Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

Hypo's Underwater Garden - I am alive!


hypostatic

Recommended Posts

Welcome to Hypo's Underwater Flower Garden. I got this tank for my girlfriend for Christmas a few years back, and I decided to go for a "flower" theme (what girl doesn't like flowers?).


Tank

  • Originally used "Tetra 15G Success Kit". Only thing left from the kit is the tank itself

Lighting

  • Nova Extreme 2xT5HO (12,000K White + 460nm Actinic)

Filtration

 

 

 

  • Marineland PC-ml160 Multi-stage Canister Filter (160 GPH)
  • Marina S20 Slim Power Filter (90 GPH) - Filled with chaeto and I put some LEDs under the lid for a HOB refugium

 

 

 

Flow

 

 

 

  • ~150 GPH from filtration
  • ~200 GPH from Hydor Pico Centrifugal 200
    + Hydor FLO Rotating Deflector for alternating flow

 

 

 

Landscaping

 

 

 

  • Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Reef Sand - 20lbs
  • ~12 lbs Live Rock (guesstimate)

 

 

 

Livestock

 

 

 

Softies

  • Pulsing Xenia
  • Clove Polyps
  • Jasmine Polyps (Knopia spp.)
  • Green Star Polyps
  • White/Green striped Pipe Organ
  • Misc. Zoanthids
  • Blue-Tip Hairy Mushroom
  • Ball-Tip Anemone (Pseudocorynactis)

LPS

  • Orange/Pink Sun Coral
  • Branching Dendrophyllia
  • Misc.Goniopora
  • Elegance Coral

Anemones

  • Green/Purple Tulip Anemone - Graceful Anemones (Anemonia gracilis)
  • Rock Flower Anemones
  • Sabae Anemone

Crustaceans

  • Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata ankeri)
  • Scarlet Hermit Crab (Paguristes cadenati)
  • Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab (Calcinus laevimanus)
  • Black and Orange Hermit Crab (Calcinus tibicen)

Mollusks

  • Butterscotch Snail (Babylonia formosae)
  • Tonga Nassarius (Nassarius vibex)

Echinoderms

  • Asterina spp. Starfish

Plants

  • Star Grass (Halophila engelmannii)

Fishies

  • Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris)

 

 

 

PICTURES!
FTS 07/2012

 

post-71065-1326651441_thumb.jpg
I really don't like the placement of the rocks... Arrangement help anyone? =]
I've been considering breaking that slab in the middle into 2 pieces, its really big and bulky and hard to manage around...

Xenia
post-71065-1326653577_thumb.jpg with the powerhead on
post-71065-1326653986_thumb.jpg with the powerhead off. Seems happier, but not pumping currently



FTS 07/2013

 

2pq6yis.jpg



FTS 12/2013

 

345if5f.jpg



FTS 03/2014

 

goGuVOu.jpg



FTS 06/2014

 

sNF5deT.jpg

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment

I actually really like the placement of the rocks as is. If you're thinking about breaking the rock though, maybe see if you can trade for different pieces. Since its a slab I doubt it would be that pretty broken apart.

Link to comment

Also, a mystery hitchhiker coral came along with one of the pieces of live rock. Any idea what this guy is? He's been moving around a bit:

post-71065-1326654798_thumb.jpg

post-71065-1326654812_thumb.jpg

post-71065-1326654829_thumb.jpg

 

ALSO, yesterday while peeking around the tank at night I saw something that looked really creepy but I have no idea what it is... I'll draw a MS paint pic cuz I couldn't get a pic:

post-71065-1326655520_thumb.png

It had a redish/transparent main body and a LOT of these tentacles tentacle things that it would spread over the aquarium glass and then retract to the main body, one at a time. I think it was feeding on the plankton on the glass. Any ideas? is it bad??

Link to comment

I picked up that same tank deal... I originally wanted it for a QT tank but my first thought was that it had really nice dimensions for a reef tank.

 

What do you plan on doing for lights?

Edited by owlshead19
Link to comment
Could be a spaghetti worm.

YES! I was just looking it up in the Identification Forum and I found a link to a website that wad some really similar looking guys

 

On another note I moved the Xenia all the way to the right (away from the filter) and it finally started to pulse! I guess the powerhead gave WAY too much flow in the system for pulsing. And I guess that when it was near enough to the filter it was getting all the O2 it needed without pulsing.

 

I'm considering returning the powerhead... I think it's way too much for that size a tank. Everything just seems to get thrown around...

 

As far as lighting I'm not sure.... How much light would I need for a frogspawn or hammer coral?

Link to comment

Shouldn't be too much flow, with just the powerhead you are looking at about 16.6x turnover per hour. When i had my 20 gallon long running i had 74x turnover. That was a bit excessive but everything still did just fine.

Link to comment

New Residents!

 

post-71065-1327265198_thumb.jpg

 

Added in 2 ocellaris clowns on Friday night. They're still getting accustomed to their new home and aren't eating much though. Today I fed them some frozen mysis with garlic extract and they ate a small bit of that, but I think they spat out most of it. I HAVE however been seeing them dashing towards the LR and nibbling on something there, so they must be decimating the amphipod population

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...

Sorry for the lack of updates haha. Here's a closeup shot of some of the corals I've got about a year after the tank was set up:

 

s5k60i.jpg

Goniopora with a friendly majano to the right

 

otdo9k.jpg
Elegance coral =]. Camera didn't capture the teal and purple tips too well tho =/

 

2ecjh9z.jpg
Tentacle closeups! Dem nematocysts! ;)

 

Zoa time!

2eg8o4x.jpg

2w6xibm.jpg

688w2e.jpg

35jcshz.jpg

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Oh, DUH, and the current FTS, which I edited into the first post but forgot to add as it's own deerving post:

 

2pq6yis.jpg

What is In the far left corner,up front. Green and looks like a Yuma or mini nem

R.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I think what you're referring to is a frag plug that's covered in hair algae (with a zoa poking out haha). I've had.... hair algae issues lol.

 

That plug in particular is currently free of GHA thanks to a CoralRX dip I did.

 

The tank has changed a bit since that pic. The star grass has doubled in size I think. SOMETHING was eating up my pipe organ :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: !!! I think I killed it with a CoralRX dip, but there's only a few polyps left :tears: :tears: .

 

I'll try to post an updated pic later today

 

What is In the far left corner,up front. Green and looks like a Yuma or mini nem
R.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

More pics!

 

My fist goni. It's only been a couple of months, but it already looks like it's got a few new polyps. Its definitely grown over the cuts from when it was fragged

vsl20z.jpg

 

 

Tiny limpet doing its thing on the glass

243pw0x.jpg

 

 

"pest" anemone

9pnxjb.jpg

 

 

GSP bush

4u9s8o.jpg

 

 

Star grass growth

1znpt84.jpg

 

 

And finally a non-fishy friend saying hi!
kbvwvm.jpg

(it's ok, he's moist so it counts)

  • Like 14
Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

That star grass is just amazing. floridapets took it off their website right when I was going to order some more :(

 

Oh wow, that's unfortunate. Speaking of which, I recently moved and had to take apart the tank for the move. And then I went on vacation for a week lol. The star grass can be quite fragile, so most of it didn't survive the ordeal :(

Link to comment
jedimasterben

Oh wow, that's unfortunate. Speaking of which, I recently moved and had to take apart the tank for the move. And then I went on vacation for a week lol. The star grass can be quite fragile, so most of it didn't survive the ordeal :(

:( That sucks! It will bounce back for you, though. You obviously are good at taking care of it :)

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...