150g BTA prop system

[Leishman]

This is a recap of the past nine months.

Here's my latest project. A BTA propagation system. I'm doing this just for fun, at least for now. I started with an old 120"x24"x12" coral tub and five D120s from a Richard over @ ERC. The lights are hung on a 2x4 rack suspended by a bike lift, that way I can easily adjust the height as needed. At first there was no sump, all filtration was in the tub, and I built an egg crate barrier to keep the RBTAs from the skimmer, heater, and pumps, but within a week the barrier moved, a nem got by and found a powerhead.

Nem munching pumps, and a lack of surface skimming, led to an "˜in tank' sump. This too proved to be less than optimal.

So I added an in tub 20g as a sump, the 10g sitting on top is the FW reservoir for the Avast Marine ATO. I also made some hanging racks to hold pond planter baskets containing the nems.

Drilled 20g to surface skim to the Avast Marine skimmer and bio pellet reactor.

The hanging basket solution did not work - baskets were collecting surface scum due to the PVC hanging rack. The next attempt (still in use) is pontoon style baskets. Now the baskets can freely float higher in the water, and flow through is perfect (after I enlarged the holes at surface level)

 

[Leishman]

Here is the bifurcation station. It has a 18"x24" cutting board ($13 from Restaurant Supply | Restaurant Equipment Store ) a 10g tank, and a large shallow tub. Hold in tub, cut, place in 10g with air stone and carbon ‘till all cuts are done, place in AIO in the main system for 24hrs before returning to the baskets.

Fresh cut:

10 hours later:

 

[Leishman]

Bike rack light lift ($15 @ target)

Other random pics

 

[Leishman]

Fast forward a few months…….. and I had a significant setback. I was at 59 nems then I had a crash. After getting things under control, I had 29 remaining. (this was late July ’15)

I got too confident. I had a good system in place, and one day I didn't follow it. I cut 8 nems, 4 each from 2 strains, and just tossed them back in the baskets without keeping them isolated with extra carbon first. I think that started the tail spin. I don't think the bio pellet reactor, GAC, and skimmer was enough to deal with all generated waste. Since adding a sump with live rock, the nems stopped getting excessive foot slime, algae on the baskets stopped growing (I was cleaning the baskets weekly, now I do it once a month) and the surviving nems stopped turning to mush!

 

[Leishman]

In early August I decided to change up the flow and let one strain out of the baskets, they looked like they were getting too much light. To remove the impending death by impeller, I inverted the pumps, and housed them in the baskets. Egg crate and a couple zip ties locks them in place.

On pulse mode, this has created a lot of water movement.

=====================================

Since the crash I have only cut one strain, and all the cuts are thriving. At MACNA I picked these guys, none of which will be cut for a long time.

I think I covered everything that I have done in the past nine months. Just missing pics of the tub now I have added a sump.

 

[ginpang]

Super interesting! Do you wait until they look like they want to split and help them along , or you just cut them?

 

[Leishman]

Cutting. Since the mini crash, I just want to go slow and get it right.

 

[alb_56]

Very nice setup, thank you for sharing.

 

[mr9iron]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Leishman]

Things are looking good right now. The nems from MACNA all look good.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

That's a sweet setup. I think your new crew looks healthy enough to cut. I've got one splitting right now I'm too chicken to cut them. How long did it take you or should I say how did you get over the hesitation to actually split one?

 

[saf1]

Probably be 10x easier for everyone if you just avoided the cutting and let mother nature take its own course. This is one of the more ridiculous propagation in my opinion but who am I to judge.

Few people I know that have these nems, me included, start with 1 and end up giving them away because they split on their own. Some say due to water quality, others stress, and more others because over feeding. No idea but never the less good luck.

 

[Leishman]

Nothing new, just adding pics for documentation.

 

[ctlegacy]

Do you sell them yet? I see a couple that I would be interested in...

 

[Leishman]

Not yet. It will be a while before I have sustainable numbers.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

The nems look great. What are your water parameters and what lighting do you use and how deep are the tanks, and the distance from bottom of tank to light? I really do like this setup. It shows you put a lot of thought into it.

 

[Leishman]

72-74° F
dKH 11
pH 8.2
sg 1.026 should probably lower this to save $$ but I also have an SPS tank to I have .026 always ready incase I need water.
The lights are the D120 LEDs Whites @ 40% Blues @ 75% and hang 30" above the water surface. The nems sit about 6" below the surface.

I have a bunch of SPS/LPS and softie frags sitting on the bottom of tub ~12" below surface. They are growing well and have great color.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Thank you very much! It's a lot colder than I thought it would be.

 

[Leishman]

It's closer to the 74 point now, but would get lower in summer as the basement gets cold with the AC running.

 

[VWD]

:thumbsup:Very cool set up.