- Joined
- Sep 27, 2006
- Messages
- 22
Hello to everyone, I apologize for the long lag...
Many of you were so generously willing to provide your aquaculture insights and opinions on a potential thesis project involving cephalopods taking place next year here at Middlebury College. I just wanted to report back and thank everyone again for their support and knowledge! Since our last post, we've put together two 125 gallon tanks, a 75 gallon sump, that includes multiple filter pads, activated carbon filtration, and a terminator II "in sump" protein skimmer. We're running around 2400 GPH back up to the tanks (probably more like 21-2000 if I understand the "leveling-off" behavior of pumps. After spending the better part of 2 weeks fighting with the PVC monster, we've managed to build a system I feel can support life...(knock on wood). Anyways, after around 150 lbs of live sand and ~4 boxes of live rock, here we are, sitting somewhere between the ammonia spike and our completion of the nitrogen cycle. The tanks have been up and running smoothly (knock on wood...again) for around 3 weeks now. I'll send some pictures along once I have time to sort through and compress their massive filesize..We've fabricated plastic partitions that will be permeable to the water, but not allow our eight-legged friends to pass through (knock on wood ^2). While our final ceph-proofing stage is yet to be completed (college living is way easier in the summer), we're expecting to get our first animals in mid-late July/early August.
Now that we really need to get our acts together and hit the primary literature, I was just wondering if any TONMO'rs knew of any current research that might be interested in some collaborative work, or if any researchers out there had any insight into our species choice. I just got off the phone with the nice people at the NRCC, and they mentioned that very little work has been done on a hobby-favorite cuttlefish (species name escaping me right now), and that these seem to be more "consistent" than octo's....should we consider working with these guys as opposed to the Bimac's we're currently aiming for? Willing and erudite researchers, any words of wisdom before we place orders for live animals this summer?
Thanks so much for all of your help, this project wouldn't be possible without TONMO!
-Carey
Many of you were so generously willing to provide your aquaculture insights and opinions on a potential thesis project involving cephalopods taking place next year here at Middlebury College. I just wanted to report back and thank everyone again for their support and knowledge! Since our last post, we've put together two 125 gallon tanks, a 75 gallon sump, that includes multiple filter pads, activated carbon filtration, and a terminator II "in sump" protein skimmer. We're running around 2400 GPH back up to the tanks (probably more like 21-2000 if I understand the "leveling-off" behavior of pumps. After spending the better part of 2 weeks fighting with the PVC monster, we've managed to build a system I feel can support life...(knock on wood). Anyways, after around 150 lbs of live sand and ~4 boxes of live rock, here we are, sitting somewhere between the ammonia spike and our completion of the nitrogen cycle. The tanks have been up and running smoothly (knock on wood...again) for around 3 weeks now. I'll send some pictures along once I have time to sort through and compress their massive filesize..We've fabricated plastic partitions that will be permeable to the water, but not allow our eight-legged friends to pass through (knock on wood ^2). While our final ceph-proofing stage is yet to be completed (college living is way easier in the summer), we're expecting to get our first animals in mid-late July/early August.
Now that we really need to get our acts together and hit the primary literature, I was just wondering if any TONMO'rs knew of any current research that might be interested in some collaborative work, or if any researchers out there had any insight into our species choice. I just got off the phone with the nice people at the NRCC, and they mentioned that very little work has been done on a hobby-favorite cuttlefish (species name escaping me right now), and that these seem to be more "consistent" than octo's....should we consider working with these guys as opposed to the Bimac's we're currently aiming for? Willing and erudite researchers, any words of wisdom before we place orders for live animals this summer?
Thanks so much for all of your help, this project wouldn't be possible without TONMO!
-Carey