Nano experiment

[Willow 123]

Ok, so since Tuesday I have been feeding a generous pinch of tropical flake to the tank every day and testing everyday just before 'feeding'.
And the tests show zero ammonia and nitrite with Nitrates slowly rising ( they are at about 10 now).
Also, I have algae growing on the live rock.
Planning to introduce a couple of alge eating snails in around 4 days time

 

[MaloK]

Thanks for the info, what do you intend keeping in the tank? And how large/small is it?

Sorry, I've mist this one, not my style not to reply when addressed.

It's a little 5G standard, I'm preparing for a shrimp colony...

I have started a little journal there:

Another Small Setup

Well. With my somewhat controlled MTS... I'm already up to 4 Tanks in a little more than a year returning to the hobby. (not too bad, all are small and I resisted 3 months between each) Another revamping of a good old vintage kit. This will be my "Commercial" shrimp breeding tank and going to...

www.fishforums.net

It's only Tuesday and already some crazy development have occurred... But I'm keeping it for the next episode

 

[Willow 123]

can't wait!

 

[Willow 123]

So as I have algae growing nicely, today I added two Banded trochus snails.
Settling in nicely (other one is around the back)

 

[Willow 123]

Suggestions for additional cuc would be welcolmed ( quite fancy an orange lipped conch but tank might be too small for him?)

 

[Willow 123]

So I have a bit of a (nice) problem.
Decided to help the maturation of the tank, and deal with an algae outbreak, with a couple of silver Mollies. As this tank is a bit of an experiment I figured a couple of hardy Mollies would be the safest way to proceed.
Acclimatised them to salt water in a bucket over about an hour ( yes I know, a bit quick but thats another story) then into the tank.
24 hours later not only are they munching their way through the algae but I have around a dozen babies! That wasn't in the plan lol.

 

[Willow 123]

Correction I have 22 babies!

 

[MaloK]

Algae Problem
New Problem
Is it Fun ???

I never relocated Marine Mollies. But once they are, they can't come back to freshwater.

 

[Willow 123]

I have algae but its not a problem, part of the journey.
New problem? Didn't bank on the babies turning up.
It is brilliant fun.
Question. Why can't mollies go back to freshwater? I understood that wild mollies move from freshwater to near sea like conditions and back again at will. Not arguing with you, but interested in the science/ reasoning behind your statement.

 

[MaloK]

I have algae but its not a problem, part of the journey.
New problem? Didn't bank on the babies turning up.
It is brilliant fun.
Question. Why can't mollies go back to freshwater? I understood that wild mollies move from freshwater to near sea like conditions and back again at will. Not arguing with you, but interested in the science/ reasoning behind your statement.

It's not my reasoning, but research have proven that once completely adapted to marine water, coming back is really harsh for the fishes. I remember guys trying it in college and "extremely stressful" took another meaning in my head seeing it.

 

[Willow 123]

So as part of this experiment I have been trying out different designs of uplift.
All of the following have been carried out with the same airpump in 12 inches/30cms of water, with the airstone at the bottom of the tube.
The tubing is 20 mm id overflow tubing.
If you reference the photos attached the stuff below should make sense lol.
So the first test was was a 90 bend on the top of the airlift v a tee fitting so that the air, could escape 1 way and the water another ( this was gleaned from a koi keepers forum).
No contest the tee won hands down, the 90 was taking 20 secs to fill a 1 litre jug at watere level, the tee 16 secs.
I will say at this point the timings are for comparison purposes and aren't meant to indicate absolute flow rates.
Next I inserted a tee fitting and a 90 as a way of getting water in above the airstone and thus removing that restriction.
Hey presto the filling time came down to 13 seconds.
So then I added a 40mm 'chamber' at the base ( 40mm tee fitting) to try and remove any lasting restrictions to the water flow.
This gave no improvement, so I thought I would utilise the extra space and put in a larger air stone ( all the tests so far were with a 10 mm air stone).
Some a 40mm round airstone was found in my bucket of bits, knock me down with a feather, time came down to 10 seconds.
I intend trying a 40mm uplift but thats for another time ( need a trip to the hardware store).
Hope you folks find this info useful.

 

[Willow 123]

Also I have managed to 'convert' the baby mollies (all 47! of them) back to freshwater ( over a period of about 12 hours)with no losses, 10 days ago and all are happy, healthy, feeding well and putting on weight.

 

[Willow 123]

I managed to get a free tank, I spotted while out walking the dogs.
It is a 2ft x1ftx 1ft 9 60x30x30cm) tank. so the 30cm cube has been upgraded
So I also took the oportunity to modify the filtration system, the tank is now running a Matten filter powered by 2 uplifts turning over approx 700 litres per hour. There is a 7 kilo lump of matured live rock along with a banded turban and 2 nassarius snails.
There is also 2 silver mollies in the tank helping to mature the system.
Looking to add a couple of ceriths shortly.
Futre stocking plans include an orange lipped conch, some sexy shrimp and some soft corals, pulsing xenia is definitely on the list.
Photos to follow.

 

[Willow 123]

Here's the promised pics

 

[MaloK]

Very nice...

I've been thinking to drill a breath hole in the top of the elbow of the return of my sponge filter to reduce large bubble creation.

But I'm pretty sure it will end with a Geyser and a patch. I need to find a cute little "T" like yours.