In considering that I'll effectively have 225+ gallons of 'aquarium', and even more system-wide, the idea of 25'ish% water changes every 'time scale' doesn't only sound like work, but sounds like it'll add up in salt fees. Especially taken under the pretense that the same filter media's that can be exhausted will also have to be replaced regardless (labor + money). Nevermind the electricity and light replacement costs.
On-the-cheap yet grand-scale is a major theme that drives me. To me it seems like initially going overkill on the sustainable / natural / rechargable methods as much as possible, and add suppliments when needed would save time and money.
In the past couple weeks since I've gotten back into this full swing, I've been looking for claims of zero water changes or at least close to that tune.
-Apparently people are running tanks with awesome results using simply sealed 5 gallon buckets filled with "sugar sand" (Home Depot play sand) hooked up in line.
-Multiple sources claim zero water changes using 1 floating mangrove seed pod per 10 gallons of 'aquarium'.
-Boyd Chemi-Pure claims no water changes w/ the media's replacement time of up to 6 months.
-Others claim BioPellets can give these sorts of results.
-I read a thread on here yesterday where the guy is building a special fuge system where brine shrimp live inside the runoff detritous chamber and eat the aquarium detritous and then reproduce. He describes a method that allows only the BBS to pass thru into the plumbing back into the main tank.
-A key component in GARF's designs is a plenum underneath the DT substrate.
[If anyone knows other methods claimed to give near/zero water changes please let me know. I want to design everything like this in before I do final plumbing.]
Those last 2 I didn't even read until yesterday. In my old days in the hobby I always wanted to do mangroves, but I forgot the floating seed pod method until yesterday and that using that method 'only requires' 1 pod per 10g. I didn't have the 16g mangrove platform style vessel until 2 days ago, got it for free real lucky. In my old days I recall seeing stuff that looked like biopellets, but don't remember ever reading about the science behind that method in those days.
My reasoning is that if people get awesome results with single approaches from that list above, then I'll scale them (all) up as far as I can and try to do each better.
Like with the 5g DSB buckets. I figure the average reef tank is about 100g, while 5g buckets are only 15" tall. Here I'm employing approx 100g of LIVEsand+LIVEmud+flora+fauna at a depth of about 36". If people actually run '100g' tanks with a 5g bucket DSB as their ace in the hole, then my DSB alone should run 225g nicely.
I don't intend to plenum the DT's, but even better I hope will be to plenum the DSB. This will 'force' the microbes to spread thru the other layers in there which should speed up the maturity even better.
My idea the past couple weeks was to use outdoor drainage 'perf pipe' running down to the floor so that an open water column would be exposed to all of the layers. After seeing the BS 'detrivore reactor' fuge idea yesterday, it seemed like I might be able to easily add that into this water column area. I found that trying to find out if people have raised clownfish fry inside fuges with the food sources they provide.
After getting refreshed on plenums last night, I decided to instead use a sealed outdoor drainpipe (that I already have) instead of the perf pipe (which I dont have) that forces the water up from underneath the DSB. My remaining challenge here is how to enable the BBS to leave this chamber periodically without always allowing the water to escape into the top of this fuge thru the top of this pipe.
If theres any truth to Boyd's claims, then adding all of those other filter medias with it should get results. In a couple months I can double up on Boyd or other medias, as or if needed. To save money I didn't go overkill on all of the filter medias per gallons they claim to uphold. Like with the BioPellets I decided on the smallest amount I could buy, it being $50+ on something I might not need at all.
But maximum diversity at every level is a major directive in this project and I definitely wanted at least some of it in the filter media chamber. As I freshened up on most of the filter media's out there these days, I wanted the wet/dry tower alone to be able to provide a near zero water change outcome. Stacking the square buckets is key providing access to each chamber as desired, and they only cost $1 each. At that price compared to the normal cost of acrylic W/D sumps, plenty of extra funds to have 5x the normal volume of bioball type materials you normally see underneath a 100g tank. Finding the new BIO-BALE material sweetened the deal, and I found it cheaper than bioballs (which I have 8g's of on hand).
Some people run their tanks with a few well rooted mangroves in the tank or sump. Others run it using 1 floating mangrove pod per 10 gallons of tank. This 16g vessel I got lucky on (free in mint condition) enables 84 pods at a 3" spacing. The only possible way I can use it is it will have to rest on top of the DSB tank which would have blocked me from having as many rooted mangroves as I wanted in there. I was going to not include this odd shaped box because of this, but after realizing the floating pod method last night I'm going for 84 floaters, and then one real nice size deep rooted mangrove sticking up out of the DSB fuge opening.
So I'm effectively going overkill with all of these methods (and any others that will fit in before I do the final plumbing next week), which apparently each provides zero water changes for some.
This should put them all to the test.
If I can get the BBS to successfully release into the fuge water layer while trapping the adults, I might even experiment with some attempts at raising fish fry in there. With all of the other microcritters in there it might just work when this thing matures, with a little luck.
