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Ever turn off your pumps?

Paul B

NJRC Member
Do you guys ever turn off your pumps? That is my favorite time to watch my fish. I turn off the pumps to feed and sometimes I leave them off for an hour or two just to watch the "creatures" come out. You see tiny brittle star arms and spaghetti worms waving in the still water. Then you see speedy pods flying to the surface trying to outrun the fish that can see them now that the current stopped. The corals grow much larger with no flow, I guess it annoys them, or maybe it relaxes them. I will have to ask them. :worried:

I also enjoy watching the polyps on the SPS stretch out loking for food that does not get to them in a still tank. The snails come alive, I would imagine they can get a clearer idea as to where their food is without the water churning all over the place. The crabs also have an easier time honing in on a meal with no current. In the sea they can follow the scent to a meal but in a tank the water is mixed and the scents come from all directions, confusing them. Snails and crabs have an excellent sense of smell. Just turn off the pumps and put some pellets in the tank. They will head straight for it.
OK back to pod watching

PS I dosed some iron today, there is no algae at all in there except in my algae trough (which is full)and I really don't find the tank really healthy with no algae.
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My pump goes off at feeding time but my koralia stays on when I broadcast feed.

If I decide to target feed, both go off.
 
Love the bottle in the reef tank .... So you went for the Australian look eh ?? ;D. I also turn my pumps off for one hour, about an hour after lights out. Not for looking at the fishes, but for the corals to acclimitise to the time of feeding.
 

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I love turning off my main pump to feed before the food goes into the overflow, but I hate the mess that it makes when I start it back up. I wish there was a way to clean the pipes coming from the basement :-\

I also like the reflection you get off of the top water surface . Like a mirror
Taz
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
Gogol you like bottles, I got them all over the place, it's more like a New York dump biotope :eek:

Tazmaniancowboy, I don't get any mess when I turn on pumps. Maybe the tank is not old enough ::)

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I like different ... very cool idea with the bottles.Dont you risk fishes gettting stuck ?? Or are the cut open on both ends?
 
... you know what will really set the mood (of the inhabitants) ... if you dose seagull poop. Heaven knows what sort of nutrients that will export and what flora/fauna it will grow ;D

But you should go the whole nine yards then. Build a wooden structure that will allow enough light through its holes and would look like the legs of a pier (as seen from under the water). I have seen an aquarium in NJ state aquarium designed like that. It does have a different appeal. Needless to say your aquarium will primarily become a FOWLR in that case. But you can grow interesting things like barnacles on the pier legs.
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
you know what will really set the mood (of the inhabitants) ... if you dose seagull poop

Seagull Poop is easy, guess what that white stuff is on the roof of this lighthouse in the Sound?

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