Intelligent Design / Natural Filtration

[NS Mike D]

Because I have many vegan friends, I do not put protein into the vegetable ceviche. I prepare a spicey marinade for the fish, shrimp or squid and keep it in a seperate serving dish. I also keep the seaweed in a seperate dish because the Red Ogo will go from crisp to soft. For me, eating is as much about texture as taste.
The basic cheviche mix starts with onions, peppers and tomatoes, fresh out of the garden when the deer leave me some, but canned Rotelle tomatoes work well. As I am somewhat of a free spirit when in the kitchen, I often ad what I have in the refrigerator: cucumber, radish, squash, zucchini, and celery to name a few.
Lime juice is used liberally on everything. Or is it "You put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up"?

pardon me for keeping the side discussion going ......


I'll have to check this out. I have a caribbean heritage and so ceviche is something that I grew up with. Then I met Peruvians who changed my entire approach and to ceviche. While I tend to gravitate to classic Peruvian ceviche, I was intrigued when you mentioned using the macro algae. A vegan ceviche never occurred to me.

BYW, a few quick tips from the Peruvian, soak the red onions in water for 15 minutes after slicing - it removes the sulfur. Also, they use msg (Accent) which makes a lot of sense from an asian "umame" point of view. But they season the fish separately and only mixed it with the rest of the ingredients at the last second. They also use a pepper called ricotto - wonderful pain/pleasure - and no wonder ceviche is their national hangover food.


No cilantro?

 

[Subsea]

pardon me for keeping the side discussion going ......


I'll have to check this out. I have a caribbean heritage and so ceviche is something that I grew up with. Then I met Peruvians who changed my entire approach and to ceviche. While I tend to gravitate to classic Peruvian ceviche, I was intrigued when you mentioned using the macro algae. A vegan ceviche never occurred to me.

BYW, a few quick tips from the Peruvian, soak the red onions in water for 15 minutes after slicing - it removes the sulfur. Also, they use msg (Accent) which makes a lot of sense from an asian "umame" point of view. But they season the fish separately and only mixed it with the rest of the ingredients at the last second. They also use a pepper called ricotto - wonderful pain/pleasure - and no wonder ceviche is their national hangover food.


Mike,
All discussion is relative. It is my thread. I like input, it adds to diversity of knowledge. I would not have known about the sulphur. The sulphur may be a unique characteristic of their soil and volcanic geologic activity. When I can, I use sweet onions, preferably Vadelia. Sometimes I use cilantro. When I make salsa dishes, I often use cilantro. It depends on what I have in the refrigerator and who the guest are.
Patrick

 

[JonezNReef]

Ive always wanted to know what sea weed I could eat. I am going to have to give this a try as it sounds quite appetizing. Ohh and fresh cilantro is great for removing metals such as mercury from the body so its def a good thing to add to foods from time to time.

 

[Subsea]

Ive always wanted to know what sea weed I could eat. I am going to have to give this a try as it sounds quite appetizing. Ohh and fresh cilantro is great for removing metals such as mercury from the body so its def a good thing to add to foods from time to time.

Good to know about removing heavy metals like mercury from the body. Now, I can eat more marine fish.

Grape Caulerpa is a classic. For a delicate flavor, just add a little lime juice.

 

[NS Mike D]

pardon me for keeping the side discussion going ......


I'll have to check this out. I have a caribbean heritage and so ceviche is something that I grew up with. Then I met Peruvians who changed my entire approach and to ceviche. While I tend to gravitate to classic Peruvian ceviche, I was intrigued when you mentioned using the macro algae. A vegan ceviche never occurred to me.

BYW, a few quick tips from the Peruvian, soak the red onions in water for 15 minutes after slicing - it removes the sulfur. Also, they use msg (Accent) which makes a lot of sense from an asian "umame" point of view. But they season the fish separately and only mixed it with the rest of the ingredients at the last second. They also use a pepper called ricotto - wonderful pain/pleasure - and no wonder ceviche is their national hangover food.


Mike,
All discussion is relative. It is my thread. I like input, it adds to diversity of knowledge. I would not have known about the sulphur. The sulphur may be a unique characteristic of their soil and volcanic geologic activity. When I can, I use sweet onions, preferably Vadelia. Sometimes I use cilantro. When I make salsa dishes, I often use cilantro. It depends on what I have in the refrigerator and who the guest are.
Patrick

Sweet onions, like vidallias, would not benefit from soaking, they are low sulphur to begin with so good to go as is. (I prefer to melt vidalias low and slow in my smoker and then put them on everything). Spanish, red and white onions, on the other hand, are the eye tearers. It's all a matter of personal preference. Some folks love raw onions, some don't.


Aside from the foodie talk, love the thread, very useful. That research paper on bacteria should be mandatory reading. I had a bottle of bacteria that I used when I first cycled my tank last year and ignored the part about maintenance. I figured once the colony was established, why would I need to continue to dose bacteria. Yesterday, I grabbed the bottle (still good to use) and started the maintenance routine.

 

[Subsea]

While I think that foam fractionators are unnecessary to maintain a reef tank, they would be detrimental to a NPS tank biotheme

Is there a specific question here?

 

[OllieNZ]

Is there a specific question here?

The user would appear to be a spam bot of some description.....

 

[Paul B]

I just went crabbing and came home with about 14 of these beauties. I don't think they are vegans though. Some people call these a clean up crew, I call them dinner.

 

[Subsea]

CUC on STEROIDS

CUC on STEROIDS

I just went crabbing and came home with about 14 of these beauties. I don't think they are vegans though. Some people call these a clean up crew, I call them dinner.

Paul,
You always add zest to a thread. What is your favorite recepi for crabs?

 

[Paul B]

That's easy. My family is Sicilian and like most Sicilians we eat a lot of seafood. My family was In the sea food business. My favorite is linguini and crabs that we make on Thanksgiving (along with the turkey because I am American from Brooklyn) Crabs make a very sweet sauce. I will collect another 20 or 30 crabs and freeze them until then. If I get more, we will eat them now.

 

[Subsea]

That's easy. My family is Sicilian and like most Sicilians we eat a lot of seafood. My family was In the sea food business. My favorite is linguini and crabs that we make on Thanksgiving (along with the turkey because I am American from Brooklyn) Crabs make a very sweet sauce. I will collect another 20 or 30 crabs and freeze them until then. If I get more, we will eat them now.

Now,that is a feist Famiy and food is always good.

Paul, when you talked about live shellfish, you mentioned two that were amost all gut. At the local HEB fish market, I can get live oysters, clams and muscells. Which is best?

 

[Paul B]

I use clams but I would imagine they are all good. Oysters are the most expensive.
Clams are the largest because you can get very large chowder clams that look like cannonballs

 

[BlackTip]

I use clams but I would imagine they are all good. Oysters are the most expensive.
Clams are the largest because you can get very large chowder clams that look like cannonballs

I tried to feed my fish oysters, but they didn't touch it.

I brought two row oysters home from a cookout party. I put them in a ziploc bag and placed them in the freezer. Few days later, I took one out and sliced few small pieces. Thawed them in water, and put them in the tank. My fish didn't touch them.

Did I do anything wrong?

 

[Paul B]

I tried to feed my fish oysters, but they didn't touch it.

I brought two row oysters home from a cookout party. I put them in a ziploc bag and placed them in the freezer. Few days later, I took one out and sliced few small pieces. Thawed them in water, and put them in the tank. My fish didn't touch them.

Did I do anything wrong?

No, maybe your fish are vegans. Were the oysters raw? I have no idea why they won't eat them. Everything in my tank eats them.

 

[NS Mike D]

No, maybe your fish are vegans. Were the oysters raw? I have no idea why they won't eat them. Everything in my tank eats them.

probably ruined then by adding cocktail sauce, yuck

On clams, however, that is a different story, yum

 

[Subsea]

What is in the seaweed?

What is in the seaweed?

When I grew Graciilaria Parvispora ( Red Ogo) commercially, I sent it off to a scientific lab to be analyzed. It is my belief that seaweed will absorb anythig in the water. I expected the 30:1 ratio of nitrogen to phosphorous but not the 5:1 ratio of potassium to nitrogen nor the 2:1 ratio of sulphur to nitrogen. I am rethinking my nutrient dosing procedures.


Gracilaria Parvispora dry weight analysis:

Nitrogen @ 2.50%
Phosphorous @ 0.082%
Potassium @ 13.54%
Calcium @ 0.555%
Magnesium @ 1.163
Sulfur @ 4.82
Zinc @ 139ppm
Iron @ 107ppm
Manganese @ 20ppm
Copper @ 7.0 ppm

 

[Subsea]

Paul and SubSeas, I was watching food 4 partt series on Netflix, and one was dedicated to bacteria and fungi. Not only do chefs use bacteria and fungi to create awesome flavors and textures, they spoke about the health benefits.

For example, fermentation in making bread from whole wheat (not the supermarket fake stuff) sustained human society for eons. Now we strip out all the good nutrients of wheat leaving empty carbs.

The sterile tank approach reminds me of what we have done to our own food chain.

We are just beginning to find out about the importance of bacteria in the human body. With 80%-90% of all neurotransmitters developed in the itestine, the importance of gut bacteria can not be over stated.

 

[OllieNZ]

When I grew Graciilaria Parvispora ( Red Ogo) commercially, I sent it off to a scientific lab to be analyzed. It is my belief that seaweed will absorb anythig in the water. I expected the 30:1 ratio of nitrogen to phosphorous but not the 5:1 ratio of potassium to nitrogen nor the 2:1 ratio of sulphur to nitrogen. I am rethinking my nutrient dosing procedures.


Gracilaria Parvispora dry weight analysis:

Nitrogen @ 2.50%
Phosphorous @ 0.082%
Potassium @ 13.54%
Calcium @ 0.555%
Magnesium @ 1.163
Sulfur @ 4.82
Zinc @ 139ppm
Iron @ 107ppm
Manganese @ 20ppm
Copper @ 7.0 ppm

Potassium is an important and often overlooked macro nutrient for macrophytes. This is why most diy macro fertiliser mixes for planted freshwater tanks are based on KNO3 and K2PO4 and depending on your needs maybe some additional K and Mg as well.

I'm surprised given the amount of testing and dosing of things like Ca/Mg/Alk that when someone asks about bumping their nitrate up the stock answer is a rather imprecise feed more.
Adding inorganic nitrate via NO3 has the benefit of being exactly calculable to a specific ppm value and not being derived via the nitrogen cycle it has no impact on BOD (biological oxygen demand). I do appreciate adding more food has other benefits such as providing the corals and filter feeding animals with additional particulate matter but it all depends on your goals

 

[Timfish]

Bugs Rule! Fascinating how research is proving some of the observations and conclusions of aquarists like Paul B and Steve Tyree. Rohwer's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" is an excellent place to start. The stuff done by Dr. Andreas Haas* showing the roles algae have in promoting heterotrophic (oxygen depleting) microbes and corals promote autotrophic (oxygen enriching) is a real eye opener on natural filtration in our systems.
De Deoij's** cryptic sponge research may be a bit off topic but proves Tyree's ideas on cryptic zones.

*http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23882445
**http://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/14555035/13completethesis.pdf

 

[H2OCulture]

I'll bite. "Natural filtration" a.k.a. cultivating organisms for nutrient export, has always been a sub-set of reefing, and has its origins in the planted aquarium world. (hi-tech planted aquariums are nearly as extensive as reefs.) However, the examples of "natural filtration" that usually furnish the conversation are larger aquariums which have been established for many years. It's true that many large, old, successful aquariums run with little to no protein skimming, but that's because they are large, and established. Our water to bioload volumes are so astronomical compared to the natural reef that anyone who attempts to start an aquarium on "natural" techniques alone is more than likely doomed to disappointment. We need the "hi-tech" mechanical and chemical filtration because our bio loads for a given water volume ratio is so high.