Tufa Waterfall Aquarium Biotope

[hydrophyte]

Tufa Waterfall Aquarium Biotope

Last fall I had an opportunity to visit a local tufa waterfall. In this very unique natural feature, new tufa rock forms where calcium and bicarbonate-enriched water tumbles down a cliff face. Water agitation causes rapid CO2 off-gassing, dropping pH and encouraging CaCO3 precipitation. This process is hastened further with dense growth of mosses and other organisms that strip additional CO2 via photosynthesis. The waterfall really was very impressive. We were there during a lunch hour and I didn't have a lot of time for photography, but I got a few quick photos.

Moss covered most of the waterfall, but where water dripped down at the base I found two different Green Algae as well as a fine Cyanobacteria crust.

With permission, I also collected a few small tufa rock, sediment and organism samples for this project. Here is the unidentified moss covering most of the tufa waterfall. This plant had an un-mosslike rough, sandpapery texture owing to the development of many CaCO3 crystals in its foliage.

I took a few botany classes in college, but never did venture into bryology. Does anybody have ID suggestions for this?

The tufa rock has a texture similar to that of the moss. I think you could consider this to be a kind of recently-formed Moss fossil.

Some microscopy images with 100x, 250x and 2500x magnification showing that Moss, a Green Alga and a Cyanobacterium.

The setup enclosure is a UNS 45S 5-gallon tank on top of an 80-20 stand I built with hidden corner brackets and some plastic parts cut out on the CNC router. The stand with this hardware seems just sturdy enough for this much weight. I would not put a larger tank on top without additional corner braces.

Thanks for reading!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
The moss may be a Cratoneuron spp <"https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/learning/species-finder/cratoneuron-filicinum">. They are common tufa forming mosses in the UK and occur across N. America

Cheers Darrel

 

[Tim Harrison]

Tufa Waterfall Aquarium Biotope

Last fall I had an opportunity to visit a local tufa waterfall. In this very unique natural feature, new tufa rock forms where calcium and bicarbonate-enriched water tumbles down a cliff face. Water agitation causes rapid CO2 off-gassing, dropping pH and encouraging CaCO3 precipitation. This process is hastened further with dense growth of mosses and other organisms that strip additional CO2 via photosynthesis. The waterfall really was very impressive. We were there during a lunch hour and I didn't have a lot of time for photography, but I got a few quick photos.

View attachment 214673

Moss covered most of the waterfall, but where water dripped down at the base I found two different Green Algae as well as a fine Cyanobacteria crust.

View attachment 214674

With permission, I also collected a few small tufa rock, sediment and organism samples for this project. Here is the unidentified moss covering most of the tufa waterfall. This plant had an un-mosslike rough, sandpapery texture owing to the development of many CaCO3 crystals in its foliage.

View attachment 214675

I took a few botany classes in college, but never did venture into bryology. Does anybody have ID suggestions for this?

The tufa rock has a texture similar to that of the moss. I think you could consider this to be a kind of recently-formed Moss fossil.

View attachment 214676

Some microscopy images with 100x, 250x and 2500x magnification showing that Moss, a Green Alga and a Cyanobacterium.

View attachment 214677

View attachment 214678

View attachment 214679

View attachment 214680

The setup enclosure is a UNS 45S 5-gallon tank on top of an 80-20 stand I built with hidden corner brackets and some plastic parts cut out on the CNC router. The stand with this hardware seems just sturdy enough for this much weight. I would not put a larger tank on top without additional corner braces.

View attachment 214681

Thanks for reading

Brilliant as usual. Looking forward to seeing where you go with this and learning more 🙂

 

[hydrophyte]

Hi all,
The moss may be a Cratoneuron spp <"https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/learning/species-finder/cratoneuron-filicinum">. They are common tufa forming mosses in the UK and occur across N. America

Cheers Darrel

Thanks for this tip! I've looked around a bit more and searches for tufa waterfall biota for the UK and Europe yield a lot more than for here.

Brilliant as usual. Looking forward to seeing where you go with this and learning more 🙂

Thanks!

Here's a couple pics in its more permanent spot and a water test. The waterfall feature is lava rock, which isn't exactly representative. But it was the right size and shape and I had it handy. It is very soft material that was easy to drill for the water connection and rod pegs. If I can get tufa development, it should be easy to see the tan CaCO3 against that dark gray.

The reactor setup is a Green Leaf Aquariums paintball regulator with cTech T-NANO and Kamoer pump + microcontroller. The plywood is temporary and I'll make a nicer HDPE mount plate when I get the hardware design resolved.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Thanks for this tip! I've looked around a bit more and searches for tufa waterfall biota for the UK and Europe yield a lot more than for here.

If it is Cratoneuron filicinum, the "leaf" (microphyll) should have a nerve (which I can see) and inflated basal cells.

cheers Darrel

 

[hydrophyte]

Hi all,

If it is Cratoneuron filicinum, the "leaf" (microphyll) should have a nerve (which I can see) and inflated basal cells.

View attachment 214689

cheers Darrel

I was going to ask you about ID characters. The next time I have the microscope out I'll prepare some better slides. There is also a second species that has more of a Cushion Moss form.

Above tank photos are from a couple of weeks ago. While turning everything on for the first time I surprisingly found the Made in Italy pump that runs the reactor to have a rather fast leak. The leak had nothing to do with the O-ring seal for the inline impeller cover, but was instead water coming right through the case and dripping from around the power cord. I contacted the seller who sent me a replacement pump, so I was able to get everything running a couple of nights ago.

The Kamoer pushes tank water into the reactor for 6 seconds once every 120 seconds. How long do you think the peristaltic tubing will last?

I had wondered about an additional enclosure hung on the wall with a line from the reactor and overflowing to the tank in order to moderate pH, but decided to instead put a cylinder glass vase right inside as a primary chamber. A planted tank drop checker will provide easy visual monitoring. After about five hours the 4dKH fluid was green but trending to yellow, so I turned the CO2 bubble rate down to only about 1 bubbles/5 seconds.

I'll need to work on tube and wire management. The underwater area also needs a sand substrate and hardscape. I might add underwater plants eventually, but the priority is to get the Moss and stuff growing on the waterfall. I haven't added those yet and instead want to get the setup running stable and with OK parameters. It's going to be a few days.

The water fall works well with a mini 5v pump pushing water to the top and trickling down the rock face in three separate streams. I wondered about splashing, but I don't see any of that.

After about three hours of operation, I completed tests for GH, KH (API titrant kits) and conductivity (digital TDS meter) comparing the field sample values with effluent directly from the reactor. I only have a high-range (7.4-8.8) test kit here. This returned 7.4 for the field sample, but a yellow color off the scale for the other three, so I don't list pH here. I'll probably just count on the drop checker for assessing pH.

Since the reactor was sitting quiet for a couple weeks with water and media inside, so I don't know to what degree this initial change reflects what might have been dissolving slowly inside versus the action of CO2 injection.

Field:

• GH - 19
• KH - 16
• TDS - 270

Effluent

• GH - 23
• KH - 18
• TDS - 307

Primary

• GH - 13
• KH - 12
• TDS - 188

Tank

• GH - 5
• KH - 3
• TDS - 47

 

[hydrophyte]

I got the Moss and Algae planted in here a week ago. I don't see much growth yet, but they look OK. They're still green. I'll try to share a photo update soon.

Meanwhile here's a pretty cool mechanism that should be a more durable option in comparison with a peristaltic pump for low-flow waterfalls and similar projects. It would need some kind of valve configuration for directional water flow.

 

[hydrophyte]

Day 16 Update.

Some of these things are responding. Requiring cooler temps, humidity and very clean water, wild mosses from my temperate climate area usually grow poorly indoors, but there is noticeable new green foliage on the possible Cratoneuron that I found covering most of the waterfall. This moss is also tightly adhering to the rock surface as it creeps along, which is nice to see. The pillow moss with less extent in situ, on the other hand, hasn't changed much. I also see little new growth from the hair algae Green Alga, but it is still present and green.

A few teaspoons of loose tufa sand material were also added to depressions in the lava stone. Interestingly, after just a week or so these coalesced with a jelly-like form that now appears to be Cyanobacteria extrapolymeric substances (EPS) mat. I think I see both brown and green Cyanobacteria growing and spreading from there.

I've added just a couple shots of aquarium plant NPK + traces fertilizers. I'm not testing for nutrients but instead just keeping an eye on the photosynthesizers. The calcium reactor runs for just five hours per day and it looks like this is adequate for this small water/setup volume.

So far this seems to be a viable proof-of-concept for configuring a CO2 calcium reactor to model groundwater for tufa waterfalls and other karst topography features, such as caves. It's too bad the manufacturer discontinued that cTech Nano reactor, but there are other options for comparable reactors available.

I will replace that white 1/4" tubing with black and hide it better. The line going to the reactor has some filter floss wrapped around it with a mini media bag and so does the 5v circulation pump. I just need to tuck that in back. I'll add sand and more stones underwater along with underwater plants eventually as well.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

but there is noticeable new green foliage on the possible Cratoneuron that I found covering most of the waterfall.

That is doing really well.

cheers Darrel