A Huge Problem IMO as to why tanks crash and we have so many problems with just about everything.

[Paul B]

Majority of ingredients I've read hobbyists include in their mix is fish fillets, prawns/shrimps, squid, scallops and clams. Plus the typical packaged nutrients like selcon and spirulina etc

Clams are all you need. No Selcon, spirulina or anything else.

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

The seafood I get in a seafood market or supermarket where supermodels shop.
The mud I pick up here.


Or under these mud snails.


In this tide pool


This tide pool


Or I use sand from here.

You’re lucky, All I’ve got to work with is nasty river and lake sludge

 

[Paul B]

Luck had nothing to do with it. I looked at a picture of the Earth, and decided to move near the sea.

 

[NDIrish]

The seafood I get in a seafood market or supermarket where supermodels shop.
The mud I pick up here.


Or under these mud snails.


In this tide pool


This tide pool


Or I use sand from here.

If covid doesn't change our plans, we are going to Florida the end of August. I'm planning on taking small containers to get little sand and mud to put into the rubble part of my sump. Also going to try and get about 5 gals of NSW water.
When I first setup my tank I had ordered some mud and sand from Florida and put into my sump.

 

[NDIrish]

Clams are all you need. No Selcon, spirulina or anything else.

Found a place near me that sells fresh clams. Going to go and pick up a couple to add to my fish food.

 

[Aqua Man]

Oysters are also a filter feeder. Would Oysters be a good alternative to Clams? Over here on the west coast Oysters are More abundant than clams.

Oregon coastal waters are much colder than where my livestock comes from. Although I’ve wondered if I could still collect mud for the bacteria. Atlantic is just as cold as the Pacific some parts of the year. So it seems that it would work out. What’s your thoughts? your posts are always thought provoking!! Thank you! @Paul B

 

[NashobaTek]

Oysters are also a filter feeder. Would Oysters be a good alternative to Clams? Over here on the west coast Oysters are More abundant than clams.

Oregon coastal waters are much colder than where my livestock comes from. Although I’ve wondered if I could still collect mud for the bacteria. Atlantic is just as cold as the Pacific some parts of the year. So it seems that it would work out. What’s your thoughts? your posts are always thought provoking!! Thank you! @Paul B

I have a friend who is on the Oregon coast and I asked her to send me some mud and such, but she's worried about how dirty the coast is. So I doubt if she'll send me any mud.

 

[Starkrost]

I know I'm late to this party but HEAR HEAR!! A great article, Paul! Sometimes I feel silently chastised on some forums because I don't have a pristine tank. And I have bacteria and parasites and good and bad hitchhikers. But my end goal is to have a biologically balanced tank without human "interference" as much as possible. A little tweak here and there, scrape the front glass so I can actually see everybody try to place corals where they were happiest in their natural environment. But, for the most part, I follow Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest.

 

[Paul B]

Oregon coastal waters are much colder than where my livestock comes from.

Here is where I collect water and mud. Is your water much colder than this?

 

[Starkrost]

Here is where I collect water and mud. Is your water much colder than this?

Looks like Michigan (just add salt)

 

[NashobaTek]

Nope don't think so. It's about the same

 

[Paul B]

Looks like Michigan (just add salt)

That is salt water in the Long Island Sound near the back of my house.

 

[Paul B]

Oysters are as good as clams

 

[Tristren]

Patientman. this is not going to change anything and nothing is new. Many of us Geezers have been running our tanks like this since the hobby started. The internet changed everything because now we have so much information and even if much or most of it is wrong, there are no fact checkers and even though people continue to kill thousands or millions of fish then get out of the hobby where Noobs come in and start all over again. Information, even if wrong keeps getting re hashed which is why people still add coral banded shrimp to eliminate ich or change water to control algae.

How many tanks out of the hundreds of thousands of tanks that were started even ten years ago are still running?

Very few I would imagine and that is not even the lifespan of a hermit crab.
We can't even tell if our tank method is successful if we don't even complete the lifespan of a little crab, much less a fish.

This pair lived about 12 years.


These little octopus hatched out in a spare tank.

Ok, I would like to hear more about the baby Octopi!


Tony

 

[Paul B]

The octopi were really cool. They would tackle an adult brine shrimp, which were about the same size as them and as they fought, the little octopi would ink. A little cloud of ink would engulf them during the rumble.

Unfortunately I wasn't prepared to raise them as that was many years ago. Very cool creatures.
The Mother dies a short while after the babies hatch.

 

[Rybren]

Paul, when you feed your fish clams, I assume that you also give them a little wine. Being of Italian descent, I assume that they drink Chianti, but it may be a little dry and could change the salinity. A nice Merlot might work. Perhaps you give them something else altogether. Maybe a white wine so that it won't affect the colour of the tank.
-Jerry

 

[JohnGP]

Great article PaulB, thank you! I'm going to have to order your book, I would love to read it but would like a signed copy, are they available on Amazon?

I've been keeping SW tanks off and on for a long time as well but not as long as you. I used to work for a Zoo(Reptile/Aquatic wing) on the coast and we kept our tanks in a similar fashion as you, we even ran RUGF's on most of our tanks. We would bring sand/mud from the ocean and use that as well as fresh food from the sea. We were lucky as we had several Shrimpers that would call us when they were headed in and we'd meet them at the dock and pick through their bycatch for specimens for our tanks as well as fresh food. Seeing what those guys drag up is awesome, lots of good stuff.

To this day I still somewhat follow this method as it's what has always worked for me. Though my most recent tank is only a few months old I started it with a mix of dry rock and Caribsea Life Rock rather than live rock and I followed along as I have in the past; natural sand mixed with store bought, tons of snails, bugs oyster shell clumps and so on and it's doing fantastic. I do add a few additives such as NO3, PO4, FE because my refugium strips the tank bare of those nutrients. We go to the coast often and I sometimes bring back a ziplock bag or two full of sand/mud/muck and put it in my tank and refugium. I also grab a few dead oyster clumps and rocks covered with algae and drop them in my tank(even have a live oyster in there too!) and man will you see some happy fish and inverts! They feed off of those rocks for a couple weeks until they're stripped bare and then I return them to the ocean and bring back more of the same. In the past I have on occasion gotten a hitch hiker I didn't want doing this but usually I can catch him sooner or later.

I have access to live Oysters and have found that fish absolutely LOVE fresh Oysters! I split a live one open, chop him up and feed him, guts and all, to the tank and they love it. Fresh fish, again, guts and all same deal. I think it's sort of the same deal with you feeding fresh clams, they need those nutrients, all of them not just fresh sterile meat. Recently came back with several pounds of fresh just caught head on shrimp. As we were cleaning them I'd pop a head off a shrimp and take it over to my tank and squeeze the goo right into the tank, fish love that and eat it up. I always try and save a couple in the freezer for snacks later on but they don't seem to keep too well for very long.

So, let's say that theoretically, you lived near the ocean, and could, again in theory, scoop up some "real" live sand instead of paying $$$$ for bags of the stuff from the store... would you? I mean, is that even legal (some of those beaches pay good money to keep their sand in place)?

Also, would you theoretically keep doing so a secret so as to not be flamed into oblivion by other reef2reefers? ;Blackeye

I do exactly that but not tablespoons, I bring one or two 1 gallon ziplock bags full back but have to periodically remove some sand as it stacks up fast. I bring the removed sand with me next time I head to the coast and return it to the sea. My Sleeper Goby goes absolutely nuts with this sand, looks like a sand storm in my tank when he starts sifting!

 

[Paul B]

Rybren, lately they prefer Pino Noir.

John, you don't need my book because you do everything I feel is the total right way to do it.
They are on Amazon, the link is under here. But I don't have any so for me to sign it, I would have to go to your house or you would have to have to mail it to me as they don't give me any and I have to pay the same price as you do. Maybe more.

 

[creativeballance]

Rybren, lately they prefer Pino Noir.

John, you don't need my book because you do everything I feel is the total right way to do it.
They are on Amazon, the link is under here. But I don't have any so for me to sign it, I would have to go to your house or you would have to have to mail it to me as they don't give me any and I have to pay the same price as you do. Maybe more.

I think the link isnt there, or maybe I'm blind?

Can you repost please?

 

[Paul B]

Are you sure it isn't there? Maybe it's only on my computer.
So under my posts you don't see a link to the book? Interesting.

They let me put it here because I don't get anything from the book. 100% of the profits go to Multiple Sclerosis research.

Lately, probably due to the virus they have been flying off the shelves and people are getting mad at me because they have to cut down most of the rain forest to keep copies coming.
They have resorted to buying particle board at Home Depot to make paper so they can print more books because I wright just like Edgar Allen Poe and he doesn't even have a reef tank, just a fish only and I understand it always has ich.

Amazon product