Mangrove / Macro / Softie lagoon - 20 long
- Thread starter dansyr
- Start date
Thanks! Dutch style was definitely a bit of an inspiration. I need to return to that a bit and start organizing some of the sectors again. this weekend got away from me a bit but hedge trimming is on the list. Where does the time go!
Update on the shrimp breeding attempt, the last zoea seems to have died, almost made it 1 month. I attribute the loss to the recent drop in humidity, seems salinity increased faster than anticipated in the larval rearing tank. All is well in the softy tank though, both shrimp are carrying eggs with one looking to release eggs in the next few nights, so looking forward to another attempt.
Interesting. I mentioned yesterday to my wife that humidity must be very low because my top off emptied in 1/2 the time it normally does.
Yeah humidity was down to 15% indoors where I work and my topoffs have also been emptying faster this last week. Tis the season. Lights on different cycles, humidity down, time to check logs and make sure heaters are still heating OK...
The S elegans is really getting into its stride! Had it about 4 months now I think? It was a lot more toad-stool in form in the shop from being in low + blue light, but it still looked yellow and the polyp spacing and shape looked elegans to me so I gambled and I'm so happy I did.
The S elegans is really getting into its stride! Had it about 4 months now I think? It was a lot more toad-stool in form in the shop from being in low + blue light, but it still looked yellow and the polyp spacing and shape looked elegans to me so I gambled and I'm so happy I did.
That’s beautiful. I kept planted tanks in the past and have a small one now.
Do you dose supplements for macro algae? Keep higher nutrients than a typical reef? Sorry if you covered this…
Not really? All of my systems struggle with low nutrients because I'm not really a fan of typical nano stocking recommendations. I wasn't actually planning on putting clowns in because I think 20g is on the small end for clowns, but it was more of a rescue system. but boy is it easier to keep nutrients off zero than my goby-only 20g.
I'm usually around ~10ppm nitrate 0.04 phosphate without doing anything other than feeding fish, didn't test since months things were growing well. Decided to test this weekend and it was 0s on both, maybe just detectable PO4 so I added some K2HPO4 and NaNO3 stocks.
Alk is a problem as you can imagine with all this halimeda, I haven't had it test over 5 dkh since I can remember (not that I test it much). I do change ~1-2 gallons every week when I scrape the glass and pull off hair algae from the returns since that's pretty much the only place it grows (and coralline doesn't grow much likely because of alk). I do sometimes add 2-part Ca and HCO3 but pretty infrequently, my other tank is on a doser and this is supposed to be the low-maintenance tank. Luckly halimeda doesn't seem to care much about low alk (once it's established). and water changes seem to keep alk plateaued enough to keep chemistry stable-ish enough for anemone, softies, etc. Zero scleractinians in here so no worries there.
I have been dumping about 50-100ml of homegrown phytoplankton in every day or every other day, i'm sure there's some remaining trace and/or macro nutrients from that
Oh completely forgot, what kind of planted tanks you running? Walstad, high tech? Are buce still the rage?
I still have a little 5g planted tank too, was into that back during grad school as that was about all I could manage. Last I was into things it seemed like buce were all the rage, so many crazy cultivars. reminds me of zoa names now.
I still have a little 5g planted tank too, was into that back during grad school as that was about all I could manage. Last I was into things it seemed like buce were all the rage, so many crazy cultivars. reminds me of zoa names now.
The plant tank is an ultra low tech 5 gallon in the kitchen. My days of high end plant tanks are long gone. I tried to recreate takashi amano tanks, with some success. But now I really just focus on reefs.
I bet you can just mix up Kalk in your ATO if want to manage alk.
Yeah I've been doing this on occasion (usually half saturation kalk to minimize precipitates) but it's never been enough. I'm sure it slows the descent, but one of the halimeda species grows so fast it just disappears down to whatever it's limiting level is.
Mostly I just need to pull out a bunch, the shrimp are getting irritated it's so dense so that's this weekend's project.
I can see the sand again! The shading caused some issues with the base of the gorgonian but there's healthy tissue down and tiny polyps though to optimistic they'll come back now that there's more light reaching it.
Anemone seems happier with a little more space.
Anemone seems happier with a little more space.
JojosReef
Member
Looks amazing! Is that red ogo? In the summer I'll be looking into a mangrove + macro tank to plumb in with my upcoming 83gal. Thinking large-ish tank for a small angel and something else.
Do it! That would look great.
Pretty sure it's red ogo, thats what it was given to me as and seems the right species of Gracilaria. Tastes right too haha. You have ogo and the hayi type too right? if you ever need more of the ogo I got tons of it.
JojosReef
Member
Only Hayi. I bought a "birdsnest" Gracilaria which is a different species, but it didn't make it. Now all I've got is the hayi and codium.
Sorry about the birdsnest Gracilaria. But if you're ever up this way or next time i'm in OC I'll give you as much ogonas you want. A guy in long beach I think was the one who gave to me so you probably have a bunch of sources closer though.
Seems I might have a scleractinian hiding amidst softies! Any idea what this might be?
Seems to have been a hitchhiker on the rock the Sarcophyton elegans came on. Definitely was there the whole time, just getting big enough for a photo now. For scale, the whole thing is maybe an inch diameter now, maybe slightly less?
Seems to have been a hitchhiker on the rock the Sarcophyton elegans came on. Definitely was there the whole time, just getting big enough for a photo now. For scale, the whole thing is maybe an inch diameter now, maybe slightly less?
