anyone using TYREE's "TRIzonal" (cryptic) filtration method ???
- Thread starter K' Family Reef
- Start date
I do not think it mandatory to buy cultivated cryptic sponges. In my experiences, diver collected live rock allowed to cure in the dark will get you that biodiversity. Also, for those of you that cycle with bottled bacteria, know this, only 3% of diversity of natural reef bacteria can be reproduced in a laboratory.
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How to get in small quantity? My refugium is 2 gallon hang on back.
Reef rubble from established refugium. I think GARF sells reef rubble marketed as “Grunge”. I will see if is still available. I am no longer talking Sterve Tyree Zonal. I use cannister filters as high flow cryptic refugiums and the plenum void under reverse flow undergravel filter. I thank PaulB for that and @Timfish for info on cryptic sponges.
Thanks Patrick
My tank has only been setup for 6 weeks Tim. I'm trying to establish as much biodiversity as possible.
Talk with Dan Sanchez at Gulf Live Rock.
Ok, I will. Thanks.
Getting back to the recycling nutrients into live food, cryptic sponges absorb DOC & POC in massive quantities and they produce DIC and detritus which feeds the microbial loop and moves carbon up the food chain. @Paul B said it this way and he called it MULM
[I think one of the most important, and least understood or mentioned things in a reef tank is "mulm". That stuff that grows in the dark portions of a tank if it is set up long enough. "Mulm" is a combination of algae, sponges, bacteria, pods, worms, detritus, poop and any thing else that can be propagated or grown in the dark. I realize most people would immediately get out the sponge, razor blade or grenade to remove it but there is a word I like to use to describe those people. That word is "wrong". Mulm is a natural product that you will find in the sea all over the world. Our tanks run on bacteria, algae and a food chain. Bacteria and a food chain are dependent on having a place to reproduce. Mulm is the perfect place. Rocks and glass are flat surfaces that are only two dimensional. Mulm makes these places three dimensional allowing much more space for bacteria and microscopic organisms to grow and do the macarana. (Then love to dance) Pods, which are needed for any small fish also need to eat and their numbers are directly related to how much food they can get their hands on (or whatever pods use to eat with) The more food, the more pods, the more pods, the easier to keep smaller fish. Larger fish such as copperbands and angels also eat pods.
Many people try to keep fish such as pipefish, mandarins or other dragonettes in a sterile tank and while feeding them a couple of times a day with tiger pods or some other expensive food. Those types of fish will not live for long in such a tank and they certainly won't spawn which I consider the "only" criteria to determine the state of health for any paired fish.]
[Mulm (after a while, maybe a few years) should grow on the back and sides of glass as well as under rocks.
Here in this picture of my clingfish, the mulm appears green. It is really brownish and that fish is on the side of my tank. I brightened up the picture and turned it sideways because it was in the dark and the fish was hard to see.
There is a thick layer of it on the back of my tank where my mandarins and pipefish like to hunt. My long spined urchin also grazes there most of the time as there is not much algae in my tank for him to eat. He is many years old as are the mandarins and pipefish and they are dependent on this food source.
A sterile tank IMO is the biggest problem we have keeping certain fish healthy.
Sterile is good in an operating room but very bad in a tank.]
[I think one of the most important, and least understood or mentioned things in a reef tank is "mulm". That stuff that grows in the dark portions of a tank if it is set up long enough. "Mulm" is a combination of algae, sponges, bacteria, pods, worms, detritus, poop and any thing else that can be propagated or grown in the dark. I realize most people would immediately get out the sponge, razor blade or grenade to remove it but there is a word I like to use to describe those people. That word is "wrong". Mulm is a natural product that you will find in the sea all over the world. Our tanks run on bacteria, algae and a food chain. Bacteria and a food chain are dependent on having a place to reproduce. Mulm is the perfect place. Rocks and glass are flat surfaces that are only two dimensional. Mulm makes these places three dimensional allowing much more space for bacteria and microscopic organisms to grow and do the macarana. (Then love to dance) Pods, which are needed for any small fish also need to eat and their numbers are directly related to how much food they can get their hands on (or whatever pods use to eat with) The more food, the more pods, the more pods, the easier to keep smaller fish. Larger fish such as copperbands and angels also eat pods.
Many people try to keep fish such as pipefish, mandarins or other dragonettes in a sterile tank and while feeding them a couple of times a day with tiger pods or some other expensive food. Those types of fish will not live for long in such a tank and they certainly won't spawn which I consider the "only" criteria to determine the state of health for any paired fish.]
[Mulm (after a while, maybe a few years) should grow on the back and sides of glass as well as under rocks.
Here in this picture of my clingfish, the mulm appears green. It is really brownish and that fish is on the side of my tank. I brightened up the picture and turned it sideways because it was in the dark and the fish was hard to see.
There is a thick layer of it on the back of my tank where my mandarins and pipefish like to hunt. My long spined urchin also grazes there most of the time as there is not much algae in my tank for him to eat. He is many years old as are the mandarins and pipefish and they are dependent on this food source.
A sterile tank IMO is the biggest problem we have keeping certain fish healthy.
Sterile is good in an operating room but very bad in a tank.]
LOL
Both informative and hilarious 9
Paul and I started Reefing at almost the same time. I have followed his exploits for 20 years. Even before that, Paul & I shared the jungles of Cambodia during the Vietnam war era. He was Army Air Calvary and I was an Air Force crew chief on Puff the Magic Dragon. We have never meet each other, however, If things work out this summer, while I am attending a family reunion near the Hamptons I hope to see him as his home is near Montague Point at the end of Long Island.
That's awesome Patrick. Thank you for your service to our country. I've lived on Long Island my whole life. I love Montauk. Perhaps we could meet up when you're here.
That would be a blast. Also, Paul collects stuff from LI Sound. We could combine that with claming. Last week in August is reunion date.
You should join us Dawn. It would be so nice.
