|
|
|
|
#777
10/31/2004, 12:55 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Things got a little scary last night. I was at work and my fiance called me at 1AM and said the electricity went out. It didn't end up going back on until 7AM. I was stuck at work and couldn't do anything. The tank temperature dropped from 78 to 74. Everything is looking fine now but from my past experience with acroporas is that after an event like this they won't start showing signs of stress/rtn/stn for a couple days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are all ok. This really sucks because I just started stocking this system after my 75 crashed back in February. I don't want to go through that again. It turns out that some lady was driving home drunk from the bar and took out an electrical pole.
I was planning on waiting a little while before investing in a generator but an event like this may make that investment come a lot sooner. This is longest power outage I've experienced since keeping reefs so it is probably highly unlikely that it will happen again anytime soon. But we all know how Murphy's law goes... One thing I do need to do soon is get a UPC to keep my computer running in the event of a power outage. My aquacontroller sends a message to my computer if there is a power outage and then my computer emails my cell phone to notify my. I never got the alert email last night because my computer also lost power. A UPC can at least keep my computer running so it can send me that alert email to notify me of the power outage. Fortunately, my fiance was home last night to alert me so I was able to have her do some things to help keep the tank's temp from dropping too much. Sometime in the future before I get too much money invested in livestock I will get a generator. I would like to get one that is large enough to run everything on the tank and the essentials of the house such as the fridge, AC, etc. I also want to have it wired to the breaker box and be able to automatically come on when the power goes off. I know this setup is pricey but it could pay for itself in the event of a long power outage. However, there may never be a long power outage in the first place. I may just end up purchasing a unit large enough to run the return, chiller, heaters, 1 closed loop, and refrigerator. This should be plenty without going overkill and dropping thousands for an automated generator setup that may never get used. I'll have to start researching and see what I come up with. |
|
#778
10/31/2004, 01:02 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I have changed my automated water change system a bit. Before I was using two dosing pumps. One to add fresh saltwater and the other to take an equal amount of water from the sump and send it down the drain.
I now have my skimmer adjusted where it is consistently taking out around 3-4 gallons per day. I have removed the dosing pump that takes water from the sump. I have set the other dosing pump to add the same amount of fresh saltwater as my skimmer is taking out. So now my water changes consist of removing polluted water via the skimmer and adding fresh saltwater via one dosing pump. I can now use the other dosing pump for my automated fish/coral feeder. Results from tests using automated feedings showed that while more food was added to the tank, the fish and corals were healthier. Health was measured by colors and growth rates. Also, even though more food was being added, the nutrient levels in the water dropped because the food was being processed more effectively by the fish and corals. My main reason for trying an automatic feeder will be to keep my anthias school happy. BTW, my anthias school consisting of 10 female Bartlett's will be here Thursday. The vendor has been holding them for about a week now to make sure they are readily accepting prepared foods. |
|
#779
10/31/2004, 01:06 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Here is a post I found in another thread that discusses one of the automated feeding tests that were conducted. It is a long read but very informational:
A NEW NATURAL FEEDING METHOD FOR THE REEF AQUARIUM Andrew Caine and Mark Howarth Aquaworld@acaine.fsnet.co.uk Drum and Croaker Editor’s note: This article was originally published in “Today’s Fishkeeper�, a UK aquatic publication, and it reprinted with permission from the editor, Derek Lambert, and the authors Pete Liptrot forwarded the article to Drum and Croaker on their behalf. The authors advise that this article is the result of their preliminary observations, not a true scientific study. .Italicized text in square brackets ([ ]) are further notes by PJM, Editor, D&C. Introduction From the very beginning of the captive care of marine animals within home, public and research aquariums to the present day, we have been feeding the animals contained in such systems incorrectly. This method of feeding results in many problems associated with the long term care of animals within a marine aquarium. It is not the total amount of food that is the problem, which has previously been accepted in the past and blamed for poor water quality, but the manor in which it is delivered that causes adverse effects on the livestock and system. We came to this startling conclusion after Dr Ellen Thaller’s presentation at the WYMAG seminar October 2002, and the installation of a new and revolutionary feeding system in a marine aquarium, with outstanding results. Dr Thaller described reef fish eating plankton at a rate of 50 - 60 pieces per minute all day. She then spoke of a food injection system in her fish-only research aquariums providing small quantities of small particle food continuously during the day light hours. Her results found a dramatic reduction in aggression between fish species and an increase in vitality and health. We decided to develop this feeding practise and alter the food delivered and time scale to see the effects on a large system stocked with fish, motile and sessile invertebrates with a 98% hard coral stock. We wanted to see the effects of continuous feeding in the aquarium but not solely aimed at the fish. We developed Dr Thaller’s idea from feeding fish in the daylight hours to feeding continuously injecting not only fish food but coral food as well, with food injection 24 hours a day to facilitate the nocturnal feeding of some coral polyps, other sessile filter feeders and mobile invertebrates such as crabs and shrimp species. We also introduced a new food source to the aquarium, live phytoplankton, the oceans primary producer, to increase the zooplankton population, in an effort to develop a more natural food source. In other words we are feeding the aquarium 24 hours a day 7 days per week. We looked at the effects of this food injection not only on the animals which we were targeting but also the natural population of life within the aquarium system. We also had to monitor the effects of this feeding on the filtration and water quality of the system. Traditional Feeding Practices and the Problems It Causes to Both Livestock and Water Quality in a Marine Aquarium With traditional feeding at two to three times per day and no nocturnal feeding the natural feeding patterns of our small reef fish, corals and other animals are altered, this has many detrimental effects on the animal, filtration system and its operation. The effects of this feeding are vast, animals that have evolved to have a low concentration of food but continuously supplied are suddenly subjected to a gorge, starvation, gorge, starvation feeding regime. This sporadic introduction of relatively large amounts of food causes many problems: 1. Fish gorge themselves to collect as much nutrition as possible in a short time span, filling the gut with large unnatural amounts of food. 2. Large amounts of food remains partially or undigested within the fish gut and is passed as faeces, only a small proportion of food is assimilated through the gut wall. This represents a huge loss in the animal’s potential energy budget and an increase in contamination to the aquariums water body. 3. The animals are then starved with only natural food to eat existing at a very low concentration. Over time the fish’s health can suffer as they begin long term malnutrition. This results in a loss of vitality, high rate of disease, infection, and a high mortality rate. 4. Fish behaviour is altered as they become unnaturally aggressive to species they would ignore in their natural environment. 5. Large amounts of microscopic particulate food is lost to the system, most will reside in the boundary layer existing over the solid/ liquid interface of the rockwork within the aquarium. If not eaten by scavengers this then can rot down causing pollution and possible algal problems. 6. Filter feeding foods are often added in too small amounts once per day, resulting in rapid increase and rapid decrease in food concentration to the animals. 7. Corals and other Cnidarians suffer as their food source is sporadic. A surge in amino acids stimulate their feeding responses but is often to late as the main bulk of particulate food has been taken out of the system by filtration, or eaten by other animals, by the time the corals have extended their polyps to feed. 8. No food is added during the night, many animals including corals and other filter feeders are active during the night. They rely in the capture of natural nocturnal zooplankton within the aquarium, whose populations remain low due to low food source and predation. Nocturnal feeders are slowly starved. 9. For Cnidarians less food is assimilated, resulting in less waste production, this waste is food for the symbiotic algal population within the gut wall, this results in a lower algal population within the coral, resulting in low algal waste such as sugars required by the coral as food. 10. Lower algal activity results in lower growth rates of the corals, and lower calcification in the growth of hard corals. 11. Again long term malnutrition acts upon the animals resulting in weaker animals which lowers the vitality, and increases the disease and mortality rate. 12. Denitrifying bacteria populations and activity fall and rise to the availability of their food source, this source again has high peaks and low troughs due to the feeding. As a surge in toxins appears the bacteria are slow to respond, this results in a high residence time of toxins in the system. Even at low concentrations the toxins are acting on the metabolic processes of the 13. Aquarium inhabitants further increasing the biological stress levels. So it follows that if we can feed our captive animals in a way in which they have evolved to feed, this would result in healthier animals, higher growth rate, less disease and mortality. What we had to do was devise a way in which we could provide food for all the animals within the system as close to their natural requirements. Whilst increasing the food quantity yet not suffering a drop in any water parameter, thus maintaining high water quality. The Aquarium, Filtration System, and Stock The aquarium is owned and extensively maintained by a very good friend Mr Mark Howarth, in the North West of England who Co-authored this report. The Aquarium system has a water capacity of 7,000 l and has been in operation for 8 months; however the filtration system is 2 years old. The aquarium has over 1200 kg of live rock, over 100 fish ranging from a 20 cm naso tang, Naso lituratus to a shoal of Pseudanthias ventralis 2.5 cm long, around 300 hard corals about 200 small-polyped stony corals and 100 large-polyped stony corals, anemones, gorgonians, worms and countless crabs and shrimps. The aquarium is lit by seven 400w 10,000K metal halide luminaries and a custom built light computer by Aqua-Medic and five D & D Aquarium Solutions T5 pendant units each with six 39w Actinic tubes , with a moonlight all under computer control. All lamps are from Arcadia. Water circulation is via twelve IKS turbo 3500 pumps with a 40% reduction in power during the night. Temperature is controlled via a plate heat exchanger, air conditioned aquarium room and a chillier. The filtration consists of an Aqua-Medic denitrification unit, two Deltec fluidised bed calcium reactors running 12 hours per day (turned off during the night), injection of ozone only when the redox potential fall below 450 (very rarely used), Deltec AP1006 protein skimmer with a self cleaning head, algal refugium reverse lit with a 150w metal halide, phosphate control via a Deltec fluidised bed Rowaphos reactor, and a Deltec Kalkwasser stirrer, dosing at night only. UV sterilisation is not used. Iodine, strontium, and various trace elements by HW Aquaristic are dosed under computer control every 4 hours. Salinity is kept constant with an automatic top up system, and 20% water changes using HW synthetic marine salts are performed once per month. Total water turnover is at the rate of 64,000 litres per hour. All water parameters in both the sump and main aquarium are monitored via two IKS professional computer systems with the general parameters at the beginning of the feeding being: Salinity 1.026, Temp 26 Celsius, pH 8.2 - 8.4, Calcium 420ppm, DKH 8, Alkalinity 3.3, Magnesium 1420ppm, Iodine 0.06, Nitrate 20ppm, Redox potential 450, and phosphate, nitrite and ammonia 0.0. Feeding As we wanted to feed during the night time hours, after much discussion we decided to increase the total food given to the aquarium. We had also decided to add a totally new food source, live phytoplankton to the system in an effort to increase the natural zooplankton population, facilitating another increase in food injected to the system. The existing feeding was as follows: All food listed here was the total food injected to the system in a 24 hour period, fed twice per day half in the morning the other half in the evening. [“Injected� in this case appears to refer to the act of adding food by hand to the system in the traditional manner, not the use of the continuous feeder described below. This is list of foods originally added to the aquarium before the experimental changes.] 1 blister pack of San Francisco Bay Baby brine shrimp 1 blister pack of Aquafresh Cyclops 16 cubes of Gamma Omega 3 enriched brine shrimp 8 cubes of Gamma Mysis shrimp 4 cubes of Aquafresh chopped cockle 4 cubes of San Francisco bay chopped mussel 5 ml HW Multi Vitimin Complex 400ml of Marine Snow or Marine de lux alternating daily San Francisco bay Seaweed Salad, green marine algae, 3 full sheets per day. [The new feeding regime:] We decided to mix up a two day supply of food in a container for the continuous feeding, the following were mixed together: 500 ml Marine Snow 500 ml Marine Deluxe 1 blister pack of San Francisco Bay Baby brine shrimp 1 blister pack of Aquafresh Cyclops 12 cubes of Gamma Omega 3 enriched brine shrimp 10 ml HW Multi Vitamin Complex Then diluted with aquarium water to a volume of 2 litres. This represented an increase of food by 200ml of coral food and mixing the two brands together as previously they had been fed on alternating days. Twice a day the following was added to feed the larger fish in the aquarium: 4 cubes of Gamma Omega 3 enriched brine shrimp 8 cubes of Gamma Mysis shrimp 4 cubes of Aquafresh chopped cockle 4 cubes of San Francisco bay chopped mussel This represented an increase of 4 cubes of brine shrimp. The dried seaweed feeding remained unchanged. 4 liters of home cultured phytoplankton Nannochloropsis oculata over a 24 hour period. This was a totally new food source to the aquarium. The Continuous Feeder Equipment: Aqua-Medic plankton reactor and peristaltic pump Air-volution 2 air pump and air line IKS Aquastar computer and 4 plug bar non variable Method: The food was placed into the plankton reactor and then the reactor was filled with aquarium water. The air pump was connected to the plankton reactor and air passed to mix and suspend the food mix within the reactor. Air line was passed to the base of the reactor with a bend at the bottom to avoid the stream of bubbles from the air inlet without any kink in the pipe. This air line was connected to the suction side of the peristaltic pump. Air line was connected to the pressure side of the pump and passed to the aquarium terminating above the outlet of an IKS turbo pump to ensure dispersal of food on introduction to the system. The pump was plugged into the IKS plug bar and the IKS computer programmed to switch on the pump every 15 minutes for 5 seconds 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. This timing allowed the peristaltic pump to deliver 20ml of food solution to the aquarium system every 15 minutes. [To prevent spoilage, it would be advisable to keep the food mix cold (2-4°C, 35-40°F) using a small refrigerator or portable cooler.] The remaining frozen food described was thawed in a glass of aquarium water and released into the aquarium in bulk twice per day. The seaweed was fixed to the side of the aquarium using a lettuce clip three times per day Phytoplankton Feeding Equipment: Cleartides fluidised bed filter Air-volution 4 air pump, air line, 5mm ridged piping and air stone Twin 54w Arcadia T5 starter and marine white tubes and reflectors. Plankton culture and nutrients. Salt water. Peristaltic pump and digital timer. One 2 meter high 15 cm diameter clear tides fluidised bed filter was modified by cutting down the centre pipe to a length of 30 cm. A standard air stone was attached to the end of a 5 mm ridged pipe was passed down to 10 cm from the bottom of the reactor in the middle of the cut down centre tube, and the air pump turned on. The reactor was filled with a fresh salt mix with a specific gravity of 1.026 at 26 Celsius. The T5 tubes and reflectors were fixed at opposite sides of the reactor and timed for 18 hours per day. 500ml of culture was added and fed with nutrients until dark uniform green culture was produced. Air line was fed into the reactor and attached to the peristaltic pump; the terminal end of the air line from the pressure side was placed in front of the suction intake of the main return pump from the sump to the aquarium. The peristaltic pump was timed to deliver 333 ml of live phytoplankton over a twenty minute time span every 2 hours 24 hours per day. The phytoplankton culture was topped up every day with fresh salt water mix and fed nutrients, we are currently looking to install a further 3 reactors to ensure an even culture density at all times, whilst reducing the nutrient content within the culture. Results after 28 days of continuous food injection: Water Quality improved even with the increase of food injected to the system all levels remained stable at the levels before the feeding commenced, only the nitrate level fell from 20ppm to 5ppm in 28 days. There was no evidence of an increase in element depletion within the water body as expected with the increase in coral growth. We did not have to change any settings on the reactors within the system, or any dosing rates altered. [The following changes were noted:] · Big increase in calcareous algal growth over the rockwork, aquatic equipment and glass was noted, with a distinct improvement in pigmentation. · A zooplankton population explosion, with a conservative estimate being > 500% biomass increase within the aquarium and sump filter. · Dramatic increase in coral coloration, polyp extension and growth rates, it is estimated that hard coral growth from the beginning of the feeding exceeded the growth for last three previous months. · Distinct drop in fish aggression between established fish with new additions hardly recognised. Discussion We stress that we have no quantitative data on the changes apparent; however we can provide a theory with sound evidence to warrant on going experiments to collect such data. We also acknowledge that the time span is far too short to establish long term success but felt we had to release the study because of the magnitude of change involved. Much is still to be done and too much remains unknown, it is with this in mind we ask fellow aquarists not to attempt this on their home aquariums for the long term effects could prove to be negative. We increased the total food injected to the system. Low quantities of food released continuously into the system allowed the fish, corals and other animals to regularly consume small particles, resulting in the following theories: 1. Nutrition assimilation through the gut is at a constant allowing an unchecked supply of energy. 2. Digestive enzymes levels within the gut remain constant to the food supply allowing a greater digestive ability to attack the food as it is passed through the gut, resulting in a more efficient nutrient assimilation less waste produced and released to the system. 3. Less food is lost as particulate waste as the fishes feeding behaviour changes from biting and fighting, to passively picking at pieces which can be swallowed whole and not bitten which release particles to the system. 4. We are hoping to show a drop in disease and mortality rate due to the increase of vitality within the fish and coral stock. 5. Corals and other Cnidarians are subject to a constant but low level of free amino acids 24 hours per day, this stimulation ensures a high degree of polyp extension facilitating a higher rate of prey capture. 6. The constant and higher supply of nutrients results in a steady rate of waste produced allowing the symbiotic algal populations to remain constant and at a higher density due to the increase in the supply of food. 7. This enhanced algal activity and nutrient concentration results in a greater growth rate of the coral. 8. There is less waste produced in the system, but what degree of waste there is remains at a much more constant level. This allows the denitrifying bacterial population and activity to remain constant to the food supply, resulting in a much lower toxin residence time within the aquarium water body. Therefore less stress is exerted on the biological functions of the animals. 9. The introduction of live phytoplankton acting in a synergistic manor with the new feeding during the night has boosted the natural planktonic populations within the aquarium. Most zooplankton species are nocturnal rising in the water column to filter phytoplankton or prey on those that do. The nocturnal feeding allowed a higher food source to the planktonic filter feeders facilitating a population explosion, the predatory zooplankton population followed. The constant supply of food allowed the predator prey populations to remain at a higher and dynamic level, we hope to sustain this level if not increase it, however too higher levels may prove detrimental to the system. 10. This increase in plankton biomass represents a huge increase in the natural food source of nocturnal filter feeders as many species of small-polyped stony corals are. Higher concentration and natural food source for these corals results in increased growth and vitality. 11. Other sessile filter feeding animals such as sponge, bryozoan and tunicate populations increase providing increased water purification and natural food source for others. 12. The motile benthic invertebrate population also exploded allowing a greater turnover of the sediment. Resulting in a cleaner substrate as detritus is formed and consumed at a constant rate, further reducing toxic waste production. 13. The increase in hard coral growth and calcium fixation rates within the system has not forced us to alter the calcium production rate from the calcium reactors, nor have we had to alter any element dosing rates. We feel this is a direct result in the increase of zooplankton predation providing those natural elements in a more natural form. Elements utilised and removed from the water body via biological pathways must come from somewhere, and we may well have to alter the dosing rates to maintain levels in the future. However the increase in benthic biomass and activity will provide an increase in acidic secretions acting on the surface of the calcareous substrate. This will provide an increased source of calcium and other elements to the aquarium water body, and may be contributing to balancing the increased demand. 14. We have achieved a nitrate level drop of 15 ppm yet we have increased the food levels introduced to the aquarium. High nitrate levels have mostly been associated with over feeding and high levels of waste. Even though we increased the food concentration we spread it over time, this resulted in more food being assimilated and thus less waste produced. Less food was lost as detritus and the detritus that was created soon became consumed by the natural populations of scavengers, only to recycle up the food chain within the aquarium, and not rot down. The introduction of live phytoplankton may also be responsible utilising nitrates as a food source. With the cessation of starve/gorge feeding replaced with constant release of food into the system over 24 hours per day and a new food source, the base of the natural aquatic food web,phytoplankton, a dramatic change has occurred to all life within the closed system. The problems associated with traditional feeding as previously discussed are dampened and every aspect of life within the aquarium is altered showing dramatic change in population dynamics within the planktonic, benthic, sessile and motile invertebrates. Hard coral growth, coloration and polyp extension increases, the fish are less aggressive and coloration has increased. We have introduced 5 Dendronephthya species, a coral acknowledged to be impossible to keep in aquariums, to see if this new method of feeding will allow them to not only survive but grow in captivity. To sum up we feel that this method of feeding allows energy to be transferred more efficiently through each and every pathway of the food web within the aquarium, resulting in an increase in the health of animals contained within it. Less biological waste produced as a result improves the water quality exerting less biological stress on the animals and a more efficient denitrifying bacterial population. This short study may well prove to be further evidence that striving to create a near as natural environment for marine animals housed in a closed system is the way forward to increasing our success in the husbandry of such creatures. Here is the link to the original Article. _http://www.colszoo.org/internal/drumcroaker.htm. Click on the 2004 issue. Scroll down to the article by Andy Caine. |
|
#780
10/31/2004, 05:49 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
TRavis buy a generator and u will never loose power i guranty it !!
__________________
JOHN boy |
|
#781
10/31/2004, 05:52 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
__________________
The more I learn, the less I know. |
|
#782
10/31/2004, 10:28 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Travis,
thanks for sharing the article regarding the feeding system - very interesting and thought provoking ... i can't help but wonder what the implications would be long term - pls share what your design of the feeding mechanism will be. thanks gerard
__________________
Maintaining work place 92 gallon mixed reef and planning future home tank |
|
#783
11/01/2004, 04:59 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Water changes using you skimmer
Travis,
That is an excellent idea on how to constantly change the water.  Does a skimmer only remove waste and fresh water? With this setup, do you have any problems with specific gravity creep? I always thought some salt is removed by a skimmer.BTW, awesome tank. 
__________________
Thanks, Dennis "I may not be right very often, but I'm never wrong!" |
|
#784
11/01/2004, 10:36 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I will probably set up something simple. Probably an inverted 20 oz. bottle on a brine shrip hatchery stand. An air pump will keep food mixed throughout the water in the container. I will put a few cups of water in the bottle along with some frozen food for the fish and GP's for the corals each day and dose that to the tank slowly throughout the day while the lights are on. |
|
#785
11/01/2004, 10:39 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Water changes using you skimmer
Quote:
 The water that is taken out by the skimmer has the same salinity as the tank water. If you replace the water taken out by the skimmer with fresh saltwater of equal salinity you will never have salinity fluctuations. |
|
#786
11/01/2004, 10:44 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Travis
with regards to the skimmer output, are you planning on running the skimmer with a wetter foam production similar to gregt or bomber so that you increase output and waste export?? thanks. gerard
__________________
Maintaining work place 92 gallon mixed reef and planning future home tank |
|
#788
11/01/2004, 10:57 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
am i doing something wrong i do not get a gallon in a month ??
__________________
JOHN boy |
|
#790
11/02/2004, 12:10 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Yeh, I don't understand how you know how much evaporation you have vs. what's coming out of the skimmer. You must have to adjust your salinity on a weekly basis ( or some period). Off by a gallon a day would take a while to be appreciable, but it would be over a month or so.
Dave |
|
#791
11/02/2004, 11:48 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
SOMEthinsFISHY, With your tank size I would say less than a gallon a month is kind of low. If I had my skimmer set to take out dry foam like most people I would probably only be getting a few gallons per month, which is fine depending upon what you are trying to accomplish. My system is designed for the lowest nutrient levels possible. By skimming very wet I am taking out detritus and nutrients BEFORE they start breaking down in the tank and polluting the water. Even though my skimmate is very wet, it still has a brown tint to it, which means I am pulling out some nasty stuff. There is also a lot of detritus at the bottom of my collection bucket every time I empty it.
gatohoser and dajum, Determining evaporation rate and the amount being skimmed out is really quite simple. To determine how much is being skimmed out I just measure the amount of skimmate that accumulates in the collection bucket in 1 day. To measure the amount of evaporation I can just turn off the skimmer for 24 hours and turn off my top off system. Then I just measure how much water needs to be added to the tank to make up for the evaporation in that 24 hour period. I think you guys are forgetting about my top off system.  My LitermeterIII doses make-up water and kalk to the tank to make up for evaporation. My water exchange module connected to my LitermeterIII doses fresh saltwater to make up for the water that is being skimmed out. Right now I have my system pretty much dialed in to the point where I'm not getting any salinity fluctuations. However, there will always be a need to correct for salinity over time. It is impossible to get the exact same evaporation rate every day due to factors such as humidity in the air or how often my sump fans are cycling on/off to control the water temp. It is also impossible to skim the exact same amount of water out everyday due to differences in water chemistry fluctuations and feeding. However, with 400 gallons of total system water volume, it takes a while before the salinity fluctuates. Right now I test my salinity weekly to make sure it stays stable. I may need to add a little extra salt or take out some tank water and replace with fresh water once a month to correct for any salinity fluctuations. In the future I plan to purchase a conductivity probe for my Aquacontroller Pro. This way I will be able to "control" the salinity in the tank. If the salinity rises too high I can have it shut off the saltwater additions. If the salinity falls I can have it shut off the top off additions, etc. |
|
#793
11/02/2004, 11:59 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Not much to take pics of right now that you haven't already seen. You can check the links on the first page of my website to see pics of my livestock.
I'm getting another shipment of sps corals and my 10 Bartlett's anthias this Thursday. Maybe I'll post some pics of those. ;-) Thanks for the compliment. |
|
#794
11/02/2004, 12:06 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Travis,
I see that it is close to matching if you measure and use those measurements to set your litermeters. Are any of the controllers adding fluid to make sure the total system volume stays constant? Or does it float slightly so you are adjusting the litermeters up or down to keep it constant? Dave |
|
#795
11/02/2004, 02:25 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Right now things are staying constant. It is too early to tell how much it will fluctuate as things have only been dialed in for a couple weeks.
No, none of my controllers are adding fluid to make sure the total system volume stays constant. When I implement the conductivity meter to control salinity I can add a high low float switch relay in the sump connected to the Aquacontroller. Then I can set it to call me if the sump gets too high or low. I don't expect there will be any large fluctuations in water level happening suddenly so this should be effective enough. |
|
#797
11/04/2004, 01:01 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I just received my school of Bartlett's anthias and my yellow coris wrasse from vividaquariums.com. For the Bartlett's, I chose 10 females to be extra sure that I don't end up with 2 males. Eventually, 1 of the females will morph into the supermale. The yellow coris wrasse is for my clam tank. These fish control pyramidellid snails, which are parasitic to clams. Dave at vividaquariums.com was great to deal with. He held all the fish for a week to make sure they were readily accepting prepared foods. He also offers a 15 day live guarantee, which is the longest I know of right now. I plan to keep these fish in quarantine until I am certain they are disease free and greedily eating prepared foods.
Here is a shot of the school:  And here is a close-up:  Here is the yellow Coris wrasse: 
|
|
#798
11/04/2004, 01:10 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
the coris is in a tank with a sandy bottom I hope?
__________________
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. |
|
#799
11/04/2004, 01:12 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Bartlett's anthias are beautiful!!!
Any particular reason you choose that species of anthias??
__________________
"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." - Albert Einstein |
|
#800
11/04/2004, 05:04 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
|
Linear Mode
