Hello again friends, getting a system going after 10 year absence.

[dave w]

Hello all, I'm doing a small system in my basement utility room with 3-4 tanks connected to a central sump.  I have a 180 and a 150 display tanks, a 170 gallon sump, and a couple of 75s I'll also use as minor display tanks.  I'll plumb them all to the same sump because they're all on the same level.  I plan on a very few hard corals and mostly a bunch of soft corals because I like to cultivate live food and keep a lot of zooplankton in the tank.  I'm also trying for a plankton friendly circulation system, which is why the sump is at the same level as the display tanks (so, with no head pressure, I can turn down the pump speed and still get good tank turnover).  I'll keep a few dwarf angelfish in one tank (probably the 75s or the 150) but I'll keep them away from the softies in the 180.  I'll get a fair number of small planktivore fish with small larvae and try to dabble in larval fish rearing, but not terribly seriously because I have a business project that should start in 12-18 months and it will take a lot of time away from looking at fish.

 

I also have two totes for zooplankton culture, because live food is an important thing for me.   Thanks in advance for everyone's help.  I used to have a build thread here for a large tank I built in a greenhouse attached to my house, but I've ignored that for 10 years because it was too hard to keep temperature control and my work didn't allow the time to take care of it.

 

Dave

[YHSublime]

Welcome back! Sounds like a great plan, looking forward to seeing how it shakes!

[gastone]

Started to read through you last build.  Very impressive.  Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[dave w]

Thanks, gastone.  This one won't be so impressive, it's not intended to be a show tank.  Minimal acros don't cause much excitement. 

 

Issac, I love the bare bottom look of your tank!

[ReefdUp]

Welcome back!

[BowieReefer84]

I remember that build thread. It was wild. Welcome back. 

[YHSublime]

On 10/16/2024 at 11:26 AM, dave w said:

Issac, I love the bare bottom look of your tank!

Been turning reefers into bare bottoms since at least 2015 😆

 

 Thank you! Ive just been doing everything I can to make maintenance easy and pain free, but is that even doable?!

[dave w]

On 10/31/2024 at 5:14 PM, YHSublime said:

Been turning reefers into bare bottoms since at least 2015 😆

 

 Thank you! Ive just been doing everything I can to make maintenance easy and pain free, but is that even doable?!

It's doable.  Nothing in this hobby is completely easy and pain free, but I believe bare bottoms are much better than sand bottoms.  In my experience, sand bottoms are fine for a few years until they accumulate enough detritus to raise levels of bad bacteria like vibrio.  By that time we've become lazy and defer the dirty work.  

[dave w]

Can anyone offer help on another issue?  I'm using a couple 175 gallon zooplankton tanks to grow live food for the corals.  I'll feed the zooplankton tanks heavily and harvest  heavily.  To maintain water quality I need an algae turf scrubber (ATS) and a slow flow skimmer in a 30 gallon tank right beside the 175s.    

 

I can set the ATS a couple inches above the zooplankton tank or a couple inches below, depending on where I put the pump.

 

If the pump is in the 175 gallon and pumps up 2" to the 30 gallon ATS, then the 30 gallon overflows back to the 175.  But how to do make an overflow without drilling?  I can use siphon tubes but they might clog with a loose clump of algae.  I could make a couple big 2" siphon tubes for returns that shouldn't clog.  But siphon tubes aren't foolproof, air bubbles could build up in them until they no longer siphon.

 

Second alternative, I set the 30 gallon ATS a couple inches below the 175 tank.  Water would from from the 175 by gravity and the pump in the ATS would return to the 175.  If power goes out, the 30 gallon may overflow a little but not too much.  I have a floor drain in the room so it's not like I'll be flooding my living room carpet.

 

Third alternative, place both tanks at the same level and transfer water from the 175 into the 30 via airlifts.  No pump needed and no issues if the power goes out.  There will be some salt creep in the 30 so some more cleaning may be needed.  Water can be returned via siphon.

 

Any advice?  Thanks in advance.

[dave w]

Something I forgot to mention is that the 175 gallon zooplankton tanks are plastic, so it easy to put a bulkhead fitting in them.

[dave w]

On 10/31/2024 at 12:19 AM, BowieReefer84 said:

I remember that build thread. It was wild. Welcome back. 

Thanks man.  I missed you guys.  But when my business direction changed I had to abandon the greenhouse tank and put all my energy elsewhere.  That's how life goes.

[YHSublime]

9 hours ago, dave w said:

Third alternative, place both tanks at the same level and transfer water from the 175 into the 30 via airlifts.  No pump needed and no issues if the power goes out.  There will be some salt creep in the 30 so some more cleaning may be needed.  Water can be returned via siphon.

 

I mean, reading this out loud makes it sound like the best option...

[dave w]

Thanks, I think you're right.  With a big 2" siphon, I could probably do BOTH the airlifts and a low speed pump.  Kind of a belt and suspenders approach.  If I find the flow is too low with just airlifts, the pump will increase it.  I'll try higher flow because I'm going to put lights on both sides of the screens, as long as the higher flow doesn't damage zooplankton.

 

I'll post a pic when its ready.  

[dave w]

 Here's a pic of the dry setup.  It's off the pedestal that keeps it at the same water level as the zooplankton tank .  This is a dry 5 gallon tank within a 30 gallon tank with lights inside the 5 and outside the 30, so 4 rows of lights so the algae screens are lit from both sides.   I'm guessing 1,000 to 1,500 LEDs.  Water is pumped into the right end and then siphoned back to the copepod tank on the opposite end.   This should hold about 15-20 of those full sized knitting screens for algae growth, and will have airstones also.   I'm oversizing the number of screens and lumens because the slow flow will probably only be 100 g.p.h.  I don't think brine shrimp or copepods will get caught in the algae, but you never know. With about a million pods/artemia in 175 gallons some may inevitably get trapped in filamentous algae but I don't think it will be a large amount.  I'll put a glass cover on both tanks so water doesn't drip into the 5 gallon and short out the lights.  I can add more lights on the outside ends, but I ran out of lights.

 

[YHSublime]

Talk about some dang old let there be light

[gastone]

Ok, that is a neat setup.  

 

[dave w]

4 hours ago, YHSublime said:

Talk about some dang old let there be light

Is it overkill? Zooplankton tanks get awful dirty.  When the researchers at Univ of Ghent grew brine shrimp, there was a foot of foam on top of the water.  The water flow has to be slow to keep plankton alive, so I have to go overboard on the other parameters (filter size and light). 

 

I wish there was a better option but I can't think of one for now.  Can you?

 

Some use skimming on zooplankton tanks but the fine screen on the inlet is subject to clogging.  The turf scrubber just seems like a better fit for this type of setup.

 

 

[dave w]

2 hours ago, gastone said:

Ok, that is a neat setup.  

 

Thank you.  Zooplankton have exponential growth rates so it is hard to match food supply to the changing biomass.  You either have a population explosion starving for food, or too much food fouls the water.  Using live phyto as food would be ideal, but a 175 gallon tank would need a swimming pool amount of phyto.

 

So my approach is a compromise.  I'll grow the zooplankton with cheap inert food (yeast, algae powder, tomato puree).  When I harvest zooplankters I'll gut load them on a small amount of live phyto before feeding to the tank.   

 

Most people use batch cultures for simplicity.  A continuous culture is less work but more complicated.   To be safe, I'm oversizing the algae scrubber.  

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2024 by dave w

[YHSublime]

5 hours ago, dave w said:

Is it overkill? Zooplankton tanks get awful dirty.  When the researchers at Univ of Ghent grew brine shrimp, there was a foot of foam on top of the water.  The water flow has to be slow to keep plankton alive, so I have to go overboard on the other parameters (filter size and light). 

 

I wish there was a better option but I can't think of one for now.  Can you?

 

Some use skimming on zooplankton tanks but the fine screen on the inlet is subject to clogging.  The turf scrubber just seems like a better fit for this type of setup.

 

 

nope, turf scrubber seems ideal. I think Ron built one as well. Maybe he will chime in

[dave w]

I'm getting some chaeto by mail order, but I am dubious that the 2" sphere I ordered will actually arrive that size.  Does anyone have a harvest of Chaeto from their refugium that they'd like to sell me?  I'm in Fairfax Station but will gladly drive to your home for pick up.  I'll also settle for caulerpa in a pinch.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[YHSublime]

Wish I had some for you.

 

i think it’s still like the good ol days where you can get it for free, at least i hope so!

[dave w]

I hope so too, but I am not averse to paying for it.  I don't mind rewarding fellow local reefers for something they were going to put in the trash anyway.