How to FEED your reef tank so that your corals will really GROW, instead of ho-hum...

[SunnyX]

Sonny, don't you feed your tank bacteria?

You are correct, I do feed bacteria but at a minimal dosage. My old system (TOTM July 2006) ran absolutely no food additives and I had corals literally coming out of the water.

I am not really against feeding your reef, I just dont think that it is necessary.

 

[SunnyX]

Hi Sonny. *waves* Your tank is famous all over the web, for a reason.
I remember posting in your first thread here a few years ago when there was only one page. Hahahahahaha. *wink*
I'm going to send you a friend invite like i keep meaning to, because my tank will be patterned after yours in many ways and i may have a question or three at that time. S'alright?
Thanks for stopping here, it's an honor to have someone like yourself post here.

I appreciate it. Send as many questions as you would like. It would be best to email me @ Sonny@Rimlessreef.com .

Sonny

 

[GreshamH]

Just for general information... there are over 200 different types of diatom algae. If the algae is only growing on your glass and not doing well elsewhere it's probably a diatom (they require the silica to form and the glass is one of the easiest ways to get it, especially if it's not being added in the water)

While glass is made from silica it leaches none into the water IIRC. It's one of those old wives tales :lol:

 

[GreshamH]

OK "none" is not true, but, the amount is so low it's not worth mentioning.

 

[Greenmaster]

No it doesn't leach it into the water (much) the Diatoms pull the silica from the glass via an organic chemical reaction... the additives they add to the glass to make it softer, have a lower melting point and is easier to work with but they also make the silica more "loosely bonded." That's why diatoms are often only on the glass.

 

[Toadally]

While my clam (( Crocea )), isn't a small one (( about 5-6" now, started off around 2-3 )) it has been doing great with me never dosing phyto -- have had it for about 7 years now.

So you've never dosed phyto for your clam? That's interesting! I've started keeping one and the general consensus is that they will not survive without it. I had one years ago without using anything, but only had it for a short period of time. So it was hard to say.

 

[Toadally]

thank you all

Thank you Gary! Seems that you've been in the hobby for many years and have plenty of advice and information to share. I for one appreciate that.

 

[GreshamH]

So you've never dosed phyto for your clam? That's interesting! I've started keeping one and the general consensus is that they will not survive without it. I had one years ago without using anything, but only had it for a short period of time. So it was hard to say.

Phytoplankton is a big part of our product line... saying that....

Clams don't have to have phyto, even small ones, in order to live. The small ones have the same concentration of zooxanthellae in their mantle as the larger ones. Feeding phyto will help them be healthier and grow quicker but is not a must.

 

[GreshamH]

No it doesn't leach it into the water (much) the Diatoms pull the silica from the glass via an organic chemical reaction... the additives they add to the glass to make it softer, have a lower melting point and is easier to work with but they also make the silica more "loosely bonded." That's why diatoms are often only on the glass.

Show me a link! I work with phycologists who study marine phytoplankton. Upon asking them if they thought diatoms would get much of any silica from glass they all said "not in any significant amount" meaning they are getting their silica mainly from the water column. I am far more inclined to believe them over some random internet guy.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

No it doesn't leach it into the water (much) the Diatoms pull the silica from the glass via an organic chemical reaction... the additives they add to the glass to make it softer, have a lower melting point and is easier to work with but they also make the silica more "loosely bonded." That's why diatoms are often only on the glass.

hogwash.

And I've never seen an aquarium where diatoms are ONLY on the glass.

 

[Paul B]

So you've never dosed phyto for your clam? That's interesting! I've started keeping one and the general consensus is that they will not survive without it

I have also never dosed my clam with anything and they double in size in a year.
I got this guy at about an inch and a half. It grew to about 6" in two years with nothing except watching TV

 

[Toddrtrex]

So you've never dosed phyto for your clam? That's interesting! I've started keeping one and the general consensus is that they will not survive without it. I had one years ago without using anything, but only had it for a short period of time. So it was hard to say.

Nope, usually if they are 3" or larger you will be fine -- for the reasons that GreshamH stated.

 

[GreshamH]

Nope, usually if they are 3" or larger you will be fine -- for the reasons that GreshamH stated.

Even under 3" they do not "require" anymore phyto then their larger counter parts

This topic has been covered numerous times in the calm forum James (Fatheree) laid it out very well in his book as well

 

[GreshamH]

Show me a link! I work with phycologists who study marine phytoplankton. Upon asking them if they thought diatoms would get much of any silica from glass they all said "not in any significant amount" meaning they are getting their silica mainly from the water column. I am far more inclined to believe them over some random internet guy.

To be honest it looks like they and I had a little miss communication. One of them said diatoms can uptake silica from borosilicate glass in enough fashion to support their growth (and etch the glass), but he did not think normal float glass in our reef PH would release much. He said in algal culture the glass does get etched, but, those PH's hit closer to 10 at times. If our tanks hit 10 we'd kiss them good bye.

I got a couple papers on the way to look into this deeper. I'll post more once I read them

 

[Greenmaster]

Ya I was more speaking from experience and rumor on the web... like http://www.saltcorner.com/Articles/Showarticle.php?articleID=63

I have also experienced algae growing on my glass after a couple of years I had to disassemble my tank and I noticed lots of little white spots that had been etched into the glass. Not really enough to notice in the tank when it was full of water, but when the glass was dry there was a bunch of pits/spots all on the inside of the glass... when I did some research (just surfing the net not a scientific study) I found others had the same problem and upon looking at glass compositions and anecdotal evidence I came to the conclusion that the algae that I cleaned off the glass on a daily basis was probably diatoms and they were getting at least some silica from the glass... maybe "not in any significant amount" (what ever that vague term means) but enough that between the minute amounts in my water combined with what they could take from the glass was enough to support their growth and etch the glass. I know that this is more my "belief" and "opinion" then fact... but as I said I "believe" that diatoms can take the silica they need from the glass... the largest limiting factor for diatoms in "most" of the ocean is nutrient not silica and that lots of the algae that grows in the ocean is diatoms. IMO the best way to control diatoms isn't controlling silica it is controlling nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Scungili]

What besides rotifiers are a good source of LIVE zooplankton, that we can purchase and store in fridge?

 

[Aquarist007]

. IMO the best way to control diatoms isn't controlling silica it is controlling nitrates and phosphates.

I will agree with that too but I find it very hard to understand that an algae can etch glass

 

[Greenmaster]

Modern science has a hard time understanding exactly how many organisms function... or if what you are having a hard time understanding is how the glass it's self could be affected by anything, and you want to understand, you should do more research on glass and the manufacturing of it as well as the physical properties of glass... there are many very interesting things that you could learn about glass... A little information is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass (one caution about wiki is that you need to take the information with a grain of salt as not all info is correct, as it is a publicly created/monitored system)

 

[capecoral]

Ok now that I'm in over my head I'll just post the stuff and be quiet

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

What besides rotifiers are a good source of LIVE zooplankton

get two Lysmata spp. shrimps