Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[Hookup]

Peter, your writeup could not be at a better time. I'm am completely frustrated by my reeflow pumps and looking for a better alternate, both for durability and for a green'er footprint.

If I recall, you (or Mr. Wilson), measured the average power consumption of your pumps at about 126watts? Is this correct or am i dreaming?

 

[nineball]

Peter, your writeup could not be at a better time. I'm am completely frustrated by my reeflow pumps and looking for a better alternate, both for durability and for a green'er footprint.

If I recall, you (or Mr. Wilson), measured the average power consumption of your pumps at about 126watts? Is this correct or am i dreaming?

I'm going to ask Mr. Wilson to comment further on both the finer details as well as the science behind our experience but your number is not far off. Remember all 5 pumps are operating independently but under single program control which has variable sliding power thresholds. So, although I believe they represent the most effective and efficient operating design, the real value is the net performance in the tank and that has all the various technologies we tried beat.....hands down.

Mr. Wilson's view will probably sound a lot less 'salesy' than my version but I believe my enthusiasm is honestly earned.

Peter

 

[Hookup]

I didn't know they could be linked that way... Very interesting indeed as I have two CL's in my setup and maybe could leverage that implementation.

Looking forward to Mr.Wilsons thoughts.

 

[ti-christ]

OK Shawn, so I'm sitting down for dinner and I throw out the notion that life would be better if I had an olympic size aquarium in a custom built annex on the edge of the ravine. When asked why my choice of olympic sized aquarium I volunteer that I want to watch two or more moorish idols frolic around a reef. My wife responds "then I want a shark!!!!!!!"

Peter

Then after a pause, she added : "Then, i will push you in the tank" :lolspin:

 

[Briney Dave]

Peter, I am way behind on my required reading here LOL. The second semester is always the crazyest, but wanted to say congrats on the Coral Magazine spread and I am very geeked to tell you that MACNA awarded two of my students and I with free passes to their whole show in Sept. The central Ohio Reef club and the Toledo reef club had nominated us. I just had to share and figured you would be cheering us on.

Do you and the team have plans to go out there?? I would love the chance to meet up with you to say hello

David

 

[nineball]

Peter, I am way behind on my required reading here LOL. The second semester is always the crazyest, but wanted to say congrats on the Coral Magazine spread and I am very geeked to tell you that MACNA awarded two of my students and I with free passes to their whole show in Sept. The central Ohio Reef club and the Toledo reef club had nominated us. I just had to share and figured you would be cheering us on.

Do you and the team have plans to go out there?? I would love the chance to meet up with you to say hello

David

David, congratulations. MACNA obviously has excellent judgement. I haven't made any plans yet to attend but if I do I will look forward to meeting up with you.

I haven't seen the coral Magazine article yet so you are ahead of me. I did have a really nice visit with Charles Delbeek who in my mind is a very precious resource to our community. A gentleman's gentleman so to speak.

I hope to spend more time with him if the opportunity permits. By the way our mangrove hydroponic wall units are flourishing.......

Peter

 

[martyall]

I really love to see some photos of that Canada Coral Tanks. :bounce1:

 

[ENTMogul]

i really love to see some photos of that canada coral tanks. :bounce1:

+1

 

[Briney Dave]

Thanks for the kind words
our mangrove tank is taking off pretty well. I have it plumbed to join the reef display but do not have water flowing between the two as of yet. (Summer project) I have about 30 trees in it right now but hope to add that number again.

also have turtle grass and some macro algae types from Hawaii. It is not an attractive looking tank right now but I think as it fills in it will get there. I took the terra cotta pot idea as homes to many of the mangroves: I intend to train encusting corals to cover the pots over time and the rest of them hidden by the grasses growing in front. I have given pipe fish some serious thought for the tank but am far from settled. The very orginal plan called for no fish at all but the kids are bending me pretty hard LOL

suggestions??

 

[nineball]

Thanks for the kind words
our mangrove tank is taking off pretty well. I have it plumbed to join the reef display but do not have water flowing between the two as of yet. (Summer project) I have about 30 trees in it right now but hope to add that number again.

also have turtle grass and some macro algae types from Hawaii. It is not an attractive looking tank right now but I think as it fills in it will get there. I took the terra cotta pot idea as homes to many of the mangroves: I intend to train encusting corals to cover the pots over time and the rest of them hidden by the grasses growing in front. I have given pipe fish some serious thought for the tank but am far from settled. The very orginal plan called for no fish at all but the kids are bending me pretty hard LOL

suggestions??

I don't know how it happened Dave, well theoretically I know but its very hard to believe even now. I had three Bengali Cardinals in the main display tank. Two of them paired off and before I knew it .....poof the male had a mouth full of eggs. Later with a mouth full of fry he set about placing them around the reef. We managed to capture two of the fry in the display tank and moved them to the Mars tank for safety. about five weeks later the same thing happened again only this time one of the fry managed to make it back through the overflow tank, through 40 feet of hose to the sump landing in our 100 micron filter bag, jumped somehow out of the filter bag into the sump, found the intake pump for the mangrove hydroponic wall units and survived the trip through the pump up to the top tray and then gravity feed down to the second tray to frolic among the Mangroves planted in the miracle mud where Mr. Wilson found him. I have subsequently read that this species of fish likes the safety of the mangroves and I suspect there are a millennia of instinct in the DNA that made that fish find its way to the grove, but that's very unscientific.
The neat thing about the cardinals is that they will breed fairly easily and you can move the adults to the display tank as they mature. Having said that, I believe you need to segregate the parents from the pack once the process starts because they get very territorial and aggressive when the process begins.
In our case when the fry were big enough to put back in the display tank we put them in forgetting that the male was brooding another batch. The female (mom) couldn't believe her eyes when this little juvenile came romping over to check things out. Well 'Mom" was having none of that and aggressively chased that little guy all over the tank. I don't think we have had any losses but it remains to be seen just what the solution is to reintroducing offspring safely to the general population.

Apparently, aptasia eating file fish also like Mangroves but they can move very very fast when disturbed and they can jump.....boy can they jump. I still have mine in the mars but I never know which tank he is in because he jumps from one to the other. I also haven't seen him earn his keep because I put two rocks covered in aptasia and he never even went near them.

Peter

 

[Briney Dave]

a jumping fish would be out for me> We don't have lids on anything in my room, no time and really no place to put them when they are off too LOL

pipes, jawfish, mandrian, and cards have all been tossed around at one point or another. I would like the fish choice to also be a breeder project which keeps most of that list pretty much as is.

We have a pair of B. cards in our reef that hold babies just about every month but there seems little hope of catching either of them. I know I could make some sort of parting screen and remove all the rock and coral of a section but I am not going to that level.

We might start again with a small group of cards that are housed in the mangroves and just stay there. A friend of mine has a large group of them and there is free breeding in his tank on a regular basis. (its the only fish on his reef)

 

[ti-christ]

if we compare mangroove and Cheato, which one is better to remove phosphate and nitrate from the water?

Is there any scientific article comparing them?

I am struggling to remove phosphate from my 180g tank since last January. The initiale phosphate value was 1.4 ppm (Hana test kit). My previous Phosphate test kit was giving 0ppm:headwally:. But, after 5 months, I'm still at 0.1ppm and I'm not able to reach 0ppm. I'm using Cheato and Phosphate resine to remove the Phosphate!

 

[RBTA99]

any new picture updated?

 

[Briney Dave]

convention states cheato because of volume: all those threads verses a few roots. I am not sure where it falls when we are talking about a system with a larger number of trees 100+ verses some one with two of them stuck in the sump

I am not that concerned with their up-take value, although its a nice help (what ever the actual value is) I want the environment for my classroom for studies, and for epiphyte types of algae to cling on along with the whole Mangrove experience

 

[ShipWreck2]

Is there any scientific article comparing them?

In this post back a couple of pages is a link to a book on mangroves and their usage. As you can see for true filtration you need alot of mangroves, more then most people have room for.

Personally I am of the belief (probably because I have been reading Mr. Wilson's posts for a few years now) that several different methods are better then a single. Even if you don't have room for a hundred mangroves having a dozen will draw some stuff out of the water to feed on so it can't hurt. And if you have the room they do make a nice addition to a fish room or sump. That being said I don't think most people have the space to setup enough mangroves to acheive the same results as the much faster growing chaeto can do.

 

[bboudreaux]

hey peter,

i thought i remember reading that you were using kalk. if that is so have you noticed a change in your colors. i posted this question in a seperate thread so i hope you don't mind. i just thought with the diversity of life in your tank you above anybody might be able have noticed this phenomen. that is if there is anything to it at all.

what i am seeing is a change in the hue of my colors. (mostly lps) i know that some people may be thinking bleaching or fading, but we all know that when that happens your corals start looking transparent. this is not the case. the colors are still focused and resolute. they appear to be more of a pastel color now.

i had read this on another reef site when i started noticing a change myself. i appreciate any thoughts and experiences you may have on the topic.

i would also like to tell you that i have learned a great deal over the course of reading this thread. i'm sincerely grateful for your dedication to "best practices" in this hobby, and can assure you that this thread has influenced the planning of my future upgrade.

ps i don't know if any of you watch the history channels series "Swamp People", but some of that takes place im my neck of the woods. just thought i would throw that out there.

thanks again,

brent
your friend in the south

 

[mr.wilson]

Peter, don't forget that magnetic induction lamps are becoming more and more available to general public.

I know that they are first and foremost dedicated to horticultural community, but there will be some dedicated for our hobby.
And from what i've read the technology offers more advantages for our hobby than LED or MH. I'm sure you have investigated into this technology - maybe not in the "hands on approach" since there are none that offer lighting required by marine animals, but you sure must have had some interesting conversations with your team and have read some manufacturer's previews...

So in general, what's your take on them?

Regards, Dainius

Technology takes some interesting turns. Lighting R&D is slow and very expensive. As soon new technology emerges, competitors start working harder to catch up. I had ruled out fluorescent tubes after MHL advanced higher CRI and colour temperatures in the late 80's, but then T5 fought back in the late 90's. Plasma peaked its head out, then popped back in its hole, but you never know which way the industry will go. Metal halide may even strike back with ceramic bulbs and more exotic gases.

The information you find about lighting on the net is often outdated and centred around task lighting for the masses. The lumen per watt numbers quoted for LED are only 35-60 but modern aquarium lighting is 80-130. Maybe their magnetic induction numbers are just as conservative, but at 70-75 they don't appear to be the light art the end of our very long tunnel

There are claims of longer bulb life with magnetic induction, but the difference between 50,000 and 80,000 hours is moot when you look at emerging technologies and real-life wear and tear on aquarium lighting. Remember, the drivers and lamp holders etc. aren't rated at such optimistic numbers and we all know our lighting will be replaced several times over a 15 year period. When you think of changing out expensive MHL bulbs every year, the 13 year life span of an LED seems to be more than enough.

Perhaps the next step is how we power our lights. Wind and solar power make the efficiency a little less critical if we can harness mother natures power for free. I think modified Solatubes will find their way over more captive reefs. Better lenses, delivery systems, along with UV and spectral filters will make compact skylights the smart choice.

The money is in commercial and consumer lighting, so aquarium lighting will always be working in the dark

 

[chingchai]

Peter and Shawn.
How is the growth rate of mangrove?
May I see some updated pics?

Mine grows so slow.

 

[mr.wilson]

Peter and Shawn.
How is the growth rate of mangrove?
May I see some updated pics?

Mine grows so slow.

They are growing surprisingly fast. They took a long time to root in freshwater, but once they went into the system, they popped. Each shoot has about 6 leaves in just a couple of months. Hopefully they will keep this rate up. Historically, I have only got one leaf every month or two. It might be the plasma lighting?

I ended up seeding the base of the pods with chaetomorpha because we were getting cyanobacteria, again probably due to the plasma lighting and slow flow.

Peter can post some pics.

 

[mr.wilson]

Peter, your writeup could not be at a better time. I'm am completely frustrated by my reeflow pumps and looking for a better alternate, both for durability and for a green'er footprint.

If I recall, you (or Mr. Wilson), measured the average power consumption of your pumps at about 126watts? Is this correct or am i dreaming?

We play around with the pump settings, but the five 400 watt pumps run at a total of 500-700 watts on average. At 65% the 400 watt pumps consume only 94 watts, and that is about where we keep them (65% with 5-10 second surges at 80% every two minutes). At night the pumps slow down to 40-60%, so the controller certainly pays for itself.

I just ordered Abyzz DC pumps to replace the two skimmer pumps. We will be testing a needle wheel pump on the RK2 but the head pressure may be a limitation.