o2manyfish - Outdoor Frag Tank during California Wildfires

[o2manyfish]

People always ask if I cover my outdoor frag tank. Here is a video from today showing the frag tank during the So Cal wild fires.

 

[Cory]

Thats pretty cool. Do you think the sun does a better job at growing the corals? Do they get blasted with direct sun all day?

 

[MSB123]

hey- im up in SB, want to trade

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Good video! Praying for you guys up near the fires.

 

[revhtree]

Sorry about the fires and wishing you the best!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Agreed. Good luck. I work in news and whenever we cover the fires I think immediately of your tank.

 

[NY_Caveman]

And concerned for the homes and people as well of course.

 

[star fawkes]

What happens to salinity when it rains then?

 

[Cae]

Did you start out with a lot of algae? I like that your taking the coral back to nature, we live in Queensland Australia and I would love to do a outdoor tank,but the only thing stopping me is the winter temperature which can get below 0 deg c.

 

[Tjakes680]

Prayers to everyone in Cali with these crazy fires good luck !!! Your tanks are amazing what a awesome setup Im in this hobby for over 35 years and owned 2 LFS in Brklyn NY and would love to do a outdoor setup like that but of course our winters are way way to cold your indoor tank is amazing and so is the outdoors one all fish and corals are amazing best of luck in my prayers for everyone in Cali

 

[Flippers4pups]

Praying for you guys and all effected by the wildfires!

 

[jozer1]

Dam!!! O2 and your video was on Tuesday, how are you holding up now? I'm down by L.A. but I'm not getting as much ash as you are .

 

[gig 'em]

I'm curious what your NO3 are before and after the fires. I assume yourntank will be getting a decent dose of carbon from the CO2 and ash dissolving into it and the bacteria will be using that as a food source. Could be interesting if NO3 also decreases from increased bacterial growth, but considering the bioload in your system, who knows! That's why I'm curious to know Good luck out there, I hope the fires don't reach you.

 

[o2manyfish]

Thats pretty cool. Do you think the sun does a better job at growing the corals? Do they get blasted with direct sun all day?

Cory, The sun kicks butt on growing corals. Same corals inside and out - all tanks connected - and corals outside easily grow 3 to 5x faster! The frag tank is up against the back of my house - The back of my house faces east. So they have direct till noon and then indirect till dusk. Par readings are way over any tank lighting - and it comes from all directions rather than just a single point of light.

Dave B

 

[o2manyfish]

hey- im up in SB, want to trade

ABSOLUTELY !!!! I give away to anyone in need or starting out. But I love trading with people. I don't care if it's named or what it costs, if I think its cool I will give you almost anything you like

Let me know when you want to come visit. I'm a Gaucho as well !

Dave B

 

[o2manyfish]

What happens to salinity when it rains then?

We evaporate water pretty much every day. On a rainy day we will still add 5 to 10g of water. When we got the torrential rains last winter if it's going to rain more than an 1" in a day then I pop up an EZ-up tent. But that was only for the El Nino year - The rest of the winters we don't get enough rain to have any effect.

Dave B

 

[o2manyfish]

Did you start out with a lot of algae? I like that your taking the coral back to nature, we live in Queensland Australia and I would love to do a outdoor tank,but the only thing stopping me is the winter temperature which can get below 0 deg c.

Not sure what you are asking about 'Starting out with alot of algae' ? Mother nature is really weird/ Sometimes we have algae issues - but they are really minor. Over the past 18 months the chaeto morph has been growing so well that is was actually rooting to the frag racks and frag plugs. Thats why I added the Naso tang. Other than that - No problem algaes. I have to wipe the glass once a week - the display tank in the house with LEDs (all tanks connected) needs to be wiped about every 48 hours to stay clean.

Now interestingly enough - about 3 years ago I added a second frag tank outside - third tank in the sun. It was just a 150g shallow tank 12" deep. All I did was add the tank to the system - THat tank started growing hair algae like crazy. For about 6 weeks the 150 tank grew enough hair algae to pack a 5g bucket 1.5x a week - If filled the tank - no corals no fish. There wasn't hair algae in any other tank. After 6 weeks the hair algae vanished and was never seen again.

Dave B

 

[o2manyfish]

Dam!!! O2 and your video was on Tuesday, how are you holding up now? I'm down by L.A. but I'm not getting as much ash as you are .

All is well!

 

[o2manyfish]

I'm curious what your NO3 are before and after the fires. I assume yourntank will be getting a decent dose of carbon from the CO2 and ash dissolving into it and the bacteria will be using that as a food source. Could be interesting if NO3 also decreases from increased bacterial growth, but considering the bioload in your system, who knows! That's why I'm curious to know Good luck out there, I hope the fires don't reach you.

I can't answer this question. I don't test NO3 - The only time it gets tested is when someone else challenges my Phosphate claims and comes over to run their own tests. My Phosphates for past 3.5 years have been between 1.4 to 1.8. For the past 6+ months the Phosphates are 2.4 to 2.8 (Triton ICP Testing). Right now the SPS growth rate has dropped way off (right now being the last 3 months) and I have started slowly dosing Lanthanum Chloride to bring it down some.

Dave B

 

[gobeach]

Dave,
How do you manage your temp swings? I've considered putting a sump/frag tank outside when I setup a 225G that's now just a piece of furniture in my living room (long story - I'm a student and got a good deal from a neighbor). The location I've selected for the 225G is along an external wall and would be interesting to run all of the plumbing through the wall for filtration. I'm in Long Beach, looks like you're in Encino which I would suspect you get bigger temp swings that we do here.

Thanks,
Cheryl