I recently watched a video by Bulk Reef Supply that mostly discussed Randy's BRS 360 gallon in his house.
(Link below.)
The similarity between our two journeys is just so unbelievable.
Both bare bottom, both dry rock, both added Coralline Algae in a Bottle and ECOPODs from Algae Barn.
Everything is so similar. How can that be? (No fish in my tank.) And just 10 gallons.
Even the thought process - I started with sterile saline solution and even though I have repeatedly seeded it the tank it feels like it is missing some biological component?
What is the ultimate seed? Bacteria in a bottle? A "fecal transplant" from another stable long lived tank?
Added corals and invertebrates and the coralline algae and copepods all an attempt to "seed the tank".
But what is missing? I have had a lot of tropical fish tanks and even more outdoor ponds of various types.
They all develop an layer of anaerobic bacteria. The hydrogen sulfide layer. The "sulfur cycle".
Any while disgusting, never really been an obvious fish killing problem. Just before this reef tank I had a nice planted 5 gallon for ~4 years.
(Back in the day there were under-gravel filters for Tropical tanks that were intended to draw water through the gravel bed.)
Tried to keep the gravel clean (why?) but it had all that "brown stuff" (bacteria) just like the outdoor ponds. Plants in gravel made it impossible to clean completely.
(Went bare bottom so this new tank would "last forever"?)
I recently had a 35 gallon outdoor pond with two Koi. One was killed by me, the other eaten by a raccoon.
But in the Spring I found the other Koi snuggled into the anaerobic leaf litter where it had spent the winter (only to be eaten by the racoons.)
So maybe that anaerobic layer of sulfur consuming hydrogen sulfide producing bacteria is more important than fully realized and not simply a "bad thing"?
(Does hydrogen sulfide act as a disinfectant? What are H2S levels in the ocean? On coral reefs? The primeval ooze in the depths must be H2S producing?)
And a sand bed in a marine tank (leaf litter) would go anaerobic very quickly?
Live rock if old enough would collect detritus and form anaerobic pockets?
Randy added sand. I don't have much space to add a sand bed, most of the bottom of the tank is dry rock from which I remove the evil detritus.
It is not a lack of nitrifying aerobic bacteria, it is a lack of hydrogen sulfide producing sulfur-containing amino acid eating anaerobic bacteria?
As to why in Randy's BRS360 the fish seem happier with a sand bed is easy in my mind.
In the open ocean, when looking down all that is seen is the black of the abyss.
Reef fish might orient themselves to the reef by seeing light coming down from above, and reflected up from below.
Dark bottom, no reflected light from the bottom.
In the Ocean, death frequently comes from below. And sea birds don't dive on shallow reefs.
-Big Mistake
(Link below.)
The similarity between our two journeys is just so unbelievable.
Both bare bottom, both dry rock, both added Coralline Algae in a Bottle and ECOPODs from Algae Barn.
Everything is so similar. How can that be? (No fish in my tank.) And just 10 gallons.
Even the thought process - I started with sterile saline solution and even though I have repeatedly seeded it the tank it feels like it is missing some biological component?
What is the ultimate seed? Bacteria in a bottle? A "fecal transplant" from another stable long lived tank?
Added corals and invertebrates and the coralline algae and copepods all an attempt to "seed the tank".
But what is missing? I have had a lot of tropical fish tanks and even more outdoor ponds of various types.
They all develop an layer of anaerobic bacteria. The hydrogen sulfide layer. The "sulfur cycle".
Any while disgusting, never really been an obvious fish killing problem. Just before this reef tank I had a nice planted 5 gallon for ~4 years.
(Back in the day there were under-gravel filters for Tropical tanks that were intended to draw water through the gravel bed.)
Tried to keep the gravel clean (why?) but it had all that "brown stuff" (bacteria) just like the outdoor ponds. Plants in gravel made it impossible to clean completely.
(Went bare bottom so this new tank would "last forever"?)
I recently had a 35 gallon outdoor pond with two Koi. One was killed by me, the other eaten by a raccoon.
But in the Spring I found the other Koi snuggled into the anaerobic leaf litter where it had spent the winter (only to be eaten by the racoons.)
So maybe that anaerobic layer of sulfur consuming hydrogen sulfide producing bacteria is more important than fully realized and not simply a "bad thing"?
(Does hydrogen sulfide act as a disinfectant? What are H2S levels in the ocean? On coral reefs? The primeval ooze in the depths must be H2S producing?)
And a sand bed in a marine tank (leaf litter) would go anaerobic very quickly?
Live rock if old enough would collect detritus and form anaerobic pockets?
Randy added sand. I don't have much space to add a sand bed, most of the bottom of the tank is dry rock from which I remove the evil detritus.
It is not a lack of nitrifying aerobic bacteria, it is a lack of hydrogen sulfide producing sulfur-containing amino acid eating anaerobic bacteria?
As to why in Randy's BRS360 the fish seem happier with a sand bed is easy in my mind.
In the open ocean, when looking down all that is seen is the black of the abyss.
Reef fish might orient themselves to the reef by seeing light coming down from above, and reflected up from below.
Dark bottom, no reflected light from the bottom.
In the Ocean, death frequently comes from below. And sea birds don't dive on shallow reefs.
-Big Mistake
