Aquabacs' Cadlights Artisan 50 Azooxanthellae Tank build

Thanks guys!

I also have two other Distichopora I am working on. One of them is showing some great progress a ton of feeders on it, the other not so much.

Mike
 
This a picture of what I believe a healthy Distichopora should look like in our aquariums. Might not look pretty but it is super sticky and catches lots of food.

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Mike
 
I'll keep that in mind. We'll have a single one designed for a 16oz bottle on the market in the future so it's affordable for higher numbers of reefers. However, ramping up the design should be too hard ;)

Maybe just big enough for 4-32oz bottles ;)

Mike
 
The best system I've seen is Steve Weast's setup. There is a picture floating around somewhere wish I could find it. He runs a pipe from the tank through the fridge, and the dosing pumps dose the food into that pipe. Everything is kept in separate bottles. This way the food is ALWAYS cold right until it hits the tank water. Aside from the cyclopeeze he had on a magnetic stirrer it looked like the setup could go for weeks without having to touch it as well.
 
Found the pic - hope he doesn't mind :) Hopefully he can chime in and give his thoughts on continuous feeding.

Is this not a thing of beauty?
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^^Add in a continuous water changing system and you could literally go on vacation for weeks just have someone come by every day to feed the fish and make sure everything is running fine.
 
I'm still using the system pictured above on my coldwater system. It's very simple. Water just flows fairly slowly, yet continuously, through the refrigerator and up to the tank. The dosing pump and all the foods are located in the refrigerator.....the food never spoils this way. The dosing pump then delivers food to the feed line....which delivers food to the tank. I also vodka dose using the same system.

The system has been working flawlessly for about 18 months now. The cyclopeese can only be delivered in batches of less than a week....even 38 F is not cold enough to keep cyclopeese from spoiling. I usually manual dose cyclopeese and make up batches when I'm going to be away for a few days. All the Reef Nutrition line of products is kept and delivered at 38F and is pretty much "set it and forget it". I replace them when the bottles run dry( about 6 - 8 weeks).

The real trick though is my using a motorized three way ball valve that...during feeding time....just redirects the return pump's flow right back to the sump without going through the tank first. This way....the display tank is only circulated by the Tunzes......basically the water just recirulates within itself. The delivered food stays concentrated in the display tank for about 45 minutes.....when the motorized ball valve resumes normal operation and tank water is again flowing through the sump. Without this...much of the food would just get filtered out instead of eaten. The ball valve is controlled by my Neptune Aquacontroller.
 
Thank you very much Steve for stopping by and giving a detailed description of the system, very ingenious design. I never thought of using a motorized ball valve on the return for this purpose. I might be able to actually reduce the amount of food used daily/weekly on the system if this in employed.

Mike
 
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Steve what unit are you using for the motorized ball valve? What are your feeding intervals in a 24 hr period (ie once every hr)? Thanks for stopping by!
 
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Was able to capture one of my green crinoids with its legs in alternating position. A few of the legs were twisted 180 degrees while it was feeding (legs in the 11 and 12 o'clock positions).

Mike
 
Steve what unit are you using for the motorized ball valve? What are your feeding intervals in a 24 hr period (ie once every hr)? Thanks for stopping by!


I'm using a Valworx motorized 3 way ball valve. I feed 3 times a day. I could get up to about 8 times a day.....but, there's no need for what livestock I'm keeping. It is impractical, IMO, to feed continuously or every hour. The foods that we use tend to knock the skimmer out of action for a period of time after feeding. Currently, 3 X a day leaves plenty of time for the skimmer's foam to recover....and then clean the water.... before the next feeding cycle.
 
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