Plenum or Insanity?

scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2624964
Our baby isn’t she beautiful? Ok so she will never win a beauty contest but she is ours your and mine. The temp is running around 78 degrees cooler them the 82 I run my tank at. I believe that’s due to the fact that it is so close to the floor and the ambient temp of my home is 76 I will replace the ¾ in pvc stand offs with ½ in tomorrow to bring the light lower and see how that effects the temp. I will also test my nitrates and monitor them each day for reduction as well as keeping an eye on some hair algae I have in my DT. I do not think it can compete with the caulerpa for nutrients. Next step is to cut out the bottom the opening and fabricate new doors giving us a view of the plenum and its activities

Very nice Joe, very nice! Great to see it up and running! Looking forward to test results as well.
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Temp? Testing chemical levels yet? Did you see an initial nitrate spike, followed by a decline or anything? Waiting to see . . . . . . . still waiting?!
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Scopus Tang
http:///forum/post/2630202
Temp? Testing chemical levels yet? Did you see an initial nitrate spike, followed by a decline or anything? Waiting to see . . . . . . . still waiting?!
Hi partner it seems you have been busy I will post preliminary tests as soon as I get back, later today
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Ok partner this is my thinking (stop laughing I sometimes have moments of clarity). I did not have a nitrite spike nor did I expect to. The amount of time my tank has been running leads me to believe there is enough nitrification going on to deal with any die off in our refug. As far as testing I think the telling statistic will be nitrates. I have some hair algae that I am letting grow in the DT. I want to see how long it takes the caulerpa to starve it. I am reading between 20 and 40 mg/l of nitrate. I have stopped doing water changes. I want to see how long it takes the JoeRanugeum to start absorbing the nitrate (of course if they climb to high I will do a 25% water change.) I think I will not see a final equilibrium between import and absorption for at least 30 days. Right now I am relying on a visual. The caulerpa taxifolia is showing good growth over the mud. The caulerpa that is indigenous to Florida on the sand side it’s not growing as fast but has defiantly greened up so they are feeding on nutrients supplied by the DT.
As far as observing the plenum. I am working on the logistics for cutting out the bottom of the opening where the doors were. I am sure that bottom piece was some what load bearing. Last thing I need it to cut it out and have the whole thing come tumbling down. I am working up a plan to incorporate a header across the top of the opening to disperse the load
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2630639
Ok partner this is my thinking (stop laughing I sometimes have moments of clarity). I did not have a nitrite spike nor did I expect to. The amount of time my tank has been running leads me to believe there is enough nitrification going on to deal with any die off in our refug. As far as testing I think the telling statistic will be nitrates. I have some hair algae that I am letting grow in the DT. I want to see how long it takes the caulerpa to starve it. I am reading between 20 and 40 mg/l of nitrate. I have stopped doing water changes. I want to see how long it takes the JoeRanugeum to start absorbing the nitrate (of course if they climb to high I will do a 25% water change.) I think I will not see a final equilibrium between import and absorption for at least 30 days. Right now I am relying on a visual. The caulerpa taxifolia is showing good growth over the mud. The caulerpa that is indigenous to Florida on the sand side it’s not growing as fast but has defiantly greened up so they are feeding on nutrients supplied by the DT.
As far as observing the plenum. I am working on the logistics for cutting out the bottom of the opening where the doors were. I am sure that bottom piece was some what load bearing. Last thing I need it to cut it out and have the whole thing come tumbling down. I am working up a plan to incorporate a header across the top of the opening to disperse the load
Trust me, not laughing. Didn't I ask about a nitrate spike (don't mind me, right now I can't remember my own name)? Nice to be able to compare the two macroalgaes. Yeah, don't cut anything important, we don't want to damage the tank. (although in theory, the bottom portion of the opening should have very little load bearing value. Should be at the top, and on the sides where it reaches the floor (i.e. table effect)). God did I just put paranthesis in paranthesis ~ I did ~ toddy time, not making any sense, just as well have an excuse
Catch you tomorrow.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Randy what I am going to do today is turn off the flow to our refug and test the water within for nitrates I will not go as far as putting in a power head for movement but I will stir it gently from time to time by hand. I am curious to see how long it takes to algae to deplete the refug of nitrates. I am sure we have some mathematic wizards on the boards that can plug in that time and amount of nitrate removed to the total size of my tank for a guess on how long it will take for the refug to process the nitrates introduced into the tank with out any build up.
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2631563
Randy what I am going to do today is turn off the flow to our refug and test the water within for nitrates I will not go as far as putting in a power head for movement but I will stir it gently from time to time by hand. I am curious to see how long it takes to algae to deplete the refug of nitrates. I am sure we have some mathematic wizards on the boards that can plug in that time and amount of nitrate removed to the total size of my tank for a guess on how long it will take for the refug to process the nitrates introduced into the tank with out any build up.
Sounds good, what did you come up with my friend?
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
It has only been a short time, but the rapid growth of the caulerpa is quite evident in this pic Note the red algae on the back glass
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2636181
LOL always the diplomat. What it tells me my friend is that its getting an abundance of nutrients
Based on the apparent growth rate, I concure
. Any chance of a better shot on the red algae?
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Scopus Tang
http:///forum/post/2637007
Interesting, can't tell for sure from the pictures, but it doesn't appear to be slime algae, any idea on I.D.?
Randy I agree I don’t think its red slime there are no filaments. Its hard to scrap off its like coraline but its very prolific
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2637497
Randy I agree I don’t think its red slime there are no filaments. Its hard to scrap off its like coraline but its very prolific
hummm?! Wonder if it is indeed a native type of coralline that you picked up with the sand you gathered?
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I don’t think so strangely enough it is only on the mud side it as even adhered to a few blades of caulerpa. I will cut those blades off for a better pic
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I stand corrected if you look at this pic (i will post later) you will see how it is on the right also the new growth on the front of the tank. Take a look at page 136 in the Conscientious Aquarist by Fenner and let me know what you think. I feel the red you see in that pic is on the glass in front and not coraline on rock in the background
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Hard to say for sure, cause neither picture is great, but it definitely could be. I'm sure that somewhere I've seen pictures of a coralline that bright red ~ see if I can't find some.
 
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