Dawn's pony garden.

[vlangel]

I can grow some feather caulerpa in the back right corner.  I have grown it before on that gorg skeleton and that will create some height fairly fast, plus it wont be bulky like rock would be.

 

The high flow in this tank makes dunes and  and sand ridges just like the bottom of the ocean and I really like that.  I have it hitting directly into rock so that the sand is not becoming a trench.  That should also help with leftover mysis getting trapped but I will have to be especially diligent about basting the rock, since there are a lot more places for detritus and leftover mysis to be trapped.  On the plus side the ponies have a lot more hitches and yet they are easier to see against the white sand, (and easier to photogragh)! ?

[Dos Ocho]

Love the change. Hope the DSB works out for you. Fantastic tank as usual!! 

[vlangel]

7 minutes ago, Dos Ocho said:

Love the change. Hope the DSB works out for you. Fantastic tank as usual!! 

Thank you very much for the affirmation.  I love the change too. Now it looks like someplace you might see while snorkling and I love that.  I hope the DSB plateau works out too.  I THINK (she says a bit uncertainly) that I have struck a balance of being able to keep the tank free enough of pathogenic bacteria without it looking sterile.  Unfortunately the only way I will know that I am wrong is when ponies come down sick. ?

[Christopher Marks]

Hi Dawn, I hope your weekend is going well! I wanted to let you know that I went through your journal and restored all of the lost Photobucket photos posted before their policy change last summer.  

[vlangel]

4 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Hi Dawn, I hope your weekend is going well! I wanted to let you know that I went through your journal and restored all of the lost Photobucket photos posted before their policy change last summer.  

Thanks so much Christopher!  You are more on the ball than I am because I did not notice that photobucket had quit showing my prior pics.  I really really appreciate you doing all that for me.  Its always my hope that an aspiring seahorse keeper will read my thread and utilize some of the information in it.

[yoshii]

Wow it looks great Dawn! I love how natural it looks

[Pjanssen]

 Looks like a Florida reef and makes me want to go diving! Next week end, Yay!! I agree it looks better without the dead coral on the left. Truly stunning and always fun to follow.

[Sharbuckle]

On 2018-01-26 at 6:13 PM, vlangel said:

I hated the tall dead staghorn so too bad about the lack of height, this is the scape I am going with.

I think it’s friggin awesome! What a great idea. Maybe you can find a really really tall gorgonian to stick where the stag horn was. 

[vlangel]

5 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

 Looks like a Florida reef and makes me want to go diving! Next week end, Yay!! I agree it looks better without the dead coral on the left. Truly stunning and always fun to follow.

Thanks!  I have thought about researching Florida coral and making it a Florida biotope since I know that most of the stuff in my tank is from FL.

Hey Penny, you have a great and safe time next weekend!

3 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

I think it’s friggin awesome! What a great idea. Maybe you can find a really really tall gorgonian to stick where the stag horn was. 

Thanks Sharbuckle.  Maybe I will find a tall gorg sometime.  Its hard to grow them tall because they are such slow growers and probably even slower in 70° water.

[xiaoxiy]

I love the sandbed!

[pgrVII]

This is amazing Dawn,love the sandbed idea!

[vlangel]

On 1/30/2018 at 12:06 PM, xiaoxiy said:

I love the sandbed!

 

On 1/31/2018 at 8:34 AM, pgrVII said:

This is amazing Dawn,love the sandbed idea!

Thanks guys, I love the new look too.

 

It has been difficult directing the flow so that this oolite sand is not trenched and burying stuff though.  I keep fooling around with adjusting it.  This morning I tried to slow the flow of my tunze 6045 which is a manual adjustment.  I broke off the tiny plastic nub so no more adjustable powerhead.?  Hopefully I can get it good eventually or I might have to buy a bag of slightly coarser sand.

[Orangutran]

Man, love the plateau scape!! Who needs a drop-off tank, when you can have something natural like this! Awesome idea!

[vlangel]

On 1/27/2018 at 11:38 PM, yoshii said:

Wow it looks great Dawn! I love how natural it looks

Thanks yoshii, I like that too.

[vlangel]

11 minutes ago, Orangutran said:

Man, love the plateau scape!! Who needs a drop-off tank, when you can have something natural like this! Awesome idea!

Thanks Orangutran!  Yeah, actually the drop-off tanks are what gave me the idea.  I did not want to be investing in a new tank and I was wanting the benefits of a DSB.

[Butchy21]

Love the scaping- it gives a nice depth of field.  Those are always my favorite types of rock setups!

[vlangel]

Thanks Butchy21, I like the depth too.  I wished that I could have RFAs but they are not safe for ponies.

[StephLionfish]

Your tank is amazing, love the look! Late to the party, but following along 

[Orangutran]

7 hours ago, vlangel said:

Thanks Orangutran!  Yeah, actually the drop-off tanks are what gave me the idea.  I did not want to be investing in a new tank and I was wanting the benefits of a DSB.

This is much better! Form and function!! You've given me ideas if I ever get a new tank!

[vlangel]

9 hours ago, Orangutran said:

This is much better! Form and function!! You've given me ideas if I ever get a new tank!

I agree, it is better in form and function.  I hope that it is safe for seahorses but they are sort of unique in their needs.

[vlangel]

I added the DSB January 25th and I was concerned that there might be a mini cycle from the sand smothering bacteria on the retaining rock wall.  I put an ammonia badge on the tank and it hasn't shown anything at all and I am pretty sure it would have happened by now if it were gonna happen.

[Subsea]

Glad I found your thread.  I only read the last page.  

 

Why do you want dsb?   Burrowing fish?  I have never been happy with oolite size substrate.  All of my tanks have robust circulation which keeps oolite stirred up.

 

Nevertheless, I love the way it looks.   Earlier in your thread you mentioned feather Caulerpa.  Yesterday morning, one macro rock of Caulerpa Paspoidoides went sexual in my 120G new build.  Even in the dark, I saw cloudy water.  As I was running late for an appointment, when I came back 6 hours later, the tank was clear.  I will replace carbon in my canister filter to remove dissolved organics in the water.   The output of this canister filter goes to my  40W UV sterilizer.  Canister filter is a prefilter and a pump for sterilizer.  This will become a standard on all of my inside tanks.

 

After reading many of your post and seeing your standards of excellence to provide livestock under your care a thriving environment, I say kudos to your achievements.

 

In the last six weeks, many things are coming together to point to bacteria as the main problem for unknown failures in our marine tanks.   I spoke with three separate reasearch scientist on two separate continents  about mass cultivation, mariculture, of seaweed with a co-culture of shrimp in separate tanks.  Using nutrient rich water from shrimp for certain is full of bacteria that will feed on macro algae, under the right conditions.   The sterilization of raw water for my salt water mix was emphasized by three separate seaweed mariculture manuals.  I will use the one from New England to guide me.

 

 

 

 

The next person to emphasize sterilization was Professor Jerry Brand at UT Dept of Molecular Bioscience.  He is director of the largest algae collection in  the world.  Mostly stored in cryogenics.  Half way thru the tour of his facility, I asked, “Where is the algae?”  Jerry has been to my home.  He actually got on his stomick to look into my 30G EcoSystem mud/macro refugium.

 

Of further interest to reefers.  All algae gets its carbon thru carbon fixation which means carbon dioxide dissolved in water to increase alkalinity, then coupled with photosynthesis produces glucose which is a carbon source.  Zooanthellia in coral are algae.  That means that carbon dosing feeds bacteria.  Even with a powerful skimmer, Carbon dosed tanks will have skewed bacteria populations.  I think this is not a good thing.  Peer reviewed articles by Ken Felderman at Advanced Aquaria go into much more detail.

 

@vlangel

You have sealed the deal.  For certain bacteria infections in ponies are a number one issue.  I would not in a million years have thought that macro suffered from bacteria infection also.

 

In the War of the Worlds, the bacteria destroyed the Martian invaders.

 

@tibbsy07 said it best, “Microbial Overlords”.

 

[vlangel]

Yes @Subsea, I am definitely seeing why you don't like oolite sand.  Even when I can get the flow (which I would describe as robust) not to trench and drift my coral, there are still tiny sand particle in the water column.? I am going to add a very fine layer of regular sized sand on top of the shallow level.

 

Actually an article from Advanced Aquarist on DSBs that you posted in Michael Hoaster's thread influenced me.  In the article it said that the life in a DSB go about their buisness less hindered in fine sand or substrate.  Also fine substrate is recommended for seahorses so that excess uneaten food is less likely to get trapped.

 

My feather caulerpa is constantly being pruned and it does not go sexual according to Pete Giwonja, a seahorse expert when it is continually being pruned or if it is under light 24/7, which has been my experience.  It does not sound that the specie of caulerpa that you had go sexual caused any problem for your system either.  Having a canister filter go straight to a UV sterilizer is a smart way to go.  I never considered that, although again canister filters are discouraged with seahorses because if they suck in any mysis and its not cleaned 2Xs a week pathogenic bacteria can build up.  I don't know if a UV kills vibrio or not.  That is one of the bad bacterias that affect seahorses.  I would have to look into that if I were to implement a canister.  My system is already set up to accomadate a UV in union with my chiller.  Right now they are both offline.

 

Have you considered probiotics to outcompete pathogenic bacteria?  When I raised seahorse fry, which are even more susceptible to nasties I used sanolife mic-F in both the fry nursery and the bbs food culture.  I credit that with my success.  Since I have added the sand, I think I will be ordering some sanolife mic-F from Seahorse Source to run in my seahorse tank.  It is really not a lot of money and I am convinced it works.  A little goes a long way.

 

I am glad to learn of your experience with the loss of macro algae to bacteria.  Like you, I never would have imagined them to be vulnerable.  Thank you for sharing.

[Subsea]

Probiotics for ponies, yes.

 

In a differrent sort of way, I have seen a gallon of water from a mature, healthy reef tank solve a gha problem in a struggling tank.

[vlangel]

53 minutes ago, Subsea said:

Probiotics for ponies, yes.

 

In a differrent sort of way, I have seen a gallon of water from a mature, healthy reef tank solve a gha problem in a struggling tank.

Really, that is amazing!  I guess even the microbes in the water feed tiny creatures that feed slightly bigger creatures until you get to the ones that munch on gha? 

 

I know a lot of folks buy dry rock to start out their tanks without pests, but I have kept all the live rock that I bought in the 90s and continue to keep using it.  I do have bubble algae but never had anything else.

 

I forgot to say that I am a fan of DSBs because they are so maintenance free.  No vacuming, just stir the top inch by dancing my fingers in it a couple Xs a month.  Plus I like the denitrification.  All my tanks had DSBs until I got ponies, this is the first with them.