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Lear's Tropical Reef Worm Habitat


Lear

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So, I started out here on nanoreef.com as a complete noob a little over a year ago.

 

Since then, I've mostly migrated over to a more local nano reef club, which used to be called "NCNRS" but recently re-formed as "NCRC", the NorCal Reef Club. I mostly post on my tank thread there, but since I occasionally visit here, and as this was the original source of inspiration and information back when I was completely ignorant of all things reef-ish, I thought I'd start a real tank thread here. :)

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On February 3, 2008, I joined the nano-reefing hobby, purchasing a 5-month-old 14g biocube from a really nice guy on craiglist. My new incredible money & time sink came with everything, including all the supplies I needed, an awesome metal halide "SunPod" lamp, well-cycled live rock & sand, some macro algae, and a hermit crab, who received much love being the only moving inhabitant. All the cube needed was some fish and coral! And now, after a year in the hobby and a whole lot of help from here and from the members of NCRC, my cube is pretty much maxed out on fish and coral... it's been completely transformed into a coral paradise!

 

A recent photo (2/7/2009):

cattycorner_fts.jpg

Specs:

Biocube 14g, with a Sunpod (70W metal halide, 14k or 20k bulbs)

Stealth 50w heater in chamber 1; widened flow to chamber 2

LR rubble + filter floss + chemipure + carbon in chamber 2

MJ900 pump in chamber 3

calcium ~490, alkalinity ~2.9 meq/L, pH ~ 8.0, S.G. ~1.024, temp 79-83

 

Current inhabitants (as of 3/31/09):

Critters:

* 1 young Amphiprion ocellaris clownfish (to heck with "true perculas", I've got a "true Nemo" ;))

* 1 baby Cryptocentrus cinctus yellow watchman goby

* 1 Alpheus randalli Randall's pistol shrimp

* 1 medium Lysmata amboinensis skunk cleaner shrimp

* 5 Stichodactyla tapetum mini carpet anemone

* 2 Trochus sp. Margarita snails

* 2 Cerith sp. snails

* 1 Nassarius sp. snails

* 1 Calcinus latens hermit crab, named "Bob"

* 1 Clibanarius tricolor blue-legged hermit crab

* a few bristleworms

* a few assorted peanut worms

* an assortment of other tiny hitchikers

* a eunice worm named Leto, who is fond of chaeto and other miscellaneous algaes

 

Coral:

* blue clove anthelia

* B's cloves (variety of pipe organ coral)

* pulsing xenia

* green star polyps

* duncan: grayish

* acan: blue-green/red

* green birdsnest coral

* green & pink frogspawn

* neon green hammer

* neon green torch

* mushrooms: blue-green-purple

* mushrooms: Superman

* mushrooms: blue-green/orange/red

* mushroom: "Chick Magnet" light green with orange spots

* mushroom: bright orange-red

* mushroom: "Flamethrower" red/green

* mushroom: red-brown with light blue stripe

* mushroom: watermelon striped

* rhodactis 'shroom: blue-brown

* Paly: pink

* Paly: Red People Eater

* Zoa: Joker

* Zoa: Fire & Ice

* Zoa: Green Bay Packers

* Zoa: Eagle Eyes

* Zoa: purple with cream mouth

* Zoa: light green

* Zoa: Radioactive Dragon Eyes

* Zoa: Tubs Blues

* Zoa: "Fire & Ice"-ish

* Zoa: "Lunar Eclipse"

* Zoa: Orange BamBams

 

Macro Algae:

* Codium ... and lots of it!

* Neomeris

* Caulerpa (trimmed often)

* Chaetomorpha ... aka "worm food" (Leto <8 Chaeto)

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A few more assorted photos:

 

fts 4/12/09:

fts_4-12-09.jpg

 

Neomeris macro algae:

neomeris.jpg

 

my goby & his best friend

shrimp_n_goby_closeup.jpg

 

my xenia is growing on GSP

xenia_on_gsp.jpg

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i just read both of your threads! i love the tank! i hope my 30 that i'm officially starting on thursday looks like your tank in a year or so.

Dave

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Thank you, Dave! If you like the look of my tank, my big secret is: macro algae. I've got almost as much seaweed as coral in my display tank (no sump). It definitely affects the look of the tank. Plus, my largest corals (3 Euphyllia sp. & GSP) are all green! I'm a big fan of algae tanks, obviously. I'm just limited in what algaes I can grow, since my worm likes to eat them :o

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  • 10 months later...

Hope this thread is still alive.

 

I love the look of your tank. I have a 29 gal bio cube along with livestock that i got in a trade about 1 month ago. I have since been trying to clean up the tank, combine some of the frags, put in new rock, sand clean up crew ect..

 

I have alot of the same coral you do, hammer, tourch, mushrooms, xenia ect.. I want to start algea as i love the look of it but dont want to have it over run the tank. What kind of algea do you have and how do you control it? I know you have some names in your post but what ones have worked out best for you.

 

My tank is here http://www.calportal.com/fish

 

It is still in development phase excuse the mess of it.

 

Thanks

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Thank you! I'm still around; I've just been really busy and haven't been posting. Your tank looks like it's off to a good start! :)

 

The main algae varieties I keep in my tank are a beautiful type of Caulerpa racemosa, Codium, Neomeris, and Chaetomorpha. The Chaeto is mostly worm food. My favorite is the Caulerpa, which is an unsual variety. It has been a bit of trouble; requires trimming and careful watch for it exploding, but it's really beautiful! The codium is nice too; it provides a dark green backdrop and is a haven for detritovores (brittle stars, bristleworms, pods). Like the Caulerpa, it requires trimming, but grows much more slowly. The neomeris is awesome, but comes and goes from time to time, largely dependent on whether I'm dosing calcium.

 

I say, go for the algae, if you like the look! I'm very fond of quite a few other varieties that I can't keep because my worm eats them, so I can't give you advice on them. You might have some trouble with all the algaevores in your tank though.

 

My tank these days (The Caulerpa is at the top; all the dark green stuff is Codium):

fts_7_9_09.jpg

(Yes, I got an RBTA, which has been thriving for a year now; it just split a few months ago and I traded the clone. It likes my MH SunPod.) ;)

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