Northwest's 20 Gallon Macroalgae Display

[Eatfrenchfries]

Right now I think you're good with water change. They'll let you know when they need Calc cause they'll get pale. The deeper the substrate the better. They like to send runners and then offshoots. If they start offshoots from the then the plant dies. My experience at least. Pretty cool though since a dying plant turns into a few more.

Sometimes when I get an order from GCE I'll lay a mermaids fan flat and bury it with a little substrate. Usually sprout a bunch of babies this way that I can then snap off when they're ready to be placed elsewhere. This works best with the fan but I've had good results on the pine cones and shaving brushes.

It's easier to keep splitting macros and keeping the fresh ones than to keep a mother going. It'll die faster in home aquaria than the ocean.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

That very well could have been my problem. I glued them down like frags hoping they'd attach like macro.
Lol well shoot. Good luck!
D

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Right now I think you're good with water change. They'll let you know when they need Calc cause they'll get pale. The deeper the substrate the better. They like to send runners and then offshoots. If they start offshoots from the then the plant dies. My experience at least. Pretty cool though since a dying plant turns into a few more.

Sometimes when I get an order from GCE I'll lay a mermaids fan flat and bury it with a little substrate. Usually sprout a bunch of babies this way that I can then snap off when they're ready to be placed elsewhere. This works best with the fan but I've had good results on the pine cones and shaving brushes.

It's easier to keep splitting macros and keeping the fresh ones than to keep a mother going. It'll die faster in home aquaria than the ocean.

Very true about that last part, I've had a lot of success with just splitting the new growth from the wild piece and growing those out. That is extremely smart with mermaids fan, I'll have to try that.

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Nothing new today as CFC was pretty low on stuff. I might make a visit to the LFS next week, I'll probably pick up some CUC from them. Apparently they're getting in some more varieties of NPS Gorgonians other than the Yellow Finger so maybe it's time to start introducing a few NPS hehe

 

[Eatfrenchfries]

I know people have mixed feelings about dosing iodine but since having NPS gorgonians and macroalgae I find keeping it part of my regimen keeps the gorg skin algae free by easy sloughing of skin. Plus I'm sure the macros take up some as well.

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

I know people have mixed feelings about dosing iodine but since having NPS gorgonians and macroalgae I find keeping it part of my regimen keeps the gorg skin algae free by easy sloughing of skin. Plus I'm sure the macros take up some as well.

Yeah Iodine dosing here and there definitely helped some ones I got randomly 2 years ago before I downsized. I'm looking at probably 1 or 2 NPS Gorgs / Sea Fans in here since I don't think there will be much space for them once they really start growing in

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

The Pearly Jawfish has gotten a lot more comfortable with me being around, so I was able to film some video of it for Instagram and YouTube. You can see a reel I made of it here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChTBFhSo7kl/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Well well well. It's been a while haha

Honestly there isn't much to update on other than everything is doing really well! Lots of growth within the Christmas Trees, Galaxura, Gorgonian, and Botryocaldia especially. Also a surprise Cotton Candy Algae Bush. The Fish are doing well, although the only time i see them is when i stay still (skiddish fish am i right) I'll take an updated FTS later tonight since I did a bunch of glass scraping. And some exciting news, I'm doing a Macroalgae Trade with @Krista Pec (on Instagram) ! She's known for having some really rare and beautiful Macros. I'm not sure what I'm getting but whatever it is, it'll be awesome!

Here are some Macro shots to tie you over!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Some new Macroalgae came yesterday. In the process of doing a trade with Krista Pec, and u finally got one of my Bucketlist Macros! Cryptonemia Crenulata! Along in this pack was
•Solieria sp. (Red Bamboo Macro?)
•Short Codium
•No exact ID but Sean (Cristata.Reef) suspects it could be a Thick Species of Halymenia. Time will tell.

Cryptonemia

Solieria

Halymenia (?)

Codium

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Yesterday I picked up 2 new Additions! Once I heard ORA was sending out more Captive Bred Tiger Gobies and saw my LFS was getting some, I had to get one! Super excited with this guy, especially since he's a lot more outgoing and bold than the Jawfish and Upside Down Goby. Actually I've noticed the Upside Down Goby out more now that there's another fish out in the open interestingly enough.

Also picked up a Sexy shrimp! I only got 1 for now since I'd like to see how it adjusts to the tank. None of the fish should be big enough to eat them but you never know. If this guy does well, Down the road I'll be getting more since I always wanted at least 8-10 in this tank. Really excited with how it's coming along!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

FTS! I trimmed some things after this pic for the trade (pic taken last night) so another one is due lol
I really like how it's coming in. I want a few more Macros, Ricordea for a Ricordea garden, Sea Fans, Toadstool, and Gobies

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Updated FTS from tonight! Removed the Hair Algae since the isopods were done with it. Removed the Cotton Candy Algae, and did a heavy trim on the Halimeda, Galaxaura, and Bryothamnion

 

[Eatfrenchfries]

Why did you decide to remove the cotton candy?

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Why did you decide to remove the cotton candy?

Most of it was pulled and sent off for my part of the trade with Krista, but I took out the other little bits since they started spreading on some other Macros, most notably the Bryothamnion. Although there is a lot of little bits in the area that big bush grew so it'll probably be back. I just need to control it

The Sexy Shrimp is still doing very well. It looks like it's preferred spot is the Xenia. The Xenia doesn't seem to mind, hopefully soon I can up the numbers but they're so expensive here. The Tiger Goby is also doing well. Still not fully used to the camera but maybe soon I'll get a good shot lol

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Got some pretty nice sunlight this afternoon. Unfortunately the FTS didn't turn out the best but I finally got some macro shots of the Biota T. Striatum!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Nothing new as of today, I did a water change and well that sparked some algae right after which I pulled out easily. It seems to go away after a few days, it's probably something in the water.
The sexy shrimp is doing good which is great to see, hoping to add some more soon but they're pretty pricey so it might be another month.
I noticed the Red Grape and Cryptonemia are greening out a bit which means I should start dosing more Iron.
But for the Solieria, it's growing pretty fast! It seems to like the High Flow / High Light environment. So far it's growing in multiple directions which is really neat. While it was pink, it's turned Red and only the new growth it Pink, a lot like my Galaxaura. If only it stayed pink forever lol

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

What's up! It's been a bit of bumpy ride lately with the tank due to my attention mostly being on classes. And of course that neglect meant ALL the Nuisance Algae exploded. Hair, Cotton Candy, Bubble, and Red Bubble Algae went wild. Unfortunately don't have a pic but yesterday was a big Algae pulling maintenance day. I can I think I've pulled off all the visible Bubble & Red Bubble. I do still see some small strands of hair algae but I'm working on restocking my CUC so that'll likely be taken out soon.
The Cotton Candy Algae was by far the most devastating. It smothered the Bryothamnion to the point where I ended up just snipping it all off and threw it out. It was impossible so remove large portions due to the rigid shape of Bryothamnion, although I can easily get that back.
In more positive news:
•Sexy Shrimp is still doing amazing, my biggest concern was the Jawfish but it doesn't pay any attention to the Sexy Shrimp so I think im good to go on getting a group going for the tank!
•The spot where I wanted the Ricordea garden seems to be one of the Jawfish's dumping areas for sand and rubble so I'll have to figure out where to move the garden to. On the bright side that dumping killed off all the Cotton candy that was there lol
•The Red Bamboo Macro (Solieria sp.) EXPLODED in growth! High flow seems to be a key factor here since I upped the flow and it sits next to the WaveMaker.
Always on the hunt for Toadstools, Gobies and new Macros. The tank is looking good and coming up on 8th months so I think im comfortable with starting to add some of the NPS Sea Fans once the Algae gets cleaned up. I'm also thinking of adding a small wrasse like a Possum or Pink Streak. We'll see what happens. Hope everyone has a told week!

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

What's up! Wow it's been a while since I've last done an update. A couple changes have been made so let's start:
The Fight against Cotton Candy Algae
Well there's both good and bad to this. The Good is for now, it looks like I've beaten most of it! The bad is that it took pretty hard decisions which included taking out a good chunk of macro that had it. Specifically both the Bryo and the Halimeda. These 2 macros in particular were farms for Cotton Candy and I just decided to pull them. I did this because manual removal seems to make it worse as the smallest strand can start up a new patch of Cotton Candy so instead I just removed small parts of other Macro that had it attached. So far it seems to be working, the only Cotton Candy that remains is that little patch on the rock but it's grow has been significantly slower than when it first showed up. Definitely going to try and work on getting it 100% removed.

New Feather Duster Addition
About 2 weeks ago I added this Feather Duster since the tank is 8 months old, coming up on 9, of being setup and everything else is doing super well, I bought one from the LFS. So far it's been doing really well! Just dosing a bit of Phyto every other day and it hasn't lost it's crown yet which is a good sign. Can't wait to get more Worms in here! Specifically a Coco Worm, Aussie Christmas Tree Rock, and if I could find some of the other colors like White, Pink, etc of Feather Duster, those would be really cool additions.

Macros in general doing super well
Everyday for the past 2 ( I think it's been 2, not sure although it has been a long time now) months, the Macros have been pearling on the daily! They're all super happy, and I've seen a ton of growth out of them. The Halymenia I got from Krista Pec is no longer Orange, looks like it finally got all it's nutrients and they're all Red with a slight Blue Iridescence which looks amazing.

Overall besides the battle against Hair Algae, everything has been doing super well. I'm most likely finally getting some more Sexy Shrimp this week since the LFS is having a sale, and I can't wait to see how this tank keeps on evolving.

You can also see Videos of the tank and more content on my Instagram: @Northwest_Scapes_

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Over the weekend I finally got a fish of mine I've wanted for forever, a Helfrichi Firefish! I've never seen that many in person since they always sell out super-fast (which is why I'm surprised I was able to grab one).
I've heard that some can be shy, but thankfully this one is super outgoing so he's always out and about! It's so nice to have a fish that's in the open now since the Biota Trimma Striatum mostly hangs out in the rocks (it's a cave goby so understandable) and the ORA Tiger Goby can be quite skittish.
The colors are so insane, and they provide such a nice contrast against the macros since there aren't many macros that are that purple / lavender hue.
This is 1 out of the 3 "big fish" I'd like to have in the tank (these fish are still only 2"). By big, I mean fish that are bigger than the Biota Trimma and Eviota gobies. Can't wait to show more of this guy!