self sustaining aquariums

[DriftingNemo]

With my freshwater tanks I will collect water weeds to obtain specimens like tubifex, gammarus, ascellus etc to culture in my tanks.

Are those types of food? I like the idea of creating an ecosystem so advanced that the fish waste ends up growing mangroves, feeding live food and cleaning the system by itself. I don't think you could truly set up a successful tank with no human input whatsoever, you need to keep up the ionic balance and introduce clean water once in a while.

[afyounie]

I think the main thing that is missing from all this is we are comparing 2 very different systems. In freshwater systems, the diversity in the different ecosystems that make it up is very limited compared to the incredible amount of different ecosystems that exist in the oceans. The reefs have multiple different ecosystems contained in themselves and these are all fed by the open water and deep water systems. All the currents around the planet moving nutrients and waste to different microcosms. The oceans are not closed systems. That's the point I'm trying to make. A simple freshwater pond could be considered a closed system. Just water coming in to fill it and replenish some nutrients. The oceans have so many inputs and outputs, its extremely difficult to encompass all of these with a couple aquariums. I recommend looking up Cryptic Zone filtering systems. They are an attempt to add another important ecosystem to the marine tank setup. They are literally blacked out tanks with very low flow that the sponges, feather dusters, and aiptasia anemones can exist and can uptake the mulm, further cleaning the water. Even with the addition of the Cryptic Zone tanks, we are far from creating a self sustaining system. There is still the constant influx of organic and inorganic compounds aka, salts, carbon and nitrate elements, etc that feed the phytoplankton and add the building blocks for living things to use to build. I'd say some good tanks to look at to understand just how close you can get to a self-sustaining system would be glennr's system and also look at paulb's tank. Paul's tank is 40 yrs old and still flourishing. Also, look through the Albert Thiel thread. He has a ton of knowledge and can most likely answer your question far better than any of us, unless someone here is a marine biologist.

 

Also something I'd like to add. I'm not sure who thought that freshwater plants are rubbish at removing nitrates or phosphates from water, but you are misinformed. Try keeping a freshwater tank stocked with fast growing freshwater plants. They remove nitrate and phosphate at incredible rates. So fast they can deplete a tank of these nutrients quickly and without a root system, they will begin to die. Add in CO2 infusion and lots of light and you start having to dose ferts fairly heavily along with trace elements. This is what I did for probably near 8 yrs and its a lot of fun. The beautiful bright green plants with the tiny O2 bubbles that form is a beautiful sight.

[amphipod]

I have to say the mangrove idea is pretty awsome also afyounie I have to say those aquariums you say of are amazing, 40 years! I have seen O2 come off my hornwort in bright sunlight its awsome. lots of variables in saltwater I never quite thought of

[afyounie]

Yeah, there is a lot more going on in the ocean than most would realize. Some might think reefs could be a separate ecosystem, but they are very much tied into everything else. I think once I upgrade my tank, I'm going to try a cryptic zone filtration method because I like the idea of letting the natural filter feeders of the ocean do the job. Might even be able to utilize some NPS gorgs in the setup. It will be a display cryptic zone that you can't look at because it has to be blacked out.

[amphipod]

Sounds good Ok one question completley unreleated, why are my aiptasia crawling right to the air water boundryand staying just beteath the surface, I have never heard of such behavior in polyps.