From Hair Algae Farm To Seahorse Tank

[coyoteseven]

Well...

It's been a losing battle in the war against green hair algae in my 44g pent tank as you can see (click on the thumbnail for a larger picture). So, I've decided to start over and dedicate it to a seahorse/Gulf species tank.







Beginning in the morning (07/08/06), I'll drain out all the old water, round up the various critters, including Pookie and house them in a 7g MiniBow (which will become Pookie's permanent home) during the renovation. BTW, the seahorse I still have from our May meeting is safely housed in the 10g nano away from harm.

The plan is to scrub the live rock completely clean of algae/xenia/valonia/GSP/etc., leaving only the coraline. After this massive scrub-down, I'll be 'cooking' my LR for a few weeks to hopefully rid it of any leftover algae. I'll also be doing some modifications like drilling the tank for an internal overflow/Durso drain setup.

Knowing this is going to take awhile, I thought I'd keep a journal here on our club's forum to let everyone know how things are progressing. Any comments and or suggestions will be welcome.

Larry

 

[myakkareef]

Awesome Larry, looking forward to seeing the progress. Pretty amazing also you have kept the seahorse since capture. Very inspiring, I think if Dawn sees this she will insist on doing a species tank...

 

[Agu]

God plan Larry. When you "cook" (aka recure) the rock I'd recommend you add a couple of large Mexican turbo snails to the holding tank. I've had friends "cook" rock long before there was a name for it with marginal success. The snails will remove the last traces of hair algae that scrubbing just can't remove.


jmo

 

[coyoteseven]

Thanks Scott! As you recall, I started with two, but one died on me. It took awhile for the survivor to start eating frozen mysis (Hikari brand), but now relishes feeding time at the trough I made for it. I'm looking forward to getting a few more to start a small herd... this time I'll do it right and quarantine them along with prophylactic disease treatments prior to placing them in their new home. I'm really psyched about this project and am going to take my time and do it right... it's the very least I owe these wonderful creatures.

Thanks for the recommendation on the Mexican turbos, Agu. Right now my 'cooking pot' is a dark gray 20g RubberMaid tote sitting in the shade on the lanai with an old Regent powerhead (supposedly 150gph) for circulation. I expect the temps in this to probably reach the high 80s+ ocasionally (when I say cook, I literally mean cook :lmao: )... do you think turbos would survive these temps? Unfortunately, it's the only place I have room to do this.

Just to let everybody know, I drained, emptied, cleaned the tank's glass today and got all the old coraline/algae/gunk off except for a stubborn patch of the encrusting fire coral. Vinegar and a hard bristle scrub brush got most of it. I'm letting the area soak in vinegar overnight and try again in the morning. The fuge/sump was an even worse disaster than the display, GHA completely killed off the chaeto and had coated everything to where there was literally no flow.

I had an old Jebo180 HOT skimmer on this thing that worked pretty well at first, but as we all can see, wasn't worth a flip in the long run. I'm thinking about trying a little DIY using the various parts, some large PVC pipe or acrilyc, try the bioball needlewheel mod on the pump and see if I can make a better in-sump skimmer.

That's all I have for now, until later...

 

[Agu]

Maybe a better alternative would be to collect some snails locally. The Gulf is in the mid 80's now and the back bays are even warmer. They should be able to survive in your tub on the lanai.

 

[coyoteseven]

Good plan Agu. And since I'm going for the Gulf theme, the local snails/hermits will also be my clean-up crew, later. I'm off Tuesday, maybe I'll take a run up to Mote's backyard.

Thanks for the idea. :thumbsup:

 

[Agu]

fyi, low tide will be around 8:30pm and high tide will be around noon.

 

[coyoteseven]

Won't be able to go afterall... forgot about a cardiologist appointment I made 6 months ago. Good thing they called to remind me.

Ahhhh, treadmill stress tests... gotta love 'em!

 

[Agu]

Larry,

I'm going to try to check out a few spots around venice for collecting, if it stops raining. Check with me before driving up to Sarasota.


Anybody have suggestions for local collecting of snails near Venice ?

 

[myakkareef]

AGU, not exactly in Venice but when we where young we would wade the flats at Blackburn Point Bridge at night to net shrimp.
There is a boat ramp by the scullers boat house there. It may be alittel muddy but hopefully not to bad.
I also would think that area back by Caspersons on the bay side might be good but have never tried it.

 

[Agu]

Scotty,

Behind Casperson looked like a great place to collect/seine a while back when I was scouting places. However they're rebuilding the bridge that goes there and it's closed to public access .

 

[coyoteseven]

If y'all find another good spot, let me know. The drive to Mote isn't that bad and it gets me out of town for awhile.

Meanwhile, I received the 1" bulkheads I ordered and am trying to figure out how exactly I want to fix up my DIY internal overflow. I'm leaning toward a single outlet, but have been seriously considering having a second... just in case I decide to go back to a full reef (for the greater flow) or maybe as a redundant in case of blockage. Either way, I'm going to have to wait until my next day off (whenever that might be ) to drill the tank.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Kim at Perfecto is sure that the side panels on the 44g pent are not tempered glass. :hmm2:

 

[coyoteseven]

Update

Update

Got a couple of bioballs from my neighbor, who has African cichlid tanks, and did the bioball mod to the Jebo AP1500 powerhead that came with the Jebo skimmer... ... ... WOW!!! :eek1:

The output went from microbubbles to a mist of nanobubbles and without too much loss of flow. I'm going to try it out on my 90g for awhile and test the results.

Granted, being a Seaclone clone, I'm not expecting miracles, but when I put it back into the new system (which will have a significantly lighter bio-load than before) and after a couple of modifications to turn it from an HOB into an in-sump, it might just do an awesome job. I'll try to get some pics of the results as soon as I can.

Well, that's all for now.

Until later,

Larry

 

[lt34]

We haven't met yet, but becareful as I heard red tide is starting in Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay, and Bull Bay if your going to go collecting.

 

[myakkareef]

Good call Barry, Yes indeed the redtide is coming back around this summer. Even though I wonder if there has been any studdies about whether a "healthy" looking fish from a R.T zone could kill off creatures in our tanks. I know they say that filter feeders can be dangerous..Hmm maybe Laine or someone has some info on this...

 

[coyoteseven]

Hello again everybody!

I know it's been quite awhile since I posted (due to my recently crazy work schedule and other things I had to do on my days off), I finally got a chance to attempt drilling the tank for the bulkhead. So here's some pictures...

Gathering of the necessary equipment

BTW, the piece of equipment on the left will be used after the attempt to either celebrate or commiserate.

Glass plug from the drill site

The water/leak test

Well, it looks like a couple of shooters for victory! :celeb1:

I'm looking around for the material to make the overflow chamber and think I may have found some large diameter ABS at a local contractor supply. With luck, it won't take as long to install that as it did to install the bulkhead.

Now for some sad news :sad2: ... my other seahorse died yesterday, from what, I don't know. Probably from either coral stings (he seemed to love resting among the zoas) or something else. He was doing fine until I woke up to find what was left of his body being consumed by bristle worms and nassarius snails.

This still hasn't deterred me from my original plan, just making me even more careful of my setup and goals.

 

[stevemc]

Looks great! You must have been very steady. Is that steadying liquid on the left hand side? Too much steadying liquid causes wobbling though! I'm sure you needed that shot of tequila after that! Looks very good. You could use an elbow and cut slots as an overflow. I do have an old skimmer that could work- cut it in half, and sand the bevel to match the corner, or just use 6"PVC. Steve.

 

[coyoteseven]

The piece of 1x3 you see in pic #3 was my 'third hand' to make sure the hole saw didn't skip over the glass until I got a nice groove started. After that, the saw stayed in the groove and I just let the weight of the drill do the work. Using the lowest speed I could and lots of running water from the garden hose, it took about 5 minutes to grind through the glass.

I did this in the bed of my pickup in case Kim at Perfecto was wrong about the side panels being tempered. I figured it would be easier to sweep thousands of glass shards out the pickup than the patio. :lmao:

I'll have to check out the elbow idea, it would take up less room than a full height overflow in an already crowded area. Since ABS is usually light in weight, silicone should have no trouble holding it to the glass (I hope ).

BTW, the other 'lubricating liquid' is from a case of 12 (still have 2 unopened bottles left) I bought in 1978 on my high school graduation trip to Juarez, Mexico. It is not imported to the USA and cost me (if my memory serves) 75 cents US per bottle. After 28 years, it's still as smooth as silk and has Cuervo beat into the ground . It makes one of the best mezcal/lime/habenero bastes for cabrito (BBQ goat) that you'll ever taste! :thumbsup:

 

[stevemc]

Oh you used it for lubrication. I take it you mean social lubrication, not for cutting. Just joking!!! I had a tank that had 2 overflows in the side. They had 2 -2" elbows and a short piece of pipe with slots at top. The pipe was so it could be adjusted some, by cutting the bottom slightly to just the right height. It must be checked with the pump on, but with yours a seahorse tank, it shouldnt have much flow. They silicone the AGA overflows in and they are plastic. I have had a plexiglass overflow siliconed onto glass, and it was there to stay. Sand the plastic to make it stick better, as silicone doesnt like to stick to plastic of any kind. But it really sticks to glass. You could make a plexi overflow too. The elbow will take up the least room, and is real cheap and easy. BTW did you grow up in Tucson or around there? I have been to Juarez just for a shopping trip. Steve.

 

[Agu]

You have lubricating liquid from '78, I don't even have socks that old :lol:

Your progress looks good, but condolences on the seahorse.

On one ten gallon I'm just using an elbow with a strainer. If the flow isn't too high noise isn't an issue.