Shark Egg: Round Two
- Thread starter charles-n-charge
- Start date
That horseshoe crab is amazing. I've been looking for one.
Also how'd you clean the egg from algae? Gently scrape it off with your nails?
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Also how'd you clean the egg from algae? Gently scrape it off with your nails?
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They're somewhat seasonal, but are still pretty common.
Just ask your lfs.
Don't remove anything from the egg. Just leave it alone and let it do its thing. That's what I've done and I haven't had any issues
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Ok. Thanks. I've read that some ppl scrap the algae off the front so they can view inside. I have a small opening that just allows me to see wiggle and that's it, all good though. Ill be patient.
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You can try it if you'd like. I doubt it'll cause any damage.
Just treat it as if you're shaving the egg to get the fuzz off
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Alright guys, I thought I'd take some time to run you through my filtration system.
It's a little complex, so if this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to upload a video to explain it better, if anyone really cares to know.
First off, we have the filter that I got with the tank. A real simple 30 gallon wet/dry sump with 5 gallons of bio balls.
I removed all the bio balls, and filled it with about 40-50 pounds of live rock for the water to trickle over, and am using a sponge in the mechanical filtration section up top instead of the traditional filter felt.
Here's where it gets tricky... The water that flows into this filter is coming from the 220, but the pump in the sump leads to the 75. Obviously there are different amounts of water flowing through these two tanks, so it doesn't make sense to do something like this. More water flows into the filter than the smaller pump for the 75 pushes back out.
So, I have three 3/4" tubes that siphon the extra water over into the refugium I built.
Now we move to the stage of filtration where all that extra siphoned water from the wet/dry moves to.
Half of the water from the 75, and about 1/3 of the water from the wet/dry, both flow directly into this area. This is a pretty low-current area, which allows debris and waste to slow down and be captured by the protein skimmer. In addition to that, there is also a heater in this area, which is hardly even necessary.
The other half of the water from the 75 goes directly into the refugium, and falls 3" like a small waterfall.
I did this to keep the surface in the refugium disturbed, to keep tons of oxygen in the water, and to keep a decent current in this chamber.
Next is the refugium. As I stated before, I wanted a waterfall-like entry for some of the water to keep a strong current and lots of oxygen moving. The 1/2" pipe in this waterfall is the water coming from the 29 gallon. The small tube is the water from the conditioning stage.
I'm only keeping an assortment of snails, brittle stars, and one watchman goby down here.
(The urchin is temporary. This is the only area in the system that's growing enough algae for it right now)
As you can see, I don't have any plants or algaes yet. I plan on doing some chaeto and mangroves.
There is also one gallon of mineral mud, and 5 gallons of live sand at the base of this chamber; the substrate is about 3-3.5" deep.
Finally, the sump.
The water flows through teeth at the top of the barrier from the refugium, and through sponges and ceramic rings at the bottom.
In the sump, there's three pumps.
The return pump for the 220, then return pump for the 29, and a small pump for the conditioning portion; (and the return pump for the 75 is back in the wet/dry).
This is the only part in the entire system where the water level changes. I plan on building a DIY ATO (the right way this time...) to cope with evaporation.
The conditioning is nothing major. A small pump in the sump first pushes water through a UV sterilizer rated for up to 2200 gallons, and then through a Phosban 150 reactor is phosphate media and carbon; then the water returns to the refugium.
And that's it guys. That's my entire filtration system. The whole system has a total volume of 375 gallons, and the filter is 6'8" long.
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
It's a little complex, so if this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to upload a video to explain it better, if anyone really cares to know.
First off, we have the filter that I got with the tank. A real simple 30 gallon wet/dry sump with 5 gallons of bio balls.
I removed all the bio balls, and filled it with about 40-50 pounds of live rock for the water to trickle over, and am using a sponge in the mechanical filtration section up top instead of the traditional filter felt.
Here's where it gets tricky... The water that flows into this filter is coming from the 220, but the pump in the sump leads to the 75. Obviously there are different amounts of water flowing through these two tanks, so it doesn't make sense to do something like this. More water flows into the filter than the smaller pump for the 75 pushes back out.
So, I have three 3/4" tubes that siphon the extra water over into the refugium I built.
Now we move to the stage of filtration where all that extra siphoned water from the wet/dry moves to.
Half of the water from the 75, and about 1/3 of the water from the wet/dry, both flow directly into this area. This is a pretty low-current area, which allows debris and waste to slow down and be captured by the protein skimmer. In addition to that, there is also a heater in this area, which is hardly even necessary.
The other half of the water from the 75 goes directly into the refugium, and falls 3" like a small waterfall.
I did this to keep the surface in the refugium disturbed, to keep tons of oxygen in the water, and to keep a decent current in this chamber.
Next is the refugium. As I stated before, I wanted a waterfall-like entry for some of the water to keep a strong current and lots of oxygen moving. The 1/2" pipe in this waterfall is the water coming from the 29 gallon. The small tube is the water from the conditioning stage.
I'm only keeping an assortment of snails, brittle stars, and one watchman goby down here.
(The urchin is temporary. This is the only area in the system that's growing enough algae for it right now)
As you can see, I don't have any plants or algaes yet. I plan on doing some chaeto and mangroves.
There is also one gallon of mineral mud, and 5 gallons of live sand at the base of this chamber; the substrate is about 3-3.5" deep.
Finally, the sump.
The water flows through teeth at the top of the barrier from the refugium, and through sponges and ceramic rings at the bottom.
In the sump, there's three pumps.
The return pump for the 220, then return pump for the 29, and a small pump for the conditioning portion; (and the return pump for the 75 is back in the wet/dry).
This is the only part in the entire system where the water level changes. I plan on building a DIY ATO (the right way this time...) to cope with evaporation.
The conditioning is nothing major. A small pump in the sump first pushes water through a UV sterilizer rated for up to 2200 gallons, and then through a Phosban 150 reactor is phosphate media and carbon; then the water returns to the refugium.
And that's it guys. That's my entire filtration system. The whole system has a total volume of 375 gallons, and the filter is 6'8" long.
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
