400 gallon project

[Skimmerking]

you didnt need a permit to bring the rock over the border.

[Liverock]

No permits needed to drive to the US, pick up and drive back across....there are taxes involved, depending on the customs guy.......in the old days they said "what is live rock"?? but these days they have more experiance on the laws...and how to process a border crossing...Brad is the guy to ask!

Richard TBS

[untamed]

It has been my experience this far that they don't really understand what Live Rock is. (Why would they?) Now...I'm not going out of my way to explain it to them, either. I just answer the questions that they ask. "How long have you been in the US, What have you acquired?...How much is it worth?..."

When they ask, I just tell them that it is rock for my aquarium. You're not going to successfully explain how the biological filtration of a reef aquarium works to a border officer in 30 seconds...and you know...they don't really care...Sometimes, they'll sometimes ask a ton of questions, but they don't hear the answers. They just want to hear that you have answers.

They do struggle with how to classify it for importation purposes. The first time, they classified it as "sand" (because I did have some sand, as well). This time, it was classified as "limestone". Next time, I'll be bringing the previous paperwork and I'll be telling THEM how to classify it.

Either way, it is a product of the US and qualifies as duty-free. You pay your 6% GST and 7% PST and be on your way.

It's not the cheapest alternative, believe me...but the best rarely is.

[Delphinus]

Amazing score on those gorgs. If the polyps are brown or tan coloured then they will be photosynthetic in which case you're set. If non-photosynthetic well then you'll have to do a little work finding the right sized foods but if you can find that you should have some success with them.

[Delphinus]

How many lbs of rock is that so far (guesstimated) ?

[untamed]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Amazing score on those gorgs. If the polyps are brown or tan coloured then they will be photosynthetic in which case you're set. If non-photosynthetic well then you'll have to do a little work finding the right sized foods but if you can find that you should have some success with them.

One type of the gorgonia certainly has brown/tan polyps. I sure hope you are right about them being photosynthetic. That would make things much easier on them. I do have plans for this to be a heavily fed plankton tank, but I know that I'll never sustain corals that need to be target fed.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

How many lbs of rock is that so far (guesstimated) ?

Somewhere between 150 and 200 lbs. By the time I'm done, there should be lots of free swimming and growth space left.

[Delphinus]

I'm not sure you really need to target feed the non-ps gorgs. I used to think so but now I wonder if as long as the right sized particles are being added to the water, they should be able to catch them.. (?? after all they're not target fed in the wild, but who knows). So you may need to experiment a little, like having a "feed mode" for a few minutes (or more) with subdued currents and so on. I'm just theorizing of course, I haven't had any long-term success with the non-ps gorgs as yet but I do have about 4 varieties of photosynthetic ones that seem to be doing well (I'm always on the lookout for other ps ones).

No idea on the ID of that funky gorg/mystery coral but the others look like they might be Muriceopsis flavida "purple plume gorgonian" (just a guess, I'm no expert).

.. I was going to link in a few pictures of the one I have (purple plume) but apparently my webspace has disappeared off Shaw ?? Weird. Well maybe another time, now I need to figure out where all my pictures I had uploaded have gone to ??

[untamed]

I came to realize quite late that I feeding a tank of this size with DTs was going to get a bit expensive...so, like any good addict, I decided to brew my own.

I rigged up this little baby from an empty salt pail. (in a few years, I might be able to build a garage from empty salt pails, and I'm looking for anyone who has a design to build an automobile from empty salt pails)

The light fooled my camera. It's not really this green. This device could make 6 litres per week of phytoplankton. I'm not sure how much I'll be need.


Here's the recipe I've used so far:

1 tbsp of DTs reefblend
2 L SW mixed to about 1.020
14 drops of concentrated plant food
1 ml of Kent essential elements
Continuous gentle bubbling
16 hours of light, 8 hours dark
Brew until dark

My first ever batch achieved this in 6 days. The colour of this photo is very accurate. My first brew isn't as green as I would prefer. On the final day, it began to take on a distinct red/yellow tinge. It is still very dark. It's possible that the colour is simply due to the the specific plankton that happen to multiply best from the DTs mix.


I've started another batch, using less plant food. I'm thinking that the first batch may have run out of food, so by cutting the food in half, I should see a dramatic result that will tell me what I need to do.

[michika]

What did you use for food in your culture medium?

[untamed]

Originally Posted by michika

What did you use for food in your culture medium?

Schultz 8-14-9 African violet liquid plant food.

8% N
14% PO4
9% K2O (Potash)
.1% Fe
.05% Mn
.05% Zn

Hmmm, you know I just realized that I have an african violet that hasn't been looking too great lately. I think I'll give some to it!