Aquabacs' Cadlights Artisan 50 Azooxanthellae Tank build

[Aquabacs]

Mike, I have been experimenting with dosing the liquid Reef/Reed's foods three to four times a day while the dry Fauna Marin are fed slowly and continuously throughout the day. With the liquid feeding it knocks down the skimmer for 45-90 minutes. This was about the same amount of time it effected the Bubble Magnus. With the slow dosing of the dry feeds it has little effect but when I dose over an 1/8 of a teaspoon directly into the feeding ring foam production is quickly lost. What I really like about it as well is there is no mesh wheel to get clogged, the pump can be replaced easily, and support right here in NY. Those were a few of the downfalls with the Bubble Magnus skimmer.



Mike
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[happysak]

Mike, I have a question to you. Do you test for nitrites(NO2)? I ask because I have NO2 around 0.3 in my tank. It was 0 then 0.3 then 0 then 0.3. They never go above 0.3. I'm using simple Tetra kit. I wonder if kit reacts to FM foods or FM foods make NO2 go up?

 

[Aquabacs]

To be honest with you, I have never tested for nitrites. I watch Salinity, PH, phosphates, nitrates, Alk, and Calcium...all in about that order.

Mike

 

[Aquabacs]

Testing out my phone for taking pictures since the old home pc is shot.

Mike

 

[Aquabacs]

One more bad pic with the phone.

Mike

 

[Matt_Wandell]

I've always wanted to try a downdraft skimmer. How does it react to feeding? I've read they are more sensitive.

Don't waste your time. Huge energy hogs, and the foam production is way more volatile--feeding kills the foam with a long turnaround time. I switched from a DD skimmer on my tank to a Reeflo needlewheel skimmer made by MRC and the difference in performance is ridiculous. I can set the new skimmer exactly where I want it and know that a day later I'll have about X gallons of skimmate. IME NW skimmers are THE way to go on NPS systems.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

I have not seen it 100 percent pure (I have only looked local) but you should be able to find it without food coloring and a few other things that can be easily rinsed off.

Hey Mike, try looking for this at an Asian market. So far going the route of trying to purchase female capelin seems to be easier than sourcing just the eggs.

There is a fair amount of meat in the rest of the fish too--could be made into a blend for your fish, or large polyped corals.

 

[Aquabacs]

Thanks Matt,

I am going to the Japanese market on Saturday so I will see what I can find.

One of the biggest issues to overcome with this tank is lack of sump room with the current design. With the Bubble Magnus going down I had to weigh the options with what to do with the time frame I was working with without a skimmer. Having a new sump designed and ordering the skimmer I really wanted was unrealistic. In 2011, I am planning to move and upgrade to a larger system. Whatever skimmer I purchased would not be able to support the new tank or be extremely oversized for this tank and not do it's intended purpose. Even with the downtime of the skimmer losing foam production it is producing more skim daily than the Bubble Magnus. I know just because it produces more doesn't mean it is better

Mike

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[flying_dutchman]

Would it be possible to freeze the eggs?

 

[Aquabacs]

I would see no issue with doing so. I am not sure how many eggs can be harvested from each fish...what do you think Matt?

Mike

 

[flying_dutchman]

Quite a lot:

http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/9919

 

[Aquabacs]

We shall see I will say this, the fish absolutely love the reef caviar from H2O life...maybe even more than Cyclop-eeze.

Mike

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[GreshamH]

Quite a lot:

http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/9919

That is from (5) fish FWIW. It should also be noted it really depends on when the fish were harvested. If they are harvested early, they eggs are much white and are clumped together. The older/riper they are, the more they are single eggs in a sack.

 

[uhuru]

Wow I might have to try that. Also I can't seem to find H20 Life Reef Caviar online. I was going to place an order with DFS for some other frozen foods as well and would love to add it to my order.

 

[GreshamH]

It can be a real hit or miss. I've opened on the order of (50) packages now and some really didn't have much and were handled very poorly. The "unripe" eggs don't make for a good feed as they are so tightly clumped together. It takes a lot of effort to break them apart, a LOT>

 

[GreshamH]

Would it be possible to freeze the eggs?

Well given that is how these flats come, yah, it's a non-issue

 

[flying_dutchman]

Thanks,
I though maybe they were frozen in a special way?

 

[Aquabacs]

Thanks for the insight Gresh. I have to see the value of how much usable eggs can be harvested per package of fish versus buying locally the H2O Life frozen. Unless you guys are planning to start selling the eggs in a refrigerated form that I can run through a doser

Mike

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[Matt_Wandell]

It can be a real hit or miss. I've opened on the order of (50) packages now and some really didn't have much and were handled very poorly. The "unripe" eggs don't make for a good feed as they are so tightly clumped together. It takes a lot of effort to break them apart, a LOT>

What kind of packages are you opening?

The ones in that picture look pretty damn ripe, the females with the hard eggs are usually pretty skinny. But yeah, when you get an unripe female they are basically useless unless you want to feed it out as one clump.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

I would see no issue with doing so. I am not sure how many eggs can be harvested from each fish...what do you think Matt?

Mike

Each female capelin will produce about 1tsp of eggs, more or less. I'd say each of the females in that pictured package would make about that much.

If you thaw one female at a time you can use the eggs for several days if you keep them in saltwater in the fridge. They keep really well. For my 200g tank with all the purple queens and Tubastrea, that package would last me about a week. For $1.50-2.00 per package, that's just a drop in the bucket.