almost 35 year old reef pictures

[Paul B]

Capn, Eric is a very informed man and I have been reading his articles for many years. I also agree with just about everything he said.

Such devices actively strip the water column of the very bacteria, detritus, mucus, and plankton that exist, limiting the effectiveness of our captive community to deal with the nutrients and, in return, providing food sources within the food web. When the water column is "stripped" of its productive elements, the populations of filter feeding and predatory sessile invertebrates are compromised, as is the productivity of the substrate communities - including the live rock and live sand with their associated microbial, floral, and faunal components

I have always said that most reef tanks are much too sterile.
Algae and detritus are not the enemy. There is a reason that I am always finding these tiny animals spawning in my tank. If it were sterile, I would not find anything unless I bought it. This is what constitutes longivity.

It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be a thriving community of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely a collection of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae. By intentionally depriving many of these animals of natural food sources, I think we become lax in our responsibility, even if we did not spend money to acquire them. Dinnertime is a happy time for all, and nutrition is a universal requirement for survival. We may never be able to duplicate the coral reef, but we can get closer and closer as we learn more about closed systems and the natural communities.

He also stated that collecting plankton and other organisms are one of the best things you can do for a reef, (If of course you live near the sea, people living in Ohio would have problems ex. WK)

Capn, does this sound familiar?

.

What can we do to make our situation better? There are many solutions. One way is to purchase a plankton net, and perform plankton drags in the ocean. However, this is not an option for those without easy access to the sea - and it is not very convenient, either. Still, I have found occasion to grab a net full of plankton on trips to the beach, and the animals one finds are simply fascinating. Another way to provide food sources is to culture plankton. It is certainly possible to begin producing batch cultures of plankton and/or plankton substitutes. Culture materials are generally simple, and various algae, rotifers, Artemia nauplii, ciliates, mysids, Gammarus, etc. are readily available and easy to grow. These food sources are not only nutritious inputs for reef aquaria, but may be enriched with vitamins, minerals, trace elements, medications, antioxidants, etc., and used as biocarriers of such substances. Cultured food sources, I feel, are far more valuable in both time and expense than many of the other products and devices we operate and use.

My RUGF relies on detritus to reduce nitrates and supply food for these organisms. My gravel is loaded with tube worms which, besides being cool, are perfect, natural filters

[bebereef]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
Paul--I think this guy copied every thing down about what you believe has made you sucessful in this hobby:

good article(s)
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php

Thanks for the link, really good article(s).

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by bebereef
Thanks for the link, really good article(s).

actually it was Water Keeper that suggested it

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Paul B
Capn, Eric is a very informed man and I have been reading his articles for many years. I also agree with just about everything he said.



I have always said that most reef tanks are much too sterile.
Algae and detritus are not the enemy. There is a reason that I am always finding these tiny animals spawning in my tank. If it were sterile, I would not find anything unless I bought it. This is what constitutes longivity.



He also stated that collecting plankton and other organisms are one of the best things you can do for a reef, (If of course you live near the sea, people living in Ohio would have problems ex. WK)

Capn, does this sound familiar?

.

My RUGF relies on detritus to reduce nitrates and supply food for these organisms. My gravel is loaded with tube worms which, besides being cool, are perfect, natural filters

this is why I posted it here Paul----sound familiar--its like an echo coming from you

BTW
I've taking off the phosban reactor on my system, taking half of the live rock out of the one refugium, added a football amount of chaeto in its place. Cranked up the flow through both.
That's done the trick---the lps corals are loving it---the water is crystal clear---nuisance algae in the main tank has dwindled and you can visibly see copopods and amphipods ect on the walls of the display tank.
Good advice by you ---thanks

[Paul B]

actually it was Water Keeper that suggested it

Sure, suck up to Waterkeeper even though most of those ideas, I invented before WK was born.

That was back in 42.

Waterkeeper keeps trying to use that plankton net but it just makes a lot of noise in his street in Ohio and picks up mostly cigarette butts

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Paul B
Sure, suck up to Waterkeeper even though most of those ideas, I invented before WK was born.

That was back in 42.

Waterkeeper keeps trying to use that plankton net but it just makes a lot of noise in his street in Ohio and picks up mostly cigarette butts

at least he is trying to go green

[conorwynne]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
this is why I posted it here Paul----sound familiar--its like an echo coming from you

BTW
I've taking off the phosban reactor on my system, taking half of the live rock out of the one refugium, added a football amount of chaeto in its place. Cranked up the flow through both.
That's done the trick---the lps corals are loving it---the water is crystal clear---nuisance algae in the main tank has dwindled and you can visibly see copopods and amphipods ect on the walls of the display tank.
Good advice by you ---thanks

Cool, I cannot find my phosban media and was worried that it would be an issue.
I don't see pods on the glass but I did switch e on the lights one night (after the pub) and what I saw amazed me. There were hundreds of pods over the sand, and the tank is only 4 months old.

I was also just thinking that I've only changed 25 liters so far... maybe it's time for one..??

If I could find my test kit I'd love to know if I hate any phosphate levels. I'm also running almost skimmerless - it needs a clean and is way undersized anyway..

I'll test the water and post the results if your interested.

Conor.

p.s.: gone from hardly feeding to feeding several times a day, every day!
Still don't have algae issues either - except in the fuge :-)

[Paul B]

That slug from nowhere finally showed up in the light and turned over for the picture.

[gary faulkner]

Paul,

They usually mimic the animal that they prey upon. Do you have any soft corals that look similar to this, especially the tentacle parts?

Gary

[Paul B]

Gary that is likely and he could be snacking on a colt coral which he resembles. If that is the case, He will shortly be slug chowder

[gary faulkner]

Paul,

Slug chowder, mmmm sounds delish. Would that be on a bed of rice or potatoes with cheese? Or maybe with a little diced ham?

Gary

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Paul B
Gary that is likely and he could be snacking on a colt coral which he resembles. If that is the case, He will shortly be slug chowder

don't kill it--its adding variety to your tank

[Paul B]

I'm not going to kill him, I am going to tie him to this coral steeling urchin

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Paul B
I'm not going to kill him, I am going to tie him to this coral steeling urchin

every once and awhile my urchin would be carrying around a small frag of zoas.
He was quite an asset to the tank actually--used to bring up all sorts of things you could not get at the back of the reef---rubber suctions ect ect ect

[Paul B]

Yes Capn, he is a great asset to my reef also. I am in the process of making a tiny grenade that he can carry to the back of the tank which he is being such an asset to

This one likes to exercize a lot. My last one was a purple urchin that lived about 10 years and never bothered anything.

[Paul B]

Yesterday I collected a batch of mud from the Long Island Sound. I had to try a few different places because in some places below 1/4" there is hydrogen sulfide. Those places are where the mud is too fine and no oxygen can penetrate. I found another place which was sandier and was perfect. The hydrogen sulfide was down about 6" so I colllected above that.
Under a microscope the mud is teeming with tiny worms, pods and an assortment of other life. Some of this I added to my reef.
I also had some mud which I collected about 6 months ago and I checked that out under the microscope also. That older mud had lost much of it's life. I knew that it would being it was in a small container for a long time with hardly any food input.

[Micki]

Cool! Sometimes I wish I lived where I could do that.

[Paul B]

Micki, Ohio can be tough for collecting salt water stuff, I was thinking about mailing NY mud to parts of the country but I would probably get arrested for sending toxic waste.

[Aquarist007]

Here is a link to a thread on vodka dosing---the advocates feel that a plus with the carbon dosing is the build up of a variety of useful bacteria in the tank.

It would seem to me that you are accomplishing the same thing with out having to dose something forum to the reef

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1607249

[Paul B]

Capn while dosing Vodka may increase the bacteria in the tank by numbers, I doubt it will increase the varieties of bacteria unless we are counting alcoholic bacteria as a variety

We could also dose sugar, peanut butter, Log Cabin Syrup, Quaker Oatmeal or M&Ms but Vodka is the cleanest, less sticky substance so we will stick with that.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Paul B
Capn while dosing Vodka may increase the bacteria in the tank by numbers, I doubt it will increase the varieties of bacteria unless we are counting alcoholic bacteria as a variety

We could also dose sugar, peanut butter, Log Cabin Syrup, Quaker Oatmeal or M&Ms but Vodka is the cleanest, less sticky substance so we will stick with that.

to quote Ogden Nash
"candy is dandy but liquor is quicker"

thanks great mentor

[luther1200]

Originally posted by Paul B
Yesterday I collected a batch of mud from the Long Island Sound. I had to try a few different places because in some places below 1/4" there is hydrogen sulfide. Those places are where the mud is too fine and no oxygen can penetrate. I found another place which was sandier and was perfect. The hydrogen sulfide was down about 6" so I colllected above that.
Under a microscope the mud is teeming with tiny worms, pods and an assortment of other life. Some of this I added to my reef.
I also had some mud which I collected about 6 months ago and I checked that out under the microscope also. That older mud had lost much of it's life. I knew that it would being it was in a small container for a long time with hardly any food input.

Do you think all those critters will survive being from a colder climate?

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by luther1200
Do you think all those critters will survive being from a colder climate?

I tried a few perwinkle snails from the local grocery store---they didn't do well at all to the increase in temperature.

Also ulva macro algae from the Northern Atlantic---it wouldn't grow either.

[Micki]

Originally posted by Paul B
Micki, Ohio can be tough for collecting salt water stuff, I was thinking about mailing NY mud to parts of the country but I would probably get arrested for sending toxic waste.

Yeah, but I have some ocean front property to sell in Ohio!

[Paul B]

Capn, I still have mud snails from two years ago alive in my reef. I guess the hermit crabs have not caught them yet. And a few of my crabs are the size of golf balls and 10 years old.
Oddly enough I still have a local NY hermit crab alive. He is not in my reef but in an unheated 5 gallon tank with other crabs, shrimp and snails.

A couple of days ago something spawned in my tank at night. Not a fish because I can usually see when they spawn but probably the urchins or a coral. I can tell by the smell.
Usually a salt tank has kind of a fresh salty smell but I immediately noticed an odor and the water was slightly milky.
I know from experience that it was not the smell of something dead but the unmistakable musty odor of a spawning.
Another clue was that the corals looked better than usual, not worse.
The smell disapated in a day with no help from me and the water cleared. Yesterday a pair of gobies spawned but those eggs stay in one place and do not smell. Not in the small amount that gobies lay anyway.
I know the smell of spawning from when 24 urchins all spawned at the same time.
Also my skimmer was pumping out a lot of waste which was whatever eggs or sperm was in the water.
I have been away for a few days and diden't notice anything that looked like it was ready to spawn but sometimes it is hard to tell.
There are things I discover in my tank occasionally and don't know if they came from local water or the tropics.
I have not added local water since last fall and no rocks in years, or decades. I did add some corals and I assume some of these things came in with them as babies.
Spawnings are usually a good sign but urchins will spawn in response to changing water conditions.
Have a great day.
Paul