Saltwater Wet/Dry Refugium

[Nick28]

its still getting bigger couldn't get 6x pics about 8x now . I havent been feeding as much and growth has slowed.




interesting note dinos are growing however only where there are dead algae strands

since this tank is so small i'm going to experiment with eliminating them


I just read dinos are correlated with high ammonia low nitrate. The ammonia released by the damsel or decomposing food or algae strands might be enough to satisfy the dinos before getting absorbed by the cheato (problem with localization)

I'm going to add some sand to strengthen biological filtration

[greenmachine]

Very intresting. I wonder if you could do the same in your freshwater tank only with java moss?

[Nick28]

Probabaly could I think java moss grows on land too, Its a slow grower though. The plants in my freshwater tank take care of nutrients pretty well.

I would try something like Hornwort or another free floating plant instead but this filtration would easily drive off too much co2 for the display plants.

[greenmachine]

is the cheato still growing?

[Nick28]

is the cheato still growing?

I really need to get a scale

instead I measured it. Dimensions are 8x8x2 inches i measured the height by averageing three areas lowest, medium, and highest

It grew into a nice square

Its getting very fat, but it isn't really getting wider just taller now , I think the light spread instensity is dropping off any wider than 8" or I might have to make more holes in the spray bar outer edges are a little dehydrated I could probably also feed more.

theres little shelled things and coraline growing on the glass and egg crate.

what appears to be dinos are only growing on dead algae strands that fell below .

The starting measurement was 6x1x1 so I would say inbetween 18x-21x its starting size about, 34 days

[Nick28]

experiment is still showing progress however i have noticed an increase in dinos but no other algae coraline is growing calcifying animals are growing on glass

-dinos are growing on exposed eggcrate where light hits and underneath the platform were the algae is

my theory for this is that the 3 inch thick cheato is now showing signs of severe light blocking causing ammonia and phosphate to leak out or just dead algae cells

I just read a scientific paper about large macroalgae blooms being associated with dinos. Maybe the overgrown macros are blocking light to lower layers and giving dinos a food source?

now we all know how fast these things grow maybe faster than bacteria and algae can soak up these leached nutrients?

[SantaMonica]

Yes 3" is way too deep for any light to go.

[Nick28]

growth has slowed it is about 26-27X starting size

reasons:
-algae has grown past the light angle
-algae is getting taller and blocking light
-it needs more food

What was thought to be dinos were actually just some kind of diatom film. (just using regular tap water)

It had no smell, it wasn't gooey and stomatella snails are eating it.