Reef Discussion

[TheJordans]

Hi Guys :)
We've been wanting to setup a Nanno culture for a while now but weren't sure on the best way to tackle it in our cold climate. So I came up with this! Time will tell if it works!! lol



My idea is that the top half is exposed to light, and given the air pump circulating the water/algae, hopefully the culture will grow! (Though probably slower than if the entire bottle was exposed to light.)
The reason that the bottom half is enclosed in an esky is so that we could heat water around the bottles ultimately keeping the algae water itself warm. Given that we live in Melb, it can get pretty cold (and we're coming into Winter), so the insulation benefits of esky made it the ideal choice!

I've pretty-well followed @Dave001 's method seen here:
http://www.thereefuge.com.au/threads/rotifers-and-green-water-information.6624/#post-95011
Only that I've added a water heater and esky enclosure ;)

For those in the same boat as us, here are the all-important pictures :)













Cheers!

 

[Buddy]

Following this one!

 

[DavidS]

Nice - want to see how this works out given I live in subartic Ballarat.
Only thing I would probably do is consider getting a heater guard and put over that heater. Polystyrene isn't particularly hard to melt, and a heater guard might be enough to keep the heater up off the polystyrene itself. I've never taken the temperature from the surface of a heater when its running, but one would assume that when it's really cold outside it's going to be working hard enough and that might have some impact on the container itself. Don't quote me on it, I've never tested the theory, but given superglue can make the stuff disintegrate I'm not sure I'd trust a hot heater sitting on it :P

 

[TheJordans]

@DavidS - good point! Hadn't considered that!! I don't have any heater guards, but I'll at least put some fabric under it or something!!

I'll have to stick a probe thermometer in one of the bottles at some point to see how well they're travelling. But I imagine they're going to work - just going to have slower growth b/c it's not in full sun. If I find that the low light is having too much of a negative impact, I'll move the culture into the laundry. It's size and lack of aesthetic appeal is what bought it its outdoor location lol

 

[Dr. Schell]

looking good, sure it will be a success :-)

 

[chimaera]

Awesome, love the innovation!

How about an underwater LED - would that help growth? Or are LEDs not a suitable light source?

 

[TheJordans]

I like the idea!
At this stage I'll wait and see how it goes with natural. Given that it's not in direct sun and that only half of the bottle (less actually) is exposed, I'm not expecting miracles. But that's a good option if I get stuck! Thank you!

 

[TheJordans]

A-ha!! We appear to have success!! :D The bottles are definitely darker, and I'm stoked!

So there you go - the above works! Now at some point in the next week or so I hope to try a few other basic-of-the-basic type setups to see if I can have more growing than what I can fit in the esky, but in the meantime, I'm pretty stoked!

@dr_schell - If you had say 1lt of rotifers (high density), approx how many ml or lt of nanno would you add per day? OR/ if you were to add a bulk amount of nanno (say, 5lt?) how long would you expect it to take for the water to clear?

I've got to test out those sorts of Qs and once I have that down, I'll be able to work out just how much of the nanno I need to produce per week.

Shouldn't be long before I'm able to start "paying forward" nanno now :D Yay!!

 

[MagicJ]

Any chance of an update @TheJordans?

Very interested in your success, or otherwise, in keeping the water at the correct temperature :)

 

[reeftank]

Thanks for sharing this with us, do you have any updates @TheJordans

 

[TheJordans]

@MagicJ and @reeftank

Thanks for the interest, guys :)

I can confirm that the above setup works just fine, and the water was always nice and warm :) I can't tell you how many days it took to go from "this shade of green" to "that shade of green" though b/c I have not had the time or energy to pay attention :P

However, I've scrapped the heating AND the esky and have now got 4x 12lt bottles bubbling away outside :) Despite the lack of heating or insulation, they appear to be darkening in a timely manner, so I'm going to continue them this way and see if they can keep up with the demand of a thriving rotifer culture! (Well, once we get some more, that is!)

Hope that helps!!

 

[MagicJ]

Thanks.

So, I am assuming that your overnight temperatures are not killing off the nanno but just slowing growth - correct?

 

[TheJordans]

Oh, God! They're FAR from dying!! IMO, they're THRIVING! And that's with ice on the car in the morning ;)

Look, I'd imagine that they could be perhaps faster with heat and a longer photoperiod, but, for our purposes this appears to be just fine! The volume of the bottles could be helping them to maintain a tolerable temp, though. They're 12lt "water cooler"-style bottles from Officeworks. If they're were 2lt soda bottles, that could be a completely different story.

 

[TheJordans]

Oh, and I'm still using the 5lt ones in the esky, but there's no heating anymore. They're colouring at the same pace as the 12lt ones without insulation.

 

[MagicJ]

These ones ?

 

[TheJordans]

Bang on! *thumbsup*

 

[TheJordans]

(I actually took a bunch of pics when I made them up ... Just need to load them at some point *blush*)
But they're very easy to drill and cut into the lid so that it pops on and off nicely ;) Works a treat!!

*** So if anyone needs Phyto, I've got it to spare at the mo!!! :D

 

[TheJordans]

Ok, I've got my s**t together and have uploaded the new photos :D

Here goes!!



Drill straight into the centre of the lid, then GENTLY ease a stanley knife blade along the top and down the side until it has cut through as shown


The lid then slides off easily and goes back on just as well for cleaning and filling etc etc


Just add the (longer!!) uprisers and airtubing like in the first post and away you go :D

 

[Fragalicious]

@Aido :cool:

 

[leodb89]

Hi Guys :)
We've been wanting to setup a Nanno culture for a while now but weren't sure on the best way to tackle it in our cold climate. So I came up with this! Time will tell if it works!! lol

View attachment 34697

My idea is that the top half is exposed to light, and given the air pump circulating the water/algae, hopefully the culture will grow! (Though probably slower than if the entire bottle was exposed to light.)
The reason that the bottom half is enclosed in an esky is so that we could heat water around the bottles ultimately keeping the algae water itself warm. Given that we live in Melb, it can get pretty cold (and we're coming into Winter), so the insulation benefits of esky made it the ideal choice!

I've pretty-well followed @Dave001 's method seen here:
http://www.thereefuge.com.au/threads/rotifers-and-green-water-information.6624/#post-95011
Only that I've added a water heater and esky enclosure ;)

For those in the same boat as us, here are the all-important pictures :)

View attachment 34698

View attachment 34699

View attachment 34700

View attachment 34701

View attachment 34702

View attachment 34697

Cheers!

was gonna say you forgot to post the pic of the heater being submersed in water in the foam box? lol :/