Aku's Kreisel Eggs

[sedna]

This is my second attempt at a homemade "kreisel" tank. My first attempt was over powered and overkill. I decided one large side is better than 2 smaller cubes, even if the math was prettier the other way (oh, the trials of being married to an engineer).

Using a 35 gal acrylic tank (the 1st tank I got with my own $, I worked a whole summer at the "Chicken Coop" frying chicken and shrimp at the tender age of 15 for this baby) I glued a plexiglass panel into one end. The panel had a hole cut out of the center with a piece of filter sock over it so that I could place a power head into the smaller chamber without the babies getting in. I also glued 2 more pieces of plexiglass into the bottom corners of the larger side of the tank, so that the bottom corners have been replaced with angled sides. I retrieved my old Sea Clone from the pile of papers it was holding down and using just the power head and tubing was able to put the intake on the smaller side of the tank and the outflow into the babies' side. I then attached a pvc tube with holes drilled into it onto the outflow tube. I also took the flow regulator from another old power head so that I could adjust the rate of outflow. The result (theoretically) is a tank that has one side housing live rock, a heater, an air stone and the power head. On the other side a circular flow is (sort of) achieved by the low flow being directed by the angled panels. If I wanted to, I could probably figure out some way to set up a filter on the "safe" side, but I'll keep you posted on that one!

I am going to keep most things the same between the two tanks as far as clipping macroalgaes to the sides, the feeding routine and schedules, lighting, etc.

MESSAGE TO ALL VISITING THIS FRINGE OF OUR FRINGE:

If you can think of things to try differently between these 2 experiments, let me know! I just happen to be the one with the livestock at the moment, but I sure don't have all the best ideas!!!

 

[DWhatley]

OK, now I know about the Kressel (see parent tank comment), what about Aku?

 

[sedna]

Kreisel down

Well yesterday (1-3-09) I took the kreisel tank down. I only put 20- 30 babies in there because I wasn't positive that my glue job was thorough enough. I used aquarium sealant for the job which works well, but it was my first ever time using a a calking gun, and the smaller side is a very tight space. You can't tell how well you did until you fill the tank with babies...

By yesterday there were 7 babies alive in the tank- I expected a high die off rate no matter what, but I could see that the babies were getting into the smaller side of the tank somehow. I saw one get pulled though the power head and shoot out of the tube in the larger side- like the flume ride from ceph hell. It was still alive, though! It's kind of funny when they go fast and out of control, they fire up the chromataphores and turn dark red and are easy to keep track of til they settle down and go clear again. The really bad thing was that some babies were able to get into one of the triangular chambers- if these sections aren't totally sealed off and the babies get in there and die you can't clean them out and the water Q goes down fast.

This tank has a black back and in the window where I'd placed it, it would absorb more heat than I can control during the day. The temp was fluctuating between 77F and 82F in a 24 hr period. It was a slow up and down change through the day, but still a big shift for those little guys.

The good news is that the water quality was all spot on (nitrates and "ites" at 0, ammonia at 0). Except for my calk job, this tank worked well- it gave the intended flow and was easy to control. Once again, using parts from old equipment it was cheap and easy to be creative- eventually all this experimenting will pay off somehow!

I will try this tank again next time (hopefully not so soon, though). I will frost the aquarium sealant on THICK! I think I'll try to find space in the basement, though, for both greater temperature and light control. I'd like to try blacking out all of the sides and light from only above as some of the researches in the Iglesias trial reported.