My Coastal Inspired 55G long - Softies, Sponges, Macros and Worms

[PeterLL]

So time for a FTS as there's been some change.
First I removed the hood and I love it - feels so much more open.
Further added some Algae's - brachypus out front and some Gracilaria species (Although my Mexican turbos having munched on them > )

That big floss filter in the top right - hopefully it FINALLY clears the bits in the water.

Here's my goby amongst some of the new brachypus:

I had some interesting activity from the fridmani's and saw the female guarding some eggs:


Fun Fact Time: Feather dusters not only look for food with their crown. They also capture sediment such as sand, which is than transported through the worms body, and is used to help build their tube. You can see the new worms build from where it was added to my tank with fine sand, and the old tube from when it was kept in a bare-bottom tank in the local fish store.

Finally, my acropora.
They are the backbones of reefs. They protect our coastlines withstanding waves, storms, floods and tsunamis. And then there's mine, who had a branch broken off by catching on a mexican turbo snail as it slithered passed.

 

[najer]

Very nice, I love when people are brave enough to try brachypus, fishnip for tangs here so I grow it out in my refugium.

 

[Casket_Case]

As always, incredible dude. I love the Brachypus! I’ve never heard of it but it’s absolutely beautiful. That’s lit with the Fridmanis spawning

 

[PeterLL]

Thank you fellas, they mean a lot
Side note, I think I now have a dilemma. My beloved, mexican turbo who has been with me years, or my macro algae's. He's munched through about 60 quid's worth and it's clear he's not going to let any grow. Look's like I will have to find him a new home . Getting sentimental over a snail

 

[Casket_Case]

Thank you fellas, they mean a lot
Side note, I think I now have a dilemma. My beloved, mexican turbo who has been with me years, or my macro algae's. He's munched through about 60 quid's worth and it's clear he's not going to let any grow. Look's like I will have to find him a new home . Getting sentimental over a snail

I get sentimental over hermit crabs
As an American the only reason I know what quid means is a song by an English grunge punk band XD

 

[najer]

Thank you fellas, they mean a lot
Side note, I think I now have a dilemma. My beloved, mexican turbo who has been with me years, or my macro algae's. He's munched through about 60 quid's worth and it's clear he's not going to let any grow. Look's like I will have to find him a new home . Getting sentimental over a snail

No it's not, the oldest creature in my big tank is an astrea snail, a hitch hiker about 8 years ago, I'd be gutted if I lost it!
My lfs has a marine biologist that works there part time, he hand picked me four macro frags at TMC, 4 inch plus pieces, came down to four clean bits of rubble the following morning! ;Facepalm

 

[PeterLL]

I get sentimental over hermit crabs
As an American the only reason I know what quid means is a song by an English grunge punk band XD

I think it's a good thing, shows we care...right?

No it's not, the oldest creature in my big tank is an astrea snail, a hitch hiker about 8 years ago, I'd be gutted if I lost it!
My lfs has a marine biologist that works there part time, he hand picked me four macro frags at TMC, 4 inch plus pieces, came down to four clean bits of rubble the following morning! ;Facepalm

Don't say that I've got 5 astrea's too ;Blackeye. I'm well jealous of the TMC contact though what kind of macro algae's were they? New species are a huge struggle atm and know a few people who would go a bit mental over some new species.

 

[najer]

I think it's a good thing, shows we care...right?

Don't say that I've got 5 astrea's too ;Blackeye. I'm well jealous of the TMC contact though what kind of macro algae's were they? New species are a huge struggle atm and know a few people who would go a bit mental over some new species.

It was a while ago but red and green grape, dragons breath and a couple of others.

 

[Boxfish]

What light are you using now? Tank looks great, I also like the non windex color reefs!

 

[Casket_Case]

I think it's a good thing, shows we care...right?

Don't say that I've got 5 astrea's too ;Blackeye. I'm well jealous of the TMC contact though what kind of macro algae's were they? New species are a huge struggle atm and know a few people who would go a bit mental over some new species.

1.) I’m really sorry I have no idea why your notifications are muted but they are for some reason.
2.) Can we get an update?

 

[PeterLL]

New Stuff
Like with any good update, I'll show off my new stuff. Since my last update, I have managed to get my hands on 3 new gorgonians, after almost religiously checking TMC's website for them, they finally had got some interesting species in:


Menella sp (Golden Polyp's on the left) and Pterogorgia anceps (The tall gorgonian on the right)

I also managed to get a Plexaurella sp in, although it was a relatively 2D, and 90 degree to the glass so it is hard to get a picture.

(I cannot stress the pain these f*cks put me through to get them puttied down )


I also captured Purple Ribbon Gorgonian undergoing a shed and also gave it a wee hand.
Also got spiced up the zoa collection a tad, which only arrived today, so they'll need some adjusting time before their photoshoot.
I also got 2 peppermint shrimp, which have run behind the rocks and I'll probably never see them again.


Age
Now, the tank is almost 8 months old now, and well, some things have aged better than others.


On September 30 I had posted this on the 1 minute thread (As always, hit that HD button :



And here it is, 5 months later:



I also apparently lost my ability to count to one minute
I did a little rescape of the left hand side of the tank, removed a rock and opened it up a little more.

Some before and afters:

Bonus Shot: My Watchman Goby and Pistol shrimp between Christmas Worms and some Macro Algae

So those aged well.
Some things have aged really badly.
Notably, all my grand plans for quarantine and keeping out the bad stuff... I don't actually think I could have got this wrong any more if I tried.
I have
- Flatworms
- Vermetids
- Aiptasia
- Bubble Algae
- Cladophora
- Unconfirmed Monostroma

For the Flatworms I am hunting down a Neon Velvet Nudibranch, shouldn't be a big deal.
Vermetids - jerks
Aiptasia I have got the peppermints, if that fails, I move to some Berghai.

The last 3 make a bigger challange, especially due to this being a Macro Algae tank.
The bubble Algae I want to use Vibrant, the Cladophora Flux Rx. The monostroma will need both, and if in the tank, could kill all my macro's itself as soon as it decides to pop up (Esox based information). So it looks like I may be having to kill all my macro algae species, and may not even be able to replace them due to the source of the algae also now being a source of the Monostroma. I am still counting this as my go nuclear option, and I'm hoping I do not have to use the Flux Rx and Vibrant but I probably will.
Clear water is also a lost cause now... Purigen, Floss Filter, carbon, oxidiser all do nada.

Gorgonians defo got to be my favourite... hopefully in a few years time the tanks full of them! I have been buying every single species I have seen for sale on here, online shops and the LFS. Up to about 9 species I think. Most of them unidentified though and tiny frags:

What light are you using now? Tank looks great, I also like the non windex color reefs!

Thanks! I'm just using some alibaba bought lights. They're good because I could customise any spectrum I want, but they are a wee bit weaker than I hoped. Still gets the job done!

1.) I’m really sorry I have no idea why your notifications are muted but they are for some reason.
2.) Can we get an update?

Ahhhh I am so sorry I defo need to manually check this more often. Thank you for checking up, and here's the update

 

[Casket_Case]

New Stuff
Like with any good update, I'll show off my new stuff. Since my last update, I have managed to get my hands on 3 new gorgonians, after almost religiously checking TMC's website for them, they finally had got some interesting species in:


Menella sp (Golden Polyp's on the left) and Pterogorgia anceps (The tall gorgonian on the right)

I also managed to get a Plexaurella sp in, although it was a relatively 2D, and 90 degree to the glass so it is hard to get a picture.

(I cannot stress the pain these f*cks put me through to get them puttied down )


I also captured Purple Ribbon Gorgonian undergoing a shed and also gave it a wee hand.
Also got spiced up the zoa collection a tad, which only arrived today, so they'll need some adjusting time before their photoshoot.
I also got 2 peppermint shrimp, which have run behind the rocks and I'll probably never see them again.


Age
Now, the tank is almost 8 months old now, and well, some things have aged better than others.


On September 30 I had posted this on the 1 minute thread (As always, hit that HD button :



And here it is, 5 months later:



I also apparently lost my ability to count to one minute
I did a little rescape of the left hand side of the tank, removed a rock and opened it up a little more.

Some before and afters:

Bonus Shot: My Watchman Goby and Pistol shrimp between Christmas Worms and some Macro Algae

So those aged well.
Some things have aged really badly.
Notably, all my grand plans for quarantine and keeping out the bad stuff... I don't actually think I could have got this wrong any more if I tried.
I have
- Flatworms
- Vermetids
- Aiptasia
- Bubble Algae
- Cladophora
- Unconfirmed Monostroma

For the Flatworms I am hunting down a Neon Velvet Nudibranch, shouldn't be a big deal.
Vermetids - jerks
Aiptasia I have got the peppermints, if that fails, I move to some Berghai.

The last 3 make a bigger challange, especially due to this being a Macro Algae tank.
The bubble Algae I want to use Vibrant, the Cladophora Flux Rx. The monostroma will need both, and if in the tank, could kill all my macro's itself as soon as it decides to pop up (Esox based information). So it looks like I may be having to kill all my macro algae species, and may not even be able to replace them due to the source of the algae also now being a source of the Monostroma. I am still counting this as my go nuclear option, and I'm hoping I do not have to use the Flux Rx and Vibrant but I probably will.
Clear water is also a lost cause now... Purigen, Floss Filter, carbon, oxidiser all do nada.

Gorgonians defo got to be my favourite... hopefully in a few years time the tanks full of them! I have been buying every single species I have seen for sale on here, online shops and the LFS. Up to about 9 species I think. Most of them unidentified though and tiny frags:

Thanks! I'm just using some alibaba bought lights. They're good because I could customise any spectrum I want, but they are a wee bit weaker than I hoped. Still gets the job done!

Ahhhh I am so sorry I defo need to manually check this more often. Thank you for checking up, and here's the update

I love the new corals! Your tank is looking better than ever!!! One of my favorite tanks on the forum. I’m loving that quirky finger dude. I’m crazy about Quirky Fingers XD

 

[PeterLL]

I love the new corals! Your tank is looking better than ever!!! One of my favorite tanks on the forum. I’m loving that quirky finger dude. I’m crazy about Quirky Fingers XD

<3 Thank very much appreciate it! Quirky finger? If it's the big bushy one then for sure! I try get my hands on one everytime one pops up

 

[Casket_Case]

<3 Thank very much appreciate it! Quirky finger? If it's the big bushy one then for sure! I try get my hands on one everytime one pops up

Yessiree that’s a Corky Finger Gorgonian. My favorite coral ever.

 

[DxMarinefish]

This type of tank is right up my street so I have joined the gang and following.

 

[Casket_Case]

………..any updates?

 

[PeterLL]

I do still have a tank!!
Been a good 4 months since it’s received any attention apart from frozen food chucked in once a day.

Everything has came along nicely; there was good gorgonian growth and the Kenya tree dropped 31 branches which I spent hours fragging up.
The bubble algae and flatworms also had a great time so the vibrant and flatworm juice has come out. Once those are complete hopefully I can finally focus on getting some of the more desirable algae’s in the tank.

Let’s play spot the pests…

Only thing that wasn’t happy was the menella, think it wasn’t getting enough attention the vain *******. Gonna try nurse it back to health though as it still takes in food in its remaining polyps.

I also did one of my first (maybe second…) water test of the tank. Nitrates somehow . Was not expecting this as I feed very heavy, water changes are sparse, and have minimal algae growth minus the bubble. The only export I have is the nitrate filter but didn’t expect it to be this powerful, especially for the amount of food that gets dumped in.

 

[Casket_Case]

I do still have a tank!!
Been a good 4 months since it’s received any attention apart from frozen food chucked in once a day.

Everything has came along nicely; there was good gorgonian growth and the Kenya tree dropped 31 branches which I spent hours fragging up.
The bubble algae and flatworms also had a great time so the vibrant and flatworm juice has come out. Once those are complete hopefully I can finally focus on getting some of the more desirable algae’s in the tank.

Let’s play spot the pests…

Only thing that wasn’t happy was the menella, think it wasn’t getting enough attention the vain *******. Gonna try nurse it back to health though as it still takes in food in its remaining polyps.

I also did one of my first (maybe second…) water test of the tank. Nitrates somehow . Was not expecting this as I feed very heavy, water changes are sparse, and have minimal algae growth minus the bubble. The only export I have is the nitrate filter but didn’t expect it to be this powerful, especially for the amount of food that gets dumped in.

Your tank is looking absolutely gorgeous despite the hardships, I’m jealous!!!

 

[Crabby48]

Beautiful tank! Hard to keep out all pest. Sorry for the struggles

 

[PeterLL]

Your tank is looking absolutely gorgeous despite the hardships, I’m jealous!!!

Thank you very much appreciate the kind words!!

Beautiful tank! Hard to keep out all pest. Sorry for the struggles

Thank you! The pests aren’t so bad, I’ve managed to get lucky with any seriously bad ones! Some chemicals and I should be rid and can get some colourful macros back in the tank