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eatyourpeas

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Posts posted by eatyourpeas

    Can't Find My Pea Puffer

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    You may want to do a thorough check around the tank. I had the same thing happen and my little pea puffer had jumped out of the tank during the night and I found her desiccated on the rug the next morning. They usually come to greet you unless they are no more. I hope you find him, but it does not bode well. 😞

    • Sad 1

    Puget Sound Biotope

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted

    2 hours ago, OnlyGenusCaps said:

    As I too begin to think about making a more diverse aquarium community have you found predation to be an issue?  Might this flounder eat your previously added shrimp?  How are the amphipods doing with the new predators?

    That has been the most fascinating lesson of all! It has given me a great window into predation in the real world at a small scale.

    So far, since February, everyone is still in there except the two little crabs and the krill. I found molts from the Grainyhand crabs but have not seen them, so am assuming they were eaten by another critter. The hermies are there and get into territorial scuffs every now and then. Amphipods probably get eaten but reproduce so fast that their population is still at very healthy levels. Nobody seems to bother the snails, although I am sure when the time comes, a hermit my evict someone to occupy the new dwelling. Tiberius goes after krill and copepods and is very protective of his sponge. CoCo is still figuring the tank out. The jellies did not make it either, they became food as well.

    I could (and do) watch this tank for hours! 😉

    • Thanks 1

    Amano Shrimp

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    It'll take a few days, then they will get very cheeky. They are absolute goofballs, and not afraid of anything. Mine "clean" my hands when I am working in the aquarium, tickling quite a bit 😉

    Puget Sound Biotope

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted · Edited by eatyourpeas

    A new little bit joined the tank this evening: a Sea gooseberry (Pleurobrachia bachei). Although very shy, it appears he is already the talk of the town.

     

    Edited to update the video. He put on a show of lights!

    • Like 3

    Coldwater biological filtration

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, Solidus1833 said:

    Would something like Live rock create a really good platform for cycling a tank or would a marine tank need a cycle prior to live rock? 

    I believe the rock will almost give me a free cycle if I manage not to crash it. I think if I populate with enough macro algae I can get it going while keeping a close watch. I will need to be patient when it comes to the biomedia in the filter to get going. 🙂

    • Like 1

    Brine Shrimp vs Daphnia

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Great discussion!

    I have found my daphnia started succeeding when I moved it outdoors into a very large surface vessel (18' diameter clay cachepot). I do nothing to it except top the water when it does not rain enough. Also, I throw all the excess hornwort in that dish as well. It has been going for almost a year. There are bladder snails and amphipods living in there as well.

    • Like 2

    Coldwater biological filtration

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Given all the helpful responses, I think I am a little more comfortable with pursuing the patience game on establishing the BB in the tank.

    I am extremely unqualified to provide valuable opinions in other great filtration posts, but one lesson I have learned is that my limited variables will produce different results from other study environments. I am learning to take the bits that apply and modify as necessary.

    Moving forward, I will probably continue to rely on macro algae, aggressive mechanical filtration, water changes, and let the BB take its time making itself at home, even if it is months down the road. I will get a lot more bottled bacteria than originally planned 😉

    Coldwater biological filtration

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, gardenman said:

    Because bacteria are more active at higher temps, you'll need a larger bacteria colony to achieve the same result at a lower temp.

    Excellent, thanks! This bit of information helps a lot.

     

    3 hours ago, gardenman said:

    A three to six inch deep sand bed in a cold water tank with an undergravel filter could be a very good solution to housing enough bacteria.

    Unfortunately not an option for the size of tank I have. My total height is 13” 🙂

    Coldwater biological filtration

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, DShelton said:

    Can you share more about your marine tank? What fish are you planning in keeping? Are you doing fish only with live rock (FOWLR) or is this just a pure marine tank with the canister? Other than time, there is no difference in cycling a cold water aquarium and a tropical aquarium. The bacteria can live at those temps, it just takes them longer to populate.

    I have done something like this (25 years ago), but I used an undergravel filter with crushed coral and an Eheim (king of the canisters IMO) canister.  I 'seeded' the tank (30gallon long) with ~10# of live rock from my reef tank and then kept it as fish only. I did not have a chiller, but I did have access to a room that was kept at a constant 15 ℃ ± .5°. So with all of the electricals in the tank, the water never got above 17 ℃

    This will be a Puget Sound biotope housing a Grunt sculpin. There will be rocks, crustaceans, macro algae, anemones, maybe other inverts and fish. The ideal temperature should stay at about 13C and I will be making both the filter and the acrylic tank.

    Your seeding approach is very similar to how I will be starting since I am sourcing the rocks and livestock directly from the ocean. I may help the BB establishing process a little bit by slightly raising the temperature before adding the fish.

    Interesting to see the temperature increase when all the electrical components are added. By my calculations, I should be adding no more than 1C once lights, powerheads, etc. enter the tank equation and will compensate by lowering the temperature of the cooling tank slightly. I will not be using a chiller either. Instead the aforementioned cooling tank will live in a chilled room. The canister filter will be kept in a different room inside its own cooler, separated from the pump to prevent heat affecting the water temperature.

    What did you keep in your tank? I would love to hear more about it 🙂

     

    Coldwater biological filtration

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    13 minutes ago, tonyjuliano said:

    All bacteria (“beneficial” or not) will multiply more rapidly at a warmer temperature, as opposed to cooler - as long as there is an adequate food source.

    There are limits, of course, high heat as wall as low cold will “kill them off”.  This is what happens when you cook something thoroughly, or freeze it.

    The optimal temperature for nitrosomas and nitrobacter replication is somewhere between 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit. An aquarium will “cycle” at 65 degrees, it will just take longer to do so.

    Even if I’m setting up a “cold water” tank, I put a heater in for the cycle period (fishless).

    Great! I will try that in order to establish the bacteria and then get the tank slowly back down to 55F 🙂

    Coldwater biological filtration

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    19 minutes ago, Solidus1833 said:

    So the way I understand it, there is a 'balance' with Beneficial bacteria. You can dose for more Beneficial bacteria but the excess will die off and stay within balance of the bio-load the tank offers. If its balanced, and you add a fish, the beneficial bacteria will catch up gradually. if you add 30 fish at once, you may want to dose beneficial bacteria a day or so prior to adding the fish, or while you add the fish. This enables the BB to buffer and not have to catch up to the new bio-load. Any excess will still die off and obtain equilibrium just like before. 

    In my opinion, if you were setting up a 'new' cannister, I would take half of your established biological media, and incorporate this into your new cannister, and replace the same amount into the established filter. Dose Stability in both systems. Your established filtration will recover quickly, and your new canister should have a nice head start to a strong colony provided there is 'some' bio-load for BB to eat. 

     

    If you don't mind me asking, what species are you planning on that requires such low 'controlled' temperatures? Seems intriguing. 

    I see. I do understand that from freshwater, just wasn't sure about the effect of temperature on the BB establishing in a new system. I used Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter in the small tank and it appears to have succeeded, so I am looking at a repeat for the big filter. I will add more media to the small tank to have it ready to migrate by the time I finish building the tank.

    I am looking at a Grunt sculpin (Rhamphocottus richardsonii) in my Puget Sound biotope. They like their water at 55F 🙂

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