My macro algae tanks

[nawilson89]

Hello all, I'm here to start up my a journal for my two macro algae tanks. A 20g and a 29g.

 

20g

This was my re-entry into the saltwater world after taking a break when my daughter was born. I really missed it so I set up something small.

 

I started it at the end of Oct 2015

 

Equipment

Two Reef Radiance DM 12-e refuigum bulbs.

Marineland 600 powerhead

HoB filter with activated carbon

 

Stock

15+ lbs of live rock

live sand

mud from floridapets.com

I started with c. prolifera, manatee grass (seagrass), codium, dragons breath and gracilaria

After a few weeks I added a tail spot blenny, royal gramma and two neon goby.

 

First inhabitants of the tank died in early december of what seems like ich. Blenny didn't have ich but was killed by my reaction to ich to hurridley get it into quarantine.

 

Tigrobius Macrodon (native gulf of mexico goby) added at the end of Dec with sargassum, grape caulerpa, chaeto, porcelain crabs and a pistol shrimp.

 

Goby died a few days later.

 

The tank was then left with no fish for months. I worked solely on getting my macro to grow.

 

Got the flu in dec and had to watch as my prolifera went sexual and my tank got cloudy.

 

prolifera, seagrass, codium and gracilara all lost.

 

Other than macro no life was lost, but grape caulerpa exploded.

 

In March I added:

4 Tigrigobius Macrodon

1 Blenny

1 (mystery fish) thinking to be a small saddled blenny.

 

Here's some March pics

FTS

 

One of the 4 goby. (unfortunately I rarely see them nowadays. i'm not sure if i've lost any or they have gone into hiding to breed. My blenny seems to chase them and I plan on moving him to the larger tank if i can ever catch him.

 

Here's the blenny in all its glory. It's very pretty.

 

The is also a male molly acclimated to saltwater in the tank now.

 

Next Post will cover my 29g.

 

[nawilson89]

So let's cover my 29g started earlier this month.

 

Other than the mollies I have fish all harvested from the gulf of mexico, that I get from a friend (he's a licensed aquaculturer).

 

He showed me a fish called the belted sandfish (Serranus subligarius) and I had to have it. I had everything I needed for the tank ready to go. Sand, rock. Light. Tank. Powerhead. Everything was ready save for a light fixture (which he provided for me out of PVC). I set the tank up asap. Someone must have been looking out for me because right at the same time, an ebay seller of macro algae was getting out the business and selling all his stock and equipment. So like a rational hobbyist I purchased his whole stock (look i have no food now, but i have a pretty tank. Worth it).

 

So let's go over it.

 

Equipment:

Mars Aqua 165W LED lights.

Marineland 600 powerhead (I'll be converting it to a circ pump this afternoon. I want more flow).

No HoB filter right now. I plan on getting an aquaclear and modding that to house chaeto and activated carbon.

 

Stock:

Refugium mud

live sand

live rock (25+ lbs)

Grape Caulerpa

C. Prolifera

C. Mexicana

Gracilaria Hayi

Dragon's Breath

Codium

Shaving Brush

Chaeto (out competed everything in just a few weeks so removed)

Ulva

Unknown Macro algae

Kenya Tree Coral (was pretty much dead when i got it, trying to see if it will come back. It shrinks at night and becomes a bit bigger during the day)

Leather Mushroom (same as Kenya tree. Seemed to be dead when I got it. Since then has opened up quite a bit)

 

Two mollies acclimated to saltwater (one male, one female)

Three Belted Sandfish.

 

FTS

 

Here's one of the Belted Sandfish. The biggest one.

 

In both tanks I dose weekly Kents Marine Iron and Manganese and Kents Marine Lugol's Solution.

I want to Co2 also, but havent purchased any yet.

 

Few things I'm concerned of none of my red algae have grown much save the Red Grape (which is looking pretty well). Ulva and C. mexicana seem to be decreasing in size.

 

 

 

 

[metrokat]

The Molly is an algae eater so it could be eating your macros.

[nawilson89]

The Molly is an algae eater so it could be eating your macros.

 

Very true, I have however observed them eating diatoms and bits of grape that is dying off. I haven't seen them eat anything still live.

 

Though i can't see everything all the time!

[SunWyrm]

 

Very true, I have however observed them eating diatoms and bits of grape that is dying off. I haven't seen them eat anything still live.

 

Though i can't see everything all the time!

This is what a webcam is for! You can set up Skype to autoanswer so you can see what they get up to when you're away.

 

 

Love that sandfish! I've never seen one before.

[nawilson89]

This is what a webcam is for! You can set up Skype to autoanswer so you can see what they get up to when you're away.

 

 

Love that sandfish! I've never seen one before.

 

 

That's a great idea!

 

I noticed that the c.mexicana seems to be dying off. I thought it would do ok attached to a rock, but it seems it must like it better planted.

 

So i'll move it.

 

The sandfish is wonderful. It's different than what i'm used it. It's a more of a predatory fish than anything i've ever had. To see it hunt is pretty amazing.

[nawilson89]

Was at my desk yesterday and happened to look back at the 29g to see something really peculiar.

The largest of my sandfish has a habit of chasing around the third one. It's rarely seen and isn't as fat as the other two. Which has been pretty normal for the few days I've had them. What wasn't normal of how the big one looked. It's entire body was covered in vertical stripes! I only had a quick few second glimpse at it, but I could make out the stripes clearly.

So I'm wondering. Could this have been a territorial look? Breeding colors? If it were the docile one then i would have assumed stress from being chased, but it was big mama, or papa.

This is what I enjoy about keeping less popular fish. With next to nothing to read about them I can see their behavior for myself.

[vlangel]

Hi nawilson89 and welcome to N-R! I believe I have seen you on RC in the macro algae topic? I am liking the looks of your 29g. Quite q gew folks on here enjoy keeping macros so you are in good company.

[nawilson89]

Hi nawilson89 and welcome to N-R! I believe I have seen you on RC in the macro algae topic? I am liking the looks of your 29g. Quite q gew folks on here enjoy keeping macros so you are in good company.

 

Thanks! And yes that's me on RC! I'm active on RC and do alot of reading here because of the macro scene, but I'm trying to contribute more.

 

Currently the 29 is incredibly cloudy. I've been running Carbon since Friday to clear it up but nothing has gotten better... so i'm kind of at a loss. If my daughter gives me a change today and doesnt decide to stay up until 10pm tonight i'll do a water change. I'm hoping I can keep the macro alive in the cloudiness. I've moved some to the 20g already just in case.

 

So no new pics yet.

[vlangel]

The cloudiness could be due to a bacterial bloom. If you have seachem stability you could use it every other day or so in hopes of out competing the undesirable bacteria.

[nawilson89]

The cloudiness could be due to a bacterial bloom. If you have seachem stability you could use it every other day or so in hopes of out competing the undesirable bacteria.

 

I don't have any, but i'll stop at the LFS and pick some up!

 

Thanks

[nawilson89]

Two days into seachem stability!

 

In the meantime I'll update on my 20g when I get home this afternoon. I plan on going to the bay (I live in Tampa, FL) to do some collecting and just hanging out by the water after this month of work stress.

 

Ill probably take pics!

[nawilson89]

So other than a few ghost shrimp, I didn't get much. Bummer.

 

29g has been clearing up. Looks like green hair algae and others are trying to move in and take over. I need to get a hold of some hermits!

 

20g has been looking really good. Here's a few pics.

 

Here's the FTS. Grape Caulerpa is dominant. There's actually four main macro in there each has its own spot. 3 were cut from a really large head of grape and has been growing quickly on their own. There are a few smaller heads cut from the 4 also!

 

 

Here's a shaving brush pulled from the 29. You can see the algae all over it. Next to it is some C. Mexicana it's slowly growing. I dose this tank once a week, but I think I need to dose more to keep everyone well fed. Also I really need to get some CO2 running. Behind the shaving brush is some gracilaria and a brownish algae I found in the bay. Not really sure what it is, but I would like to see what becomes of it.

 

Red Grape. Hoping it takes off also.

 

 

Can you see my blenny? I need to move it over to the 29 really bad. It's chasing the gobies. I think thats the reason I see them rarely now.

 

[vlangel]

You are getting very good growth.

[nawilson89]

You are getting very good growth.

 

They are doing especially well in the 20g. The 29g however has slower growth for the grape. I haven't been dosing since the algae bloom.

[nawilson89]

Mystery fish popped up and I got a few pics. Bad pics but they're pics.

[nawilson89]

What a morning! I captured the blenny (big mean one) and threw it in the 29g with the other monsters and then I saw a surprise.

The 20g. Has babies. BABIES! I'm almost 100% sure its not shrimplets. I see 2 big eyes and a skinny body. ALOT of them.

[SunWyrm]

And you took their mama away on mother's day!

 

Lol guess you're mom now, good luck with the little guys. Are you going to do anything special to try to raise them or let them be? Pics?

[nawilson89]

And you took their mama away on mother's day!

 

Lol guess you're mom now, good luck with the little guys. Are you going to do anything special to try to raise them or let them be? Pics?

 

 

The blenny I took away isn't actually mom, it's just another inhabitant of the tank. The gobies are the ones that bred. I took pics but they are too small to see.

 

This morning when i went to check on them, they were nowhere to be found. they may have gone into the algae during the darkness. I did however see shrimplets. So there's that. I have goby fry and shrimplets in the tank.

[vlangel]

The blenny I took away isn't actually mom, it's just another inhabitant of the tank. The gobies are the ones that bred. I took pics but they are too small to see.

 

This morning when i went to check on them, they were nowhere to be found. they may have gone into the algae during the darkness. I did however see shrimplets. So there's that. I have goby fry and shrimplets in the tank.

 

Most marine fry need frequent large densities of very small food so its unlikely that that the goby babies will get very far without being in a nursery tank. They will be good coral food though!

[nawilson89]

Most marine fry need frequent large densities of very small food so its unlikely that that the goby babies will get very far without being in a nursery tank. They will be good coral food though!

 

Yeah, I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. I expected this to happen months from now.

 

No coral though, other than suffocated zoa.

[nawilson89]

So let's talk about my 20g.

Unfortunately like I thought I wasn't able to take care of the babies, but I am very happy that they did breed. So my next plan is when i have the money, to start up my 2.5g pico exclusively for these goby and breeding.

Over the weekend I saw the alpha Goby and it wasn't looking too well. It's wasn't see-through and was looking quite ragged. It may have lived a full life, before being found in the harvested live rock and brought to my tank. I wasn't able to capture it and it may have passed since then. So that's my first major death since putting fish back into my tank. It's sad to see it go, but I am glad that I was a fat happy fish for months. Maybe it was even one of my breeders. Already planning on going to get some more in the future.

So for my 20g, I had wanted to get dwarf seahorses, but was concerned over hydroids. It looks like since my tank went sexual a few months ago when I was sick that all the hydroids are gone. Other than brown algae growing everywhere and a single aiptasia that refuses to die, even with aiptasia-x, my tank is looking really good. Heck i forgot to mention the flatworms. Okay THEY HAVE TO GO. These guys have taken over. So I plan on siphoning as much out as I can and then getting some flatworm meds for the tank.

Who knows. After clearing up this baby I and getting my pod population back to where it used to be, I may get some dwarves.

I kind of want to pull everything from the tank and do some reworking on what I want too, but that probably won't ever happen.

[nawilson89]

Just came back from vacation for a few days with some changes, Pics to come this afternoon as I was too tired to take pics.

29g. Grape growth is still coming along very well. Very. Very well. I think the brightness of the lights has been a huge factor compared to the 20g. The grape here is compacted and bushy. It's really cool to look at. I can see shaving brush popping out of the sand bed in different places. One of the original heads died off. Ulva is growing in different areas, most notably on a filter.

I saw two of three sandfish last night. One seems to be hiding, but I don't fear the worst, not in this tank. Other than that everything is growing steadily.

20g. In the few days I was gone this tank REALLY changed. Not really sure why. Maybe the light timers wasn't working as well, but my girlfriend confirmed them to be working before we left so I'm not sure. Anyways let me explain why its weird. The grape in the 29g is short and compacted. In here it was pretty lengthy and stretched around the tank, but rock was almost not visible for the most part. Now the grape has really started stretching. each stalk is open and I can see alot of the rock where I couldnt before.

I havent seen ANY of the fish in this tank other than the molly. Not sure why. Gonna purchase some new food this afternoon and hopefully they will show themselves.

[nawilson89]

I definitely forgot to take pictures as I was just looking for my goby most of the afternoon. Still can't find any inhabitants other than the molly, pistol shrimp, porcelain crab and other members of the CuC.

So just a bit of shameless promotion for a bit:

I've been talking about a friend of mine and the fish and stuff that i've gotten from him. He's given me permission to go public with my info.

He's the owner of saltybottom reef company. It's a Tampa area company that harvests their own live rock. Which is some BEAUTIFUL live rock. I've seen it first hand at his shop. When I was there I was able to catch my own goby from his many tubs or rock and see some beautiful things. One tank had a huge toadfish which was about 10 inches long. He also had a really small gulf toadfish about 2-3 inches long in another tub that I got to catch and take pictures of. All of my current fish save for my mollies are from him as are most of my CuC (the others are from reefcleaners). I've received various fish, crabs, shrimp, snails and macro from him. I really hope you all can take a look at his site (google saltybottomreefcompany) and see what he has to offer! He's a really cool guy!

[nawilson89]

20g as usual is looking grand. I moved the female molly in there so this batch of babies can have a chance without the sandfish hunting them down.

 

I've come to terms that my gobies are all gone. I still haven't seen a single one and its been over a week now. Usually they would be hiding in a hole laying eggs, but I would at least see one or two when I feed. It's possible they are short lived as there really isnt much info on them. That or my pistol shrimp took them out. I did see the little blenny once or twice, but he's always been elusive.

 

Tom, my saltybottomreefcompany friend wants me to get his yellow neon gobies, but I don't want to give up on my tigers yet.

 

Here's a pic of the 20g. It's looking real good. I moved some Gracilaria from my 29g to give to a few local reefers in my facebook club.

 

 

A close up on my grape jungle.

 

 

My 29g is looking a bit worse for wear so no pics yet. I think the blenny I added from my 20g has dug into the mud layer. The tank is now extremely cloudy, I probably cant see my hand if I put it in there. I ordered a nice BIG aquaclear filter for one day shipping from amazon to work on it, but it wasnt delivered yesterday (thanks USPS). I'm hoping to get it today and get this tank cleared up. I fear the worse. With the tank clouding up and possibly sending nutrients through the roof, I don't want any caulerpa to go sexual (although prolifera is just shooting up EVERYWHERE). Over the weekend I pulled at least 10 gallons out the tank for a WC, but nothing helped.
"Help me Obi-Wan Aqua-Clear, you're my only hope!"