Akwar'eum

[framerguy]

OK, small update. I finally got my calc and alk and mag back in balance. I am getting the make up water chems straightened out BEFORE I put it in the tank now, which..hmmm, seems to work!

My feather duster wouldn't come out for several days in a row about 3 weeks ago so I thought he either A: didn't like being next to the brain coral (trachy) or B: had died,..so I foolishly tried to remove him from the rock he was attached to so I could move him. Well, I thought if he wasn't dead before then that should have finished him off. Man!, was he ever stuck to that rock. I did get him loose, and moved him to a better location just to see and three nights ago I see new feathers out and they are white now instead of brown! Very strange indeed. I'm still not sure what happened.

I think I need to get rid of one of my seahares, as I don't think there is enough algae in there anymore to sustain two but they are very near the end of their life expectancy. I've had them for well over a year now. I'm not sure what to do with them. I don't really want to put one in the refugium and they won't eat the nori I put in for them.

Bob's (PJ Cardinal)tail is growing back very nicely, pics tomorrow if I remember to bring the camera home from work.

House stuff: Christopher should close on buying our current house by Friday and we should close on our new one next Friday. Gails father is co-signing with Chris.

Tonya stuff: She is much better but still not completely well. She says she thinks she's falling apart. Docs are stumped as to what went wrong and what is still wrong. That was 6 grand well spent. NOT! I'm not sure where we go with her from here. I wish I had better news.

That's all I've got for now. Thanks for lookin'.!

[tbittner]

Feather dusters are amazing critters, for sure! I've always read that if they don't like the spot their in, they'll discard their cacoon, cast off their feather and move. Assuming that something doesn't eat them in the process of moving, they'll regrow everything.

YAY for Bob!!!

for all the exciting house deals!

I'm so sorry to hear about Tonya. Some of the folks on here caught some super bug and it's hung with them for a LONG time. My prayers go out to her and all of you.

[hma]

Feather dusters are amazing critters that is true but it is very difficult to nourish it nature near. They need much, very very fine Zooplankton and in large density. We can offer this in an aquarium only seldom (water parameters).

[Dentoid]

So Greg, are you leaving the old tank for your son and starting a new, bigger system at the new place?

Happy to hear that Bob is recovering! What a trooper he has turned out to be!

As far as Tonya goes, sometimes getting a third, independent opinion is the best option when the Drs are scratching their heads.

[Craig Manoukian]

Originally Posted by hma

Feather dusters are amazing critters that is true but it is very difficult to nourish it nature near. They need much, very very fine Zooplankton and in large density.

Will DTs work?

[framerguy]

Heinz: I have been providing DT's phyto and the worm has been thriving for nearly a year on it, then suddenly he didn't come out and now has a new head. I hoped he was "multiplying" which has happened before in my tank. The worm dissappeared for a week or so and the next thing I know I have two! If I have two now, then I haven't found the offspring yet.

Scott: I would but he doesn't want it. He thinks I spend WAY to much time in the fish room. I tell him it's because I want to that all I do probably isn't necessary but he's not buying it. He wants a desert theme terrarium. So, I will take the tank with me and use it as one of the refugiums.
Bob is cool but since the incedent has been a bit of a recluse. He hovers in the upper left corner except at dinner time. I guess nearly being eaten was traumatic or something...
The second opinion is a good idea and she has actually gotten one. This doc is trying a painful experiment on her to see if what he found is the root cause. I won't go into detail because she's embarrased about her "defect". But it should at minimum help to alleviate symptoms.

Craig: I did use DT's phyto but recently read in "Reef Invertebrates" that it is too course and should be blended to a finer consistency. I never did that, but as I said I have used it and the worm "somehow" thrived. I believe one contributer is because I have such a large refugium with crabs and other animals to help produce a fine particle plankton with their foraging.

Thanks for looking!

[framerguy]

There have been some threads about refugiums and some folks have wanted to see mine so I have taken photos. It's a mess so please forgive the untidyness.

My fuge: 55g, about 360gph turnover, two additional 125g powerheads for flow, attached algal turf scrubber, Lighting: Three 100W spotlights on alternate cycle from DT. Inhabitants: (algaes):Cheato, Caulerpa prolifera, Botryocladia, Halimeda, Coraline, and some that are unidentified, (inverts): two serpent starfish, 6 blueleg hermits, 6 scarlet leg hermits, 4 bumble bee snails, and many many stomatellas, cocepods and amphipods by the hundreds (or thousands?). Substrate: 5" DSB sugar fine sand

Water enters one end and is drained from the other into the sump for return to DT.

Since I can't get far enough away to take a FTS I will do it in an upper and lower shot. This is the upper part:


Now for the lower:


Here is one of the blue legs foraging about!


As you can see the water enters the fuge via the algal turf scrubber which just sits on the lip of the tank and has a spotlight on it.

I really think my refugium is a big part of the success I am having with some of my corals (in particular the Elegance) and feather duster.

Later!

[Dentoid]

That looks great Greg! How much water is draining onto the scrubber? Are you controlling the flow across the scrubber?

[framerguy]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

That looks great Greg! How much water is draining onto the scrubber? Are you controlling the flow across the scrubber?

No, the whole 360gph goes across it. I have no idea if that's good or not but the algae is growing like crazy on it so it can't be all bad.

[Dentoid]

I don't know either, I was really wondering about salt spray. Is there much splashing?

[framerguy]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

I don't know either, I was really wondering about salt spray. Is there much splashing?

Uhhh, yeah, a bit

Ah, it's not really as bad as all that but it does bubble a bit. It doesn't splash as much as the bubbles burst and create salt creep.

[Dentoid]

I'm fascinated with an algal scrubber and I am considering adding one. That's why the 50 questions.

[framerguy]

I think a verticle scrubber would be a better design but there was just no way to do it in my current set up. I plan to rectify that soon. A plexiglass "box" that is relatively tall and 6 or 8 inches square (or what ever size you want) that has the feed water go into the bottom of the box, fill it up, then spill over the sides and trickle down would be ideal. Little or no splashing would occur, especially if you broke the water up with rubble or something. This is my plan for my upgrade. The only thing I haven't worked out is lighting it. Probably two spotlights pointing at it diagonally so that one light will light two sides. ...What cha think?

[Dentoid]

That's a great idea to increase the surface area and cut down on creep.

[hma]

Hi buddies.... I have a question ... what is an algae scrubber? I'm a little hazy on what exactly an algae scrubber is. Is it a cage to grow macro algae when you don't have a sump ore a fuge?