I overdid it with amphipods
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Here is a video.
The round stones are the problem, they live in porous things like wood, broken cement and asphalt.
Paul,
I had to laugh when you were asked if you rinsed of the pods. You should have repeated how you collect mud from Long Island Sound and add it to your tank with $20K of livestock.
To your point about pods on broken cement. In my 10K gallon macro growout system, I used cinder blocks to support shelving. The slightly rough surfaces of these blocks are crawling with amphipods. I am reevaluating my business plan of selling people edible Red Ogo. I should consider live food for reef tanks: Pods with "Tang Heaven Red".
Your Cajun friend,
Patrick
Considering that I am an old oilfield hand, I find it amusing that a hydrocarbon product such as asphalt is a home to reef desirable live food. The fact that you use it for live rock blows away much modern/conventional reef wisdom. You were never one to walk the beaten path.
Paul, your family is precious. The picture with the wife and grand baby brought a smile on my face.
Paul, your family is precious. The picture with the wife and grand baby brought a smile on my face.
Paul B
Premium Member
Thank you Patrick. Asphalt should of course never be used in a reef tank but the asphalt I use was dumped in the sea over 50 years ago so anything toxic would have washed away by now. I would not rip up a road and throw it in my tank. When I started my tank there was no rock for sale, no live or dead rock so I used what I could find in the sea. Asphalt is all over the place here because they dump it near some shores to prevent erosion. It is very porous and easily breaks apart in your hands. The fact that it is loaded with life allows me to believe it is non toxic, coupled with the fact that it has been in my reef for 40 years I am sure it is fine.
As for walking a beaten path, there were no paths, beaten or otherwise in 1971 so whatever path I walked, I trampled on my own.
As for walking a beaten path, there were no paths, beaten or otherwise in 1971 so whatever path I walked, I trampled on my own.
Three generations of smiles, very nice. You have much to be thankful for.
Being a Gemini, I seem to look at all sides of the equation. What is toxic to some is food to others.
In 1974, when I worked in process controls involving cooling tower chemistry for Dow Chemical, Salt Grass Power Plant initiated a pilot program to eliminate the use of chromate as a corrosion inhibitor. They used a controlled scale program involving calcium phosphate. The cooling tower water source was Brazos River water. Bio fouling of heat exchanger tubes was controlled with 98% chlorine. Process control design mandated that turbine oil lubricating systems were run at higher pressures than cooling tower water so as not to contaminate the process. If a leak happened, the oil went into the cooling tower water. A small amount of leak of this hydrocarbon into the water acted as a fertilizer and caused an algae bloom.
Years later, when working in deep water drilling, I witnessed hydrogen sulfide vents in 5000' of water. Hydrogen sulfide is leathal at very low concentrations. At a few ppb it can be smelled. Above 20 ppb, the sense of smell is lost and get ready to die. On that job, everyone carried gas mask at all times. At that depth in the Gulf of Mexico, there is absolutely nothing but flat sand for miles. These vents were considered environmentally sensitive by the EPA and we were required to monitor the ocean bottom. It looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie. I am not sure weather it was flora or fauna but there was much stuff growing in the area of these vents.
I have always been amazed at how nature has a consumer of what most would consider toxic. I have never used cooper in any of my systems. When Ward Lab analyzed the Red Ogo that I grow, it had 7 ppm of cooper in its biomass. Go figure.
Being a Gemini, I seem to look at all sides of the equation. What is toxic to some is food to others.
In 1974, when I worked in process controls involving cooling tower chemistry for Dow Chemical, Salt Grass Power Plant initiated a pilot program to eliminate the use of chromate as a corrosion inhibitor. They used a controlled scale program involving calcium phosphate. The cooling tower water source was Brazos River water. Bio fouling of heat exchanger tubes was controlled with 98% chlorine. Process control design mandated that turbine oil lubricating systems were run at higher pressures than cooling tower water so as not to contaminate the process. If a leak happened, the oil went into the cooling tower water. A small amount of leak of this hydrocarbon into the water acted as a fertilizer and caused an algae bloom.
Years later, when working in deep water drilling, I witnessed hydrogen sulfide vents in 5000' of water. Hydrogen sulfide is leathal at very low concentrations. At a few ppb it can be smelled. Above 20 ppb, the sense of smell is lost and get ready to die. On that job, everyone carried gas mask at all times. At that depth in the Gulf of Mexico, there is absolutely nothing but flat sand for miles. These vents were considered environmentally sensitive by the EPA and we were required to monitor the ocean bottom. It looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie. I am not sure weather it was flora or fauna but there was much stuff growing in the area of these vents.
I have always been amazed at how nature has a consumer of what most would consider toxic. I have never used cooper in any of my systems. When Ward Lab analyzed the Red Ogo that I grow, it had 7 ppm of cooper in its biomass. Go figure.
Paul B
Premium Member
Years ago I collected a "rock" in the sea that looked interesting, it was full of holes and a slightly red color. It was loaded with amphipods and I added a bunch of grass shrimp and put it in my garage where I forgot about it for weeks or months. When I again found it I discovered that that "rock" was a corroded pulley probably from an ancient sailing ship. It had completely decomposed leaving just red "sand" in the bucket. I have never seen such healthy amphipods and grass shrimp. That is when I lost my fear of putting iron in my reef. And many people are still afraid to use stainless steel in their tank.
