o2manyfish - Outdoor Frag Tank during Calif Wildfires

[o2manyfish]

I get asked almost everyday what do I do when it rains with my outdoor frag tank. And the follow-up question is always what about smog and acid-rain.

Here is a video from this afternoon during the So Cal Wildfires. The fires are less than 20 miles from our yard and the Santa Ana Winds are blowing the smoke right at us.

The air is nasty and now as the sun sets you can't walk 10' outside without coughing or getting ash in your eyes.

Dave B

[top shelf]

Maybe it's just me but can't get video to play. Just says error occurred.

[Subsea]

Very impressive. The density of coral and fish is phenomenal. I have an independent 500G growout system, actually three 150G Rubbermade tanks, countersunk into the ground. Here in Austin it gets too cold for what you have.

With all of those eggcrate racks, do you sell to retailers. During summer here our PAR values exceed 2000. I have seen scientific articles that showed photo inhibitation in growth of acopora at high PAR values. Have you see anything to indicate that in your outside prop system.

How long has system been operational?

PS. Considering ash to tank, you may be pioneering a new form of carbon dosing.

[Esh1]

video isn't working for me either.

[borg]

Cant view video down under either

[journeyman]

Awesome tanks. Can I ask how much water you lose to evaporation on a daily basis?

How often do you do water changes?

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[o2manyfish]

Not sure why the links aren't working for some people.




Try These -

https://youtu.be/Vf3sHPVrjfg



Dave B

[o2manyfish]

Originally Posted by journeyman

Awesome tanks. Can I ask how much water you lose to evaporation on a daily basis?

How often do you do water changes?

It obviously varies depending on the weather. On a Rainy day we still lose almost 10 gallons.

On a hot summer day (103+) we use evaporative cooling and we may put in 40-55gallons.

Almost all top off water is Kalk.

Dave B

[o2manyfish]

Originally Posted by Subsea

With all of those eggcrate racks, do you sell to retailers. During summer here our PAR values exceed 2000. I have seen scientific articles that showed photo inhibitation in growth of acopora at high PAR values. Have you see anything to indicate that in your outside prop system.

How long has system been operational?

Subsea,

The outdoor frags tank experiment started around 2002. We get much more growth in the spring and fall and the best colors. I wouldn't say I notice any slower growth in the summer time. Least amount of growth is winter with the shortest photo period.

I don't sell to anyone - retail / wholesale / private. I give away corals to locals and this year I have unfortunately shipped over 600 frags to people in Texas and Florida that lost their tanks in the disasters from earlier this year.

I do trade. I trade for things I think are cool - Names and dollar amounts have little value to me. But if you have something I live - even a silly Monti Digitata - I make it worth peoples while to trade with me

And on occassion when I need some new piece of equipment I will trade the high end pieces (Kung Pao, Miyagi Tort, Leng-Sy, Grafted, etc)


Dave B

[alton]

So sorry ya'll are having to deal with the fires. Hopefully the fires subside soon!

[Joe Kelley]

Looking good Dave! Hope these fires are out soon, hard to breath too.

Joe

[Subsea]

Originally Posted by o2manyfish

Subsea,

The outdoor frags tank experiment started around 2002. We get much more growth in the spring and fall and the best colors. I wouldn't say I notice any slower growth in the summer time. Least amount of growth is winter with the shortest photo period.

I don't sell to anyone - retail / wholesale / private. I give away corals to locals and this year I have unfortunately shipped over 600 frags to people in Texas and Florida that lost their tanks in the disasters from earlier this year.

I do trade. I trade for things I think are cool - Names and dollar amounts have little value to me. But if you have something I live - even a silly Monti Digitata - I make it worth peoples while to trade with me

And on occassion when I need some new piece of equipment I will trade the high end pieces (Kung Pao, Miyagi Tort, Leng-Sy, Grafted, etc)


Dave B

Dave,

I salute you as a true enviromental steward. I have great admiration for pioneers like you. Do you deal with the Florida live rock farmers? I consider them as the true enviromental stewards of live rock. Where there was nothing but flat sand at 30’, these pioneers in the early 1990’s excavated limestone from rock quarries and barged to offshore leases, dumping 15M tons of reef building limestone. Because the GOM is nutrient rich, the biodiversity on Gulf live rock is differrent from sterile live rock.

http://www.gulfliverock.com

[o2manyfish]

Subsea,

I don't do much with live rock. I have about a ton (literally) in my current system. Some of the live rock is about 25 years old.

I just build a tank for a friend and I used a bunch of the Marco rock. I like covering the back wall of tanks in rock -- I hate having to clean the back wall so a tank looks good.

The new marco rocks you can order sliceds and they mount on the wall beautifully.

Dave B

[Subsea]

Please discribed your 2 story surge tank. Pictures would help. Are you happy with the results from its use.

[saf1]

Subsea - I should probably let o2manyfish answer but if you haven't seen it yet check out his build thread in the large tank section. It really is worth reading if truth be told and I've gone through it a couple times now. I believe he talks about the surge tank there. It can be found here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2293079

Regarding aquaculture rock I personally have and think it is great. There really is no reason that this hobby isn't self sustaining by hobbyist and hobbyist alone. Sharing of coral, sand, and algae seems like a no brainer. Factor in all the hard work people are doing with captive breeding the future looks bright. Rock - TBS is the rock I'll be adding to my new system.

O2's thread is really a good read so grab a cup of coffee or tea if that is your thing and enjoy!

[Esh1]

wow, thanks for sharing! working in the insurance biz, I've been dealing with teams who've been going out to Cali quite frequently these past few months. Hopefully you don't get to the point of needing an adjuster.

Awesome story around the build. Glad all the photos are still hosted so I could follow along as its a really interesting build that you have.

[Crimson]

Beautiful Venustus Angelfish you have in that tank. I owned one before when I had my 105 gallon and would again, but putting one in my current tank would be pushing it.

[five.five-six]

Originally Posted by o2manyfish

It obviously varies depending on the weather. On a Rainy day we still lose almost 10 gallons.

On a hot summer day (103+) we use evaporative cooling and we may put in 40-55gallons.

Almost all top off water is Kalk.

Dave B

WOW! That’s a lot of evap.

[o2manyfish]

Subsea,

The surge tank is awesome. I love it. It was an amazing idea 15 years ago. Upgrading to a 2" motorized ball valve 5+ years ago was the perfect upgrade. Most people don't even know the surge is happening till all the fish get blown across the tank.

I would recommend it for anyone that has the ability to cleanly install it. We are in the preparation stages for a tank upgrade and I am really bummed that I don't think I will be able to use a surge with the new location.

If I had it to do over with my current tank/location I would have plumbed 2 of them - one on each side and had them alternate every 60 minutes or so. Currently with a 15 year old RIO Hyperflow 32 pump - which has only been cleaned maybe 3x in the 15 years - The 26g surge cycles about every 90 seconds.

Dave B

[o2manyfish]

Crimson,

I have always loved the Venustus and Colini angels. But found them a challenge. Before the fish massacre in June from the Power failure I had 3 Venustus in the display that I had grown out from tiny juveniles.

In restocking the tank I ended up with a Trio of Venustus in the Display tank. Then I came across some more tiny Venustus -= And I love tiny fish - So I now have 3 more in the frag tank.

Dave B