It would be interesting to set up a large reef tank as a self contained biosphere. There should be a way to selectively choose livestock to strike a balance as it happens in the ocean. Of course you would be very limited in tank contents which would discourage most reef keepers. I think this could be the next wave of interest in reef keeping.
Reef Biosphere, the next thing
- Thread starter mmfish
- Start date
Reefaquariumnut
Premium Member
Hmmmm. Interesting.
I came to this conclusion after purchasing an ecosphere and hearing on the seahorse forum how multiple feeds per day are required. Why dive back into this hobby with a standard approach to reef set up? Wouldn't it be great to start a sub topic on reef biosphere? I will be happy to post my experience as it unfolds. Currently I am testing a freshwater planted tank with shrimp only to see if it is self-sustaining.
sfsuphysics
Active member
Steinhart at the California Academy of science goes this route, they have a 200,000+ gallon Philippine reef, a 100,000+ gallon Northern California water setup, (unknown maybe 20,000 gallons) Southern California water setup, and (again unknown, on the order of a few hundred gallons) Caribbean reef setup (although this is limited to gorgonians and soft corals)
Some reefs you'd have to fake, like a Hawaiian reef, obviously you can't get corals from Hawaii, however my trip there did show a lot of "bushy" corals like stylos,so you obviously could get the corals they just wouldn't be Hawaiian in nature
Some reefs you'd have to fake, like a Hawaiian reef, obviously you can't get corals from Hawaii, however my trip there did show a lot of "bushy" corals like stylos,so you obviously could get the corals they just wouldn't be Hawaiian in nature
