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DIY salt mix and the captive reef.
To get suitable sea water for our aquaculture farm we have a number of options.
-
 We can and do collect our own natural sea water (NSW). It take us half
an hour to drive to the beach at Lancelin to the north of the farm, this is
where it is most protected for us to pump in clear water. There are
limitations and costs to acquiring water in this way. We can only carry
2500ltrs with the vehicle we use. it takes us 3-4 hours to drive there pump up
the water and then drive back and unload. The water itself is relatively
cheap costing around $20 in fuel, the time though costs us lost
productivity. Also with winter storms and swells around this option is not
available due to turbidity and sea weed. It also gets very cold wading out
to hold the suction hose in position Brrrr...
- We can use an artificial sea water mix (ASW). The time is much shorter
it only takes a few minutes to turn on pumps to fill the mixing vat and
measure the salt. The cost is quite high in comparison depending on brand of
salt at around $300-500 for 2500ltrs.
- Our other alternative is to buy the chemicals and make our own DIY ASW
mix. The cost is reduced to 4.4 cents per litre or $110 per 2500ltrs. This
is very attractive though risky as the mix is untested.
Our best option at the moment is to use a mix of ASW and NSW depending on if
we have time and good conditions to collect the NSW and supplement with ASW.
We don't want to risk using a untried DIY ASW mix with our valuable brood
stock and grow out systems. So what we have done is commence a trial tank to
build up our knowledge and prove the mix as reliable.
  This
is the tank we have set up 220ltrs, An Aquamedic light unit 2 x 150w MH and 2 x 54w T5HO tubes. Tunzie
skimmer and the balling method for calcium supplementation using a Profilux
dosing station. We have already
added the DIY ASW, a sand bed of fine aragonite and imitation coral stones to
the aquarium.
To help us prove our products we sell we have set of rules regarding the
stocking of this aquarium.
- Only artificial substrates are to be used in this aquarium. (No live
rock or coral skeletons)
- Only second generation or greater removed from wild reefs live stock to be added to
the aquarium.
- Only small < 2.5cm colonies are to be added.
From here we will update the progress of our test in a blog format adding the
date and new pictures over the trial period so please come back and visit this
page again.
Sunday March 21, 2010.
Our salt mix is a recipe from Moe, "The marine aquarium reference" we will use
this for our starting point. The first mix was testing low on alkalinity at
65ppm and calcium at 380ppm we will adjust the next mix accordingly. We wont go
in to results to much just yet we are only using hobbyist type kits. Latter we
will test with a Photometer for accurate results. This is the mix we have used.
| Grams per kg |
Chemical |
| 23.98 |
Sodium chloride |
| 5.029 |
Magnesium chloride |
| 4.01 |
Sodium sulphate |
| 1.14 |
Calcium chloride |
| 0.699 |
Potassium chloride |
| 0.172 |
Sodium bicarbonate |
| 0.1 |
Potassium bromide |
| 0.0254 |
Boric acid |
| 0.0143 |
Strontium chloride |
| 0.0029 |
Sodium fluoride |
| 964.8274 |
Water |
Thursday April 8, 2010.
 After
filling the tank I added one small piece of rubble from an established aquarium
and have left the tank running for a few weeks hoping some corallines would
start to spread. So far all we have to see is this brown slime algae. If it
continues I will add a few snails soon.
 The
super fine aragonite we used proved a problem creating a snow storm over the
rock work so I have added a layer of coarse coral sand to settle it.
 I
have added these Ocellaris clowns to the tank, they come from Darwin where the
totally black clowns come from. These ones are different from any we have seen
before very blotchy black it will be interesting to breed from them to see what
comes of it.
Tuesday May 4, 2010.
  We
have been waiting for the GHL doser and a carbon reactor they have arrived and
are now installed. giving the tank a stable level of calcium. With luck this
will help us pass the ugly algae stage into some nice pink corallines.
  I
spent some time this morning fragging some corals to add to the tank. I will put
a selection of pictures here so we can follow how the frags progress with time.
The picture to the left you can see how I frag morphs by simply cutting a
slither from the outer edge of the morph. I leave the morph for a few weeks to
form a new foot and mouth in these floating jars with coral sand. Once the morph
attaches to the sand we glue them in place.
 Purple
Ricordia 8mm. Natural pedal laceration.
Green Lobophyllia 4mm. Asexual division.
Green and blue Acropora 25mm. Asexual division.
Pink Birds nest coral 5mm. Asexual division.
Green Acropora Solitarensis 10mm. Asexual division.
Blue acro # 1. 10mm. Asexual division.
Green parra ancora hammer coral 1mm. Removal of natural bud from parent
colony.
Daisy coral 8mm. Asexual division.
Blue acro #2. 25mm. Asexual division.
Pink morph 5mm. Asexual division as described above.
Wednesday May 25.
Now the calcium and carbonates are being dosed we have the first appearance of
pink corallines appearing on the rock work. Still lots of ugly diatoms but it is
improving all the time. Some more frags for the tank...
Sinularia 12mm. Asexual division.
Montipora 10mm. Asexual division.
Torch coral 4mm. Planula settlement.
Pocillopora 2 x 3 mm. Asexual division.
Purple acro 6mm. Asexual division.
Orange Fungia 20mm. Anthocauli bud
Tuesday July 27.
Just a bit of a update, the tank has been slow develop through the usual stages
of algae blooms. I am not surprised considering the lack of live rock, all the
desirable critters need to build up from a very low base. We did loose the birds
nest, monty and green solitaryensis, mainly due to algae's encrusting them. I
was a bit enthusiastic putting those types of corals in so early I will hold off
on sps now till things are right. There are now speckling of coraline spreading
see below for some wider angle shots for a better idea.
   
We decided the tanks lighting was not in keeping with the farms low energy
ideals, it was the only MH we were running so we turfed it and replaced with 2 x
90w LED units. Coming down from 460w to only 180w of consumption. I also added a
montage of Chalice corals I grew in a different system all the individual pieces
are below the 2.5cm criteria we set for the tank and indeed were started at a
much smaller size again when we glued them to the rock. The corals have colored
up better with the new lights even with the reduction in power consumption.
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