gasbatalla
New member
All I have to say is WOW, it looks like all the hard work is paying after all, its nice to finally see fish in the tanks. Keep it up guys.
Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)
- Thread starter nineball
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3seconds2live
New member
Is it bad that Your mars systems rock work makes my tank rockwork look like a buch of rubble dropped from a dump truck :lol: I'm now ashamed of my tank... well with the next build i will strive to duplicate or at least better my own work.
scubasteve06
Jeeper Reefer
The mars bars system is ingenious. You will be able to get fish that are shipped from all over the world to recoop in their own environment that duplicates your DT and not only that but be able to watch each fish as say Divers Den or any other aquaculture center has. You could even start selling fish and coral out of your basement!!!
You are going to put :uzi: petco, petsmart, and probably other LFS out of business with this fish room. Very professional look.:bounce1:
Are all tanks on the same filtering system?
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Nineball
It still simply amazes me that through out this entire thread you have kept a great humbleness in the whole thing. You continue to make sure credit and praise is given to each and everone whether there there working on the total system at your home or through the knowledge and ideas from here on RC. Not many people would go into that detail like you have.
It still simply amazes me that through out this entire thread you have kept a great humbleness in the whole thing. You continue to make sure credit and praise is given to each and everone whether there there working on the total system at your home or through the knowledge and ideas from here on RC. Not many people would go into that detail like you have.
Christoff247
New member
Peter, Mr Wilson et al, I am STUNNED those MARS Bars look amazing and you have FISH (applause please) congratulations on keeping this thread alive and so genuine can't wait for the display tank shots (hint)
Will the fish in the MARS tanks make it to the display or are they staying put?
Respect
Chris
Will the fish in the MARS tanks make it to the display or are they staying put?
Respect
Chris
As was mentioned by Mr. Wilson
For the top coat, I feather the edges with a wet sponge or my (gloved) finger. This smoothes the two layers, eliminating the seam you often get. If you use aragonite or oyster shell aggregate, you can rub the rock down with a wet sponge about 45 minutes after you apply the cement mix to expose the aggregate. It's a technic that takes patience and practice. The Emaco S88 ci is certified for potable drinking water, while Emaco 400 is not. Emaco 400 is fast setting with about 10 minutes work time, while 88 ci has a 45 minute work time and takes 7 hours to set. You could use it and fill the tank in 12 hours, but I would wait 24 and cover the rock with wet towels.
ccampbell57
Premium Member
Spectacular Peter! Bravo on the build. The QT setup is second to none. I love the fact that you have taken your time to get this thing dialed in perfectly and have not missed anything.
Just make sure to put the QT system to good use and ensure that every animal added to te system is properly medicated and you will have one of the all time greats!
Just make sure to put the QT system to good use and ensure that every animal added to te system is properly medicated and you will have one of the all time greats!
Hookup
New member
Ahhh, I did not associate EaMCO 400 with Thorite, which I see is the same product...
So is the switch from one to the other is simply that the MFG rates EaMCO s88 ci for drinking water... And has similar set/working times....?
Is this the first application of this product, as far as we know, in a reef project?
Was anything "wrong" with the EaMCO Thorite 400 products?
Thanks for the help.
Tim
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swissgaurd
New member
Mars bar system looks great,i imagine the liverock is for seeding purposes or are you using the ammonia for the cycle,for treatment purposes are you going to remove the liverock from one of the systems, for example the treatment of copper.
vic
vic
Hal
New member
I need to respectfully disagree here when it comes to ich. 1.009 is the recommended salinity for hyposalinity treatment of ich, with a minimum duration of 2 weeks since the average lifecycle of the ich parasite is 2 weeks at normal reef tank temps. 4-6 weeks is fairly common and gets even better results since the parasite has to go through more lifecycles. Your call as to whether you boost the tank temp while you're doing this. Some studies have shown that a salinity as low as 1.011 is ineffective at killing ich.
I know we're getting a little ahead of ourselves, but it's quite likely that Peter's fish will experience ich not long after he begins buying them. IMO, for fish diseases, these are the two best references on the web:
Everything that you need to know about ich:
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/marineich.html
Everything that you need to know about hyposalinity:
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html
nineball
Active member
The three Mars bars are each separate isolated ecosystems with their own plumbing and filtration. They do not share any systems. They also each have their own UV system, sumps,chillers, heaters etc.. The purpose of the Mars is primarily isolation from the display tank for fish and corals. I expect any livestock will be in the Mars for at least six weeks prior to transfer to the main display tank. One of the Bars will be used exclusively for corals for propagation and isolation. I may also use the large three bay compartment in the coral mars for an NPS display tank if possible. The other two will be primarily for fish with a reserved compartment or two to test for reef safe behaviour before transfer to the main display.
The Mars systems will not be used for treatment of any ailments. A hospital tank or tanks will be set up specifically with no substrate or material which would interfere with the efficacy of the treatment program. The mars systems are very poor environments for treatment as they have shared compartments and facilities which would make managing treatment programs very difficult if not impossible. I would also try and reserve to or three compartments for research purposes on projects that the folks on this thread can agree on.
Peter
nineball
Active member
The problem I have Dave is that there was no indication from the staff of any treatment programs under way, in fact there was a sale on all fish livestock in the store. I assumed when I asked the clerk for the temp and salinity that he should have warned me that the fish were undergoing treatment for ich if in fact that was the reason for the low salinity. We are assuming that would be a plausible reason for the low salt. It also could have been a simple economy move however silly that may be.
My reason for mentioning it in the first place was to make an observation that there should be a best practice established in the LFS that posted a daily simple analysis of the water column for the consumers and livestock benefit. They might even sell some water quality analysis kits along the way. It would also say a great deal about the quality of the daily routines in the care and management of the systems supporting the fish and corals. It would go along way to building confidence in the integrity and health practices of the store.
Part of the problem or challenge as I see it is that for some reason even dedicated serious hobbyists that inhabit this forum can't agree on the few basic parameters for marine tanks and their inhabitants. One of the 'community services' that Reef Central could undertake for the benefit of the industry would be to post a recommended baseline for overall water quality standards for this hobby. This does NOT mean that the community is being asked to accept a target that may not be appropriate for individual circumstances. There would be obvious and clear reasons for moving north or south of the baseline. The point is there would be clear justification with some sort of agreed upon scale or measure to adjust away from the baseline.
It seems to me that this community is best suited to at least advance the notion that primary elements of the marine ecosystem like temp and salinity should have a logical and scientifically sound basis for a recommended baseline.
Peter
Hookup
New member
Further;
From: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php
The lifecycle of the parasite is interesting and important to understand when evaluating a treatment. The stage where the parasite is attached to a fish is called a trophont. The trophont will spend three to seven days (depending on temperature) feeding on the fish. After that, the trophont leaves the fish and becomes what is called a protomont. This protomont travels to the substrate and begins to crawl around for usually two to eight hours, but it could go for as long as eighteen hours after it leaves it's fish host. Once the protomont attaches to a surface, it begins to encyst and is now called a tomont. Division inside the cyst into hundreds of daughter parasites, called tomites, begins shortly thereafter. This noninfectious stage can last anywhere from three to twenty-eight days. During this extended period, the parasite cyst is lying in wait for a host. After this period, the tomites hatch and begin swimming around, looking for a fish host. At this point, they are called theronts, and they must find a host within twenty-four hours or die. They prefer to seek out the skin and gill tissue, then transform into trophonts, and begin the process all over again (Colorni & Burgess, 1997).
SaraB
Coral Killer
Thanks Peter for the kind words ... Gary will be at MACNA this year as well so you can meet us both! I was just kidding about driving your car and drinking your wine ... Gary had to one-up me and go over the top explaining his thread of the week so I had to get him back 
I thought I was looking at a fine Boutique Fish Store when seeing the pics of your Mars system! It looks so perfect in that fishroom!
I thought I was looking at a fine Boutique Fish Store when seeing the pics of your Mars system! It looks so perfect in that fishroom!
An LFS that keeps it's fish at hypo-salinity is mostly doing so because they have been imported/exported at hypo-salinity, it's economical to keep them that way or they believe it is beneficial to the fishes health (and recovery from import/export stress/disease/illness) as it decreases osmotic pressure on the fish (no conclusive scientific evidence for this though). That is what I was told by the owner of my LFS who worked at several others stores before starting his own shop. He always works with 35ppt because he believes it keeps customers and :fish1: happier in the long run.
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