Can Equilibrium Be Reached

[ChrisKil]

Is it feasible to get to a tank large enough that it is at equilibrium. For instance how much maintenance is required on a tank at the Montery Bay Aquarium (or any such aquarium). I know institutional aquarium tanks can be over 300,000 gallons.

If I built and entire room, say 22' x 22', in my house for a tank what kind of maintenance am I going to be doing. Am I still needing to do water changes and clean glass?

 

[ReefingBuddha]

you will always have to clean the glass... not sure about equillibrium

 

[ChrisKil]

By equilibrium I mean: Can the natural filtration be good enough in a setup this large that I never need to change the water. Is it possible for a predator prey balance to where both could be kept in the same tank without completely wiping one out. I would like to see how close I could get to a self sustaining system.

 

[rwrussom]

Well there was an experiment called biosphere 2 in arizona. This sealed environment has a small reef on the order of 1/4 acre. They never could reach equilibrium.

 

[ChrisKil]

People did live sealed in biosphere 2 for two years. I think that project may have been to diverse. There was a rain forest, desert, agricultural areas, & an ocean. I wonder if anyone has tried it with just an ocean. The ocean in the BS2 project was 900,000 gallons, so it may not be feasible to incorporate one into your house.

I'm going to look more into biosphere 2 to see what went wrong.

 

[Paikuhan]

I don't think you will find many people with personal experience with something that size but just from reading you would have to have a some crazy water-movement for natural filtration and you would definatly still need to clean the glass. As for water changes there are some people who do not do them at all on RC track them down and ask what there methods are.

Just think of evaporation of a tank that size in your home

 

[paljets]

I've found in my own system which has a total water volume over 500+ gallons, that I don't do much of anything.

I only add topoff water, and feed.

I occasionally (Read, every 6 months) do a water change.. And that's really only when the mood hits me..

Otherwise, I run 25lbs of Carbon, and change out my mechanical filters monthly (Nu-Clear Canisters)

I only do that to keep the water from looking "yellow" and to keep the floating particles down..

My system has a large Refugium.. Which is packed with algae...

I would say the key to a self sustaining environment is the refugium.

--paul

 

[meschaefer]

There is a program on PBS recently, that featured the Montery Bay Aquarium. They are doing constant "water changes" by pumping water into their system from the bay. As in most major aqauariums, they put on dive suits to clean the glass.