Paul B
Premium Member
I have been having a few ideas lately, or over the last few decades that I would like to discuss here.
I have been going out on my boat a lot and relaxing out on the water gives me time to think (and clean off dried amphipods from the deck)
I am going to try to put this in catagories but I know I will rant all over the place because thats just how it is. :spin2:
I would like to start with substraits. No, I am not going to mention UG filters, not yet anyway but I have an idea of what I think the bottom of a tank should be made of and this comes from years of hear everyone complain about the problems of their sand, gravel, rocks, rubble and Oldsmobile rims.
I think it doesn't matter much what you put on the bottom as long as it is a thin coating. My thoughts are for a plate made from something like clay maybe 1/2" thick with numerous holes in it all the way through. This plate would be near the bottom glass but not laying right on it. Like 1/2" away.
The bottom of this should have holes all over it shaped like light bulbs with a small entrance that gets wider. These holes should be about 1/16" at the widest and much smaller at the opening, kind of like a skin pore. But not all the way through, they will be next to the holes that go through. I feel that this would be great for bacterial growth because the clay material itself is porous and with the addition of the downward facing holes or pores, detritus will not accumulate and bacterial growth will proceed nicely forever. Or almost forever.
I have thought about this for a long time and that is what I came up with.
Below that plate there should be a way to move water out of there occasionally through a tube for yearly maintenance. Of course water would have to be pumped in occasionally too. But only once or twice a year.
Above this could be some sand or gravel.
All of the rocks should be on a few pylons that suspend it just above the substrait. My reef is almost like that now. It looks great, the animals can maneuver all over the place and will feel secure under there and there will be no impact on the substrait or water movement.
Remember my ideas are for a very long lasting system, something in the tune of decades, not just 10 or 15 years. Even hermit crabs live longer than that.![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
So that is my substrait idea. I will get into other ideas later. What do you guys think? I don't want to be the only one posting here because I am old and my lifespan is about as long as an angelfish so I want to finish this before I meet any actual angels. :wavehand:
I have been going out on my boat a lot and relaxing out on the water gives me time to think (and clean off dried amphipods from the deck)
I am going to try to put this in catagories but I know I will rant all over the place because thats just how it is. :spin2:
I would like to start with substraits. No, I am not going to mention UG filters, not yet anyway but I have an idea of what I think the bottom of a tank should be made of and this comes from years of hear everyone complain about the problems of their sand, gravel, rocks, rubble and Oldsmobile rims.
I think it doesn't matter much what you put on the bottom as long as it is a thin coating. My thoughts are for a plate made from something like clay maybe 1/2" thick with numerous holes in it all the way through. This plate would be near the bottom glass but not laying right on it. Like 1/2" away.
The bottom of this should have holes all over it shaped like light bulbs with a small entrance that gets wider. These holes should be about 1/16" at the widest and much smaller at the opening, kind of like a skin pore. But not all the way through, they will be next to the holes that go through. I feel that this would be great for bacterial growth because the clay material itself is porous and with the addition of the downward facing holes or pores, detritus will not accumulate and bacterial growth will proceed nicely forever. Or almost forever.
I have thought about this for a long time and that is what I came up with.
Below that plate there should be a way to move water out of there occasionally through a tube for yearly maintenance. Of course water would have to be pumped in occasionally too. But only once or twice a year.
Above this could be some sand or gravel.
All of the rocks should be on a few pylons that suspend it just above the substrait. My reef is almost like that now. It looks great, the animals can maneuver all over the place and will feel secure under there and there will be no impact on the substrait or water movement.
Remember my ideas are for a very long lasting system, something in the tune of decades, not just 10 or 15 years. Even hermit crabs live longer than that.
So that is my substrait idea. I will get into other ideas later. What do you guys think? I don't want to be the only one posting here because I am old and my lifespan is about as long as an angelfish so I want to finish this before I meet any actual angels. :wavehand: