Weird Idea

[fishiee]

Just had a weird idea. It came to me when i was thinking about terrarriums (plants in bottles) and corals.

In theory:

What if we put a small mushroom coral (attatched o a little live rock) into a large jar filled with 1/4 with seawater

Cap the jar and make it airtight.

Leave the jar out in the sun (or any other light source)

So, what happens would be:

The mushroom coral would grow/survive because there is a light source

There would be no need for topping up water as the jar is airtight and water vapour cannot escape

There is no need for any equipment as the mushroom coral does not produce much waste

The mushroom coral will produce its own oxygen in the day and use it at night

So there we have it - a small marine aquarium that needs maintanance once every few months (change water add trace (elements, whatever).

(as for temperature: how bout we use 10 strong LED lights as a light source, anyone want to argue?)

So, any comments, i have not tried it out as i have no time (exams...wish me luck). Just a weird idea. Since all marine aquariums need so much money and time.

PS: i chose mushroom corals as they are hardy. if there are any oxygen problems, mabye we can add in pure oxygen to start off with and lets say in 1 months time, when the mushroom has used up most of its oxygen, we open the jar to do maintainace.

[yikai]

will nuisence algae grow? the water will also get stale because of lack of circulation right?

[ambystoma82]

ur method will never work out bro..

in the 1st place mushroom is nt a plant..

its a invertabre,. it dun produce oxygen regardless of at nite or morning..

2) u r actually boiling it under the sun light.. which is worse cus u capped it..

making it to boil faster if u got boil water b4...

they can only take up to 28-29degrees...

3)u just waste 1 live experimenting...

4)if anything tht kills it prob will b the temp. else y do LFS always packed their livestock with ice packs..

[yikai]

ur method will never work out bro..

in the 1st place mushroom is nt a plant..

its a invertabre,. it dun produce oxygen regardless of at nite or morning..

2) u r actually boiling it under the sun light.. which is worse cus u capped it..

making it to boil faster if u got boil water b4...

they can only take up to 28-29degrees...

3)u just waste 1 live experimenting...

4)if anything tht kills it prob will b the temp. else y do LFS always packed their livestock with ice packs..

yeaaaaaa totally forgot about the temperature too!

[hammy]

Just had a weird idea. It came to me when i was thinking about terrarriums (plants in bottles) and corals.

In theory:

What if we put a small mushroom coral (attatched o a little live rock) into a large jar filled with 1/4 with seawater

Cap the jar and make it airtight.

Leave the jar out in the sun (or any other light source)

So, what happens would be:

The mushroom coral would grow/survive because there is a light source

There would be no need for topping up water as the jar is airtight and water vapour cannot escape

There is no need for any equipment as the mushroom coral does not produce much waste

The mushroom coral will produce its own oxygen in the day and use it at night

So there we have it - a small marine aquarium that needs maintanance once every few months (change water add trace (elements, whatever).

(as for temperature: how bout we use 10 strong LED lights as a light source, anyone want to argue?)

So, any comments, i have not tried it out as i have no time (exams...wish me luck). Just a weird idea. Since all marine aquariums need so much money and time.

PS: i chose mushroom corals as they are hardy. if there are any oxygen problems, mabye we can add in pure oxygen to start off with and lets say in 1 months time, when the mushroom has used up most of its oxygen, we open the jar to do maintainace.

seriously i think if u try it out personally, i had this strong feeling that the mushroom can really last very long before it start to melt away... dun even need to leave it under sun. maybe just a indirect light source from ur house lighting will do.

it will be better if there is a way to circulate the water without heating the water. the mushroom will not thrieve, but i think it can really survive real long.

on a side note, i always think the mushroom or coral can photosynthesize and release oxygen because they contain algae.

Extracted from site:Through photosynthesis, zooxanthellae convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates. The coral polyp uses carbohydrates as a nutrient. The polyp also uses oxygen for respiration and in turns, returns carbon dioxide to the zooxanthella. Through this exchange, coral saves energy that would otherwise be used to eliminate the carbon dioxide.

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Coral/adaptcr.html

[ReDDeviLs]

also how fast will the O2 been produced finish using?

will it be used up faster then produced?

[Gouldian]

I think some have experimented using the same concept from the fresh water bio-orb, I can't seems to find it now. Will update if I manages to find.

[Gouldian]

I think some have experimented using the same concept from the fresh water bio-orb, I can't seems to find it now. Will update if I manages to find.

Just realized that there's a typo, should be Eco Sphere rather than Bio Orb.

Here's some read:

http://www.tropicalfishstore.com/Ecosphere.htm

http://www.abundantearth.com/store/ecosphere.html

HTH

[TayHongSiang]

you will have mushroom soup if put under the sun

[Vlamingi_cont]

seriously i think if u try it out personally, i had this strong feeling that the mushroom can really last very long before it start to melt away... dun even need to leave it under sun. maybe just a indirect light source from ur house lighting will do.

it will be better if there is a way to circulate the water without heating the water. the mushroom will not thrieve, but i think it can really survive real long.

on a side note, i always think the mushroom or coral can photosynthesize and release oxygen because they contain algae.

Extracted from site:Through photosynthesis, zooxanthellae convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates. The coral polyp uses carbohydrates as a nutrient. The polyp also uses oxygen for respiration and in turns, returns carbon dioxide to the zooxanthella. Through this exchange, coral saves energy that would otherwise be used to eliminate the carbon dioxide.

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Coral/adaptcr.html

Same here...

[yikai]

you will have mushroom soup if put under the sun

HAHAHAA OMG ah siang ah siang. u are dam funny. mushroom soup XD

[Vlamingi_cont]

HAHAHAA OMG ah siang ah siang. u are dam funny. mushroom soup XD

I'm sure i wun want to drink tat...

[VelvetAirwaves]

thinking from a bio point of view , theoretically , if the oxygen produced is enough to sustain the coral from an indirect lightsource (taking into account this is probably a metal mushroom of some sort which dosent die under heat), yeah why not?

lol joking la cannot one la , dude , 1 the algae sure grow until you bin che che , 2 theres no metal mushroom , 3 the mushroom coral needs like alot and i mean ALOT of zooxanthellae bact to produce enough oxygen for itself and the bacteria. lol the bacteria also need oxygen right.

tho , i aplaud the idea , lol imagine if it were feasible , sure got new fad in town , coral in a bottle (oh man that rhymes )

[cdckjn]

as a science person, a mushroom coral is not a plant, it will need more than just sunlight to sustain itself. It will require nutrients, yes although the algae living in the mushroom coral does gives it food and stuff, but once the coral dies, the whole system will crash. A mushroom coral is actually a life form where two life form work together for each other benefits.

The next thing is that as the sea water evaporates, the salinity will increase until a point it may be too high. The condensation will then slowly flow back down to mix into the sea water again.

The point is that the algae growth on the sides will slowly turn the whole jar into a green mess. The bacteria in the live rock not getting sunlight will die and then in time the whole time will crash. Point here is when is the interval we must go and do the water change - how many % of water we change 100%? or 50%?

We can try but like the other saying it is a waste of a life form to test this. Perhaps you can try and document it well with pictures and dates so that we know how long these things can survive.

I know for one there is a marine biosphere in the Singapore Science Centre with a sea fan, shrimps and stuff that is surviving without water change for like years now. So the theory is that it can work. Perhaps instead of 1/4 of the jar filled with only sea water, go to about 1/2 of the jar filled with seawater, this will also allow more water to take the increase in the temperature. The jar should be placed not in direct sunlight but rather in a well-shaded area with perhaps 4 hours of good sunlight.

Sounds like a nice simple science experiment.

[cdckjn]

Some resources

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2005/12/h..._diy_scien.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpa_B3cnpjg...feature=related

give these links a try!

[johntanjm]

i think keep the jar in air con room but under direct sunlight might be an idea.