Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[RyanTurner]

Peter, I just bought a new BMW...I think it's time for a little road trip up to your place!

Tank's looking AMAZING as always.

 

[NVES]

Hi Peter,

WOW is all I can say!

It's been about 2 months since I last saw a picture and the difference is simpley amazing. I love the arch - that's my fav section.

It must be hard to pull yourself away from watching it.

Take care,
Aaron

 

[mr.wilson]

Hey Mr. Wilson! ....and Mr. Nineball! I have read every word so far and each time the tank looks more amazing than before!!!

I was wondering, I don't think there has ever been a mention of adding an algae turf scrubber to the system. From seeing your philosophy here, I would have thought you would have considered putting one on Peters tank. On second thought I'm sure you considered it but chose not to. It seems to me they make so much sense. I've read alot about them and even read Dr. Walter Addey's book (twenty years ago). Does the "cheeto" do exactly the same thing?

In all your spare time, could you share your thoughts on this? Even if you don't like the idea, you'll have to include turf scrubbers in your book anyway!

Thanks!!!!!

mark

Sorry for the late response. The ATS issue is a long discussion but I will keep it brief. ATS (algae turf scrubbers) have a bad reputation due to the wide definition and sometimes poor application of the method.

What we now call a refugium, is an algae turf scrubber of sorts and they do work well. In my opinion the limiting factor is the great depth at which the algae is allowed to "ball up". The lower levels don't get light and subsequently die off leaving the nutrients they have trapped. A shallow trough (4-6" deep) minimizes shadowing and optimizes growing conditions.

Another issue is algae selection. Most varieties of algae have around the same nutrient uptake. Some are faster growing than others, but this can come at the cost of stability. Caulerpa is faster growing than Cheatomorpha or gracileria, but it can die off with sexual reproduction if the photoperiod and water quality ranges, as these are cues of season changes in the wild. With a 12-16 hour steady photo period, it is unlikely that caulerpa will ever reproduce sexually. Turf, hair and cyanobacteria are pest algae and should not be used for an ATS. They can easily find there way into the display, they add yellow pigmented tannins to the water, and they "bleed" when you harvest (cut) them. Nutrients and algae tissue will leak out into your system and cause nuisance algae blooms. Also keep in mind that algae release (allelopathic) chemicals that may restrict the growth of invertebrates so algae selection is important. Chaetomorpha is slow growing in comparison to caulerpa but with high intensity lighting it is more than enough. We are also growing sargassum grass just because it cropped up in he tank one day. We harvest a large quantity of Chaeto every week and along with it quite a bit of phosphate, nitrate and heavy metals.

Another poor design is vertical panels as the cause the algae to tear and fall off. They also cause salt creep, noise, and odours. Often a light is placed close to the vertical panel with questionable wiring practices.

During the day, algae convert Co2 into oxygen during photosynthesis, and at night they convert o2 into Co2 during respiration. During the day they take nutrients out of the water, while at night they release a portion of them. A good ATS design would take the unit offline during the night/dark period. In our case, the refugium is fed by the protein skimmer throughput/feed. Once the system has matured, we will shut the skimmer down at night by putting the feed pump on the same outlet/timer as the refugium light. Shutting the skimmer off at night helps restore bacteria levels, allows plankton to do their nightly swim in peace (instead of pieces), and takes the refugium offline so the chaetomorpha doesn't leach nutrients or lower the PH (co2 = carbonic acid).

We are using plasma lighting for the refugium to "supercharge" it. We also have 40 gallons of refugium/ATS on the two walls where our mangroves are planted. Mangroves don't impact PH as their leaves are above water so we will run them 24/7.

 

[Spirofucci]

Thanks Mr. Wilson! Your wisdom and the way you explain these things is always informative and interesting!!!!

I hope you are in the least developing an outline for the book!!!!

thanks,

mark

 

[sltloser]

Mr. Wilson, I dont mean for this post to sound rude, but i'm questioning some of the things you're saying.

- There shouldn't be more than one defnition for an algae turf scrubber, it is a system that uses high water flow over a screen and with high light to grow attached filamentous algae as a means of water purification. It's used both commerically and in home aquaria.

-Hair algae is exactly what should be used on an ATS because it is a fast growing algae that readily takes up nutrients. And although some "bleeding" may occur when you are harvesting the algae, the same thing happens when you trim chaetomorpha, as you pull it out from the sump the water drains out, and detritus that has piled up falls into the tank, so i'm not sure that there is much of a difference there.

-You say that "algae release (alleopathic) chemicals into the water that may restrict the growth of invertebrates" although this may be true, chaetomorpha is also an algae so it would be do the same thing. As far as i know alleopathic chemicals are usually released by plants during chemical warfare to outcompete eachother, Having only one type of algae should limit the amount of competition therefor the release of these chemicals should be small.

- Simply using activated carbon in the tank will take out any "yellowing" of the water.

-You also state that vertical ATS are a poor design because the vertical pannels cause the algae to tear off and fall, by using turf algae and having a rough screen you should be able to prevent this from happening as turf algae grows in high flow areas. If the hair algae happens to fall off it shouldn't create a problem, it will just be pushed back into the tank and your herbivors will take care of it.

-The chetomorphia algae also goes through photosynthesis, and respiration so you'll have the same thing happening. Many people just run a reverse cycle on their refugium/ATS lighting so as to have a steady pH, so why not just do this?

-I'm not sure how the cheatomorpha leaches nutrients at night, it would still be using what it gained during the day for respiration; the same byproducts would be produced during this as in photosynthesis (with the addition of CO2).

 

[sltloser]

I forgot to add this link if you woud like to know how well different methods/algae are at exporting nutrients.(this isn't all methods, but i would say they are the mains ones used)

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/rs/feature/index.php

 

[Allmost]

very nice progress cant wait for more pics, and also pics of the new sumps to come


just a question, maybe it was covered and I missed it. but do you guys dip the new SPS corals ? if so can you give us more info on this topic Mr. Wilson ?

I got a piece from a LFS in the area, and well I did not dip it and now have red bug and also flatworm Issues ... not that visible as I run Zeovit and very low nutritions, but I have a new 180Gallon tank cycling, which all the corals will be transferred to, and rather not transfer the pests, can you advice me a dip before the transfer ? (sorry for going off topic a bit, )

Mr. Peter, Great post about enjoying the tank I have made a rule at my place, no maint. after 10 PM , 10-1 am is my time to enjoy the tank lol again, thank you for this great thread

 

[bluesox_68blues]

Well I just wanted to say thanks to Peter for having me over to look at his masterpeice! Pictures don't do it justice! Thanks again. I told Bella I met her cousin Molly by the way. lol

 

[kj52faith]

Put a youtube video up please

 

[tonyespinoza]

Mr. Wilson - What are the downsides to running a chaeto refugium 24/7?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of us! And thanks to Peter for employing you in this awesome journey that we all get to learn from and build on together.

 

[Sanlynn]

Thanks autodave,

I have a special desk called 'the wing' that my wife hates. It was made by a sculptor who made four desks in solid wood. The tree, the cloud, the mushroom, and my desk, the wing. I'm planning to try the desk and perhaps solicit feedback that will help me in the battle plan. For those who are interested, it is sort of like a giant manta ray in solid white ash.

Other than that I haven't settled on anything else yet.

Peter

Hi, I'm new to this thread and haven't got through all the messages and am sorry if this very old post has been commented on, but when I read this I was reminded of the desk in a Bravo TV show "9 by Design" - is it anything like that - aptly called "The Shark Desk"? (Photo at link below, I hope.)

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/bos...alk-about-the-shark-desk-by-zaha-hadid-115660

In any case, thank you so much for this most amazing thread. The generousity you are displaying in sharing your time and experience is inspirational. I am hooked (and subscribed).

 

[l.MetalHead.l]

VISION

To create a suite of 4 coral islands in a shallow lagoon. Each island is to be named in recognition of four of the top aquarists generally acknowledged by members of the reef central community.

But what is the purpose?

 

[kharmaguru]

But what is the purpose?

Well most people's purpose doesn't go beyond - "I want one". Peter actually builds one with an artistic intention to honour his mentors and you still need some deeper meaning? 42, that's it! the answer is 42.

 

[mkbtank]

But what is the purpose?

Acknowledgement. Beauty. Enjoyment. Setting and a general raising of the bar of reefing best practices.

To name a few.

 

[nineball]

Well most people's purpose doesn't go beyond - "I want one". Peter actually builds one with an artistic intention to honour his mentors and you still need some deeper meaning? 42, that's it! the answer is 42.

Acknowledgement. Beauty. Enjoyment. Setting and a general raising of the bar of reefing best practices.

To name a few.

Thanks guys........

Peter

 

[nineball]

Hi, I'm new to this thread and haven't got through all the messages and am sorry if this very old post has been commented on, but when I read this I was reminded of the desk in a Bravo TV show "9 by Design" - is it anything like that - aptly called "The Shark Desk"? (Photo at link below, I hope.)

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/bos...alk-about-the-shark-desk-by-zaha-hadid-115660

In any case, thank you so much for this most amazing thread. The generousity you are displaying in sharing your time and experience is inspirational. I am hooked (and subscribed).

first of all, neat desk. Mine is a little more functional and is called the wing. I will take a pic and post later tonight if I get a chance. Thank you very much for being a part of this community.

Peter

 

[reefer ready]

This is my first post. I would like to say thank you to all of the members of reef central! Great site, wisdom, knowledge, totm,s speak for themselves. You guys have inspired me to do a reef tank! Ive been out of the hobby for 10 years. Im back and its so fun!

In our case, the refugium is fed by the protein skimmer throughput/feed. Once the system has matured, we will shut the skimmer down at night by putting the feed pump on the same outlet/timer as the refugium light.

It might be wise to let the light in the ref. come on before the circ. pump in the ref.
This way the plants have time to reabsorb the co2 lost in respiration. This will usually take 1-2 hours. depending on plant mass, size of ref., amount of light during the day.(more light =more respiration).

It would be an interesting experiment. And pretty simple. The difference between the amount of co2 in the ref. at lights off. and lights on. is the amount of co2 the plants respired at night. From there you could figure the amount of o added during the day. You could estimate the amount of photo synthesis, nutrient uptake, and discharge of the plants. This has prob. been done. If anyone has access to results that would be cool.

Thanks Again to all of you!

 

[ritter6788]

It is easy to forget that life in the wild and even in a captive environment isn't always predictable or perfect. While I am running around with a magnifying glass looking for problems life is passing us by. Learning to keep an emotional balance should be part of the instructional manual for this thing. It would be a huge qualitative boost to just accept a balance to things we can't or should not change.

Peter

I need to make a huge banner with this statement on it and hang it over my tank, (or maybe borrow it for my signature line). Seems like every time I look at my tank I only see the problems and how to solve it rather than enjoying it. Then again, I do sort of enjoy spotting the problems and finding the solutions to them.

 

[Ketchup]

first of all, neat desk. Mine is a little more functional and is called the wing. I will take a pic and post later tonight if I get a chance. Thank you very much for being a part of this community.

Peter

Like this?

 

[sfsuphysics]

Heh... I remember they had a show about a couple of "artists" who used scrape airplane parts to make functional items, and that desk was something they made.