Hi folks, here is a small presentation of a project I am doing. I am experimenting with using a refugium to grow plankton. I haven't seen anybody doing that before, at least not in a way that produces large measurable quantities of plankton. The basic idea is to get phytoplankton to reproduce and grow in high concentrations like in a phytoreactor. It is also possible that it can be used to grow zooplankton by dripping artemia eggs into it daily with an auto feeder. My version is mostly for azoox tanks, but with small modifications it could be used for reeftanks too. I don't know if it can be made to work, but that is what I want to test out with this small setup.
The setup consists of two 112 liters tanks. One has the role as refugium and the other as the display tank. The refugium is placed slightly higher than the display tank and overflows down into it. Since it is a test setup, only the refugium has lights. The display tank has a skimmer and chiller directly attached. There is no sump. The refugium has a CO2 dosing system, and nutrients are regularly dosed with a formula that corresponds to the Guilliard F/2 formula. The display tank has a shallow live sand bed for filtration, and hold various azoox coldwater test specimens.
The current status of the project is that it has been running for about a month, and it has been fun so far. I have had two blooms of diatoms. But I have not been able to keep satifying concentrations of algae in the refugium over time. But there are many parameters that can be changed to fix that. However I want to take my time and test one thing at a time so that I know what works and what doesn't.
I am keeping a blog over the project
Pictures:
1. The setup.
2. The refugium. Notice the white acryllic trays for easier cleaning.
3. Diatom bloom (roughly 500 million cells per liter).
4. Diatoms under microscope. Each cell is about 7 micrometers diameter.
5. After a few days of bloom the first crash came.
6. Animals. Coldwater filter animals: Sea squirts, scallops, mussels, sponges, barnacles.
7. Test display tank with sand bed and animals.
The setup consists of two 112 liters tanks. One has the role as refugium and the other as the display tank. The refugium is placed slightly higher than the display tank and overflows down into it. Since it is a test setup, only the refugium has lights. The display tank has a skimmer and chiller directly attached. There is no sump. The refugium has a CO2 dosing system, and nutrients are regularly dosed with a formula that corresponds to the Guilliard F/2 formula. The display tank has a shallow live sand bed for filtration, and hold various azoox coldwater test specimens.
The current status of the project is that it has been running for about a month, and it has been fun so far. I have had two blooms of diatoms. But I have not been able to keep satifying concentrations of algae in the refugium over time. But there are many parameters that can be changed to fix that. However I want to take my time and test one thing at a time so that I know what works and what doesn't.
I am keeping a blog over the project
Pictures:
1. The setup.
2. The refugium. Notice the white acryllic trays for easier cleaning.
3. Diatom bloom (roughly 500 million cells per liter).
4. Diatoms under microscope. Each cell is about 7 micrometers diameter.
5. After a few days of bloom the first crash came.
6. Animals. Coldwater filter animals: Sea squirts, scallops, mussels, sponges, barnacles.
7. Test display tank with sand bed and animals.
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