Dawn's pony garden.

[Subsea]

Low nutrients favor undesirable algae

 

Wnar you  described was Old Tank syndrome and seahorses were your apex predator. 

[vlangel]

8 hours ago, Subsea said:

Low nutrients favor undesirable algae

 

Wnar you  described was Old Tank syndrome and seahorses were your apex predator. 

O wow, I guess I still have much to learn! LOL, maybe you still can teach an old dog new tricks.

 

The good news is that it is looking promising that the dinos are gone.  I did a thorough cleaning to manually remove all dinos that I could, I did a 4 day black out of the sump and shortened the light cycle in the display, and I held off on one of my water changes to give nutrients a chance to build up a little.  I will check nitrates and phosphates again at the end of the week to see if they have come up.  I am not sure what to expect because I can tell that the red grape is really growing and may be taking up nutrients.  Only a test will tell.

[Subsea]

4 hours ago, vlangel said:

O wow, I guess I still have much to learn! LOL, maybe you still can teach an old dog new tricks.

 

The good news is that it is looking promising that the dinos are gone.  I did a thorough cleaning to manually remove all dinos that I could, I did a 4 day black out of the sump and shortened the light cycle in the display, and I held off on one of my water changes to give nutrients a chance to build up a little.  I will check nitrates and phosphates again at the end of the week to see if they have come up.  I am not sure what to expect because I can tell that the red grape is really growing and may be taking up nutrients.  Only a test will tell.

 

 

You should harvest Red Grapes for nutrient export and sell ornamental macros for doughnuts..

[vlangel]

38 minutes ago, Subsea said:

 

 

You should harvest Red Grapes for nutrient export and sell ornamental macros for doughnuts..

😂 You've seen me, I don't need any doughnuts!  Maybe I should eat them in my salad instead!!!

[leighla]

Hi Dawn! 

I am so impressed with you ponies! Adam was a stunner, I am sorry you lost him. I am glad to have quickly found someone on the forum who loves macros and donuts. My first google searches when I'm in a new area are "donuts near me" and "fish store near me". My priorities are clear....

[vlangel]

Hi N-R community!  We, my hubby and I had an amazing experience in Greece for 10 days.  It's always good to be back home.  And it was good to see that the ponies did great!  I was a bit worried about Eve since she is not the hunter she used to be but she looks fine, so I guess she got enough to eat.  Tomorrow will be WC and husbandry day to get the tank back to looking it's best.

[debbeach13]

Welcome home

 

[WV Reefer]

5 hours ago, vlangel said:

Hi N-R community!  We, my hubby and I had an amazing experience in Greece for 10 days.  It's always good to be back home.  And it was good to see that the ponies did great!  I was a bit worried about Eve since she is not the hunter she used to be but she looks fine, so I guess she got enough to eat.  Tomorrow will be WC and husbandry day to get the tank back to looking it's best.

 

Thats an awesome vacation! 

 

glad everyone was well when you returned. 😀

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, vlangel said:

Hi N-R community!  We, my hubby and I had an amazing experience in Greece for 10 days.  It's always good to be back home.  And it was good to see that the ponies did great!  I was a bit worried about Eve since she is not the hunter she used to be but she looks fine, so I guess she got enough to eat.  Tomorrow will be WC and husbandry day to get the tank back to looking it's best.

Greece - how lucky!!! That’s my favorite place I’ve travelled to. Where did you go? 

[vlangel]

5 hours ago, banasophia said:

Greece - how lucky!!! That’s my favorite place I’ve travelled to. Where did you go? 

We went to Athens.  It was a humanitarian trip to help with refugees.  We took 18 duffle bags full of shoes, flashlights, clothing, hygiene supplies and such to distribute.  We worked with a missionary couple who have a center that feeds folks 3Xs a week, offers some medical help and distributes clothes. 

 

We also raised funds to hold a 4 day retreat for refugees recently converted to christianity or who wanted to learn about it.  Between 50 - 60 folks came to the retreat.  At the end of the retreat we offered baptism to any who wanted it and also had communion together.  As it turned out 2 of our team members were baptized as well which was cool.  Although heart wrenching at times, it was an experience I will never forget. As people we come from many different backrounds and cultures, speak different languages but most of us want the same thing...to be loved and respected, to be able to give love and respect and finally to be able to live in peace.  I made new friends and my life is the richer for it.

[vlangel]

The big ponies' tank got some lovin' this morning.  This tank looks so bare bones and unexciting but every time I clean it I am glad it is.  About once a week I need to remove the macro algaes and coral and rock to syphon out the detritus which is always significant.  The ponies have been happy and healthy in this set up since I moved them and it works well.  Its not ugly, just very plain.  Anyway, Eve, Samson and Delilah are the stars and keeping them healthy is the top priority.

[vlangel]

Things don't look too bad in this pic but that is because you cannot see all the empty space in the rest of the tank.

 

I also removed the feather caulerpa.  It looked stringy and not as healthy as I would like.  There is still short pieces on a rock so it's not gone for good, LOL.  The red grape seems better suited under the Coral Compulsion par bulb and it is thriving.  It's an attractive macro and the ponies love hitching to it so I am good with it being the predominant export algae.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/26op7WZb1k6MuRgb8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/26op7WZb1k6MuRgb8

://photos.app.goo.gl/

[Polarcollision]

I just re-watched your video of Delilah and her majestic cirri. ❤️💘💖

[vlangel]

10 minutes ago, Polarcollision said:

I just re-watched your video of Delilah and her majestic cirri. ❤️💘💖

After reading your post I went back and re-watched the video as well.  I really do love her 'majestic' cirri too.  I had asked Abbie Underwood at Seahorse Source if I could have a pony with cirri.  That was 2 years ago and Abbie lost her battle against cancer shortly after that.  Delilah is special in so many ways but having Abbie pick her is definitely one of them.

[Polarcollision]

Heartfelt tribute to Abbie, for sure.

[vlangel]

The pony tank (and the ponies) are doing great.  They have been healthy since I moved them into this tank.  I syphon out detritus weekly and do my WCs and about once a week clean the glass.  Since it is a barebones tank it is fairly easy as far as seahorse tanks go.

[debbeach13]

Glad to hear all is well. Just saw that the 56 is good also. Your still doing something right.

[vlangel]

Last week I removed the largest piece of LR from the DT, basically only leaving a small piece of LR with lots of red grape attached and a pagota cup coral.  There are still clumps of red titan and codium in the tank which the ponies enjoy hitching to.  I had noticed that detritus was acculmulating underneath the large rock.  Now that the rock is gone the flow either helps keep particles in suspension or they swirl on the bottom where they are easily syphoned out.  This seahorse tank has lots of LR in the sump for biological filtration, so no worries there.  The large rock that was removed from the seahorse tank was perfect for adding a scape feature in the 56 gallon.  A win win!

[yoshii]

Great to hear everything is going well. So in a seahorse tank like yours, do you also need to clean the LR in the sump too?

[Subsea]

On 4/26/2019 at 2:42 PM, vlangel said:

The pony tank (and the ponies) are doing great.  They have been healthy since I moved them into this tank.  I syphon out detritus weekly and do my WCs and about once a week clean the glass.  Since it is a barebones tank it is fairly easy as far as seahorse tanks go.

 I would be hard pressed to call any of your displays as “bare boned”.  

 

Dawn,

I just returned from a 10 day visit to Pittsburg.  I never realized how gorgeous Spring was in Pennsylvania.  Azalea & Dogwood were in full bloom.  Having lived in Austin for the last 10 years, I missed Southwest Louisiana flora.  I was especially impressed with the Pink Dogwood.  I envy where you live.  

 

Did you go to Turkey in March?

 

I will be posting pictures of an outdoor reef tank that survived 16” of rain while I was gone.

On 4/26/2019 at 2:42 PM, vlangel said:

The pony tank (and the ponies) are doing great.  They have been healthy since I moved them into this tank.  I syphon out detritus weekly and do my WCs and about once a week clean the glass.  Since it is a barebones tank it is fairly easy as far as seahorse tanks go.

 I would be hard pressed to call any of your displays as “bare boned”.  

 

Dawn,

I just returned from a 10 day visit to Pittsburg.  I never realized how gorgeous Spring was in Pennsylvania.  Azalea & Dogwood were in full bloom.  Having lived in Austin for the last 10 years, I missed Southwest Louisiana flora.  I was especially impressed with the Pink Dogwood.  I envy where you live.  

 

Did you go to Turkey in March?

 

I will be posting pictures of an outdoor reef tank that survived 16” of rain while I was gone.

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, Subsea said:

 I would be hard pressed to call any of your displays as “bare boned”.  

 

Dawn,

I just returned from a 10 day visit to Pittsburg.  I never realized how gorgeous Spring was in Pennsylvania.  Azalea & Dogwood were in full bloom.  Having lived in Austin for the last 10 years, I missed Southwest Louisiana flora.  I was especially impressed with the Pink Dogwood.  I envy where you live.  

 

Did you go to Turkey in March?

 

I will be posting pictures of an outdoor reef tank that survived 16” of rain while I was gone.

 I would be hard pressed to call any of your displays as “bare boned”.  

 

Dawn,

I just returned from a 10 day visit to Pittsburg.  I never realized how gorgeous Spring was in Pennsylvania.  Azalea & Dogwood were in full bloom.  Having lived in Austin for the last 10 years, I missed Southwest Louisiana flora.  I was especially impressed with the Pink Dogwood.  I envy where you live.  

 

Did you go to Turkey in March?

 

I will be posting pictures of an outdoor reef tank that survived 16” of rain while I was gone.

Hey Patrick, its nice to hear from ya!  I love late spring in PA because it is so beautiful.  May is my favorite month but I am quite fond of June too.  And autumn is also beautiful here as we have more varieties of deciduous trees than a lot of places, hence we also have a variety of colors.

 

You need to see a FTS pic of the seahorse tank to see how bare bones it is, (at least aesthetically). I will post one.

See this Instagram photo by @vlangelbike https://www.instagram.com/p/BxVTc6bHBZX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_native_share

 

Yes we went on our mission trip in March but it was to Athens, Greece.  Wow, when you meet folks who have fled their countries to become refugees, you realize just how blessed we are to live in the US!  We heard the most heart breaking stories and saw folks in very desperate circumstances.  It was a priveledge to serve them for a week and do what we could to help.

 

I am glad that your outdoor tank survived all that rain.  What was the salinity when you got home?

[vlangel]

2 hours ago, yoshii said:

Great to hear everything is going well. So in a seahorse tank like yours, do you also need to clean the LR in the sump too?

Once a year I fill a bucket with sump water and remove the rock so I can syphon out debris/detritus.  I don't get much since my pump is pushing 400 gph through.

[Subsea]

10 hours ago, vlangel said:

Hey Patrick, its nice to hear from ya!  I love late spring in PA because it is so beautiful.  May is my favorite month but I am quite fond of June too.  And autumn is also beautiful here as we have more varieties of deciduous trees than a lot of places, hence we also have a variety of colors.

 

You need to see a FTS pic of the seahorse tank to see how bare bones it is, (at least aesthetically). I will post one.

See this Instagram photo by @vlangelbike https://www.instagram.com/p/BxVTc6bHBZX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_native_share

 

Yes we went on our mission trip in March but it was to Athens, Greece.  Wow, when you meet folks who have fled their countries to become refugees, you realize just how blessed we are to live in the US!  We heard the most heart breaking stories and saw folks in very desperate circumstances.  It was a priveledge to serve them for a week and do what we could to help.

 

I am glad that your outdoor tank survived all that rain.  What was the salinity when you got home?

Dawn,

I so much enjoy your karma.  A “privilege to serve”.  You & Dave are real angels of mercy.  

 

I have seen many sights in Pittsburgh with my oldest brother Carl, who you already meant at the LFS near Greensburg.  In fact, I spent three weeks in November and on the last day there you guys got your first snowfall of the season.  It was quite beautiful to me as it had been more than 5 years since I last played in the snow.

 

Interesting word, survived.  My newest tank at one month old, is an outdoors 55G tank with a 150G Rubbermaid tub buried in the ground as a  geothermal heat sink.  With 17” of rain in 10 days the salinity got down to 1.016 specific gravity.

 

I have two  outside display tanks.  A 20G long has been set up since Feb 14.  It will  be dismantled before summer heat.

 

pictures 1&2 are the GOOD.  Picture 3 is both Bad & Ugly.

 

Two days of hand digging by pick & shovel thru calich3 & limestone. to bury 1250G tank to be used as a geothermal” heat sink” is another opportunity to excell.     Hole is 5’ deep & 9’ in diameter.  

[vlangel]

I am happy that you and Carl were able to enjoy time together as well as some sight seeing.  

 

I wished PA was suited for outdoor aquariums but its not.  I do have a small decorative pond that I dug myself in 2007.  Its a 125 gallon with a 40 gallon pond above it connected by a cascading stream bed.  Thats was a lot of digging for me, (it took me wèeks using a shovel and maddix and digger bar).  That was over 10 years ago too so I admire you digging 5' x 9' hole for the geothermal heatsink.

[vlangel]

I cleaned up the glass on the seahorse tank this morning and had done a WC yesterday.  This tank has off and on been fighting dinos, which is crazy for dirty seahorses.  I have cut down to 7g WC 2Xs a week instead of 3.  Today I added the seahorse statue with the green grape entwine around it.  It will uptake more nutrients which I will need to watch that it does not uptake all the nutrients or my dinos could get out of control.  Green grape is a canary in a coal mine coral that will pale when nutrients are being depleted, so I will be watching it closely.  The green looks really nice in contrast to the red grape and red titan.

 

The ponies themselves are doing well.  I am trying to feed them 3Xs a day but this time of year is busy and its been a challenge.  I worry the most about Eve because she is 5 years old and shows her age in some ways.  She snicks and misses food at times which she never did when she was younger.  Also she a bit sunk in on her lower abdomen, not skinny but not as chubby as her tank mates.