Re: NANFA-L-- Some questions on quarantine -medication /

Crail, Todd (tcrail-in-UTNet.UToledo.Edu)
Mon, 29 May 2006 10:01:20 -0400

Finally getting to swing back to this...

> With todds article in mind, there are some other marine tank things that I
> thought might be adapted to native fish keeping. Has anyone tried a
> refugium for keeping a host of invertebrates and plants going in the
system?
> Has anyone tried modifying a personal (tabletop) refrigerator as an
> inexpensive alternative to a chiller?

Refugia always works, if you're willing to spend the space and make a point of
failure on the system. Ideally, you'd have an additional tank the size of
your display that would be the lighting equivalent of your display, just in
the absence of fish. The detritus from the main system will be plenty to feed
the beginning of production in the lower system (and upper for that matter),
and I'd imagine you'd have very little maintenance to do on either besides
harvesting plants.

Reality, however, dictates that this usually isn't the case for us... A
canister filter would be about as good as it gets, and I've harbored quite a
few snail and even mayfly species in the canister. I guess what I'm saying
it... It would totally work. You're just going to have a very understanding
sig other to get that far. Oh, and then there's the part about where most of
this stuff flies out-in-some point ;)

As for a chiller... Here's one that I put together last night with this
freakin' hot spell we're under (It's too early for this crap! Sheesh!)

http://www.farmertodd.com/nanfa/reefle/052906/cheapchiller.jpg

One is blowing down, the other is blowing out. Lost the temp on the temp
gaugae last night (which meant it was in excess of 86 F). It's down to 76
right now. Also lost about 3 gallons of water lol. Gas exchange can get you
out of a bind in a hurry :) You can do the same on smaller systems with a
little clip on fan. The only time you get into trouble is when it's dagnasty
humid and you can't get a single drop more into the air. However, by doing
this in combination with AC, you'll make the AC run a lot more efficiently at
cooling the tanks.

Also got one of my big variegate darters out (so you can see why Mike was so
excited finding them in the Lil' Muskie :) He didn't play very nice, and it
was too hot to leave him out like this for long... But you'll get the idea.
They are one heckuva Etheostoma!

http://www.farmertodd.com/nanfa/reefle/052906/variegate.jpg
http://www.farmertodd.com/nanfa/reefle/052906/variegate2.jpg
http://www.farmertodd.com/nanfa/reefle/052906/variegate3.jpg

Todd
The Memorial Day Madness, Toledo, OH
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com
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