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Coral Vue Hydros

Coral growth science project planning


fishfreak0114

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pappadumplingz

I'm going to look into that right now :). I don't think I've seen it before, but I've never actually looked at bio media for fw or sw

ceramic rings can only support nitrifying bacteria, so they become nitrate factories, which is okay in freshwater as you can add plants. Marine pure has a really large pore network allowing for the formation of de nitrifying bacteria. The onl;y downside is that it leeches aluminium, which is bad for leathers. Rinsing the dust off helps with this though.

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Would you want to get rid of nitrate? It could be an energy source along with phosphate.

No, I'd rather not lower the nitrates. I've never tested my tank but I'm pretty sure it runs near 20ppm, and the softies love it. I'll probably just pick whatever I can find up at the lowest price possible. This weekend I'll probably be able to hit 5-7 pet stores.

ceramic rings can only support nitrifying bacteria, so they become nitrate factories, which is okay in freshwater as you can add plants. Marine pure has a really large pore network allowing for the formation of de nitrifying bacteria. The onl;y downside is that it leeches aluminium, which is bad for leathers. Rinsing the dust off helps with this though.

I'll be doing 100% water change so very week though and not feeding, so I not terribly concerned about nitrates building up. I can rinse out whatever I get really good. When I did a quick google I saw the aluminum thing so I think I'll pass on that particular one.
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fishfreak0114

So here's an updated list of what I have/need. At this point I'm really hoping my teacher goes through with the project. If not, I'll do it at home, but I'm not sure my parents would reimburse me for part.

 

Ok so here is my equipment list: I'll put a ¥ when I have something

 

3- 2g walmart buckets (#2 plastic). ¥

2- 3-way splitters for the airstones. ¥

2- air pumps ¥

6- airstones. ¥

20' airline tubing ¥

3' u-channel.

1- rapidled 6 LED solderless non-dimmable kit. ¥ ordered

1- large piece of glass. ¥

Biomedia. ¥

1- powerbar (with at least 6 outlets). Still have to check in my basement

1- timer. ¥

1- jug of top off water

Media bags and carbon. ¥

Coral. ¥

3- 50w heaters. Going to walmart for these soon

Salt. ¥ Bought 160g of IO (also using for QT) I plan on using part tank water and part fresh IO for each water change, because IO is significantly cheaper than RSCP. I'll always use the same ratio of tank:new water (maybe 1:2?)

 

I bought lots of coral today (not all for the experiment) including a finger leather that's quite large for $30. I'm going to make 3 frags of it, and put the rest in my tank. I think I may just do 3 types of coral...GSP, finger leather and sunny d zoas. I'm getting excited! (And stressed out because I spent more than I'd planned, different salt wasn't included in my original plan, but I realized I would go through a ridiculous amount of my good salt so cheaper salt was better in the long run)

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Just a couple of thoughts. Are you still planning 100% water changes? If you have, let's say, about 1.5 gallons in each container, you could fill all of them from the same 5 gallon bucket, so the water should be the same (initially, and for each water change).

 

Leather corals are known for their chemical warfare. I'm just not sure that passive activated carbon will be adequate to remove this influence.

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fishfreak0114

Just a couple of thoughts. Are you still planning 100% water changes? If you have, let's say, about 1.5 gallons in each container, you could fill all of them from the same 5 gallon bucket, so the water should be the same (initially, and for each water change).

Leather corals are known for their chemical warfare. I'm just not sure that passive activated carbon will be adequate to remove this influence.

Yes, I'm still planning on 100% water changes. I was thinking that 1.5 gallons would be a good amount. My thought was that I could mix 3G of IO, and add 1.5g of tank water. Mix that all up and distribute it evenly between buckets.

 

Perhaps I should skip thee leather? And just do sunny D's and GSP?

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Perhaps I should skip thee leather? And just do sunny D's and GSP?

I'd skip the leather. Maybe I'd add a LPS (like a hammer or something).

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fishfreak0114

How is the experiment planning out?

Good :) Lights arrived a couple days ago, I'm going to start putting them together as soon as I make a trip to home hardware for some u channel. The bio media is in my tank right now. I still have to order egg crate, but the place im ordering from ships super quick. It'll probably arrive before I finish the lights!

 

Edit:

I just realized that I actually have enough egg crate!

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  • 2 weeks later...
fishfreak0114

I was unable to find actual u channel, so I bought a long flat piece of aluminum which I will prop up with something. I built the LED's tonight! Needed help from my dad because I screwed the wiring up the first time, but it's all working now!!! The experiment shall start very soon :)

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