Lasses Dream Build

najer · Feb 19, 2018

Sorry for posting a pic on your journal, took this about an hour ago, no waterchanges (I do do them if required), manual dosing to keep kh stable, 7 - 9, manual ro top up twice a day.
I do add bits and pieces of other thing like Iodine.
Skimmer and refugium, ... because they told me I couldn't do this?!

I don't do triton, how complicated should you make it?

DSC_0003 by sshipuk, on Flickr

Lasse · Feb 19, 2018

@najer Lovely pick

No - I do not thinks that is so very difficult if you sticks to basic biological thoughts and have some feeling for ecology.

However – my aquarium is not a low tech – it’s probably the opposite but it is build on low tech principles and favour biological processes over chemical ditto. I am not that type of person that manage manual dosing – I should probably forget to dose every second day.

This aquarium has been the most stable system I have run, and I am taken away different – not needed – equipment. I have stop dosing organic carbon, run the skimmer mostly as an gas exchanger and quit GFO.

The final goal is to run this system by itself and with only input of light, nitrogen and some food.

Sincerely Lasse

gregkn73 · Feb 20, 2018

Lasse so how do you naturally carbon dose your DSB? I red again this beginning if your thread and how you took out later siporax and reconstruct it, but can not understand how you can enhance denitrification ,without carbon dosing. Thanks in advance.

Lasse · Feb 21, 2018

@gregkn73 I´ll comeback later this evening.

Sincerely Lasse

mattgsa · Feb 26, 2018

Just finished reading all 42 pages, and I learned a lot. This is a great thread, and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing.

dricc · Feb 27, 2018

Lasse said:
@najer Back in the 80:ties me and a friend have two similar Tanganyika aquariums - same size, same fish and so on. I had problem with my fish - they did not want to survive but his fishes was doing fine and had a high reproduction rate. Another friend ask him why the fish survive in his aquarium but the same fishes died in my. His answer has been a classic answer and it was - I haven´t a singel clue why my fishes survive but if you ask Lasse - he can in detail explain why his fishes don not make it, but they still die

Sincerely Lasse

If Ignorance helps in keeping a successful aquarium.........Maybe I have a chance?

..

Lasse · Feb 28, 2018

dricc said:
If Ignorance helps in keeping a successful aquarium.........Maybe I have a chance?

..

You certainly have - but do not tell your aquarium about it

However - this guy - still a dear friend - is one of the most international known Swedish Freshwater Aquarist ever. He has given out many books in the Back to Nature serie of freshwater aquarium books.

@gregkn73 It has been a long day

. I have not forget you - I´ll try to answer this night instead

And thank you @mattgsa

Sincerely Lasse

dricc · Feb 28, 2018

Lasse said:
You certainly have - but do not tell your aquarium about it However - this guy - still a dear friend - is one of the most international known Swedish Freshwater Aquarist ever. He has given out many books in the Back to Nature serie of freshwater aquarium books.

Sincerely Lasse

Now i'm back to feeling inadequate. I enjoy reading all your posts and your helpful information.

Lasse · Feb 28, 2018

Thank you

Now I'm back to feeling inadequate

No you do not need to feel that way. The message in my friends statement was - Do not make it to complicate - good husbandry and common sense will help you very well down the road.

Sincerely Lasse

Lasse · Feb 28, 2018

@gregkn73 Here its come

A normal saying is that there is not enough of organic carbon in a reef system or that organic carbon is limited in a reef system. This is not the whole truth. Its true if you with organic carbon mean dissolved organic carbon like simple sugars, alcohols or vinegar – they are limited in a normal reef. But organic carbon in the broad sense – including organic matter – there is lot of in a reef tank – dead animals, dead algae, pop and food residues and of cause bacteria film is rich in organic matter and organic carbon.

During normal circumstances aerobic heterotroph bacteria will breakdown this products with help of oxygen. End products will be inorganic substances like CO2, PO4 and NH3/NH4 and different minerals.

However - if it will be a depletion of oxygen – anaerobic condition – the breakdown of organic matter will continue but through other pathways. Two of them is hydrolyzation and acidogenesis – by-products of these processes are among other things simple sugars and alcohols.

The idea with my DSB is to pump in water in the small space below the DSB. The water content organic matter that will be break down in the plenum and in the first layers of the sand bed. With time – there will be more and more organic matter in this low level of the sand bed and anaerobic conditions will occur. Its important that not to have any mechanical filters – the POM (particulate organic matter) shall be collected in the lower part of the sand bed – that is the mechanical filter. This process will take a long time in order to be established – I´m not sure it´s true for me yet. One way of make the process happen earlier is to pump down skimate into the plenum. Skimate is a useful product in this case. I did that in the beginning – but have not done it lately.

The goal is to establish the two first anaerobic digestion processes in the lower part of the DSB (hydrolyzation and acidogenesis) – the biproducts sugar and alcohols will be the DOC for the denitrification a little bit higher up in the sand bed.

Good theory – does it work. Yes, I know that the principles work – I have been working with a group in order to establish exactly this in recirculated fish farms and we have this to work – not only at experimental level – but also in direct production.

Does it work in my aquaria – not sure yet but give me some more years – and it will work. During time – I will have a stable aquarium with well-established bacterial fauna that will have its demand for DOC from release from algae, corals and later on – from my DSB

A backslash was that I had to dig up the DSB when I took away the Siporax. A surprise was that the sand and the siporax was clean - very clean. I want it dirty. Therefore - in time I will start to pump down my skimate again

Sincerely Lasse

Sallstrom · Mar 2, 2018

Lasse said:
@gregkn73 Here its come

A normal saying is that there is not enough of organic carbon in a reef system or that organic carbon is limited in a reef system. This is not the whole truth. Its true if you with organic carbon mean dissolved organic carbon like simple sugars, alcohols or vinegar – they are limited in a normal reef. But organic carbon in the broad sense – including organic matter – there is lot of in a reef tank – dead animals, dead algae, pop and food residues and of cause bacteria film is rich in organic matter and organic carbon.

During normal circumstances aerobic heterotroph bacteria will breakdown this products with help of oxygen. End products will be inorganic substances like CO2, PO4 and NH3/NH4 and different minerals.

However - if it will be a depletion of oxygen – anaerobic condition – the breakdown of organic matter will continue but through other pathways. Two of them is hydrolyzation and acidogenesis – by-products of these processes are among other things simple sugars and alcohols.

The idea with my DSB is to pump in water in the small space below the DSB. The water content organic matter that will be break down in the plenum and in the first layers of the sand bed. With time – there will be more and more organic matter in this low level of the sand bed and anaerobic conditions will occur. Its important that not to have any mechanical filters – the POM (particulate organic matter) shall be collected in the lower part of the sand bed – that is the mechanical filter. This process will take a long time in order to be established – I´m not sure it´s true for me yet. One way of make the process happen earlier is to pump down skimate into the plenum. Skimate is a useful product in this case. I did that in the beginning – but have not done it lately.

The goal is to establish the two first anaerobic digestion processes in the lower part of the DSB (hydrolyzation and acidogenesis) – the biproducts sugar and alcohols will be the DOC for the denitrification a little bit higher up in the sand bed.

Good theory – does it work. Yes, I know that the principles work – I have been working with a group in order to establish exactly this in recirculated fish farms and we have this to work – not only at experimental level – but also in direct production.

Does it work in my aquaria – not sure yet but give me some more years – and it will work. During time – I will have a stable aquarium with well-established bacterial fauna that will have its demand for DOC from release from algae, corals and later on – from my DSB

A backslash was that I had to dig up the DSB when I took away the Siporax. A surprise was that the sand and the siporax was clean - very clean. I want it dirty. Therefore - in time I will start to pump down my skimate again

Sincerely Lasse

Or you could instead of pumping down water pump it up from under the sand bed with a dosing pump. And let the water from the bottom go via a redox prob to be able to adjust the flow through the sand.

Because I know you like to control stuff

/ David

Lasse · Mar 3, 2018

It will be a normal UG and I will not achieve some of the things I want to. Maybe its work too in the long run but I think that at least the phosphorus cycle will be different. The water in a reverse UG will go from aerobic- anaerobic – aerobic (in the sand bed) and out to the water column as aerobic. In a normal UG – the water will go from aerobic to anaerobic through the sand bed and out to the water column as anaerobic.

One way to get a better reading of both pH and redox should be to make a compartment in the sand bed that’s contain only water and pump up sample water from that compartment (and return it).

Sincerely lasse

Lasse · Mar 5, 2018

For my fixture with far red LED (740 - 745 nm) I ordered this far red (740 - 745 nm). My plan was to mount them on a square tube (50 * 20mm) I mount them in clusters of 4 (total 28 pcs).

Probably i will run them at 500 mA -> around 1.25 W each. The whole fixture will give around 35 W. The reason why running at 500 mA is that I do not want to use any fan.

I´m still not solve any splashguards for the LED - but I have tested it above my aquarium. At the moment I have on Pacific Sun fixture (3*135 W); 2 T5 tubes (one white and one actinic - 2*54 W) and 1 test Far Red (10 W)

First with only Far Red

Far Red + Pacific Sun fixture

Far Red +Pacific Sun + T5 tubes

The first picture - only Far Red - do not show exactly how it looks like - IRL it is not that red. However - I do not se much of the far red when I run the normal fixtures together with Far Red

Sincerely Lasse

Lasse · Mar 5, 2018

50,000 views - thank you all

Sincerely Lasse

Brew12 · Mar 5, 2018

Lasse said:
50,000 views - thank you all

Sincerely Lasse

That's it? So many people are missing out!

Lasse · Mar 6, 2018

Brew12 said:
That's it? So many people are missing out!

Total agree with you

Sincerely Lasse

Lasse · Mar 9, 2018

Solved

material - blister pack for windscreen wipers

Sincerely Lasse

Brew12 · Mar 9, 2018

I kicked up the red on my Mitras fixtures and love it. I don't have a baseline to see if it will impact coral growth. I keep the reds high when the whites are fading which also gives me a wonderful red sunset effect. There is a 30 minutes window every night that my yellow tangs just radiate bright red. Might be my favorite time to view my system.

CuseReefer84 · Mar 9, 2018

Lasse said:
Thank You

I´m sorry to say that I have lost two of my pipefishes - there is one left. I do not really know why I lost them but they are delicate to have. I´ll try to take some longer video of the one I have left.

The aquarium just working fine - my pistol shrimp is very active - make it difficult to take good videos - a lot of particles in the water but below its a new one taking in heavy blue light - late in the evening

And there is a new kid on the block - a Fat Head Anthias - one of the fishes I have wait for.

Sincerely Lasse

Wow, your reef is amazing! You have some things I could only dream of having.

Lasse · Mar 9, 2018

I mount my new fixture today - it will give around 35 watts of 740 nm all over my system - more in the upper layers of the aquarium. It will be very interesting to observe what will happen - if anything. The test show out that there was difference between grown pattern of my test and control hystrix. Not so much - but differences.

The fixture there i should be - running