Tidal Fuge

[Allmost]

what do you guys think of a Fuge, which gets filled daily for some hours and then emptied ... lets say 1-2 times a day. to stimulate the high and low Tide of the reefs ?

was thinking sand bed, mangroves, and some small pieces of rocks, and some crabs.

I was reading that cheato fuge, when unlid, will leach out po4 and no3 it has taken up. at a very low rate. so what if we disconnect it on the hours its not lid ?
also, would the exposure to air help the bacteria ?

it happens daily in reefs, so must have some biological advantage ? kind of like the Idea of good old wet dry filter ?

Im gonna try it on a FOWLR tank I have with alot of nutrition to see how it goes.

any Ideas/comments ?

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

Hmmm, while it's an interesting idea, I can see some problems in its implementation for an aquarium. For one thing, when the reef goes dry, it's only the reef crest that's typically dominated by acroporids or similar corals, rather than the algae we typically see in a refugium. When, this happens, there's not really terribly much that goes on biogeochemically; the corals themselves may be evolved for periodic drying (a separate and interesting topic), but there's no real ecosystem effect like increased denitrification etc (after all, just because something happens on the reef doesn't mean it gives some sort of evolutionary or ecological advantage...it may just happen).

Second, I would be concerned about which algae etc. you want to have in there, because only intertidal species (like mangroves) will be able to tolerate the drying. That said, I want to add that tidal estuaries (the most productive ecosystem on earth) are as productive as they are because the tides bring in fresh nutrients and flush the system effectively. If you can find a way to replicate that, I'm sure your system would benefit from the added nutrient cycling (it will make it better fed). However, replicating that would be far from easy, and I honestly don't see any advantage that can be offered from having a periodically dry fuge instead of a wet one.

Hope that helps, and please ask if something isn't clear, because it's an interesting idea that's just harder than it seems!