My Estuarine Journey

[Eel Freak]

Having taken AP Environmental Sciences, been a Bio-buff since middle school, and studied much of the local environments, I've learned estuaries are nature's way of removing pollutants and giant amounts of nutrients before re-entering into the oceans. I've visited the Ormond Beach Waste Water Treatment Plant's effluent dump-site, and seen how little-no macroscopic vertebrates thrive while TONS of macroalgae flourishes, sucking up all the excess waste (mangroves don't even grow...).

Anyhow, I'm going to replicate this.

The plan:

50g custom tank (48"L x 18"W x 13"H)
Lighting: TBD
Flow: Minimal, 500gph pump or so, that way it's less upon actually reaching the tank.
Substrate: MUD

The first 8" of this tank will be mud. Not sand. Mud. Now, I don't want to go out and drop a fortune on Miracle Mud, so I'd like to collect this locally, if allowed. Am I at risk of major pollutants if I select a giant local preserve that is not a part of direct dumping like my other local zone is? If there is a good alternative to this, I'd like to know... I'm seeking mud, not sand.

This tank will be paired with my 125g refugium to remove nitrates and phosphates before nuisance algae can take hold in my 205g display.

I'd like to grow marsh grasses in this, but probably not my mangroves. I have 3 doing well in my fuge.

My questions for the community out here: are there any hidden implications to doing this? I've only seen one tank that has something similar, but perhaps I've never looked in the right places.

Please, any suggestions with regard to lighting (I haven't developed a plan yet), organisms, substrate, please, voice your thoughts.

[Eel Freak]

A couple pictures of the tank...

Here it is previously as the refugium on the display.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/37c85b49.jpg

Then, this happened, and I replaced it with a 125.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/15f7acf0.jpg

[spamreefnew]

I used mud filtration (local mud) for about 4 months. it seemed to filter well and grew life like crazy,,,BUT,,It was very messy and a real PIA to maintain.

good luck:)

[Eel Freak]

What was your setup like, if you'd share more, please? I'm curious... And in what way was it so difficult to maintain?

[Eel Freak]

Well! I have a friend who has a collection permit and is going to collect a bunch of mud for me locally next week. Further, I've found a local place to cut glass and should hopefully have that done next week too...

[Johanv]

What type of fish/inverts do you plan on having?

[Eel Freak]

I'm really undecided on that. Fish will be native unless I find something really unique at the LFS. Suggestions are welcome!!

Inverts, again some local ones. At bare minimum one of the local hermits just to keep things interesting. I have a couple crown conchs in my fuge, but I think I'll skip them for this system due to their burrowing habits.

[Johanv]

I know this isnt native but what about a mono fish?

[Eel Freak]

Do you mean like these?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+954+967&pcatid=967

[Johanv]

Yes they inhabit brackish water, so they can tolerate a wide range of sal. heres a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppbRDUSI9U0 of one in a full saltwater.

[Swolek]

I know a marine biology teacher who did that :). Mud and some sort of grass-like macro (it's been a while so I don't remember the species). The tank made a huge difference as far as nutrient export goes and I think the only fish in it were chromis or something (probably donated fish...I believe all or most of her fish were donated to her/rescued). It was rigged up to two reef displays.

Good luck!

[michaelr]

Having taken AP Environmental Sciences, been a Bio-buff since middle school, and studied much of the local environments, I've learned estuaries are nature's way of removing pollutants and giant amounts of nutrients before re-entering into the oceans.

Haha that sounds a lot similar to what im doing. im in Ap enviromental in school currently. Do you live on the long island sound? My only concern would be the water of the local life being to cold compared to the 75 degree reef tank.

[Eel Freak]

Yes they inhabit brackish water, so they can tolerate a wide range of sal. heres a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppbRDUSI9U0 of one in a full saltwater.

Oh! Cool! I'll have to consider those! That's neat...

[Eel Freak]

I know a marine biology teacher who did that :). Mud and some sort of grass-like macro (it's been a while so I don't remember the species). The tank made a huge difference as far as nutrient export goes and I think the only fish in it were chromis or something (probably donated fish...I believe all or most of her fish were donated to her/rescued). It was rigged up to two reef displays.

Good luck!

Thanks!

Awesome. That's what I'm shooting for. Lot's of mud and some grass.

[Eel Freak]

Haha that sounds a lot similar to what im doing. im in Ap enviromental in school currently. Do you live on the long island sound? My only concern would be the water of the local life being to cold compared to the 75 degree reef tank.

Nice! It's a cool class... Nope, I'm down in Central FL! Everything I get here can tolerate mid 80's water temps in the summer time... I try to keep the tank at 79 so that ought to do well for them.

[michaelr]

Nice! It's a cool class... Nope, I'm down in Central FL! Everything I get here can tolerate mid 80's water temps in the summer time... I try to keep the tank at 79 so that ought to do well for them.

haha that explains it youll fish will be much cooler than the estuary fish youll find up here

[Eel Freak]

Yep, most certainly! I'm excited to get this underway...

I moved the skimmer finally and the stand is opened up for the tank. I got my quote back from the glass shop for a new piece, so if I get the chance this week, I think I'll go and get it, provided I can find some "Aquarium-safe Silicone" to utilize...

Skimmer
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/c3fac1c6.jpg

Freed-up stand
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/b75bc600.jpg

[Eel Freak]

A bit of an update here...

The tank itself is almost prepared for glass, but I'm still waiting on the silicone to come in... In the meantime I'm making sure the old surfaces are ready to go to accept the new silicone! It's a painstaking and tedious process to get all the old silicone off....

[Eel Freak]

It never ceases to amaze me how life can alter plans such as this...

Regardless, it is still underway. In fact, it is nearly complete!! I repaired the tank a couple days ago using 3/8" glass instead of the previous 1/4" glass. I also got permission from a local park to collect mud and such for the tank. I collected 4 5-gallon bucket-fulls of estuarine mud. The real thick and goopy kind that smells awesome. Got it all from a small tidepool deep in the mangroves here. I also was careful to collect it mostly from the surface, I did not want to go too deep into the mud for fear of disturbing hydrogen sulfide.

All the RO water has been made to tie the system in, all the mud is ready, and the tank passed the overnight water test. I hope to drill the tank later today for the high and low tide drains. If that goes well, then it is entirely possible I'll have the mud and water in the tank tonight. Pics to be posted soon!

[Eel Freak]

The system is officially online. I've learned quite a lot about how the estuarine plants survive and all. I transplanted the Mangroves I had growing in sand in my refugium to the mud in the estuary and they have suffered immense osmotic shock because of the ionic differences of mud and sand. One has died so far, but in the last few weeks the others haven't gotten worse. Also got a bunch of freebies from work and added those to the mix! I experimented with various marsh grasses. From one region, none made it. From the other, they have done well. Although I just lost one large bit of it. As it turns out my faithful hydrometer has finally gone awry... I checked my salinity at work using a calibrated refractometer: 40ppt!!! That explains some of the stress on these guys... Nonetheless, that is being corrected.

The entire left side of the tank is full of oysters. Most have a bunch of dark blue/black sponge growing all over them. They have all done well and came with a ton of small organisms. My favorite addition is the 4"+ mantis shrimp I collected. Very colorful with some greens and purples. He has made a nice extensive burrow under all the mud and gets fed regularly. It's the spearing kind, so it does not make much of a mess of the mud during feeding.

Here's all the pictures:

FTS:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/1e931cd1.jpg

Right - all the fiddlers eat lettuce...
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/5463e683.jpg

Left - low and high tide drains visible. The pipe running into the high tide drain is just RO top off; here's where all the oysters reside
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/216b022a.jpg

Oysters, sponge, and fiddler
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/cbf65918.jpg

Big ol' mantis:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/731f46bb.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/916c29be.jpg

Sorry for the poor pictures... It hasn't been easy for some reason with this set up!

[Eel Freak]

Biggest complaint so far? The mantis. Any time it decides to edit its burrow it clouds the whole system for a couple hours.....

[TundraGuy]

Sweet!

[Eel Freak]

Thanks!

Regarding the high tide and low tide, currently I am using a PVC cap with some holes drilled in it to raise the water level for high tide. I can't use the full height of the other drain because my sump is not large enough... When I cut it sometime eventually, then I'll be able to. I have various ideas as far as being able to automatically switch the tides, but all require shelling out a decent bit of money and I have other priorities for the system first.

The idea I like the most is using a timed OceansMotions 4-way with a 1 & 3, 2 & 4 pattern to slowly open and close the high and low tide drains.

[Psirex]

more pics :)

[Hyperion1337]

really interesting tank more pics plz :D

[Eel Freak]

Went shopping yesterday for some stuff for my tanks... Happened upon a deal of 12 mangrove propagules for very very cheap and so I jumped on it! Added them in... They're all unsprouted and are nice and green. Hopefully they'll kick into gear along with my others soon... The root-growing process takes place before leaves begin. It seems to take several weeks before the mangroves have enough roots to begin growing leaves...

And pix as requested!

Low vs. High
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4719.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4714.jpg

Mantis hole
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4720.jpg

Oyster life and such
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4725.jpg

Low vs. High
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4717.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4716.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4718.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/viper31jas/IMG_4715.jpg

[Johanv]

Awesome updates, Did you decide what fish your getting?

[Eel Freak]

Nope... I haven't yet haha I figure it will come to me when I happen upon it! The one thing I did decide though is that anything in this tank will be local. Anything in the tank is able to be found out in the mangroves around here...

[Eel Freak]

What does that mud do to your equipment? Any issues or tips for others wanting to go this route?

I was asked this on another thread about the mantis in here and responded with this below. I thought it to be pertinent to this thread as well since it focuses on the tank not just the mantis.

So far the mud has had no effect on any of the equipment. I don't run any mechanical filtration, only a protein skimmer (SRO-XP5000e). Because of this any of the mud that gets kicked up by the mantis eventually settles out in various places in the system. The biggest repository of it is in the sump. The pumps do not have a problem pumping the cloudy water because the mud is so fine... If it continues much longer though, I'm going to be checking the impellers on the pumps to make sure there isn't any build up of any kind. The VorTechs have not had any problems either.

My greatest bit of advice is to make sure you do your research... Not much information is readily available with regard to setting up a tank like this. Be ready and prepared for anything strange to happen. It took several days for the tank to clear up after I first added the mud. I am fortunate enough to go to school just a few minutes from an estuary that is part of a large county park. I'm on good terms with the rangers and they were happy to let me collect mud for this project. I selected a spot deep in the estuary in a sort of tide pool. At low tide it is fully exposed and it was exactly the consistency I wanted: where the mud is self-supporting and can be molded. It has no sandiness to it at all and I was careful to collect over a large area. I did not go deep into the mud for fear of disturbing hydrogen sulfide or anything else I did not know about. I was also careful to not collect the mud from any spot that would disturb the mangroves. This was all from a wide open space lacking mangroves. Another consideration is that this stuff is HEAVY, a single five gallon bucket weighed around 80lbs or so. There are four in the tank right now. To be safe, I replaced the stock 1/4" non-tempered bottom with 3/8" non-tempered and drilled in the corner where it would have the least mud. Also, the giant hermits that live around here? Not good for this tank. I tried two of them but because they drag their giant shell around they kick up a crazy amount of mud and cloud the water way too much.