Dawn's pony garden.

[teenyreef]

I've had a busy summer too and I'm just catching up now. The tank looks great! How is the sandbed doing? Did the regular stirring in the shallow areas help? 

[Pjanssen]

Tank looks great as always. Did you get rid of the deep sand bed portion (Or is that a different tank?).I've been out of touch for awhile, but I need to catch up.

 

[Orangutran]

Yes hard to see the dsb now? Anyway, hope you had a nice summer! 

[hinnenkm]

Looks good 🙂 Always fun to see an update!

[vlangel]

On 8/28/2018 at 7:56 PM, Christopher Marks said:

 

That sounds really nice, screened in porches are the best thing! Share a photo if you can, I'd love to see. 

 

Quote

This is what the porch did look like for the 1st 30 years we lived here.

 

This is what it looks like now.  I love having my coffee out here at the table, glider or hammock chair without bugs. 

[Christopher Marks]

What a treasure, it turned out beautiful! Makes me miss Ohio.

[vlangel]

On 9/1/2018 at 12:31 PM, teenyreef said:

I've had a busy summer too and I'm just catching up now. The tank looks great! How is the sandbed doing? Did the regular stirring in the shallow areas help? 

Thanks teeny.  I hope your busy summer was busy In a good way.  The sandbed is improving and yes I believe it is stirring the shallow portion that is responsible for the improvement.

[vlangel]

On 9/2/2018 at 4:02 PM, Pjanssen said:

Tank looks great as always. Did you get rid of the deep sand bed portion (Or is that a different tank?).I've been out of touch for awhile, but I need to catch up.

 

Thanks Penny.  I still have the deep sand bed and it's in the same tank.  I think as the macro algae and coral continue to grow and colonize the rock, it looks less wall like.  Maybe it was the angle that I took the pic too.

[vlangel]

13 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

What a treasure, it turned out beautiful! Makes me miss Ohio.

I am a summer gal, but as I age I am learning to love the 4 seasons we have here in Pennsylvania.  We own 2 acres and have lots of wildlife, and birds.  It's been a wonderful place to raise our family and I look forward to growing old here.

[vlangel]

2 hours ago, Orangutran said:

Yes hard to see the dsb now? Anyway, hope you had a nice summer! 

You are right, it is hard to see but its still there.  It's just looking more natural all the time as the coral colonize the rock and the macros grow.

 

My summer was great.  Lots of family time with kids and grandkids.  How about yours?

[Orangutran]

On 9/4/2018 at 7:48 PM, vlangel said:

You are right, it is hard to see but its still there.  It's just looking more natural all the time as the coral colonize the rock and the macros grow.

 

My summer was great.  Lots of family time with kids and grandkids.  How about yours?

Summer was great, tons of fun with the kids, so no complaints. 🙂

 

Glad to see your tank thriving and maturing! 

[vlangel]

 

 

Hopefully these shots show that the DSB is still a part of my seahorse DT.

[vlangel]

This morning I ordered 4 blennies from liveaquaria.  2 barnacle blennies, a linear blenny and a black sailfin blenny.  I have a 10 gallon QT already set up so they will go in there to start with.  I will probably add more rock from my sump to make sure they all feel safe.

[Pjanssen]

I love barnacle blennies! So cute.

[vlangel]

7 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

I love barnacle blennies! So cute.

Me too Penny.  I hope they do well.

[vlangel]

Well, the blennies have landed!  They were shipped from CA last night and arrived at my door in PA this morning at around 10 am.  They all look healthy and in good shape and are now residing in my 10 gallon QT.  This was my 1st ever order from LiveAquaria but I am quite pleased.  If they do well over the next 2 weeks it will probably not be my last order.

 

I plan to give them quiet time until later this afternoon when I will shake some cheato that I know has some amphipods in it and add them to the QT.  Some of the rock already has algae on it for the black sailfin blenny.  Tomorrow I will work on getting them to try some frozen mysis.

[vlangel]

The linear blenny made itself right at home.  It is perching on rocks occasionally scraping rock the way blennies do.  The black sailfin is cowering in a crevice where it is not very well hidden.  I have only seen 1 of the 2 barnacle blennies since I released them in the QT.  It was peeking out a hole which seems like normal behaviour for a blenny.  I feel encouraged about how they seem to be doing.

[teenyreef]

How exciting about the blennies! I can't wait for pictures 🙂

 

By the way, is this tank even real? Everything looks so beautiful and perfect!

[vlangel]

14 hours ago, @teenyreef said:

How exciting about the blennies! I can't wait for pictures 🙂

 

By the way, is this tank even real? Everything looks so beautiful and perfect!

 

 

I am super excited about the blennies too.  Sadly the Black Sailfin died over night.  It never looked lively and when I released it into the QT it cowered in an indentation of the rock and never moved from that spot.  This having been my 1st online fish shipment ever, I never thought about taking a pic of the dead blenny before giving it a burial at sea.  I wont expect a refund as a result of my blunder.  LiveAquaria did a very good job of getting them to me quickly and they were packaged well.  The remaining 3 blennies look good.

 

Wow, I am honored that you think that about the Seahorse garden.  It seems lack luster to me by comparison of other folks' tanks, like yours.  It is lush with macro algaes and the coral that is in it is doing well.  The sponges are doing ok but I am still in search of the magic that will make them really flourish.

[vlangel]

14 hours ago, teenyreef said:

How exciting about the blennies! I can't wait for pictures 🙂

 

By the way, is this tank even real? Everything looks so beautiful and perfect!

This is a terrible pic of the Linear Blenny because the glass on the 10 gallon QT is so dirty, but at least you can see it.  The Barnacle Blennies are much more shy and are going to be quite difficult to photogragh.

[Pjanssen]

That's a pretty fancy QT tank. At one time reef-cleaners had actual barnacles for sale that would be cool for your new babies.

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, Pjanssen said:

That's a pretty fancy QT tank. At one time reef-cleaners had actual barnacles for sale that would be cool for your new babies.

Its not really that fancy.  Its a standard 10 gallon with a HOB pump.  I keep it running with rock all the time so its cycled and the cheap led light is enough to almost grow macro algae.

 

I have barnacles actually but they are not a great addition to a seahorse tank because they can easily trap frozen mysis in them and create an area for dangerous bacteria to flourish.

The barnacle blennies are like lightening streaks when they are feeding.  They dart out so fast and then back in their hidey holes.  I am wondering how I will ever move them to the seahorse DT?

 

[vlangel]

O dear, I am out of control.  I went to my lfs to buy frozen mysis and discovered that they had redone the saltwater section.  The tanks and fish looked great with a nice selection of captive bred.  Well......I came home with 3 more blennies.  2 yellow head striped blennies and a blenny similar to the linear.  He and the linear are scuffling a bit but more bluff than actual fight.  Hopefully in the much bigger seahorse DT they will feel less territorial.  The 2 yellowhead striped blennies will look nice in the water column.  I am liking how well the 3 new fish today are settling in.

[Subsea]

39 minutes ago, vlangel said:

O dear, I am out of control.  I went to my lfs to buy frozen mysis and discovered that they had redone the saltwater section.  The tanks and fish looked great with a nice selection of captive bred.  Well......I came home with 3 more blennies.  2 yellow head striped blennies and a blenny similar to the linear.  He and the linear are scuffling a bit but more bluff than actual fight.  Hopefully in the much bigger seahorse DT they will feel less territorial.  The 2 yellowhead striped blennies will look nice in the water column.  I am liking how well the 3 new fish today are settling in.

OUT OF CONTROL.  Too funny.  You should include “addicted reefer” in your signature

[vlangel]

Yes addicted to saltwater fish!  I like coral and macro algae but fish and inverts have always been my weakness.  When I was keeping the seahorses in a species only tank that kept me reined in.  Now that I decided to branch out and chance keeping gentle fish with the seahorses: pandora's box has been opened, LOL!