I can't see a thing!

[Triatik]

How many days will it take so I can see inside my to be reef tank? ( I am just starting up) My 90g, with filtered water, Tidepool sump and 180 lbs of Carib Sea aragonite, looks like a milkshake since Tuesday night. I rinsed it like it said on the bag of sand. The glass appears to be covered with a film of light tan power. Is this normal? Should I keep my return pump running and a power head? Thanks for your help!

Homer

[Doug1]

I rinse mine once to float of any organics in the package, twigs, bug, etc then let it sit a few days with no circulation so the silt will settle. Or you can use a power filter to polish the water, but you lose some valuable fines that way

[Alice]

Hey Homer;

It will settle, it just seems like forever. It may take several days though. When are you adding rock to the tank? That will help hold some of the fine stuff in place.

[galleon]

but you lose some valuable fines that way

Those "valuable fines", depending on the natural zonation being replicated, aren't present in the wild due to physical mechanics and reef sedimentology. If the environment being replicated is or is supposed to be topographically similar to the backreefs and reef flats where many of our scleractinian pals are collected from, the sediments are mostly chlorozoan in composition, as most algazoan- and foramal- based sediments are light in weight, small in diameter, and are easily picked up by average energies. Or, in the case of foramal sediments, are not even generally formed on the reef. The low energies in reef aquaria (comparative to those found on their replicative wild counterparts, where our high energy flora/fauna come from) cause the structure to act as intrusive sediment baffles rather than passive baffles as seen in the wild.

Passive and intrusive baffles both incite sediments and suspended particles to settle, the difference being where they settle. With a passive baffle, the sediments settle in front of, are pushed around, or pushed over structure, the structure itself being kept clean by the mechanics of high energy surges or flows. Intrusive baffles are areas that have reduced flow, and still incite the sediments to settle, however they may settle on the baffling structure. Angiosperm seagrass blade morphologies similar to Thallasia testudinum are a good example of intrusive baffles. However, the physical construstion of the blades help avoid the sediment from staying settled on the blade, and the binding properties of the sub-substrate sediment physical/metabolic systems of the seagrass and the associated flora/fauna of the seagrass bed keep the seagrass at the vertical growth advantage, affording stability and necessary firmness.

The abrasive and recruitment-inhibitive properties of sediment particle sizes analogous to what is being described as causing the increased turbidity in Homer's water, and the "tan film" on his glass, are also worthy of note. Smothering and inhibition are present on reef based-platform flank subsidation, where, based on wind and current, where abrasion can become another factor in physical environment degradation.
Cheers,
Chris

[ 07-05-2001: Message edited by: galleon ]

[Scott Blackburn]

Yea, what he said.

[Alice]

Chris;

Put the Tremble down and back away....slowly

[Drew]

Put in some LR, that will help it to settle faster.

[Doug1]

OK, I wasnt gonna mention this but I heard from a reliable source tremble is a Mark Wiess product

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Doug1:
tremble is a Mark Wiess product

It's called "Reef Shudder" LOL

[galleon]

LOL. I guess it was a slow day yesterday.
Chris

[Triatik]

Thanks for everyone's reply. Like I said, for a new person, this information exchange is most helpful. I unplugged the return pump and my powerhead last night. this morning, it is a bit clearer. I will add some live rock this afternoon, about 20 lbs to start. Next week I have more live rock and some live sand coming. Thanks to all for helping me get started in this exciting new hobby!

Homer

[Doug1]

Seriously Chris, the insight on sediment composition was great, Jerel can you translate it for the new reefers(and senile admins)

[Alice]

Ok Chris; now that the house is quiet, let's see if I can get my brain wrapped around this one, lol.

Basically, the size of sediment/substrate in our tanks, if we're shooting for the fine "mud" that's being touted by several sources, just doesn't happen that often in the wild due to wind, current and what and how the sediment settles. I'm assuming that the fine stuff is bound up in the subtrate of the seagrass bed and under overhangs etc. and not out in the open reef/collection areas. Abrasion/erosion is a factor in the wild but not really in our tanks once the dust settles, so to speak.

Question: Even though the fine substrate may not be found in the collection area, is it not still desirable in our tanks to provide a good mini-ecosystem for the worms, 'pods and other infauna that are part of the waste processing in our tanks? Just from personal observation, my 55 which has a larger grain size (it has a plenum) does not have nearly the population count of infauna per area has does my 17 gallon nano that has a much finer substrate.

Also, "chlorozoan"? "Chloro" means yellow/green or deriving from plants and as "zoa" means animal, is this ground up pieces of stony corals?

~Alice

[Peter_]

Originally posted by Doug1:
OK, I wasnt gonna mention this but I heard from a reliable source tremble is a Mark Wiess product.

I thought trembles were those things that got aboard the Enterprise and subsequently began to multiply and wreak havoc.

That reminds me of another great Star Trek espisode:

The one where Kirk invites everyone over to his pad to check out his reef tank only to discover that his favorite clown fish has jumped out of the tank and onto the floor.

I'll never forget Kirk's face as McCoy bends over, places the salt shaker over the motionless fish and sadly states:

"He's dead, Jim."

I personally always felt the Klingons did it.

[ 07-06-2001: Message edited by: Peter ]

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Doug1:
Jerel can you translate it for the new reefers(and senile admins)

You're using the wrong size gravel and you don't have enough ebb and flow. LOL

>is this ground up pieces of stony corals?<

Si

[ 07-06-2001: Message edited by: landescaper ]