Approximating and Maintaining Water Chemistry of a Meromictic Lake

[hydrophyte]

Hi all,

I'm expecting Mono Lake now <"Tufa">.

cheers Darrel

This other project is intended to grow tufa, though it will represent a different kind of ecosystem. It needs a lot more work. I have to get the calcium reactor running and resolve the water circulation too...

 

[hydrophyte]

Starting to see signs of life...

I've had the samples from the lake in this same small 6G tank with the latest updated salt mix. Aside from a few 5ml capfuls of BG-11 medium I haven't given it much attention. But there is activity with organisms starting to grow on the substrates...





I need to think some more about an aquascape tank setup. My current favorite idea is a flat limestone slab filling most of the horizontal space just beneath the water surface in a broad and shallow aquarium. Reef aquarium mortar mix might be useful for building and securing a structure like that.

Also got around to some more microscopy. My economy brightfield microscope is OK for viewing these pigmented photosynthetic organisms...



Filamentous Cyanobacteria and benthic Diatoms are present. I believe the darker green oval shapes to be the benthic Synechococcus Cyanobacteria implicated in the lake reef formation and I'm pleased to see them in there!..





At much lower magnification I also got a view of the developing filamentous Green Alga. Anybody have in idea what this might be?..

 

[hydrophyte]

Finally some more progress...

I spent hours looking at rocks on the Internet and over by the lake. Frustrating! But then it finally occurred to me to try a local landscaping supplier where I found this really nicely contoured sandstone outcrop slab...



I think this is prefect. Here's one of the shots of Deadman's Point in Green Lake from the collection day in September. You can't see much of the microbialite reef structure, but it visible as a shallow ledge projecting out into the lake...



I hope I might get a chance to snorkel there one day and get some additional underwater photos.

Tank with water and aragonite sand...



I really like this shallow 24" X 24" configuration. This is only about 16 gallons, basically a nano tank, but the broad footprint creates the impression of a much more expansive setup and it provides an excellent view from above...



Lastly here's a day-72 update for the culture tank. I haven't poked at it too much, but it definitely looks as though a CaCO3 crust is developing with the Synechococcus Cyanobacteria and benthic Diatoms growing on the beer bottle. Also present are two different filamentous Green Algae...