LABNJAB's project "swamp tank"

[labnjab]

I got this idea from members of our local reef club as something to try before starting live food cultures. Its either going to be a hit or miss, but basically you take a small tank or container, add a few pounds of live rock, an air line without the air stone, a light, and a heater. Then you let the tank sit, undisturbed, doing water changes every 3-4 weeks with old tank water and adding a small amount of flake or pellet food every week or so. They said you would be amazed at what grows in an undisturbed, un skimmed tank. It turns into a live food pot luck and a pod breeding ground. IF it every goes south you just clean everything and start over, but the person that told me about it said they had one set up for several months and never had it go south

So here's what we have. Our old 5 gallon hex, maybe 2 lbs of live rock, a 50 watt heater, a 15 watt light, a small ball of chaeto and a piece of calurpa and an air hose. I'll report here every few days to tell you what I find. So far I've seen a few pods and that's about it

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/jabsgirlforever/random%20coral%20shots/100_0780.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/jabsgirlforever/random%20coral%20shots/100_0781.jpg

[iZinedane]

good luck with that thumbs2:

[travie]

Sounds like a fun project,and the next project I might try to do. I'm curious as to the purpose of the air line though.

[DrNic]

Sounds cool. Can't wait to see what grows!

[oldhead]

Defintiley interested to see how this turns out. :ssuprised:

[labnjab]

Thank you. I'm hoping some interesting things grow


Sounds like a fun project,and the next project I might try to do. I'm curious as to the purpose of the air line though.

Its hooked up to an air pump. Just to keep the water slightly aerated. No air stone though. That will cause to much aeration.

[Tigerbarb]

Cool idea. I've been tempted to try something like that myself.

[coachfraley]

That is a very cool idea Labnjab.

Do you happen to have any pics of example tanks?

[labnjab]

Thank you. I don't have any pics but I can ask the guy who gave me the idea

[coachfraley]

I would love to see pics!!!

Are you going to run the light 24/7, or are you adding a timer?

I have everything I would need to set up a 2.5g version. I am tempted!

[labnjab]

It's next to my sump so I have it on the same timer as the sump which is reverse from my display. I've been debating on running it 24/7, but I think I'll stick to 12 hours for now. I just looked in it a little while ago and saw 2 baby stomalla (spelling?, its the slugs with the tiny shells) so it looks like they were breeding in my sump.

I think you should do it coach. Its basically maintenance free and will yield some free coral and fish food. The basic idea is to not disturb it unless its necessary. We should have a contest to see who can find the strangest thing.:hmm3grin2orange:

[Miltonic]

very interesting, I might try it too but i don't have the tank to try it in :/

[labnjab]

very interesting, I might try it too but i don't have the tank to try it in :/
You don't even really need a tank, just some sort of container that holds a few gallons and a small light.


edit:
I'm going to try and get my hands on a microscope that will hook up to my pc and see whats in the water once it gets brewing

[coachfraley]

OK, OK, OK. I'm in. I will set it up next week. I will probably set it up in my office at work.

[Z Fish Man]

OK, OK, OK. I'm in. I will set it up next week. I will probably set it up in my office at work.


Might bother your co workers if it starts to smell or something :hmm3grin2orange:

[coachfraley]

Might bother your co workers if it starts to smell or something :hmm3grin2orange:

I have an office by myself, so as long as I can put up with it, it is cool. Hopefully it won't get too smelly, lol.

[labnjab]

Heres some pictures of the other guys tank. These were taken by Scott Laman

http://gallery.me.com/slaman/100033/P1010072/web.jpg?ver=12430409520003
Tons of Copepods
http://gallery.me.com/slaman/100033/P1010064/web.jpg?ver=12430409600003
Flatworm
http://gallery.me.com/slaman/100033/P1010063/web.jpg?ver=12430409720003

Micro stars or hydroids

http://gallery.me.com/slaman/100033/P1010066/web.jpg?ver=12430409970003


These were taking early on and he said it got a lot cooler as it matured, but he never took any more pictures. Actually it looks like he had an air stone, so it looks like its ok to use one

[AABatteries]

This looks cool, might have to try it.

[labnjab]

This weekend Scott gave us some tigger pods and some of the gunk from the bottom of his swamp tank to get us started. There must be a hundred tigger pods and their thriving in the tank. Now theres something to look at in the tank, lol.

[labnjab]

Just an update. "Swamp tank" is coming along awesome. Hair algae has started to grow rapidly on the glass, which is good news for the pods. I've started seeing bristle worms and the pod population has exploded. The tank is swarming with them. Its really coming alive

[Kaz]

:protest:PICS!:protest:

[Wild Turkey]

I agree, pics!

Very cool idea!thumbs2:

[labnjab]

heres an updated pic. The macro algae is growing like a weed and the pod population is multiplying fast, but you cant see the the pods in the picture

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/jabsgirlforever/random%20coral%20shots/100_0806.jpg

[labnjab]

I'll try and get some pics this afternoon. Its really looking like a swamp now and going great. The walls are all completely covered in some type of hair algae that I haven't seen in my display yet. I'm seeing all kinds of creatures, worms, snails, sea stars, feather dusters. I even have 2 sponges growing pretty quickly. One red and one blue. There's a few defined mouths on each. The pods are really growing and some are getting fairly large. I may try and harvest some before too long. I've only done 2 water changes to the tank since starting it and surprisingly its still crystal clear and smells no different then our reef

[labnjab]

This tank will most likely get broken down in the next few weeks. We're getting another 29 gallon setup soon so I'm going to steal the live rock from the swamp tank and most likely all the water so I can get a real jump start on the pod population in the new tank .

[labnjab]

I broke the tank down. I was 3 gallons short on water from our new tank so I took it from this and just stuck the liove rock back into the sump in my other reef.