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[Stock] WarEagleNR88


WarEagleNR88

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For the substrate . . . I gave it all a good mixing in the tank . . .
. . . But before the mixin', a pic. I'm really curious as to how this Eco-Complete will do.S06.jpg
I'm excited to follow along with this tank. I have a 29 seahorse tank that I set up as mostly macros and a few softies. I've really gotten into macros and have been trying to collect some of the more interesting ones. I just got a small bit of blueish-purple Ochtodes sp. from a club meeting this weekend! I'm really hoping it'll grow in my tank.

 

Let me know when you start stocking your tank...maybe we can work out some trades.

Chris

Thanks for following along. Can you go into a little more detail on your tank or do you have a thread?

 

About the trades, first where are you located? DC? East coast may not work so well ;) I'd be willing to do that, but it would help if you were a lot closer. I don't know if macros ship well. I'm not sure the variety of macros I can get yet. Still working the logistics and trying to find a good vendor. Where did you get your macros?

With the power of that Penguin filter, I should be able to get a really good picture tonight.
And here they are; enjoy!S07.jpg

 

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Now if their health will just improve. Still slightly smelly but decreasing rapidly. I'll test it tomorrow.

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Can you go into a little more detail on your tank or do you have a thread?

 

I don't have a tank thread...maybe I should. Anyway here's a pic. It's a couple of months old. Lots more in there now. :). I'll post an updated on later when I get home. But you can see some of the macros.

 

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It's a 29 gallon. Setup is pretty simple. Filtration is just live rock, sand, and an AC 70 and a small rio PH for more flow. Lights are Orbit PC 32W 6500 and 32W actinic.

 

Between the seahorses and the suncoral this tank gets feed heavily but with all the macros nitrates stay around 10ppm. I dose calcium but nothing else. I'm considering trying iron. All of the macros are growing (some faster than others). The dragon's tongue in particular grows like a weed.

 

Here's a list of the macros I have:

BLUE

Blue Ball (Ochtodes sp.),

 

GREENS

Caulerpa prolifera

Feather caulerpa (C. taxifolia)

Caulerpa sp. (like feather with very skinny, spikey fonds)

Cactus plant (Halimeda sp.)

Codium sp.

Shaving brush (Penicillus sp.)

Chaetomorpha sp.

 

REDS

Dragon’s tongue (Heymenia sp.),

Red grape (Botryocladia sp.)

Branched red (thick calcareous branches in tube shape)

Unknown pink (leafy pink)

Red lettuce (just live Ulva but red)

Red kelp (similar to heymenia but dark red and thinner)

Pink calcareous (not sure but might be Corallina officinalis)

 

BROWN

Sargassum sp.

 

Also I have some close up of some of the macros here

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?auto...er&user=960

 

About the trades, first where are you located? DC? East coast may not work so well ;) I'd be willing to do that, but it would help if you were a lot closer. I don't know if macros ship well.

 

I've shipped my macros to OR and CA from the east coast priority. It took 3 days to get there but the macros were all fine. I think they are much easier to ship than corals.

 

Where did you get your macros?

I got a few from trades on RC, one from ebay, a couple from LFS, and several from local club members. Several that I got for the LFS were tiny frags that came off of some of thier liverock shippments. I haven't bought any from online venders but I've heard good things about marine flora and inland aquatics.

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Thanks for the picture and the info, ChrisS.

 

I've been doing a lot of reading lately on using CO2 in the planted marine aquarium. Despite the naysayers, I've done this before with FW and it is much easier than one would think with a good pH controller. I have the Milwaukee SMS122 pH controller, but it is acting up right now and I need to get it working. If I can get it working, I'll do pressurized CO2 and see what happens. If it works, I'll dose more nutrients/ferts and the macros will nearly grow out of the tank. If it doesn't work, then I'll remove it. But I've got a good feeling it WILL work and well. I wonder how the zooxanthellae algae inside of corals feel about CO2 addition? :D

 

Here are test numbers I promised (excuse me for missing data):

Temp 79 deg ----- (Coralife digital thermometer)

Salinity ~1.024 --- (Coralife Deep Six hydrometer using Instant Ocean mix)

Ammonia 0.0 ----- (Red Sea Marine test kit)

NO2 ~0.2 --------- (Red Sea Marine test kit)

NO3 ??? ----------- (missing the NO3 card from the Red Sea Marine test kit)

Alk ~2.2 ---------- (Red Sea Marine test kit)

pH ~8.2 ----------- (Red Sea Marine test kit)

pH ??? ------------- (messed up Milwaukee SMS122 right now)

KH 140 ppm ------ (Hagen GH/KH test kit)

Ca 460 ppm ------ (Hagen Ca test kit)

 

But I don't really care about the NO3 as I'll be doing the Estimative Index of Dosing. If you're interested, read it and I bet you'll learn a lot of stuff. Tom Barr is a very smart man, especially when it comes to aquatic plants both marine and freshwater. I added 5 ppm of NO3 to the water column tonight and put up about 5G of SW on the mix. Seachem Reef Builder and Advantage Calcium are also mixed up and ready to add because the Halimeda and Udotea will soon start using up Calcium. Plus my Alkalinity is low and I'd like it higher.

 

And here we come to the exciting part. PICTURES! I picked up some macros today from a LFS. All kinds of caulerpa parts, a branch of red grape, chaeto, and lots of good looking halimeda. Plus the algae on the rocks have been growing. The halimeda that came on it I think is in a death spiral as it shows no sign of recovery. The greenness of the new halimeda took about 30 mins to an hour to go from its white shock "I dont like travelling :angry:" look to this nice green color after being put into the tank. I'm all :lol:. It doesn't look pretty, but give it a few weeks.

 

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You really did take it all lol! Gonna need to take my finders fee out of some of that ;)

Hahahah you're a funny guy ChinChek :D. Thanks for the tip on the LFS. It was a very good looking store and I was very impressed at just how clean and nicely stocked everything was. Their 1000G MH blasted SPS and clam dominated setup was very impressive! I was a little surprised they didn't have the snails or hermit crabs I wanted. But they seemed willing to help me out for what I am looking for.

 

Right now in the tank, diatoms are starting to bloom so my cycle should be close if not complete. I wonder if the macro will overpower the diatoms and not make it so surprising when they hit full bloom? We'll have to wait and see I guess. Macros look really good today. The halimeda is a very dark green color right now. I dosed 250mL of RODI with 1.5 tsp of Reef builder today. I'll do it again before the water change next week sometime. Hopefully my Alkalinity will boost itself a little. Calcium will be added tomorrow. Stupid SMS122 controller is still acting dumb. GRRR Come on SMS122! :slap:

 

I disagree, it looks gorgeous!

Why thank you, Rene. I'm curious to see how your Florida tank will fair. Are all of those animals you spoke of native to the Florida coast?

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Why thank you, Rene. I'm curious to see how your Florida tank will fair. Are all of those animals you spoke of native to the Florida coast?

 

That makes two of us! I have most of the corals in a 5.5, but I'm really looking foward to the lighting and current upgrade in my 10, if only I can get the pump issues straightened out. I've always liked macros. Fortunately for me, halimeda is common in the habitat I'm doing. Mine looks dark green like yours. I've seen a few folks with bright green halimeda, closer to your first pic, but I don't know what they do to get it that color. More intense light maybe?

 

And yep, those animals can all be found off the Florida coast. Many of them not until the very tip of southern Florida, but still all in Florida.

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That makes two of us! I have most of the corals in a 5.5, but I'm really looking foward to the lighting and current upgrade in my 10, if only I can get the pump issues straightened out. I've always liked macros. Fortunately for me, halimeda is common in the habitat I'm doing. Mine looks dark green like yours. I've seen a few folks with bright green halimeda, closer to your first pic, but I don't know what they do to get it that color. More intense light maybe?

 

And yep, those animals can all be found off the Florida coast. Many of them not until the very tip of southern Florida, but still all in Florida.

The MH lighting you have should do very well for your tank and especially the Halimeda. I wonder if it is the lighting that affects its colors? I think as long as the Magdrive doesn't leak, you'll be fine for the pump. On my first marine tank I had a Magdrive 18 on a closed loop and I couldn't get the microbubbles out of the system. Hopefully you don't have that problem.

 

Yes before beginning this contest I considered entering into the custom with a Florida biotype, but I think for as hard as I could try, even all that I could do would look boring to the real thing. IMO it's very hard to display the diversity and the amount of life there is there. So I decided to try the stock category and just make macro grow like you wouldn't believe. Good luck and I hope you do well with it.

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Yes before beginning this contest I considered entering into the custom with a Florida biotype, but I think for as hard as I could try, even all that I could do would look boring to the real thing.

 

I'll just have to count myself lucky then! :P Not only do I not have direct competition from you, but I've never seen the Florida reefs in person, so I don't have that to live up to. I get to depend on lots of photographs.

 

Seriously, a Florida biotope is something I've wanted to do for years, but didn't have the patience for when I first started out. I hope it lives up to my expectations, and that I'm able to do it justice. We'll see, eh?

 

I decided to go with a Hydor pump for my closed loop, so we'll see how it does. If I need a chiller, I may go with a Mag for that. Lots of people seem to use them externally with no problems.

 

I think we're both going to be pretty interested in following each other's tanks. You, because I'm doing the biotope you were thinking of, and me, because you're going to be growing a lot of the same kinds of macros I will, but in a dedicated system. It should be interesting to see how they do for you since you'll be able to let them grow much more rampantly than I will.

 

I'll let you know if the halimeda turns bright green under the halides, but it'll be a while. The tank doesn't even have water in it yet.

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I tested today to see if animals would be fine to add. Here are the current stats.

Temp 78 deg ----- (Coralife digital thermometer)

Salinity ~1.024 --- (Coralife Deep Six hydrometer using Instant Ocean mix)

Ammonia 0.0 ----- (Red Sea Marine test kit)

Nitrite 0.0---------- (Red Sea Marine test kit)

 

Honestly, I don't think it would matter if there was NH3/4 or NO2 in the tank as all the algae would scoop it right up becoming a living bio-filter, similar to the way FW plants do.

 

Looking back at this picture, then at the tank, something amazing is happening as the tank looks nothing like that nice clean pristine picture does. I'd say it looks better, but the animals I put in the tank today are having a kegger its so nice! The trochus I put into the tank went berserk it was so happy! I think I need to find a supplier for a variety of microcrustaceans as I plan on keeping them very well fed! More to come on what I mean by that. Does anyone have any "hard to find invert" suppliers?

 

I've gotta keep the audience on their toes. Can't always post brand new pics every time else things will get boring, eh? Check back tomorrow sometime :D

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Your tank looks great and I like your idea of having many different species of macro algae in the tank. I can't wait to see how this tank turns out.

 

I'll definitely be following this thread. :)

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. . . but I've never seen the Florida reefs in person, so I don't have that to live up to. I get to depend on lots of photographs.
Ah, you should go diving sometime. Everyone should go diving if they're in this hobby. I've only dove in NW FL a couple of times and I'm sure its nothing like the Keys. But that's been many moons ago and lots of information has flooded my brain since then. I was just amazed at all of the different types of animals. What photos and where?

 

New pictures as promised: (The new October Photo \/ )

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. . . something amazing is happening as the tank looks nothing like that nice clean pristine picture does.
But now that I compare the pictures, it really is not much that different from afar, in person it seems aged--which is very good. Its appearance is hard to catch on the camera--especially without a tripod and taking my time getting a really good stable picture--as the "micro" life is growing and multiplying. One thing I find is the coarse aragonite is very good for pods to find refuge. They can crawl through the cracks and populate in the open spaces between the larger "rocks".
I can't wait to see how this tank turns out.
You have no idea how true that is to me as well. And if you couldn't tell in the above photos, there are new animals in the tank.

 

6 - Blue Leg Hermit Crabs (1/4" each)

1 - Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab

1 - Emerald Mithrax Crab (1/2")

1 - Trochus Snail

2 - Astrea Snails

4 - Cerith Snails

4 - Tonga Nassarius Snails

 

All of these animals except the trochus and the tonga nassas are from the Caribbean/W. Atlantic. There are also hitchhikers of one nassarius vibex (from my old live sand), a couple of mini brittle stars, one very peculiar grey/white banded asterina star the size of a dime, and about 4 different microcrustaceans.

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Two new animals! Acanthemblemaria sp. aka Barnacle Blenny. They're checking out the tank right now and were a little spooked after I put them into the aquarium so their colors are not as evident. They are a very good community fish and tolerate conspecifics very well. If I like them and don't want more diversity fish-wise, I may try to pick up a few more of these guys. They are extremely tiny fish and do not get very large at all. They came with 3 different pieces of barnacle shells for their homes.

 

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My Halimeda plants are putting out new shoots left and right. The caulerpa is also growing well. I've also been monitoring some interesting macroalgae that has been growing over the past few days on this rock. I've been unable to identify it or even come close to it. It is similar to Halimeda in rigidity and flexibility, but it is brown and is coming out of the rock in spikes. Any ideas?

 

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Your tank is turning out to be sweet WarEagleNR88. Great macro aglae.
I'm glad you like it lgreen. Hopefully I can make it even better.

 

After doing a little research on what these Barnacle Blennies like to eat, I discovered--surprise--they enjoy tasty little copepods and amphipods along with other fine tasting zooplanktonic animals. So, instead of bubbling a bunch of brine eggs, I dropped about 1/64th (just a tiny pinch) of a teaspon of brine eggs into the tank. That was on the 25th. Today on the 30th, I can see little brine shrimp on the glass running around and the Blennies are voracious little eaters grabbing all kinds of "bugs" out of the water. I also put three drops of Selcon into the tank today to promote microfauna proliferation. Hopefully it will work, and keep these little Blennies happy and fat. They are extremely quick at zooming out of their barnacle, snapping their jaws around some unsuspecting animal and then darting back to their barnacle to ambush another. Here are their pics--look at those chompers on the little one (first picture)!

 

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I also dosed my first 1/4 teaspoon of Kent Marine's Super Chelated Iron tonight to give the macro a little boost. All of the algae is looking good and filling out the empty space in the tank. The caulerpa is sending runners and the halimeda puts out new little "coins" every couple of days. It's crazy to think this tank is only 2.5 weeks old. I can't imagine what it will look like in 2.5 months. Here is the Udotea that came on the live rock. The actually udotea that came with the rock--you can see it in the picture--has wilted and in its place a new one is growing. Since this is so small, growth pictures will really show its progress.

 

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And here is my hardworking little Emerald Crab, out for the evening to feast on some microalgae.

 

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that unidentified macro looks to be a form of sargassum but i could be wrong
Yeah I'll keep an eye on it and take pictures if it develops more. So we'll have to see. I'm really hoping the iron dosing will boost the growth over the next few days. I may also need to dose a little phosphate to help them out, too. Maybe then we'll be able to figure out what it is.

 

Maintenance-wise, the light shield needs cleaned of the salt spray from the bio-wheel; a water change is in the works for this weekend; the glass needs cleaned for my next FTS (and any pictures for that matter); and the fiber in the HOB filter probably needs to be washed of its dust and silt. I think that's about it.

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It's MACRO LAND!! looks good wareagle
:D Thanks for the comment Truck_Under_Water! I'm looking to really push it up on this tank to let the plants and animals grow and settle in over the next 5 months. So for that reason, I visited some LFSs today and picked up mostly animals but some new algaes--red ones! Here are my new additions.

 

Algaes:

--- Caulerpa sp.

--- Botryocladia sp.

--- Un-ID'ed Red "firm" algae, it looks like this Here.

Fish:

--- 1 Randall's Goby, Amblyeleotris randalli

Invertebrates:

--- 3 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs

--- 1 Trochus Snail

--- 1 Randall's Pistol Shrimp a.k.a. Candy Stripe

--- 4 Sexy Shrimp

--- Feather Duster Worms, Bispira sp.

 

Also I picked up 1 small Black Occelaris Clownfish and 1 Neon Goby and they are being acclimated. They will be added when I feel they are ready. Pictures with a new FTS!

 

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The grape Caulerpa below the scarlet hermit and all of the bright halimeda in the pictures are brand new growth since adding Iron this past Monday. :D

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looking good!

 

i'm not suggesting iodine dosing but if you start to expand your algae to include more reds and browns, it may be something you'll need to look into unless you are very regular with your waterchanges.

 

so far it looks great in layout and species choice though.

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I'm telling ya, marine planted tanks are going to be the next big thing in aquaria. We'll learn to incorporate nitrates and phosphates and use plants and algae to keep them reduced instead of adding tons of chemical or mechanical removal. People are doing it already but it is not mainstream yet.

So true! And depending on livestock and setup, that will probably not be that hard. Your tank is amazing. Tagging along.

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