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"Natural" Filtration

MadReefer

MadReefer

Vice President
Staff member
NJRC Member
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I saw some nice looking flame scallops and almost picked up two but changed my mind.
 
radiata

radiata

NJRC Member
Wilson said:
Not sure which coast my oysters hail from. Would be interested though. If those shells could talk, the stories they would tell.
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Do you remember the common name of the oysters you picked up? Metropolitan Seafood Gourmet has their availability list broken down by East and West Coasts.
 
radiata

radiata

NJRC Member
Wilson said:
1 of the oysters definitely didn't make it, but I suspect he wasn't alive when I got him. They're sold on a bed of ice, so it's hard to tell whose alive. But the CuC cleaned him up good.
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I recollect seeing something that said you could tell the dead ones from the live ones by listening to how it sounded when you tapped two together. YMMV...
 
radiata

radiata

NJRC Member
paintman27 said:
Not sure, I'm just going by what my eye is telling me. I do run carbon but it just seems as if the water was clearer after the additon of the oysters. I think the ones in my sump are doing most of the work as the ones in the tank stay closed when the snails and crabs are walking on them. However, all of them do in fact open many times over the course of the day.
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Have you noticed any drop in your skimmer's skimmate production? I can't offer any metrics, but it seems to me that my skimmate production has declined.
 
E

ericrodriguez

NJRC Member
I was doing watching some videos yesterday and yes they could even take small amount of nitrates or phosphates plus clearing the water a bit as well.. in getting a few today and hide it behind the rock work
 
P

paintman27

radiata said:
Have you noticed any drop in your skimmer's skimmate production? I can't offer any metrics, but it seems to me that my skimmate production has declined.
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Now that you mention it, yes my collection cup does seem to be a little lighter in color. But again I am only going by what my eyes tell me. I have a reefoctopus 3000 external so I do skim pretty hard. About once a week I turn off the skimmer and dose some oyster feast. Within a couple of minutes the oysters open up and start eating.
 
P

paintman27

Cool video! I wonder if Clams and oysters only filter out what they specificaly need for their diet, or do they completely polish the water? I'm sure PaulB knows the answer. I think what would be cool is to have a sump designed for natural filtration. Another words have different chambers for say oysters /clams and then have the water go through a fuge area with cheats, and then maybe some kind of mangrove forest with miracle mud.
Just think of all the money you ccould save by not buying all the gidgets and gadgets like skimmers and reactors etc etc.. Plus the electric savings. Hmmmmmmm

P.S. I am curently running a 40watt Pentair UV on my tank. Not sure why though. LOL!
 
W

Wilson

UV sterilizers uses the UV radiation
to mutate the pathogen, parasite or algae so it is unable to reproduce, thereby reducing it's population in the tank over time. I just got one too, for my new build, primarily for polishing the water. Plan on running a few hours a day, haven't given it much thought yet.

Filter feeders feed on the microorganisms, so I could see a UV, or other devices starving out something like a clam, if the water is too clean.

There is a reefer in Manhattan that got a 15 inch (or something crazy like that) clam. After adding that, his skimmer was pulling nothing, eventually took out the skimmer. It was very cool. But that's one of them fancy pretty clams, not these quahogs from Barnegat Bay.

Only problem he had with it was when the clam got startled, it would close up, and the amount of water it pushed out when closing, was like 2 gallons of water splashing out the tank. So now it's in its own tank, everything plumbed together.
 
M

mickeysreef <*))))<

NJRC Member
Wilson said:
UV sterilizers uses the UV radiation
to mutate the pathogen, parasite or algae so it is unable to reproduce, thereby reducing it's population in the tank over time. I just got one too, for my new build, primarily for polishing the water. Plan on running a few hours a day, haven't given it much thought yet.

Filter feeders feed on the microorganisms, so I could see a UV, or other devices starving out something like a clam, if the water is too clean.

There is a reefer in Manhattan that got a 15 inch (or something crazy like that) clam. After adding that, his skimmer was pulling nothing, eventually took out the skimmer. It was very cool. But that's one of them fancy pretty clams, not these quahogs from Barnegat Bay.

Only problem he had with it was when the clam got startled, it would close up, and the amount of water it pushed out when closing, was like 2 gallons of water splashing out the tank. So now it's in its own tank, everything plumbed together.
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sold. looking to order a small one now for my 29 haha. the fancy ones though, not the barnegat bay style. but i bet just a bunch of ordinary clams buried in the sand would do a good job too. or are those less of water polishers and more of sand microfauna eaters? i know when we go clamming they are full of sand.
 
W

Wilson

mickey said:
sold. looking to order a small one now for my 29 haha. the fancy ones though, not the barnegat bay style. but i bet just a bunch of ordinary clams buried in the sand would do a good job too. or are those less of water polishers and more of sand microfauna eaters? i know when we go clamming they are full of sand.
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I believe clams are filter feeders by pumping water through them as well, not necessarily microfauna. They have no hunting capabilities, just whatever water flows through.

Perfect unseen heroes under the sand or in the sump honestly. No lighting requirements since they're non photosynthetic.

Also, clamps is as fancy as any deresa clam.
20210201_114931.jpg
 
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DangerDave

DangerDave

NJRC Member
Wilson said:
I believe clams are filter feeders by pumping water through them as well, not necessarily microfauna. They have no hunting capabilities, just whatever water flows through.

Perfect unseen heroes under the sand or in the sump honestly. No lighting requirements since they're non photosynthetic.

Also, clamps is as fancy as any deresa clam.
View attachment 35021
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Haha a clamps reference!

E05D7C25-8BA2-4AF0-BADF-8F052F449099.jpeg
 
P

paintman27

It would be interesting to know how much biproduct the oysters produce. I mean they are a living organism so I am assuming they produce some kind of waste.
 
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