Wet & Salty for Christmas 2017.
- Build Thread
- Thread starter Subsea
- Start date
- Tagged users None
mcarroll
10K Club member
(My rfugf was on freshwater, so it was a mostly sterile gravel bed...mostly just bacterial and no chance of detritavores, so pre-filtration was a must. Very different from a reef!!!!
)
)Subsea
5000 Club Member
I will also keep Halymenia Elongata as a volunteer from Gulf LiveRock.
Caulerpa Prolifera will form a dense meadow of undalating emerald green blades on back right of tank substrate.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
Reading through your thread put a smile on my face. It's a breath of fresh air to see a macro tank, which is a rarity in this day and age of reef keeping. Some of the most beautiful tanks back in the day were macro/softie tanks in my book.
Bravo on sharing your beautiful system!
Bravo on sharing your beautiful system!
Bluetangclan
New Member
Maybe I missed it, how big is the tank?
How much flow do you have into the undergravel?
Just regular aragonite sand or do you have it mixed with gravel? It doesnt blow around?
How much flow do you have into the undergravel?
Just regular aragonite sand or do you have it mixed with gravel? It doesnt blow around?
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Very kind and gracious of you. Thank you for sharing that.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
@Bluetangclan
Tank is a standard cube at 2’ by 4’ by 2’ high at 120G. Sump on bottom is a 40G. Flow under Plenum is about 300 GPH. Substrate is mostly CaribSea Special Reef Grade aroggonite 0.1 - 1.0 mm that is mixed with CaribSea Crushed coral 1.0 - 4.0 mm. There is no observed sand movement. With Paul’s tank, he used coarser substrate with less flow up. I recently had an upset because up-flow pump failed without my knowing about it until sand bed belched.
Tank is a standard cube at 2’ by 4’ by 2’ high at 120G. Sump on bottom is a 40G. Flow under Plenum is about 300 GPH. Substrate is mostly CaribSea Special Reef Grade aroggonite 0.1 - 1.0 mm that is mixed with CaribSea Crushed coral 1.0 - 4.0 mm. There is no observed sand movement. With Paul’s tank, he used coarser substrate with less flow up. I recently had an upset because up-flow pump failed without my knowing about it until sand bed belched.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
@Bluetangclan
I am going to post some information from a waste water plant superintendent.
Facultative bacteria vs. Anaerobic Bacteria
I am a supervisor of a wastewater plant. We use nitrification, denitrification in aerobic systems and use anaerobic systems for the destruction of organics.
Phosphate and Nitrate is consumed by facultative bacteria not anaerobic bacteria. Facultative bacteria can switch for a simple explanation to the use of Oxygen from NO3 and PO3 (Nitrate Phosphate) when the Oxygen supply is low starting at usually less than 0.5 mg/L. Ideally less than 0.5 and greater than 0.1. This is called an anoxic zone. Give you an idea of how low this is gold fish need a minimum of 3.0 mg/L Oxygen.
Within the same floc (a clumping growth of bacteria either free floating or growing on a surface) there can be all three bacteria. The outer layer exposed to higher levels of Oxygen allow for the Nitrifiers (Ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate) The Nitrate reducers live deeper in the floc or rock or sand where there is less Oxygen. We use the same bacterial floc in differing levels of Oxygen to achieve this.
Anaerobic bacteria live in zero Oxygen. They convert organics to water, Carbon Dioxide, and Methane mostly. Hydrogen Sulfide is also a product. You do not want your reef to have anaerobic conditions anywhere. The sulfur dead spots that some people refer to are anaerobic. This happens when a filter media or in this case a sand bed become impacted and diffusion of gas does not take place. Especially true under rocks sitting on sand or worse buried in the sand. A plenum helps moderate the diffusion of gasses through the sand by the osmotic pressure of the levels of dissolved gasses on each side of the sand or filter. (Water under the sand and the water on top of the sand)
I am going to post some information from a waste water plant superintendent.
Facultative bacteria vs. Anaerobic Bacteria
I am a supervisor of a wastewater plant. We use nitrification, denitrification in aerobic systems and use anaerobic systems for the destruction of organics.
Phosphate and Nitrate is consumed by facultative bacteria not anaerobic bacteria. Facultative bacteria can switch for a simple explanation to the use of Oxygen from NO3 and PO3 (Nitrate Phosphate) when the Oxygen supply is low starting at usually less than 0.5 mg/L. Ideally less than 0.5 and greater than 0.1. This is called an anoxic zone. Give you an idea of how low this is gold fish need a minimum of 3.0 mg/L Oxygen.
Within the same floc (a clumping growth of bacteria either free floating or growing on a surface) there can be all three bacteria. The outer layer exposed to higher levels of Oxygen allow for the Nitrifiers (Ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate) The Nitrate reducers live deeper in the floc or rock or sand where there is less Oxygen. We use the same bacterial floc in differing levels of Oxygen to achieve this.
Anaerobic bacteria live in zero Oxygen. They convert organics to water, Carbon Dioxide, and Methane mostly. Hydrogen Sulfide is also a product. You do not want your reef to have anaerobic conditions anywhere. The sulfur dead spots that some people refer to are anaerobic. This happens when a filter media or in this case a sand bed become impacted and diffusion of gas does not take place. Especially true under rocks sitting on sand or worse buried in the sand. A plenum helps moderate the diffusion of gasses through the sand by the osmotic pressure of the levels of dissolved gasses on each side of the sand or filter. (Water under the sand and the water on top of the sand)
Subsea
5000 Club Member
When I emphasized ornamental macro, I removed tangs from all display tank. I have come to the realization that most macro is messy. If the balance is right, I see a well manicured tank with the introduction of Tangs & rabbits if required. With a 1000G of macro growout, I know I can replace decorations as fast as grazers can eat it.
Arriving at 11AM will be 9 small tangs: three yellow tangs go in 75G Jaubert Plenum, three scopes tangs & three Hippo tangs go in this 120G display.
Obviously, I differ with live aquaria on some of their recommendations. I was struck with the consistency of their recommendations to feed algae to defer aggression.
I found the recommendation on diet to effect behavior to be very interesting.
Yellow tangs were added one week ago.
Last edited:
Subsea
5000 Club Member
CalebWBrink2000
Active Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2017
- Messages
- 280
- Reaction score
- 465
Those are some tanks I would love to explore.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Thank you, iPad takes great pictures and I like gaudy colors in my display.
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
That is why I stalk all of your threads.
Honestly, when I am in a better position for multiple tanks, I will be re-reading a lot of what you post. I prefer a series of different, interesting, medium sized tanks to one large tank. What you are doing reminds a lot of my beginnings in reefing and why I am reefing.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Thank you for the compliment. Every time I read in your signature, “I got a box of rocks today”, I smile because it reminds me of being a kid at Christmas.That is why I stalk all of your threads.
Honestly, when I am in a better position for multiple tanks, I will be re-reading a lot of what you post. I prefer a series of different, interesting, medium sized tanks to one large tank. What you are doing reminds a lot of my beginnings in reefing and why I am reefing.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Get specific. I will be happy to comply.
CalebWBrink2000
Active Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2017
- Messages
- 280
- Reaction score
- 465
Honestly, any of them. I love reefs that look "dirty" and natural; I got into reefing out of a love for the ocean, and I love seeing tanks that look like, to me, what I would see going diving. It's so organic and interesting, getting up close to the glass and seeing all kinds of small creatures scampering around in the sand and macros.
Anyhow, I'm digging the tank w/the Tonga branches and gsp.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
An Aggie friend gave me the Tonga Tree. She had it custome made and asked me to use it. We decided to dedicate it as the Tree of Life fron the Garden of Eden. So, I am looking for something red to simulate apples and green will be GSP, of which I have plenty. Any ideas for “little red apples”. I have considered Yellow Ball Sponges as yellow delicious apples.
https://www.live-plants.com/yellowball.htm
Some of the best opportunities to view “the little people” happens during lights out. I use red led for night time viewing. This tank was seeded with uncured diver collected live rock from 30’ deep in the Gulf of Mexico, 30 miles west of Tampa Bay. There is a lot of stuff that I have no idea of what it is.
http://gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html
https://www.live-plants.com/yellowball.htm
Some of the best opportunities to view “the little people” happens during lights out. I use red led for night time viewing. This tank was seeded with uncured diver collected live rock from 30’ deep in the Gulf of Mexico, 30 miles west of Tampa Bay. There is a lot of stuff that I have no idea of what it is.
http://gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html
Metasyntactic
Community Member
Do you have issues with rock weight on the eggcrate? Also, is there something on top of the eggcrate to hold up the bed or is the Aragonite surrounding your plumbing? I've read about people using floss to hold up the media and keep it away from the UG plumbing but not sure if that actually matters.
Similar threads
