The tank looks incredible and the pics of those hammerheads are insane.

This tank is seriously impressive. Now I am completely sold on my attempt to recreate a Florida biotope in my 20L. Too bad I can't dive for mine...

Ive been doing ALOT of tank diving the past few days and everyday I see something new I havent seen for the past 8 years diving here!

I think this might be the coolest tank I have ever seen. Makes me really wish I lived near the sea. I'm about as inland as you can get in the U.S. I really want to try my hands at a biotope tank though, but I can't decide what.

+10000
so cool and natural.
as far as the sea blade/gorg/sea fan...
is there anyone you have found to be more hardy/easier to feed...?
is there any advice you could give me on them?
I want to make a biotope with a few of them, but am sorda scared
THANKS!
great tank!!!

I can't believe I just found this thread. I've snorkeled at that same jetty like five times!!!!!! It's pretty sweet.

You need to get one of those blennies.

Your tank is looking badass man. I gave up on my ten gallon biotype for gulf marine life here because of my limited stocking options and how lame it is here. Nothing but grass weeds and unwanted crabs here, nothing like those polyps and cool looking fans and SPS looking things that seem to be growing wildly in your tank. After seeing this tank again kinda makes me wanna pack my stuff up and head back out to Florida.

I went through your thread again and saw that you did have one of those blennies.

I was snorkeling on the jetty the last Tuesday in July. I saw these brown fish. I couldn't tell what they were but their bellies were enlarged and a pale white color. I saw yellow fish that looked like tangs. I saw dark purple almost black fish that looked like tangs. This last time I snorkeled there, I was pleasantly surprised to see the anemones, sponges, as well as the LPS and SPS corals there. Only on my last visit did I go out to the end of the jetty where I saw the Queen Angels. I can't wait to go back.

I guess I'm a tourist too. But I'm cool

--willyboy

I'm sure you've seen stingrays in the "kiddie pool". Your pictures of the Hammerheads reminded me

Thanks for the comments guys, I really appreciate your checking my thread out. This tank was started as an experiment in using typical FW filtration and as a biotope for the local jetties. I've been surprised at how much pleasure it's given me. It really does remind me of the jetties, though as anyone who's tried to keep a biotope has found, there are always things that are common in the wild that are not going to be so conducive to keeping in a small glass box. The Beau Gregory and blennies being a case in point. They are very common at the jetties, but are way too aggressive to keep in a 10 gallon tank, so I have to seek out only the really calm and small stuff. Also, the jetties changes with the seasons and even daily. You just never know what you'll see when you go there. Willyboy, I'd urge you to go again when you have a chance. Every tide brings in something new. While stingrays are fairly common, to the chagrin of the bathers (stepping on one isn't fun) the coolest thing I've seen there (except for maybe the manatees) are manta rays. They are so fast, filter feeding on zooplankton, they practically fly out of the water. Also, the inside and outside of the channel is like two different worlds. You said you had to swim out to the end to see Queen Angels, but they travel the full length of the jetties, but only on the channel side, or deep water on the Gulf side.

Gulfsurfer, I know what you mean about the limited possibilities. I'm from Mississippi and just that small difference in latitude makes a big difference in the marine life there to here. If you get a chance, go diving a bit farther than inshore. Most of the life in my tank requires a hard substrate to exist on. That's why the jetties (huge limestone boulders) are such an attractant. The same off shore. Nothing there but sand unless you find a wreck or local divers and fisherman place artificial reefs (old pieces of concrete or sunken ships) which become major marinelife attractors. I'll bet it's the same off the Texas coast. You do have your diving license don't you. If not, GET THEM! The most important piece of equipment I have in understanding my tanks better!

wow bro,

love the rock work in your tank.

I just read this whole thread now...and your tank is awesome...I may have to start my own biotope someday soon!

Eeeeks! Time flies when you're having fun!
I've been doing some serious work on my 150 and frag tanks so haven't posted on one of the best tanks I have so thought I better try and catch up. Lots of things have happened to it in the last month. It became almost famous, getting featured tank on NR and was one of the subjects of a talk on biotopes at MACNA. I suppose with all that it'simportant to keep it going. Several times I almost moved it to a 20L, mainly due to the issues with scratched glass on the cheap 10g tank. Imagine what I'd do to an acrylic tank!
Anyway, knowing that I'd never be able to move it and have it look nearly the same, and since it's doing so well, I've decided to keep it until in my old age I will it to my children! Well, maybe. It is kinda neat to think of it going for years. And "they" used to say a reef tank couldn't be kept in a small tank. Well, I guess we beat that idea in the ground a long time ago!
Anyways, here's another growth shot of the purple rimmed monti that is doing beyond all expecations in this tank. Hell, even I would have said it couldn't be done 6 months ago.



I know that there are quite a few peps on NR that are considering careers in marine biology. Just to give you a taste of what you are in for, here's a shot of....well, I'm sure if you have any interest in marine scatology you can tell that the cucumber seems to be getting plenty of fiber.


The anemone shrimps that I got from Reeftopia down in Key West haven't taken with any of the 4 kinds of anemones in this tank, preferring the company of gorgonians. Easier to snatch flake food when Genie feeds the tank, I guess!


Reeftopia told me that the shrimps prefer condys or ricordia's. Knowing I don't have sufficient light for condy's I decided to move a blue ricordia into the tank. It's still small, and has been in too intense of light for awhile, but maybe will expand out soon.


I've found another hitchhiker in the tank. About a month ago I moved another gorgonian I had in a bigger tank into this one. It's got zoanthids in the base, all from the Keys, so to give the nano a bit more color.
Unfortunately, in that same tank is a Pocillipora damicornis that has a bad habit of scattering babies all around. I didn't notice it for awhile, but it's finally grown to a size that it's easier to see.
I guess I'll be seeing a lionfish in here before long.

Rediculous! Is the tank still fluctuating between 60's and 80's? My coldwater tank may be getting some tropical additions soon.

Tank is amazing as ever, and congrats on the TOTM!

-Jamie

wow, monti has grown REALLY NICELY!

awesome tank, i love diving around the jetties in Destin and FWB.


Forrest

super cool tank!

THIS IS MY FAVORITE TANK ON THIS SITE!!!! IT LOOKS AWESOME!

Thanks Guys! I'm glad you like the tank, and yes, the tank has no heater or fan and does get warmer and colder than I would have thought a Montipora could tolerate. But then, this whole experiment has been surprising. I would have never thought a Monti could handle the 1) nutrient level, 2) lower light level, or 3) lower level of flow. And it's looking better than ever, with a growth pattern I've not been able to achieve on any other monti I've got or have ever had.
I just got back from a week long business trip, but tomorrow I will take some pics to post. The rim is a real nice purple now.

Okay, I'm definitely putting one in my coldwater tank. Just to see what happens. Can't wait for pics!

Okay, I finally got a pic of the Monti. For whatever reason, it seems to be growing even faster now, and has begun to show it's purple rim

still readin bud, ive loved this tank from the beginning.

so noble of you to do this and make something out of what others take for granted.

now my main question is, how much for a frag of the magic monti?!

Awesome thread. Just read it all. This is my first post here. So I guess I am a noob . I have recently had a 55 gal that my wife had to take down, I am currently deployed overseas. But she did happen to get a BC 14 that I can't wait to get home to see. I have done some collecting off the jetties in Jax. I don't think we have as much diversity as you seem to have though. I really need to get my divers license so I can check out the offshore reefs. I hope you keep up the good work on this and best of luck. I will be tagging along from now on.

When I get ready to frag it you'll be the first, but......... not sure when.


Ace, welcome to NR.com! You be careful over there and come back so you can check our your wife's BC 14!
I've not dove in the Atlantic except in the Keys, not sure what is in JAX either but certainly you should get certified and check it out. You won't regret it and it'll add a whole new dimension to reefkeeping.
Thanks for the kind words. This tank is just cruising along, basically weekly water changes, pruning of macro and an occasional cleaning of the glass. Other than that, it's just sitting and watching it. I'm trying to get a shot of my blue-clawed pistol shrimp. He's been in the tank since the beginning, but has been extremely shy until recently. Not sure what changed in his attitude but I've been seeing him out lately.
I'll look forward to a thread of your BC14 as soon as you can get one. Or get your wife to join and she can post and we can all enjoy it.
Thanks so much for taking the time to post to my thread. Good luck with your deployment and we'll all be hoping you can get home soon.

I love your anemone shrimp. Makes me want to get one. Hmmm....

Oh man. I haven't seen your tank in AWHILE.




YOUR MONTI

I need a frag of those =/

I've been postponing this story about a month but anyways......
The power cord for the jetties nano was on an outside circuit with a GFCI on the front porch. Christmas came and we had the standard light parade outside, you know the "circle around the Palm trees in Florida kitsch" and a bad azz storm came and shorted the lights, throwing the GFCI when we were gone to Jacksonvlle (an overnight trip). When e got back I immediately went into the tank room to look around and noticed spaghetti worms climbing up the glass. Arrrgggghhh.
Long story short, we lost the rusty and bridled goby pairs and the shrimps, but nothing else. Did a quick water change and after a few days everything was cool again, with the exception of the fish. I loved those guys, Diane had turned me on to them. Kinda bummed me and I almost took the tank down, but decided instead to move everything into a 20L that had ben set up as a frag tank for about a year. I cleared it out, (moved to the Super Ghetto Frag System) and reset the tank as close as I could do it (which wasn't very close) into the longer tank. Not quite finished ytet, but here's a FTS to show where it's at. Hope no one is too upset. It was a great tank, but everyhing was growing so well, that they'd grown themselves out of a home. I've fragged heavily on everything but the montipora, and traded and sold the frags.



Here's the monti in it's new home in my 150 gallon reef.

Ouch, sorry about that mishap.
Looks good though. I didn't know you had a 150g tank..

Sorry about that.. at least you've got more room now though.

The longer you have fish, the more you become attached to them. I hated so badly losing those guys. I've thought about getting some for the 20 but not sure if I want the same species. I'm almost afraid to go look on Ken's SeaLife site. Wonder if he has any more of those warty corralimorphs?
I have to say though that the Montipora's happier. After only a few weeks he's grown quite a bit, and since he's in a higher flow area, he's got many more swirling plates forming. I'm beginning to think that the multi-plate swirling morphology is more genetic than environmental.
Thanks for not flaming me guys. I almost didn't confess it, but it's just one of those things. When I look at beautiful tank set up for years, I realize how much luck is as important as skill.



My addiction is really complex. I also dive extensively and have a home in the Indo-Pacific, just because I can't get enough of my eight tanks!

Your tank is still kick ass and I love than monty. I've been trying to find where in your thread it first makes an entrance but to no avail. I'm working on getting transferred over to West Palm Beach or Homestead after the project my company is doing here is complete somtime late this year. Once I get there I plan on getting my diver's and collector's licsence to enjoy the wildlife as much as I do hear. I plan on getting ascuba trained and checking some local rigs to see what I find here in the springtime. Do me a favor and put me down for a frag of that monti cap when frag time comes and I will hook you up with whatever collector's monti I can frag from at the time.

Wow I just read through all 12 (?!) pages of this thread, and all I have to say is... AMAZING! Your response has been great, your posts well thought out, and the tank was beautiful. Inspirational to say the least, too bad for the 'crash'. I'm sure it'll grow back. Just a thought though... your lighting looks really blue, and the light on the nano wasn't nearly as blue. Do you think it will affect anything in the long term?

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about it but now that you mentioned it I will likely rethink it. Truthfully, The 20L originally had 2-65W PC's over it, one of which is an actinic. I added 2-24W T-5HO's, ATI Blue Plus and an 03 actinic. I think I'll switch out the PC actinic first, then change out the other PC since it's nearing the end of its life and though its a 10000K, replace it with a 10000K which will be brighter since it'll be new.
The water at the jetties varies from crystal clear to very turbid, but quite shallow. Likely most of the stuff I'm growing does prefer brighter light. On the other hand, I've been fragging some of the gorgonians and they encrust onto plugs amazingly fast.
Gulfsurfer, I'll definitely put you on the list for a frag. I've been quite hesitant to frag it yet. It had encrusted three rocks in the nano, and somehow I managed to move it to my 150 without knocking a single frag off of it. That's really a first for me. I once moved a Pink birdsnest out of my 150 and dropped it on the floor and it shattered into a thousand pieces. I had frags of that guy for over a year. One of them is now back in the tank, branchng out again.
The first mention of the monty is on Post #85. The only way I figure it got into the tank is I have a fair sized prop system, with a half barrel sump full of live rock. There's a basket in the sump full of rubble, some of which has dead frags from when I clean the prop system out. Apparently, I took one of the pieces of rubble and wedged it under a bigger rock in the jetties tank to level it up and it turned out that the frag was not dead, but had survived in the sump rubble for some time before it got another chance on life. Weird thing is I have no colonies of that coral, so it must have come as a trade with someone else, so I really know nothing about it's history. All I do know is it must be tough. Maybe when I got it, it bleached under the metal halides of the prop system and I thought it was dead. It apparently doesn't have the need of high light as it grew into that colony under 2-36W PC's, and now it's on the bottom of a 150 with 250W EVC 20000K's and growing even faster. To me it's quite a miracle. I have spotted several plates that are being shaded. They have growth on their edges, but I think I may frag it there and get it started again.

You have an incredibly well thought out thread going. Many kudos (sorry about your fish) and keep the good stuff rolling, you seem to have alot of it...

one thing about the biotope that i love are the colors... i've almost always thought of American reefs as brown and not nearly as colorful as say a Hawaiian or Philippine reef, but your's has a beautiful vibrant charm to it, I'd love to see more pictures when you have the time

Sorry I missed your post PBUEHH, I've been out of the country, diving, and away from the Internet most of the time. The new home of the Jetties nano is doing very well, and I will post pics as soon as I take some, but I do have some cool stuff to report.
While the Jetties transitions from season to season, some periods of it I don't see much of, as I don't have the cajones to do much diving in the winter, though I know it would be cool to do so (literally cool).
After having been to the Philippines diving for several weeks, I got back with the urge to get in the water, so I went down to the jetties and told myself it wasn't so cold. (it was about 65) and plunged on in. Yes, it was cold, but yes, the appearance of the jetties was different, with many things I hadn't seen before. I didn't bring my camera, figuring that coping with the cold, a camera, and collecting jars was just too much.
Anyway, I did catch these guys,



and which likely turned out to be Phylliroe atlantica, a pelagic nudibranch and predator on jellyfish

This guy I've still not figured out, can't get past the idea it looks like a tiny purple turnip, but swims amazingly fast.


I was surprised to discover this mantis shrimp (probably just past larval stage) freeswimming at about 5 feet. I captured him and brought him home too.



And this is his new home, for now. No, he will not be going in the jetties nano. I put some rock for him to get under, but note in the bottom of the pic, he's chosen to make tunnels in the sand instead. The piece of mysis I put in disappeared, so I'm hoping he's eating. I may sacrifice a stomatella to see if it keeps him alive.

Awesome stuff! Those nudibranchs are crazy... are you keeping them, or just brought them home for a picture? Very cool mantis too. Any more tank pics?

Oh wow, I missed that update. Very cool.

I am so jealous of people who can do this. sweet monti, as well.

I hadn't brought my camera to the beach to take pics, but I always bring a collection jar! After shooting some pics of them I brought the nudibranchs back to the beach. They're predators of jellyfish and lord do we have lots of those in the summer.
I'd planned on going diving again this past weekend, but as everyone knows, the weather deteriorated and it has been double red flags for the past week. Poor Spring Breakers. It's a wonder there haven't been more drownings.
Last fall on one of my last dives there of the year, I found a neat cerianthus anemone. I wasn't prepared to catch it, will probably require a small shovel to dig it out, but I've wanted to get one all winter. I thought it might be difficult to find one, as this one was the only one I'd ever seen there. This year, at this time, they are very common,possibly seasonal. Forecast is bad for this weekend again, but I'll be preparing to nab one as soon as I can get back in the water.
New tank pics soon. I've been trying to get my sexies situated.

That monti looks good. Cool finds as well! I need to go explore my jetties.

That tube anemone is beautiful - good luck!

that tank my friend is isane.. and your dedication with those rocks is crazy. but one question how does that kung pou crab women catch those crabs

Ya gotta be fast to get one past the Kung Pao Crab Woman. She's the youngest of a large family and if you weren't quick with with the chopsticks you didn't eat. Those darn crabs didn't stand a chance.
Thanks for the kind comments. I've been doing more diving and tank maintenance than I have picture taking. Gotta get some posted. The tank, after moving to bigger quarters (the 20L) is doing very well. I recently added a Porites grown out by Propagator from a small frag found on the back of a snail. Same way I got my Star coral, except the snail shell's still under there!

hey do you know if the shovel nose lobster is reef safe? My neighbor found one...we live below tampa. But the lobster is only 1 inch long. I have a 29gallon biocube with 2 clowns, 1 yashi goby, 1 yellow watchman goby, and 1 fairy wrasse.

What do you think? Can I put him in my tank?

I think these lobsters are common in your area.thats why im asking you.

Thanks

Yes, they are common here, and they get quite big. Big enough to eat, so I'd think too big to put in any reasonably sized tank, and especially a nano! Cool find though. How about posting a link so we can check it out!

I just now noticed something...........


HAPPY B-DAY

Thank you so kindly. I had a wonderful day with family and friends, and my tanks are all very happy.

Oh wow - Happy Birthday, brother!

Happy Birthday YB!!!

Thank you all very much. I never knew that being this age would feel so good!