jacobsears Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 I just measured the S.G. of the water in the jar and it was .002 lower than that of that of the tank from which I took the zoas last night. That coupled with the lower temperature is likely what is causing the problem. Hopefully they'll be back out in a day or two. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 I set up the jar in class today, but I won't be sealing it until monday after I've added the macro algae. I left the lid on for the weekend to reduce evaporation. Also, the zoas have started to finally open up. Closeup of the opening zoas. So, I won't be able to check on the jar until monday morning. It will be sealed up sometime monday, either before or after school. I'll make sure to post an update when that happens. I also plan on doing a large water change and a final parameter check before its sealed. I guess it's time to start betting on how long it'll last... Link to comment
Van Schwank Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 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.That's a good idea... maybe just blast it for an hour in the middle of the night... I think your on to something here.Respiration of coral Hmmm that is interesting. I always just assumed the consumed oxygen. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 That's a good idea... maybe just blast it for an hour in the middle of the night... I think your on to something here. Respiration of coral Hmmm that is interesting. I always just assumed the consumed oxygen. Well I think the coral itself consumes oxygen, but the zooxanthellae living in the coral produce it. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Update coming soon... Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Looking good. I would've been happy to donate a couple of nano conch snails to your cause. Best of luck of your project. I'm not sure if your project is scored by creativity or longevity, but this is probably the best diy jarquarium I've seen posted. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Everything looked good when I got to school this morning. The zoas were all open and the jar didn't have any weird smell. I did a ~75% water change and added the macro algae. I think that it's some type of caulerpa. There's also a small anemone living in with the zoas. It's been there since I bought the frag a few months ago. It gets sealed up permanently this afternoon. I've also set the light to be on a cycle of two hours off, one hour on. I hope the reduced photoperiod will keep nuisance algae from growing on the inside of the glass. If it does, I will have no way to clean it off and we won't be able to see what's going on inside. Link to comment
dgphelps Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 It looks great! You are a shoe in for the win! Any chance you can post a photo of the magnet in motion? I would love to see what kind of flow you are getting. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 It looks great! You are a shoe in for the win! Any chance you can post a photo of the magnet in motion? I would love to see what kind of flow you are getting. I'll try to post a video of everything in motion tonight. The flow is such that anything which isn't attached to the rock gets blown around quite a bit, however it does seem weaker than it could be. With a quality stirrer and a proper magnet I think that much more flow is possible. Link to comment
dgphelps Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Interesting for sure. Is it noisy? Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Interesting for sure. Is it noisy? No, it doesn't make any noise at all, as long as I keep it going slow enough. If I turn it up faster, the magnet looses connection with the stirrer and vibrates/bangs against the glass. With a stronger magnet I believe you could get it to spin faster without loosing connection. Link to comment
jaynkeel Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Does the magnet have any kind of paddles built in? If not I know it might be too late now but some simple epoxy shaped paddles on the surface of the top of the magnet might help in creating more movement... Food for thought. Either way I love it' Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Does the magnet have any kind of paddles built in? If not I know it might be too late now but some simple epoxy shaped paddles on the surface of the top of the magnet might help in creating more movement... Food for thought. Either way I love it' Yes, that was certainly something that I had thought about, but the magnet produced enough flow on it's own so I didn't mess with it. Also, it's now officially sealed. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 I haven't had the time to post a video yet, I've been really busy lately. I'll try to do that tomorrow night. Everything's still alive, however some of the macro algae looks like its starting to fall apart. I'm not sure what that means... Link to comment
DurocShark Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 My decorative macro algae melted when I put it in my tank too. Most of it came right back. My tank is rather nutrient poor, so I suspect it had to adjust. Now it grows like crazy. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 My decorative macro algae melted when I put it in my tank too. Most of it came right back. My tank is rather nutrient poor, so I suspect it had to adjust. Now it grows like crazy. That makes sense. Back when I was really into freshwater, a lot of my new plants would melt initially, but then come back. I just hope that the decay doesn't make too much of an impact on oxygen levels. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 27, 2015 Author Share Posted April 27, 2015 I still haven't gotten around to the video, but that'll happen eventually. It's been one week, and everything's doing well- nothing has really changed yet, besides some hair algae. Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 I was looking around on the internet and I found an article that some may find interesting- http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/9/aafeature3 I guess my jar would be what the article refers to as a "hermetically sealed system". I also read through this thread from a year or two back- http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/294016-jarquarium-challenge/page-9 There was quite a bit of drama that went on, but there are some useful bits of information scattered around as well. On a somewhat related point, there aren't many systems in the class that are still alive. A lot of people put goldfish in their jars- GOLDFISH! In something like ten or twenty ounces of water. To make matters worse, most of the jars/bottles were kept on the windowsill, exposed to direct sunlight for the better part of the day. Just imagine what that'll do to the water temperature. Link to comment
dgphelps Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 [shakes head] that's crazy, what on earth were they thinking when they put goldfish in there?! Did you get to chose placement? I.e. were they deliberately placed in the windowsill or did an unthinking teacher do that? We all know you are a shoe in for the win, btw. Just make sure to post your trophy! Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 [shakes head] that's crazy, what on earth were they thinking when they put goldfish in there?! Did you get to chose placement? I.e. were they deliberately placed in the windowsill or did an unthinking teacher do that? We all know you are a shoe in for the win, btw. Just make sure to post your trophy! Everyone got to choose where their jars/bottles were placed. Of course, you've gotta give them some credit. I had already done a lot of research on this topic prior to the project. You can't really expect anyone without a prior interest in these types of things to know everything that there is to know. However, why anyone would choose a goldfish completely baffles me. Fully grown, those fish would be bigger than the bottles that they are being held in. Link to comment
bacon5 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Wow this looks really cool! Depending on how it does, I bet you can start selling them! Link to comment
jacobsears Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Wow this looks really cool! Depending on how it does, I bet you can start selling them! Thanks. Given the way it's been going so far, I'm wishing that I would've added some GSP and mushrooms to give it a bit more diversity. Initially, I was afraid that I would end up killing them, but now it certainly seems as if the jar is stable enough to support them. I can't open it back up, because that would be cheating. I might just have to start a second one... http://www.amazon.com/Oggi-Acrylic-Airtight-Canister-65-Ounce/dp/B00CSG0OP0/ref=pd_sim_k_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1PYF7EK686R065QSNKPW Link to comment
DurocShark Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 You've definitely inspired me. I ordered one of those bulbs and when I buy the seed rock for my 70 I'll pick out some good pieces for one of these. Link to comment
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