Plenum or Insanity?

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2605529
Unless you are really looking for something specific in a light fixture I have actually had excellent results with a walmart brand 6500k incandescent replacement spiral power compact bulb (can't remember what the exact wattage is but it was a replacement for a 100w incandescent) and a $5 aluminum clamp light reflector. I have actually been keeping kenya tree corals under one for the last month or so and they seem to be doing well and I think that they are even growing.
Thank you very much and can you post a pic here

 

[scopus tang]

Hey Joe, good to be back ~ had to go off to N. Dakota for my son's college graduation. Not a lot of time, but did find some lights (e-mail sent). Coralife, Jalli, and CPR all make mini refugium lights that might also suit our needs. I have a coralife (similar to these) on my fuge currently, and I'm very happy with it. Not only can I grow macroalgae, but I've also got Xenia growing in there as well. I'm running two of the 9W 6700Ks.

 

[florida joe]

Give your son my best wishes on his graduation. I just came back from the beach I have to tell you Randy I think I am going to go about 1000 yards off shore and get some sand of that part of our refug. it is sugar sand and I cant get any thing more live then that it will go from the ocean to the refug in 15min. I have to run out for a few now talk later and I will check my E-Mail

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2606248
Give your son my best wishes on his graduation. I just came back from the beach I have to tell you Randy I think I am going to go about 1000 yards off shore and get some sand of that part of our refug. it is sugar sand and I cant get any thing more live then that it will go from the ocean to the refug in 15min. I have to run out for a few now talk later and I will check my E-Mail
Joe, any thoughts concerns with hitchhikers that may be detrimental to your corals with this method? Agree that it will definitely be live, but what its alive with would be my concern

.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Scopus Tang
http:///forum/post/2606645
Joe, any thoughts concerns with hitchhikers that may be detrimental to your corals with this method? Agree that it will definitely be live, but what its alive with would be my concern

.
Randy my good friend would it ease your mind if when I got the sand I treated it with some iodine thus getting the hitchhikers to leave the sand.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2606738
Randy my good friend would it ease your mind if when I got the sand I treated it with some iodine thus getting the hitchhikers to leave the sand.
I am also thinking of a way of screening the effluent water from out refug to the sump. I also made a connection here in Florida for some indigenous caulerpa did you get my e mail about the lighting

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2606738
Randy my good friend would it ease your mind if when I got the sand I treated it with some iodine thus getting the hitchhikers to leave the sand.
Yes and no, as I believe the iodine would not only get rid of the hitchhikers, but also potentially the beneficial sand dwellers as well ~ thus in effect rendering your ocean-gathered live sand dead

. I wonder about the possibility of quarantening (sp.) the sand for a sufficient amount of time to render any possibly harmful hitchikers harmless or perhaps at least giving them an opportunity to surface and be picked out. Thoughts?

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2606744
I am also thinking of a way of screening the effluent water from out refug to the sump. I also made a connection here in Florida for some indigenous caulerpa did you get my e mail about the lighting
Are you considering your sandbed vertical filter for this? Might be a very effective use of the same. Good to see you hooked up with some indigenous caulerpa rather than the invasive species ~ I here by nominate you for the conscientious marine aquarist award

. Did indeed get the email on light and responded. Did you see my response?

 

[natclanwy]

Joe, here is a pic of the fixture I was talking about I don't use the clamp on my system. I used two strips of acrylic across the top of my fuge to set the light on, if I get some time this week I'll get a couple of pics of my sump with the light on it. The bulb I believe is 25watts and is equivilent to a 100w incandescent.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2607126
Joe, here is a pic of the fixture I was talking about I don't use the clamp on my system. I used two strips of acrylic across the top of my fuge to set the light on, if I get some time this week I'll get a couple of pics of my sump with the light on it. The bulb I believe is 25watts and is equivilent to a 100w incandescent.
thanks would like to see them

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Scopus Tang
http:///forum/post/2607117
Yes and no, as I believe the iodine would not only get rid of the hitchhikers, but also potentially the beneficial sand dwellers as well ~ thus in effect rendering your ocean-gathered live sand dead

. I wonder about the possibility of quarantening (sp.) the sand for a sufficient amount of time to render any possibly harmful hitchikers harmless or perhaps at least giving them an opportunity to surface and be picked out. Thoughts?
Randy my friend our refugium is not only a refuge but a containment area I think we can work out an impasse from refug to DT

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2607154
Randy my friend our refugium is not only a refuge but a containment area I think we can work out an impasse from refug to DT
So long as we can contain critters in the fuge, than I don't see any issues, obviously we're not going to be keeping corals or fish in the fuge ~ just keep in mind that many of the reproductive spores of these critters are microscopic.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Scopus Tang http:///forum/post/2607396
So long as we can contain critters in the fuge, than I don't see any issues, obviously we're not going to be keeping corals or fish in the fuge ~ just keep in mind that many of the reproductive spores of these critters are microscopic.
Randy randy randy once again you prove to be an inspiration. Thinking and rethinking the hitchhiker scenario I realized the major flaw in our refug design. I have the effluent water dumping into the left side of my wet/dry sump (dumb). If you look at the pic below I will give you the dynamics of the sump. Water from my two over flow boxes in my DT are sent by gravity to the right side of my sump after being filtered by nylon sponges in the overflow boxes then the water passes through the white cover you see then through blue white filter material where it passes over bio balls into the bottom of the sump. The water then passes from the bottom right to the left through a block filter chamber to the side where my return pump sends it back to my DT. NOW MY FRIEND I am going to drill a hole in the white cover on the right. I will connect a hose barb to the effluent water side of our refug run a hose to the hole it the right side of my sump THUS passing water and any hitchhikers through not one but two pieces of filter material. It should work for any algae also. Thanks Randy for the great idea

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2607742
Randy randy randy once again you prove to be an inspiration. Thinking and rethinking the hitchhiker scenario I realized the major flaw in our refug design. I have the effluent water dumping into the left side of my wet/dry sump (dumb). If you look at the pic below I will give you the dynamics of the sump. Water from my two over flow boxes in my DT are sent by gravity to the right side of my sump after being filtered by nylon sponges in the overflow boxes then the water passes through the white cover you see then through blue white filter material where it passes over bio balls into the bottom of the sump. The water then passes from the bottom right to the left through a block filter chamber to the side where my return pump sends it back to my DT. NOW MY FRIEND I am going to drill a hole in the white cover on the right. I will connect a hose barb to the effluent water side of our refug run a hose to the hole it the right side of my sump THUS passing water and any hitchhikers through not one but two pieces of filter material. It should work for any algae also. Thanks Randy for the great idea

Scratching my head?! Idea? Where when? Still not sure that this double filter will be enough to contain everything. For instance, I've had Aptasia show up in my middle sump chamber, meaning it got through the blue filter pad, and the live rock, and past the skimmer. Some of the stuff manages ~ I would think that algae spores in particular may also. Just my thoughts.

 

[florida joe]

Randy my half brain is working over time thanks to you. In a paper Paletta (2001) writes after several years of growth in test systems caulerpa in the filters has never crashed and gone into sexual reproduction Franks (2000) observes the caulerpa in the refugium goes through several cycles. The feather bladed variety died back and gave way to the grape like variety. (c. Racemosa). If however there is a reproduction event where there is a release of gametes into the refug and they were to get beyond the filters. There is no evidence to it invading the DT. This phenomenon is explained Delbeek and Sprung (2005) the DT has herbivores that crop the algae as is begins to grow. Second the refugium is a small space that sees the entire volume of the water from the DT 3 to 5 times an hour (the turn over rate we will be shooting for) and thus all the nutrients it contains. That promotes the growth of the algae there, compared to most parts of the DT. The rate at which the entire nutrient contents of the aquarium water pass over a given point in the tank is less then the rate at which the entire nutrient content of the aquarium passes through the refug. An example of this is why hair algae commonly grow on the over flows of our DT with out spreading to the rest of the DT. In this position they receive the most nutrients and light (our refug will be running lights 24/7).
And lastly Columbus took a chance

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2607986
Randy my half brain is working over time thanks to you. In a paper Paletta (2001) writes after several years of growth in test systems caulerpa in the filters has never crashed and gone into sexual reproduction Franks (2000) observes the caulerpa in the refugium goes through several cycles. The feather bladed variety died back and gave way to the grape like variety. (c. Racemosa). If however there is a reproduction event where there is a release of gametes into the refug and they were to get beyond the filters. There is no evidence to it invading the DT. This phenomenon is explained Delbeek and Sprung (2005) the DT has herbivores that crop the algae as is begins to grow. Second the refugium is a small space that sees the entire volume of the water from the DT 3 to 5 times an hour (the turn over rate we will be shooting for) and thus all the nutrients it contains. That promotes the growth of the algae there, compared to most parts of the DT. The rate at which the entire nutrient contents of the aquarium water pass over a given point in the tank is less then the rate at which the entire nutrient content of the aquarium passes through the refug. An example of this is why hair algae commonly grow on the over flows of our DT with out spreading to the rest of the DT. In this position they receive the most nutrients and light (our refug will be running lights 24/7).
And lastly Columbus took a chance
Alrighty then, so long as we are covering our bases the best we can, I see no reason not to move forward.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Scopus Tang
http:///forum/post/2608013
Alrighty then, so long as we are covering our bases the best we can, I see no reason not to move forward.
LOL bases to you my friend i call it covering my A_S C. taxifolia spreads by fragmentation, and even a small, broken-off fragment can form a new plant. But its does not float

 

[candycane]

So you ARE allowing the macroalgae to be in contact with the DT water for a longer period of time?
Also most of the reason that the specific alga grows there, is because of the absolutely perfect conditions of waste and elevated O levels. That and the fact that the spores get stuck there, LOL.
I might want to take 3 ounces of grape caulerpa and throw it in a tank with 30ppm of nitrate and then take 3 ounces of blade caulerpa and throw it in another tank with 30ppm of nitrate. I wonder witch one will suck down the nitrate first..................

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by candycane
http:///forum/post/2608347
So you ARE allowing the macroalgae to be in contact with the DT water for a longer period of time?
Also most of the reason that the specific alga grows there, is because of the absolutely perfect conditions of waste and elevated O levels. That and the fact that the spores get stuck there, LOL.
I might want to take 3 ounces of grape caulerpa and throw it in a tank with 30ppm of nitrate and then take 3 ounces of blade caulerpa and throw it in another tank with 30ppm of nitrate. I wonder witch one will suck down the nitrate first..................

From my research blade caulerpa is the most efficient nutrient exporter there is

 

[scopus tang]

Checking on a bulb, let you know what I find out!