Low cost marine aquarium

[Marcelo_Grombon]

Good afternoon,
First i have would like to excuse-me by my sad english!I'm from Brazil and my english is precarious but i would like to discusses alternative setups for marine fish and corals maintenance. I keep an nano reef with 8 years old with calcite calcarium from agriculture (ten cents per kilograma) and construction sand (30 dollars per ton) to make my dsb that are untill now full filled with zoobenthonic invertebrates from order Mollusca, Plathyelmintes, Porifera, Cnidaria, Equinodermata and Crustacea. My rate of circulation is three times the aquarium volume per hour, no skimmer, no chiller (remember that Brazil is a tropical country) no Ca reposition or any trace elements and finally irregularity water changes. The water for reposition and mixture with salt is tap water. The used ilumination is sun light that comes from window more one actinic bulb 40 w more two day light bulbs 25 w each. Eight years with this intentionally precarious maintenance and the results can be evaluated by the sirs on these pictures below and links.
My question is: we really needs all that we think we need?
Once again excuse by the english!
http://dc100.4shared.com/img/136820967/7fbd5e2d/aquarios_outubro_2009_011.jpg (http://www.4shared.com/file/136820967/7fbd5e2d/aquarios_outubro_2009_011.html)

http://dc100.4shared.com/img/136813035/b60025f5/aquarios_outubro_2009_013.jpg (http://www.4shared.com/file/136813035/b60025f5/aquarios_outubro_2009_013.html)

http://dc173.4shared.com/img/136824872/986c6683/aquarios_outubro_2009_019.jpg (http://www.4shared.com/file/136824872/986c6683/aquarios_outubro_2009_019.html)[/quote]

URL=http://img8.imageshack.us/i/dsc03496forum.jpg/]http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1883/dsc03496forum.jpg[/URL]

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9862/dsc03476forum.jpg (http://img32.imageshack.us/i/dsc03476forum.jpg/)

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/428/dsc03477forum.jpg (http://img515.imageshack.us/i/dsc03477forum.jpg/)

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9135/dsc03482forum.jpg (http://img32.imageshack.us/i/dsc03482forum.jpg/)

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9126/dsc03485forum.jpg (http://img19.imageshack.us/i/dsc03485forum.jpg/)

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/7421/dsc03511ipaq.jpg (http://img79.imageshack.us/i/dsc03511ipaq.jpg/)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znISN7lorV8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpHhgYEK4M8

[HerdofCrickets]

You might want to do something about that apastasia....

[KarlBob]

You must have pretty good tap water, that's for sure.

As you mentioned, Brazil is a tropical country. You can get away with using sunlight as a major source of light much more easily than someone at higher latitudes. For people in more temperate climates, electric lighting really is a necessity.

Do we absolutely need oxidation-reduction potential monitoring, ultraviolet sterilization, supplementation of every element we can think of, oversized protein skimmers, dialysis machines for filtration/water changes, etc.? Maybe not. Many of the fancy machines do help, though. Especially for people who heavily stock their tanks with fish and try to maintain large numbers of delicate corals. Plus, it's a hobby. We tinker with our tanks because we enjoy tinkering with them. Sometimes we buy fancy gear simply because it's new and shiny and exciting.

Congratulations on doing more with less. Other than the severe aptasia infestation, the tank looks pretty good. Just keep in mind that there is an opposite side to the hobby, those who want to do more with more.

[iamwhatiam52]

Great tank!

Don't worry about your english. It is way better than our spanish, and all we care about is your tank.

What size is it?

Are the long thin blue things sponges?

I believe those are yellow anemones, not aptsia.

[Marcelo_Grombon]

Good afternoon, again.
Yes they are sponges, They grow extremelly fast and we can see the flow that comes from espongicele on top. I guess they improve the natural filtration on tank.Do you think that the cnidaria on my substrate are yellow anemones? I'm not sure, but I think that they are Aiptasia pallida in fact.
Thanks for supporting and pacience with my english!
PS: does anyone know how to change the topic title? I eat an "R" word in the Marine! Thanks everyone.

[cindre2000]

The tank looks good, considering how little work is put into it. I was wondering what the dimensions are? Do you, or did you, have any algae problems- is that what the tang is for?

Those blue sponges are really cool, I would love to have them in my tank. And I agree that you do have a good bit of aptasia.

[KarlBob]

Your English is very good. It's better than the English of some of the native speakers who post on ReefCentral.

Are the Aiptasia a recent development, or have they been in the tank since the beginning?

I like the blue sponges, too. Most of the sponges in my tank hide under pieces of live rock.

[billsreef]

I fixed the title for you ;)

Those brown anemones in front are indeed Aiptasia. They are rather prolific, and can harm other more desirable critters, such as your yellow polyps. It's best to eliminate those the best you can. Otherwise, your tank looks great. It's a great example of how to do a low tech set up using the appropriate animals.

[Marcelo_Grombon]

Thanks Billsreef!
My tank is 150 liters, I had problems with Bryopsis 5 years ago, and the Yellow tang came to eat them, and really did it, never reappeared. Some rocks that I took my aquarium to use in a saltwater tank in my high school class(I am a professor of biology) has shown a new burst of Bryopsis that I thought no longer exists. The Aiptasia came with the rocks collected by me from the sea in the early assembly of the tank and this with me ever since. Sometimes I burn with the CaOH, when they threaten some soft corals.
Thanks everyone!

[lordofthereef]

Looks great. I agree that we tend to talk ourselves into needing more than we do. That said, you don't look to have any high light demanding corals, or corals that are highly sensitive to nutrients. That is where a lot of the dosing, chilling, lighting, skimming, etc. costs generally come into play.

Also as said before, I think I saw an aiptasia or two :D

[CLINTOS]

I love the red sponges

[twinbmf]

greetings marcelo.

i am from Brasil too and i was following your post in IPAQ forum.
for those who are not aware of the situation, mr marcelo is a ecology top expert researcher and university professor with a couple of master degrees.
he was summarily massacred by 3 or 4 individuals who are so called "experts",despite all scientific basis mr marcelo presented.
for the lost of all aquarists of my country, mr marcelo asked for self ban and total erase of the thread.
just one thing to say: SHAME ON THEM!
excuse my english, i'm too unfit to write in english, and if you all excuse me:

-marcelo não liga pra essa meia dúzia de sabe-tudo,DEUSES do aquarismo brasileiro. nem perca seu tempo ou sono.
precisamos lá de pessoas como você que tem embasamento científico, que sabem o que , e do que estão falando.

sucesso.
:fun2:

[CLINTOS]

I hear you

[billsreef]

Unfortunately there are always a few self proclaimed "experts" with a "my way or the highway" attitude.

twinbmf (http://reefcentral.com/forums/member.php?u=210662),

Your written english is just fine, so don't worry about it ;)

[twinbmf]

Your written english is just fine, so don't worry about it ;)

TKS BILL!!

just an up:
the thread in question was erased on IPAQ forum...
in my humble opinion it was an irreparable loss to the hobby in my coutry.

:thumbdown