jacobsears Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 GSP will be happy at a minimum of around 72F the copedpods will be fine in cooler temps. kenya tree coral is found in the wild at temperatures as low as 68F I wonder then if kenya tree would be the better choice. However, I've heard that they can release some nasty chemicals/poison which would be pretty bad in such a small enclosed space. Link to comment
righttirefire Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 #7 mesh plastic canvas, http://www.michaels.com/darice-plastic-canvas-%237/M10812487.html, I used this to make my refugium basket. It'll keep everything out of your prop. I use this all the time in my reef Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 #7 mesh plastic canvas, http://www.michaels.com/darice-plastic-canvas-%237/M10812487.html, I used this to make my refugium basket. It'll keep everything out of your prop. I use this all the time in my reef If only I hadn't just siliconed the eggcrate on... Link to comment
cmccorkle2005 Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 This looks like a really cool project - Good luck with it. Link to comment
righttirefire Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Use that over the Egg crate. It's not rigid enough to support itself. I use it over egg crate. Cut it big and fold it around d the edges. The live rock will hold it down. And mostly pods won't go through it either. Link to comment
Van Schwank Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 #7 mesh plastic canvas, http://www.michaels.com/darice-plastic-canvas-%237/M10812487.html, I used this to make my refugium basket. It'll keep everything out of your prop. I use this all the time in my reef This.... yes, I think this is what you should use... I definitely agree, the simpler it is the longer it is likely to last. I wouldn't be adding any sort of livestock had it not been a requirement of the project. What exactly is the problem you see with adding too much macro algae though? I've never kept any sort of macro algae before so this part is new to me. At night when plants are not being photosynthetic, they actually consume oxygen. I would assume that the macoralgae would do the same, but I am not an algae expert. It seems to me night time would be your major worry, could you leave a light on it all the time? Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 This.... yes, I think this is what you should use... At night when plants are not being photosynthetic, they actually consume oxygen. I would assume that the macoralgae would do the same, but I am not an algae expert. It seems to me night time would be your major worry, could you leave a light on it all the time? I'm unsure whether or not the algae can perform cellular respiration if the lights are constantly on and they are constantly performing photosynthesis. Assuming it doesn't cause a problem, I feel like 24 hours of light would cause the algae to grow too quickly. I wonder if alternating the lights on and off every hour would be a better solution. I'm guessing a lot of this is going to be trial and error. Also, I just got back from the lfs and they didn't have any macro algae of any type, so... thats going to have to wait. However I did get some live rock and some cheap zoanthids. Pics coming soon. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 I decided not to add any livestock, besides whatever comes in on the rock. I also decided that it would be best not to use a mesh cover over the eggcrate in the interests of water flow. The eggcrate alone slows it significantly. You can see on the right side of the jar that I've added an adhesive thermometer to help me get a general ballpark estimate of the temperature within the jar. I have yet to get my macro algae as well as to finalize my decisions on coral. It won't be sealed until all of those things are sorted out, of course. This should give everything time to settle down a bit before it's shut for good. Link to comment
righttirefire Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Can I have that rock? I love it. It's awesome. Keep going Link to comment
dgphelps Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Agreed! Oh also, not sure when you have to start it but I have some ulva I'd happily mail you for free. Meet you could also find some chaeto from local club folk. Link to comment
NorthGaHillbilly Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I'd throw in a button polyp if you still can, I've had then live in fresh bleach water for a week at 60 degrees... I was ATTEMPTING to get rid of them Link to comment
righttirefire Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 That's impressive. Can I get a frag of that clove polyp? Link to comment
DurocShark Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Can you charge the atmosphere with pure oxygen before sealing it? Would that even help during the nighttime consumption? In the 90's when I worked in a pet store we used pure oxygen for the bagged fish. I have no idea if it helped... Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Can you charge the atmosphere with pure oxygen before sealing it? Would that even help during the nighttime consumption? In the 90's when I worked in a pet store we used pure oxygen for the bagged fish. I have no idea if it helped... I have thought about this. I think that it would help but I have no idea where to get pure oxygen. Also, I know that oxygen is toxic at elevated levels, and I wonder if the oxygen content of the water would reach such a point as to be dangerous to the life inside of the jar. However, if there is an easy way to do it, I will likely try it. I think that oxygen depletion will be the greatest danger to the jar especially within the first few days of being closed up. On a somewhat related point, do the zooxanthellae in corals produce more oxygen than the corals use? Would macro algae even be necessary for oxygen production or would a combination of coral and micro algae be able to handle it? Link to comment
DurocShark Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I can't imagine there would be enough excess production from the symbiotic algae to carry the entire thing through a night. I would say macro will be necessary. But then you will run into issues with the macro overgrowing the jar. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 But then you will run into issues with the macro overgrowing the jar. Yes, that's what I'm afraid of. I wonder if oxygen depletion would be much of a problem if I ran the lights every other hour or half-hour continuously, so that there is never a long period without light. I think that it may work, assuming the coral doesn't consume more oxygen than it produces. Link to comment
lobster876 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Hey there is a closed zoanthid on that rock Here it is Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Hey there is a closed zoanthid on that rock Here it isScreen Shot 2015-04-16 at 1.25.11 PM.png Ah yes, there are few zoanthids that came in on the rock. I also added some from my display tank last night and this morning. So far none have opened. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 The previously mentioned zoanthids... Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 it seems odd that with all the tech developments there's not a more accurate way to measure oxygen production and consumption so you could at least ballpark what you will need in order to balance this thing. very interesting- i am enjoying following this! sorry i don't have anything actually helpful to add... Link to comment
lobster876 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 What light are you using Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 What light are you using ZooMed Reef sun 50/50 cfl bulb Link to comment
DurocShark Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 it seems odd that with all the tech developments there's not a more accurate way to measure oxygen production and consumption so you could at least ballpark what you will need in order to balance this thing. very interesting- i am enjoying following this! sorry i don't have anything actually helpful to add... http://www.omega.com/pptst/DOH247KIT.html Only $1340! Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 It's almost been 24 hours since I added the first zoas and they still aren't open... Usually they open for me within 15-30 minutes of putting them in the tank. I might have to test the water tonight and see if anything weird is going on. http://www.omega.com/googlebase/product.html?pn=PHAC-247&gclid=CjwKEAjwu72pBRC9hsn2-e34vRUSJACnSYsTDkU6S7tN7Xyik5nkEGkOiBFXoiwk27QmexjZGgsY-hoCJP3w_wcB Unfortunately that is way outside of the budget that I've made for this project. Link to comment
DurocShark Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 They have ones that datalog to SD cards too. They don't get cheaper though... Link to comment
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