Take a walk on the wild side and go natural

[Tamberav]

Thank you for kind words.


When I was operating AquaCulture Ranch in a greenhouse, I purchased 200 lbs a month of diver collected live rock for almost a year, so I still have a lot of dry rock needing inoculation as
“designer live rock”. To that end, Aquadome in Austin has partnered with me to sell designed live rock. I am growing out sustainable corals & ornamental seaweeds to place on select live rocks with GOM/Florida/Caribbean biodiversity. At present, I am displaying select live rock with two NPS gorgonions (red & yellow) for advanced reefers and for newbies GSP & Red Sea pulsing Xenia with red & green macro algae assortment..

I set up this 55G tank as a tumble culture and am now dealing with a phytoplankton bloom. Thus a 36W UV sterilizer

Sounds like an interesting endeavor. Is the goal to offer well seeded live rock but have more control what is on it then the ocean? In terms of hitchhikers etc.

I do wish LFS would seed their live rock in an environment that it would be covered in coralline.

 

[Subsea]

Sounds like an interesting endeavor. Is the goal to offer well seeded live rock but have more control what is on it then the ocean? In terms of hitchhikers etc.

I do wish LFS would seed their live rock in an environment that it would be covered in coralline.

Yes, the LFS is marketing & selling mature live rock that is seeded in more than coralline. For certain amphipods & copepo; then softies, nps and ornamental sponges & seaweed.

 

[Subsea]

“Sounds like an interesting endeavor. Is the goal to offer well seeded live rock but have more control what is on it then the ocean? In terms of hitchhikers etc.“

@Tamberav

Let’s focus on well seeded diverse desirable hitchhikers that form a symbiotic relationship that is generalized as the “coral holibiont”. Using crosstalk between bacteria these microbes create diverse nutrient pathways to manage the ecosystem to their benefit.

I initially researched this area of nutrient recycling because I wanted to reduce water changes with tooo many tanks and I was intrigued with the processes that produced our wild reefs. Also because of my fascination with diverse filter feeders with red flame scallops as a target species to keep. To that end, I decided to mimic a Caribbean lagoon. I am running fishless systems and using kelp concentrate as a growout cocktail for seaweed and a food source for the microbial loop.

More musings later

 

[Subsea]

Today, I had chemical test run on two different fishless systems: 20G invert filter feeder tank and 55G macro growout. I will reduce kelp concentrate dosage as calcium, magnesium phosphate are above recommended values except nitrate at 1ppm.

So, now, I will dose NH4 twice during lights on . At 1 hour and again at 6 hours, I will dose 5ml twice a day .

 

[smitten with ocean life]

your tanks are beautiful and look so healthy!

 

[Subsea]

your tanks are beautiful and look so healthy!

Thank you for kind words.

I am a minimalist as I mimic Mother Nature . It would be fair to say “I am a Laissez faire reefer”.

 

[Nano_Man]

You can not beat mother nature
If a lot of Reefer went natural they would never go back
Best thing I have ever done
Touch wood I don't get any losses any more everything looks good and healthy and all I am really doing is weekly water changes with natural sea water and it works for me also good filtration is a must and high flow

 

[Subsea]

You can not beat mother nature
If a lot of Reefer went natural they would never go back
Best thing I have ever done
Touch would I don't get any losses any more everything looks good and healthy and all I am really doing is weekly water changes with natural sea water and it works for me also good filtration is a must and high flow

Not being close to the ocean and bring in an area with drought restrictions on water, I don’t do much on scheduled water changes. I would definitely pipe water in from the ocean as my first choice. I am envious of that option you & @Paul B have to use NSW.

Also, when I operated 10KG in a greenhouse as a Maraculture business, AquacultureRanch, I choose to get a zero discharge permit as an LLC. I felt it made me a better community member to use water wisely.

I replace trace elements using organic liquid kelp concentrate. I just had water test done and all of my parameters are high except N. I will reduce kelp dosing and only dose NH4 for a few days.

This is Gracilaria Hayi grow out tank. I am presently dosing 5 ml of NH4 each day: half when lights on for 1/hr and again at 6hrs of light.

Due to phytoplankton bloom, I will run 32W of uv sterilizer 24/7.

 

[Nano_Man]

Not being close to the ocean and bring in an area with drought restrictions on water, I don’t do much on scheduled water changes. I would definitely pipe water in from the ocean as my first choice. I am envious of that option you & @Paul B have to use NSW.

Also, when I operated 10KG in a greenhouse as a Maraculture business, AquacultureRanch, I choose to get a zero discharge permit as an LLC. I felt it made me a better community member to use water wisely.

I replace trace elements using organic liquid kelp concentrate. I just had water test done and all of my parameters are high except N. I will reduce kelp dosing and only dose NH4 for a few days.

This is Gracilaria Hayi grow out tank. I am presently dosing 5 ml of NH4 each day: half when lights on for 1/hr and again at 6hrs of light.

Due to phytoplankton bloom, I will run 32W of uv sterilizer 24/7.

I think PaulB if I remember correctly does four water changes a year I could be wrong hopefully he will chime in. Paul's write ups got me hooked on going as natural as I can and I have had no problems. So really I am no expert I have learnt from Paul's information and experience through doing it myself. I would like to know what equipment Paul runs if only doing 4 water changes a year so I could maybe replacate it. But at the same time the water is 5 mins from my door so maybe that's the easiest way to keep nutrance level low
Thanks for your Thread subsea hopefully someone else will fancy the change to natural

 

[Subsea]

I think PaulB if I remember correctly does four water changes a year I could be wrong hopefully he will chime in. Paul's write ups got me hooked on going as natural as I can and I have had no problems. So really I am no expert I have learnt from Paul's information and experience through doing it myself. I would like to know what equipment Paul runs if only doing 4 water changes a year so I could maybe replacate it. But at the same time the water is 5 mins from my door so maybe that's the easiest way to keep nutrance level low
Thanks for your Thread subsea hopefully someone else will fancy the change to natural

I don’t think @Paul B uses NSW to keep nutrients low. He uses NSW to bring in biodiversity of microbes; micro fana & fauna.

I visited Paul at his home on Long Island or as he says “The North Fork”. He is quite the inventor and has a patent on an electric zapper for Aptasia elimination. At the time that I visited, he was in the middle of eradication of an encrusting sponge, so he was not using NSW because of its silicate content.

 

[strich]

Always love these natural tank updates. It's like eye bleach too wash away the sting of those ultra blue neon tanks.

How do you find keeping the yellow sponges? And do you find they alter water clarity at all?

 

[Subsea]

Yellow ball sponges are very hardy. For certain sponges filter water and remove DOC & POC, both effect water clarity.