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Gregg @ ADP
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Whatever happens, thankfully I didn’t really spend any money on it
The ‘Most of you will completely disagree with everything I did’ 180g Mixed Reef
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Gregg @ ADP
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OK, let’s bring it up to date.
First off, not due to any reason other than lack of time and laziness when I did have some time, the tank ran for about a month with nothing in it but a Randall’s goby and pistol shrimp, a purple firefish, and 6 red mangrove propagules. One of the AI Hydra 52s had the power converter go out, so I only had a 52 and a 26 running over the shallow end for the first month.
There was extremely low biodiversity at first, but I continued to add seasoned live rock and sand out of other tanks, as well as pods, worms, etc that I was scraping out of sumps. Even added a bottle of RN Tigger Pods.
Diatoms at first, then a little cyano, then the dinos showed up. I just left it all alone, and finally the briopsis showed up. The other algae more or less disappeared then. After that, I made my first real livestock additions:
- Melanarus wrasse
- orange shoulder tang (juv)
- 3 pink skunk clowns
- geometric hawkfish
- 2 firefish
- bubble tip anem
- grn frogspawn (4 heads)
- a handful of blueberry mushrooms
- 6 green chromis
- some CUC stuff
- 15lbs maricultured rock from Gulf LR
The CUC took care of the briopsis pretty quickly. Everything is really healthy, but I did lose 3 chromis.
I didn’t really have much light over the macro-algae tank, but found some brand new Kessil A80s lying around, so mounted those. There is a little bit of green turf and some super skinny Caulerpa, but the lights have only been on for a day, so there is not much else. Going to order some macros soon.
First off, not due to any reason other than lack of time and laziness when I did have some time, the tank ran for about a month with nothing in it but a Randall’s goby and pistol shrimp, a purple firefish, and 6 red mangrove propagules. One of the AI Hydra 52s had the power converter go out, so I only had a 52 and a 26 running over the shallow end for the first month.
There was extremely low biodiversity at first, but I continued to add seasoned live rock and sand out of other tanks, as well as pods, worms, etc that I was scraping out of sumps. Even added a bottle of RN Tigger Pods.
Diatoms at first, then a little cyano, then the dinos showed up. I just left it all alone, and finally the briopsis showed up. The other algae more or less disappeared then. After that, I made my first real livestock additions:
- Melanarus wrasse
- orange shoulder tang (juv)
- 3 pink skunk clowns
- geometric hawkfish
- 2 firefish
- bubble tip anem
- grn frogspawn (4 heads)
- a handful of blueberry mushrooms
- 6 green chromis
- some CUC stuff
- 15lbs maricultured rock from Gulf LR
The CUC took care of the briopsis pretty quickly. Everything is really healthy, but I did lose 3 chromis.
I didn’t really have much light over the macro-algae tank, but found some brand new Kessil A80s lying around, so mounted those. There is a little bit of green turf and some super skinny Caulerpa, but the lights have only been on for a day, so there is not much else. Going to order some macros soon.
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
The bad news first:
When I was cementing the front border of the lagoon end with the hydraulic mortar, I think I mixed it too thin and did not use enough. The mortar somehow liquefied for about 10” and the border structure fell apart:
This has been probably the biggest thing that has slowed me down from really pushing forward with populating the tank. Knowing I’m going to half to drain this thing down half-way, siphon out a bunch of mortar dust, and rebuild it is a job I’m not looking forward to.
Realistically, I can probably redo it properly in 2hrs…but I just can’t get fired up to do it.
However, the rest of the structure has held up perfectly. But I don’t really want to add much else until this is completed.
When I was cementing the front border of the lagoon end with the hydraulic mortar, I think I mixed it too thin and did not use enough. The mortar somehow liquefied for about 10” and the border structure fell apart:
This has been probably the biggest thing that has slowed me down from really pushing forward with populating the tank. Knowing I’m going to half to drain this thing down half-way, siphon out a bunch of mortar dust, and rebuild it is a job I’m not looking forward to.
Realistically, I can probably redo it properly in 2hrs…but I just can’t get fired up to do it.
However, the rest of the structure has held up perfectly. But I don’t really want to add much else until this is completed.
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
The rest:
The set up (for now)
Macro-algae tank (minus macro-algae)
The mangrove propagules have leafed out
Sump: maybe a big cryptic zone? Any other ideas?
If I get really desperate…
After I got back from winter break, with really not much other algae in the system, the Ostreopsis dinos have come back. Not thick, so I’m curious to see if I will be able to knock them back by bringing in more biodiversity.
The set up (for now)
Macro-algae tank (minus macro-algae)
The mangrove propagules have leafed out
Sump: maybe a big cryptic zone? Any other ideas?
If I get really desperate…
After I got back from winter break, with really not much other algae in the system, the Ostreopsis dinos have come back. Not thick, so I’m curious to see if I will be able to knock them back by bringing in more biodiversity.
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
Miscellaneous:
I have another matching drilled 20H. My plan (at some point) is to cut the macro-algae 20H out, slide it forward so that it’s flush with the main tank, and then hook the other 20H in just have both drain into the same line.
Not sure what to add to the other 20H. Ideas?
I have another matching drilled 20H. My plan (at some point) is to cut the macro-algae 20H out, slide it forward so that it’s flush with the main tank, and then hook the other 20H in just have both drain into the same line.
Not sure what to add to the other 20H. Ideas?
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Gumbies R Us
Certified Noob
Aquascape looks good!The rest:
The set up (for now)
Macro-algae tank (minus macro-algae)
The mangrove propagules have leafed out
Sump: maybe a big cryptic zone? Any other ideas?
If I get really desperate…
After I got back from winter break, with really not much other algae in the system, the Ostreopsis dinos have come back. Not thick, so I’m curious to see if I will be able to knock them back by bringing in more biodiversity.
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
Thanks.
When I rebuild that right end, and maybe move a couple things around, I will do a zoomed in vid. There are some kinda cool structures and features, but they’re hard to see in a whole-tank pic.
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
Thanks for following. I think it’s fun, too. We all know how a reef should be done…I’m more interested in how a reef can be done.
My background is in ecology, so I don’t see a reef tank as good guys and bad guys. To me, they’re all just players in the game. Parasites, algae, etc…they can coexist with all of our desirables. Bringing everything in and seeing if I can stack the squads appropriately to keep everything in check is a bit like ‘Reef Keeping Meets Fantasy Football’.
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GARRIGA
2500 Club Member
West Palm Beach Reefer
305 Reef Club
MAC of SW Florida
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
Plating Monti far too under appreciated but I’m still getting it. Nice tankSounds like my tank, which is a nano. I also run no GFO, carbon or any other media. I have a skimmer though (a $20 Amazon special). This along with a bunch of Xenia in the sump, live rock and even the corals are the only filtration. Oh and water changes too which I really don’t count since I do them once in a blue moon. Keeping it simple and natural. I don’t hate your tank, I love it.
GARRIGA
2500 Club Member
West Palm Beach Reefer
305 Reef Club
MAC of SW Florida
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
This photo in a book somewhere in the 70s the introduction for me to reef aquariums and don’t recall it being called reef anything. Nothing wrong with going native. I’ll be following along. Best of luck although I’m sure you won’t need it.
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
Oh, I always need luck.
This photo in a book somewhere in the 70s the introduction for me to reef aquariums and don’t recall it being called reef anything. Nothing wrong with going native. I’ll be following along. Best of luck although I’m sure you won’t need it.
The other thing I am going to do in this thread is try to bring the micro part of the reef into the conversation. I have a microscope adapter for my phone on the way. As I get more maricultured rock into the system, I want to see what else comes in with it and share it here.
We spend a lot of time, money, and energy trying to control difficult to control single-celled organisms…given the fact that everything is food for something, maybe there is a micro CUC that we’re missing in our systems.
FrugalReefer
Valuable Member
Thanks
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
Here’s a totally qualitative observation that I can’t fully explain…
When we came back from winter break, there was a pretty decent dino bloom (Ostreopsis) going on in the tank. To the point that a lot of rocks had long strings hanging off, and the bottom was covered.
By the end of the week, without me doing one single thing, it had thinned out considerably.
Over break, I had an auto-feeder hooked up, and did go in a couple of times and feed. But the tank didn’t get the normal amount of food during that time. Nothing else changed. I do have a PO4 test kit in the room…I probably should have investigated it.
Something else interesting I saw under the scope. Looks like a little larval bivalve of some sort. Saw several of them actually:
When we came back from winter break, there was a pretty decent dino bloom (Ostreopsis) going on in the tank. To the point that a lot of rocks had long strings hanging off, and the bottom was covered.
By the end of the week, without me doing one single thing, it had thinned out considerably.
Over break, I had an auto-feeder hooked up, and did go in a couple of times and feed. But the tank didn’t get the normal amount of food during that time. Nothing else changed. I do have a PO4 test kit in the room…I probably should have investigated it.
Something else interesting I saw under the scope. Looks like a little larval bivalve of some sort. Saw several of them actually:
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
On Weds, I have some C. prolifera, Halimeda, and Red Gracilaria showing up Weds. Once that stuff settles in, I will add more types.
I think I’m going to set the other 20H up as another macro- algae tank, but also put an octopus in it.
Likely hypotrich ciliates - Euplotes is one genus of these that is often used in larval rearing/aquaculture.
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Gregg @ ADP
Valuable Member
Interesting. I did see structures that I thought could be cilia. They do look a lot like the Euplotes images I’ve looked at. These had what appeared to be a hinged ‘shell’ that opened and closed (they looked like Pac Man when they moved), but I’m having trouble finding anything showing that structure on Euplotes.
I have an iPhone adapter for the scopes coming in next week. That will provide much better vid, so l’ll try to find some more and we can get a better look.
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