Video of my marine biology work

[brandon429]

I have wanted to review these ecosystems with other biologists for a while now, usually we just stay on aquarium web sites and just now I found yours. enjoyed reading through the threads and seeing the depth of the discussion, really great place.

there is about 10 years dedication into microhabitat study behind these systems shown in the vid, hope you can see that detail if you got a spare 10 mins. With these microhabitats I collect data on:

-plankton support and consistency in micro marine habitats
-waste water measurements related to calcification rates of stony coral in micro marine habitats
-nematocyst ejection triggers and their presence in the water column (very sparse btw considering)
-allelopathic studies through direct observation...which coral melts which coral> data on sensitization of coral nettling among high coral densities/niche competition
-temperature trends in relation to calcification rates of scleractinians
-nitrogen processing abilities
-benthic life population data
-algal community sampling and population data

if a shade tree biologist could proclaim a life's work, this would be mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XOsitYhihc

[brandon429]

a pic to set the scale of the model

[lisab]

Wow, very cool stuff, brandon, really amazing! I know nothing about aquariums but I love observing marine life. My home computer can't stream the video very well :grumpy:, so I'll have to watch it tomorrow at work.

Did you collect the specimens while diving?

[vwishndaetr]

Amazing. No biology experience here, but that is great, committed work.

[brandon429]

thank you very much it does take a lot of planning to run them but the water changes are fast so its not too time consuming

[Monique]

That's amazing, those tanks are beautiful. I've never seen microhabitats like this, like lisab I'm also curious where you get the specimens (somewhere you mentioned an unfortunate hitchhiker). Why do you have a CO2 tank hooked up to the system?

[brandon429]

thanky you both for stopping in!

since the screen shots are just fades among different tanks I've had, it gets a little confusing. the co2 is just for the planted tank although it sat behind the reefs at one time in a different house.

thank you for checking them out, what makes them different is that you won't find them in any biology display, at any school because they are one of a kind. I stumbled across the balance for the system a while ago and my friends on the web in forums like this have been helping me hone the micro-biology for these

The specimens come from aquarium shops and are 90% aquacultured, meaning grown in other tanks, so I dont' have to feel bad about stripping the environment. the live rock however is wild, so that would be the 10% portion against the aquacultured...

the main reason other systems like these don't exist is because people have noted that salinity shifts in ultra small marine habitats make keeping them a hassle, so all I did was seal it up and pump the oxygen from within...the refugium/plant growth area in the tiny square tank makes the oxygen for the whole setup, and scrubs the co2 produced during the night respiration cycle

nice to meet you
b

[brandon429]

wanted to add these pics I took off a thread posted in like 2003

[brandon429]

and these were the original drawings for design from y2k