg shell will have float to the surface
- Siphon the newly hatched artemia into the tank


This food is best for (NPS) corals and small fish


My hatching is being done into the sump.
i use my "zeolite" reactor/bacteria breader to slide the hatching bottle into, this keep it standing, warm and out of the way.
Also i have everything close at salt hand water, heat and air. No more spilling on the ground and no taking up room elswhere.


This is the procedure i use to feed newly hatched artemia:
1- Get the hatching bottle out of the reactor and place it into a "stable" yoghurt cup and let is rest for 10 minutes.
2- Siphon out the artemia until i reach the empty egg shells on the surface
3- Take the bottle out for cleaning
4- Place the bottle back into the reactor
5- Fill the bottle with water right out of the sump and put 1 tea spoon full off fresh eggs into the bottle
6- Stick the air pipe into the bottle and I am ready to go!
7- Nou wait 24-36 before next feeding session....


Total 15 minutes of work (10 minutes is for waiting for the empty shells to float up)


Noting is being waisted, no rinsing or throwing away used water involved, all water is being recycled bij the system.
When i put up a new culture, i just i use water right out of the sump.
the only time i walk to the water tap is to brush out and clean the inside of the bottle before putting up a new culture.

 

[glennf]

Do you separate the unhatched cysts from the live artemias? Or just let the bottle flow? I like to strain mine out as the unopened shells can damage fish gastro tracts

often i forget to watch and the full bottle flow right into the tank, with al empty egg shells.
most adult fish have no problem with that and are smart enought to ignore them.

breading young fry is a different story....
in my breading days (2008-2010) i did separated the shells, because the intestines of young seahorses and anemoon fishes can't handle the egg shells.

movie of my seahorse breading days
[video=youtube_share;wBrBfqdQbQU]http://youtu.be/wBrBfqdQbQU[/video]
http://youtu.be/wBrBfqdQbQU

 

[glennf]

This is one awesome system Glenn...

Do you not decapsulate the aggs before you hatch them?

for now i don't.
i like to keep things simple.
To decapsulate i need to prepare them with chlorine and put them into the cooler.
much more work (chlorine treatment and rinsing), more room taken up in the fridge, more handling from frigde to culture (occassionaly rinsing the decapsulated stock)

 

[joshporksandwich]

for now i don't.
i like to keep things simple.
To decapsulate i need to prepare them with chlorine and put them into the cooler.
much more work (chlorine treatment and rinsing), more room taken up in the fridge, more handling from frigde to culture (occassionaly rinsing the decapsulated stock)

Sounds like a lot of work

 

[glennf]

Wow!! What a fantastic tank! Would love to feed like that! Keep up great work.

it could be done , only if you know what you are doing...

 

[glennf]

One of My favorite Tank...

thanks!

 

[joshporksandwich]

I make my own food for fish and corals and freeze it in ice cubes and used to add freshly hatched brine before feeding, you think it would be fine if I just add the eggs to the food and freeze?

 

[glennf]

I make my own food for fish and corals and freeze it in ice cubes and used to add freshly hatched brine before feeding, you think it would be fine if I just add the eggs to the food and freeze?

Non hatched Eggs are no good as food.

 

[joshporksandwich]

Non hatched Eggs are no good as food.

Ok thanks!

 

[MistaOrange]

for now i don't.
i like to keep things simple.
To decapsulate i need to prepare them with chlorine and put them into the cooler.
much more work (chlorine treatment and rinsing), more room taken up in the fridge, more handling from frigde to culture (occassionaly rinsing the decapsulated stock)

I find by decapsulating BBS you reduce the risk of deseases that the eggs can sometimes carry. I do it as a precaution but it also increases the hatch rate & reduces hatching time too.

Suppose each to thier own right?

 

[glennf]

I find by decapsulating BBS you reduce the risk of deseases that the eggs can sometimes carry. I do it as a precaution but it also increases the hatch rate & reduces hatching time too.

Suppose each to thier own right?[/
QUOTE]

What procedure do you use for decapsulating ?

I never close myself for new toughts.

 

[glennf]

Feeding of the food mix with a turkey baster:


the comathus

the fish

the diodogorgia

the acalycigorgia

side shot of the tank during feeding:

trying to feed menellas:

[

These picture were taken with one hand free with a samsumg SGS-4A mobile phone.
The focus is poor and color presentation don't resembles the reality.

 

[jt17]

Amazing tank you have and thank you for sharing it with us. I am curious how you maintain your water quality with this much food. How do you manage your nutrient export?

Don't try this at home ....


That is my advice for anyone who don't have full control over his water quality.
i have manage to control my water parameters in such a way i can afford to do this.
Not any tank can take this kind of feeding without consequence.

 

[glennf]

Amazing tank you have and thank you for sharing it with us. I am curious how you maintain your water quality with this much food. How do you manage your nutrient export?

Thank you! for your nice comments.

Would you believe it when i told you that i haven't done any substantial waterchanges form the start of this tank since Q4/2004 )?

To skip WC and maintain water quality to suite SPS corals, i started developing my own method at the beginning of 2012.
Now i am proud to say "I got my so long desired results".

Nutrient export is managed with my own blend iron solution and carbon source.

Beside that i use a skimmer only when neccesary and use filter wool on the intake of my main pump.

 

[MistaOrange]

I find by decapsulating BBS you reduce the risk of deseases that the eggs can sometimes carry. I do it as a precaution but it also increases the hatch rate & reduces hatching time too.

Suppose each to thier own right?[/
QUOTE]

What procedure do you use for decapsulating ?

I never close myself for new toughts.

Use cup with 1/3 of RO add a teaspoon or more of eggs let it soak for an hour or so then add 2/3 of regular unscented bleach, stir for aprox 30 secs or until the eggs turn orangey pink then pour eggs into a fine net (I use an old silk screen) rinse well until you can't smell the bleach anymore. Then add it to some tank water in a container with airstone with light over it then aprox 6-8 hrs they'll hatch. Not alot of work to reduce the risk of deseases especially for ponies & pipes...

 

[MistaOrange]

Thank you! for your nice comments.

Would you believe it when i told you that i haven't done any substantial waterchanges form the start of this tank since Q4/2004 )?

To skip WC and maintain water quality to suite SPS corals, i started developing my own method at the beginning of 2012.
Now i am proud to say "I got my so long desired results".

Nutrient export is managed with my own blend iron solution and carbon source.

Beside that i use a skimmer only when neccesary and use filter wool on the intake of my main pump.

That's pretty cool Glenn the only WC I do is when I topup & every 3 days I'll add some salt to the topup to keep my salinity in check.

 

[glennf]

That's pretty cool Glenn the only WC I do is when I topup & every 3 days I'll add some salt to the topup to keep my salinity in check.

Thanks!

So i see you are one of the few who don't do regular WC. How does it work for you and did you encounter any problems?

For this purpose and for more control over water parameters i initialy developed my own salt composition.

 

[MistaOrange]

For this purpose and for more control over water parameters i initialy developed my own salt composition.

That's cool...