Suggestions a small BTA farm???

[WDLV]

The point of the thread is moot at this point for anything but discussion. I just finished a mod to the sump. I installed a 3' long 14" diameter pvc pipe then filled it with about 2' of branch and rubbel rock. The skimmer output is pouring over it. I figure I'd should serve well as a biofilter.

 

[WDLV]

 

[steve9]

You must think of a bta and sps as one of the same.
High blue par light with orp near 400.
You never add any food but some fresh black worms if you like
and they are just about the easyest thing to cut and sell
that we have.
I have sold tons of them walt to many cmas and wamas members.
The rbtas are like roaches to most cmas/wamas members but the
purple tipped rainbow rbta i have is something to behold.
You can split a 40 breeder in half with a divider.a simple piece of plex with holes...one half will hold up
to 30 bta's and rock/skimmer on the other side.
RUN the skimmer out flow into the rbta side.
Simple cheap and works great.
Remember to add carbon and keep ph up just like
a reef tank.

 

[WDLV]

Thanks Steve. Ill have to hit you up when I'm ready to try again.

 

[traveller7]

Sorry for getting lost in the ether Walt.

Not sure I follow you.... My plan is to use 30 breeders with just a tile or a 6" flower pot and three sides plus the bottom painted. Are you saying that you think they need more swimming space or more surface area?

Not swimming space for them, for dither fish and suitable cover. In my experience first time breeders are more comfortable with dither fish visible and lots of available cover/breeding areas. IMO getting them started is the goal, then on tiles, flower pots, suitable substrate, species only, etc.

It's not that it won't eventually happen in small spaces, just that I have found the larger tanks in non-sterile build expeditious.

 

[hypnoj]

what's a dither fish?

 

[traveller7]

Dither fish tend to be small schooling fish that stay in the open until predators arrive in the area driving even the dither fish into hiding. Other fish key off their behavior... the dither fish hide, the skittish fish hide. Dither fish out swimming, the skittish fish are more comfortable.

At least that is the concept and something about a well-populated 300gal tank worked magic with a few of my stubborn clown pairs. I'd try such a strategy with stubborn or skittish clowns again.

 

[MM WI]

I think this project failed because of the sterile tank ideas. Bare bottom, bleached dead rock in the sump, IMO not ever good practices most particularly in a nem tank. These are a couple of my least favorite RC trends. Also the pots which i also have in my clown tanks for other reasons but for this tank gave the stressed nems a low current place to retreat into at a time when this would be more likely to be a problem. I know sounds like captain hind sight to the rescue, but these are the thoughts that occurred to me on my initial read. I add nems to established tanks with lots of support critters - a well established diverse ecosytem. The ideas that you can opperate a tank without lots of surface area for bacteria and lots of hiding places for small sea critters like stars, snails, pods etc. are responsible for lots of tank failures.

 

[BonsaiNut]

I think this project failed because of the sterile tank ideas. Bare bottom, bleached dead rock in the sump, IMO not ever good practices most particularly in a nem tank.

I didn't see where he was trying to do a sterile setup. I think you need to have a well-balanced system (sump with live-rock, lighting, refugium, etc) and run clean tanks off this system that are easy to clean and maintain.

Just because you are running an anemone farm does not mean you should try to bend any of the standard rules of maintaining a high quality captive reef environment.

 

[MM WI]

OK, does this look more likely to succeed. Why waste the floor of the tank? it could hold tons of live reef animals. Why bleach live rock, that makes it dead rock? i did read that in this thread didn't i? why do you think established tanks do better at keeping delicate animals like clams and anemones if it is not the plancton and slightly larger critters that live in the mini habitats that are created with substrate and plants? There are concepts that are fashionalbe on RC now that are completely crazy. I have even heard many, many posters on RC claim that having area for nitrogen cycle bacteria is outdated and nitrate factories. This can only be said if you have no idea about what makes a tank robust. In fact i can say with complete confidence that the tanks i ran 30 years ago where more robust than some systems i see on RC today.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=4743&pictureid=32872

 

[MM WI]

why is this not working?

 

[BonsaiNut]

why is this not working?

I'm not so sure but I can see the photo when I click on the link.

 

[WDLV]

MMWI,
Bleaching LR gets rid of the aptasia. Dead rock doesn't take long to become live rock again.
I agree about biodiversity. This was my most successful system and had no skimmer or a poorly adjusted skimmer for most of it's life. No doubt in my mind that a coral-filled system absorbs nutrients and eats marine snow.

That said, for breeding fish reproducability and predictability (for the fish and aquarist) are beneficial. This is well documented.
At present, I have moved several large pieces of LR into the sump pending a decision on what to do with it. I will probably just leave it for now. I have added a baserock filled tube ~36" x 14" diameter to the output of the skimmer to act as an additional biofilter.

I also rebuilt my breeder stand to a configuration that is more maintenance friendly over the weekend and plan to buy and drilland paint a 30 breeder to replace my old 40 breeder and drill and paint several 10 gallons to be added to the system. Pics will follow on completion of the project.

 

[MM WI]

Nice looking tank Walt! Yeah I get the idea about getting rid of things but you also need some route for the diversity to get into you system in the first place and live rock is a good way to get the critters into the tank. If you are going to bleach it or set it out in the sun I'd rather see people use the fake stuff and not do this to rock that was collected.

 

[WDLV]

Actually the tank pictured was started with rock that was 80% bleached. It was indistinguishable from the LR after 6 months. I would not bleach it without a means of reseeding it. LR can be recycled. Most of the rock I've owned was from other aquarists tanks. Much of it was unusable on aquisition. Baserock makes an excellent foundation. The rock I'm contemplating bleaching is covered in aptasia. This will be a good way to restore the rock over the next year or so before my next big system.