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Mirya's Floridian Flower Garden - All kinds of new things!


Mirya

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This is the thread I just started for my one of my tanks. Enjoy!

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/349178-guits-rose-garden/#entry4790514

 

I can't seem to take any nice pictures of my other tank (the PAR38 bulb makes me really hard to take accurate pictures for some reason) so if I ever figure out how to take better pictures I may start a thread for that one, too. I'm actually moving tomorrow so I'm really hoping my tanks survive the trip ...

 

I love your rose garden, Guits. Thanks for sharing. I'm subscribed to your thread, so I hope I can see an update in a few days that your move went smoothly.

 

As for things on my side, after yet another 60+ hr work week, I knew I needed some zen time working on the tanks. I had checked ammonia/nitrite/nitrate a few times during the week when just the rock was in the tank. I never saw a blip at all and I was starting to grow diatoms. So, I'm assuming things were cycled. So I figured I needed to decide on a rockscape for this tank. This is what I finally settled on (ignore ugly turkey baster/detritus blaster):

fts1_zps24ecd68d.jpg

 

"What," I'm sure you are asking yourself, "Is that PVC doing in the tank?" It's going to hopefully be my jawfish house:

jawhouse_zpsdd5dd308.jpg

I had thought about sectioning off an area in the scape with rock that I could keep a deep sand bed in for the jawfish. I decided with how narrow this tank is, I wasn't going to be able to scape that successfully. So, I put in some PVC that my future jawfish will hopefully take too.

 

I'm not running barebottom, so I added my substrate once I decided I was settled on the scape. Then I started moving over some corals. There are a number of people in my local reef club breaking down tanks or selling frags right now. So I scored a huge purple brush gorgonian from one member. He also threw in a large colony of what he called Palythoa grandis, but I suspect is really some Protopalythoa sp. From another member I bought 6 polyps of true P. grandis in two different color morphs. Then I started moving livestock from my Nuvo8. My own 2 polyps of P. grandis I had bought from Tidal Gardens, as well as the Ricordea florida and St. Thomas mushroom I bought from SaltCritters. I rescued my two other tiny gorgonians that have been injured by my RFAs and moved them over too. Finally, I managed to snag 5 RFAs because they were either on the sand or on a rock that I could move and put them in the 24. This is my end result:

fts2_zpsa3411d49.jpg

 

I'm still not quite happy with the placement of things, but it is a start! There will probably be some shuffling around of the gorgonians and Palys/Protopalys as time goes on. It was just so nice to start to get things out of the Nuvo8 -- it was too cramped in there! Here is softie island which is on the right:

softrock_zps25700364.jpg

 

And here is RFA island on the left:

nemrock_zps0604ea4c.jpg

There are still 4 more RFAs in the Nuvo8 to move over to this tank, but they are all pretty firmly attached to my base rock right now. Next time I see them start to move though, I'm grabbing them!

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+1 on the jawfish house. This is going to be a sweet tank. Do you have your rock flush (as much as rock can get anyway) against the back wall or did you leave some space?

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  • 4 weeks later...
Dr.Brain Coral

Any updates? My tank will be a Florida biotope also but I may decide to add non Florida corals like plates and hammers. I just don't think they would fit in with ricordea and rfa.

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You would love the Florida Coral I have to put in this tank. I'll take a few more shots to show you a little better of the sizes.

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+1 on the jawfish house. This is going to be a sweet tank. Do you have your rock flush (as much as rock can get anyway) against the back wall or did you leave some space?

 

I have about an inch or more of space between the back and the rockwork.

 

Any updates? My tank will be a Florida biotope also but I may decide to add non Florida corals like plates and hammers. I just don't think they would fit in with ricordea and rfa.

 

Yes, finally some updates! Work has been such hell of late that I barely have time for literally anything other than work and sleep. Haven't been getting in my training runs for my marathon this fall much less taking photos of the tank. But, as for what has been going on...

 

I picked up a tiny Royal Gramma and a Pearly Jawfish from my LFS 2 weeks ago. The Royal Gramma beat the crap out of the Jawfish. I caught him with the Jawfish's entire head in his mouth. I split them up as soon as I could and took the Gramma back to the LFS. The Jawfish had gone and hid under the display rocks, ignoring my nice condo I built, and I didn't see him for a number of days. I finally saw him shyly peeking out from his burrow (which was of course built at the back of my display), but couldn't entice him to eat. I found his dead body 3 days ago. :(

 

So, the tank is still fishless. I'll take my time before getting new fish. I'm plenty happy with all the corals and nems in there thus far. However, when I do eventually get some fish, I hope I can find some as friendly as these Grammas I saw at a store when I was down in Florida last week:

Grammas_zpsd28a21ab.jpg

Yup, a whole tank of Grammas, without any sparring! I was in Florida for a family wedding. I visited a couple LFS down there... it was a tease seeing how much cheaper some things were compared to Midwest prices!

 

With the credit I got from the Gramma at the LFS, I picked up an anemone shrimp. I'm guessing it is some type of Periclemens, though IDK the species. He enjoys surfing on Zed in the currents:

shrimp_zps7b894576.jpg

 

Anyways... it has been fun watching what is coming up from the live rock. I have a few little SPS hitchhikers. (Star coral? IDK)

flsps_zps2f72e48c.jpg

 

flsps2_zpsa40a67b6.jpg

 

I have some interesting macroalgaes. There is some red bubble algae, that for whatever reason annoys me less than his green bubble algae. Maybe because it isn't as fast growing.

redbubble_zpsed02088d.jpg

 

I also have this one piece of rubble growing three different macros. I really like the green little fuzzy thing growing on the top.

rock_zps6948f221.jpg

(My husband was all "WTF are you taking pictures of your ROCKS?!?" when he saw me taking these pictures.)

 

Lastly, I have some new RFAs I picked up.

newnem3_zps85804cc9.jpg

 

newnem2_zpsd4ee7c8e.jpg

 

And be ready to have your mind blown by this one...

newnemb_zps6613e8a8.jpg

 

You would love the Florida Coral I have to put in this tank. I'll take a few more shots to show you a little better of the sizes.

 

Yeah, I sure do need your corals! Just trying to decide if I want to drop the cash on the DM or not.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Following! A fellow CORA member. I'll be gleaning from your wisdom since I'm still just gathering equipment for my very first build at the moment. I love the Florida- and nem-only idea. Seems like it would be really exciting just waiting to see what popped out of the rock. Kinda makes you wish you could set up like 8 tanks, what with all the different options out there.

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Every thing looks very nice. I am sorry about your jawfish. That Last rock flower is CRAZY!!! Is it a different variety?

That poor jawfish was doomed from the start with that Gramma beating him the hell up. I did pick up a new jawfish this past weekend though and he is settling in great! He also ignored my house I built (so I've since removed it from the tank). He has built a burrow in an area much easier to see than the first one had. Today when I got home from work he was out peering around the corner of some rockwork to watch me. He has been eating very well too and is starting to get as excited as my Yasha goby in my Nuvo 8 when he sees me holding a feeding pipette. :)

 

AFAIK the last RFA is the same species as the rest. the face on that one is more like the plain wild types, but he sure has crazy tentacles! He is a really piggy feeder too!

 

Wow! Your tanks look so sleek and clean!

Thanks so much! It isn't looking so sleek at the moment, a bit of a jumble with new corals. I'll be setting up a frag tank soon though, so I'll straighten things up and get some new FTS up.

 

Following! A fellow CORA member. I'll be gleaning from your wisdom since I'm still just gathering equipment for my very first build at the moment. I love the Florida- and nem-only idea. Seems like it would be really exciting just waiting to see what popped out of the rock. Kinda makes you wish you could set up like 8 tanks, what with all the different options out there.

Hey there! There are a few of us CORA members here on Nano-Reef. I know Gnatster has a tank build in the Pico forum and Buckeyereefer is around. Did you make it to the swap last weekend? I heard there were a lot of sweet RFAs to be had if you got there at the start. Alas, I was delayed a few hours so the RFA selection was pretty picked over. However, I got some great zoa frags! Perhaps, too many zoa frags... I bought a frag tank off Sangheili that arrived over the weekend. I need to set it up ASAP.

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Pic-shures!

 

Some of my new corals I received from Nemonlizzie. This are Florida-native corals he got on some Florida cultured live rock. First a brain-type coral (maybe Diploria strigosa?):

Maze_zps61fc1021.jpg

 

Rose coral (Manicina areolata) says, "Feed me, Seymore!"

Rose_zpsf7fd23bb.jpg

 

The new Pearly Jawfish playing peek-a-boo:

JawfishPeeking_zps4ef4c53a.jpg

 

"Oh Hai"

JawfishPopping_zpsa35e06a0.jpg

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Pic-shures!

 

Some of my new corals I received from Nemonlizzie. This are Florida-native corals he got on some Florida cultured live rock. First a brain-type coral (maybe Diploria strigosa?):

Maze_zps61fc1021.jpg

omgomgomg

 

That is a treasure right there :wub:. It's huge!

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  • 1 month later...

I will update with some pictures in the near future... I swear! The tank has had a big frag rack sitting in it, so I haven't wanted to take pictures. Why does i have a big frag rack in it? Well... I can't help myself. :blush: My local reef club had their swap in September. I bought a bunch of polyps. I also had recently purchased a used frag tank. While I'm working on getting the frag tank running, all the frags have been sitting in this tank.

 

I did get a Tunze 9001 skimmer that I installed this weekend. I really like the aesthetics over the 9002 I had and the 9001 is also quieter. Let's see how the skimmate compares. The other addition to the tank is an ORA bred Neon goby, also added this weekend. A very cute little Caribbean fish to add. I had always planned on getting one, but only wanted a captive raised one. (I feel weird about buying wild caught fish when that species is commercially captive raised.) One of my LFS just started carrying ORA fish, so I didn't have to pay for shipping if I had bought it through LiveAquaria.

 

My pearly jawfish is doing fantastic. I love his personality. It cracks me up when he gets all upset at the nassarius snails during mealtimes. They will come too close to his burrow to try to grab any food he misses, so he picks them up and throws them. Only, the nassarius, like the relentless zombies they are, just keep on coming back.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The crazy tentacled RFA anemone that I have in my signature has bleached and shrunk. I'm not sure what that is all about. The rest of the RFAs are doing fine. And the bleached RFA still has a very good feeding response. So I've been giving it some TLC with some supplemental rotifer feeding.

 

Other than that RFA, the rest of the inhabitants are doing well. Audrey the Manicina looks piggy all the time and the Paly grandis she is nearby are putting out new heads all the time:

Rose_zpse12e86b9.jpg

 

I love this macroalgae that hitchiked in on the live rock:

algae_zps85506885.jpg

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A new LFS had their grand opening in town today. It was fantastic. Aaron, the owner of the store is close with the local reef club and asked for stocking wishlists from us. I rattled off a whole bunch of Caribbean items, not really expecting at all some of the weirder things I listed. But bam, Aaron delivered! I picked up a blue Ricordea since I only have green and orange, a St. Thomas mushroom, a baby fighting conch (about 1"!) and some Halimeda. I even picked up another RFA - that hadn't even been on my wishlist, but this one looked cool for not being a flashy colored one. And the last thing I got, which had been on my wishlist is a very, very cool fish that I am acclimating right now. He is a gorgeous specimen of his type, pretty big, and looks nice and healthy. I'm going to be a tease and wait on some pictures until he is acclimated and settled. :D

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Right now he is hiding in the rockwork, and you can just see his eye peeking out of the cracks. Luckily I took some pics while he was in the acclimation chamber...

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So awesome that you got a new lfs nearby and that they can deliver. How exciting. New fish is pretty and glad to hear your rfas are doing well. And especially the palys. I still have the 4 but only one head was large, the other 3 were small so they're growing to reach the size of the other.

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Like a cute swimming piece of candy! Adorable! Name??

 

Haven't decided yet. He loves this little overhang/cave area I have in the tank. He has been hanging out there ever since I put him in. It is nearby the jawfish's burrow. He keeps on staring at the jawfish with a "What a freak!" expression. Which is true, my jawfish is a spazz. :)

 

So awesome that you got a new lfs nearby and that they can deliver. How exciting. New fish is pretty and glad to hear your rfas are doing well. And especially the palys. I still have the 4 but only one head was large, the other 3 were small so they're growing to reach the size of the other.

 

P grandis respond pretty well to direct feeding. You can try tossing your baby heads some brine or rotifers every now and then. THat really helped with the growth of mine.

 

Here is the new RFA I picked up yesterday. Like I said, not an ultra-colored one at all, but I love the texture/patterning on the oral disk. The flourescent banding on the tentacles is pretty cool too. And he was only $11.25.

NewRFA_zps467dc034.jpg

 

And here is my St. Thomas which settled in like nothing happened.

StT_zps0322c26d.jpg

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