Weetie's Zen Learning Experiment, Random Stuff

[lkoechle]

[spectra]

Well Happy Birthday and Happy Mothers Day!!!!!!

 

So who else besides Gulf Coast has decent macro? I only have a few as I tossed almost everything in my garage tank.......had some really red hair algae that just went nuts everywhere and didn't want it in my new set up.

 

Tanks are looking good I like that little waterfall experiment.

[seabass]

Happy N-R Anniversary, and belated birthday.

[Weetabix7]

16 hours ago, spectra said:

Well Happy Birthday and Happy Mothers Day!!!!!!

 

So who else besides Gulf Coast has decent macro? I only have a few as I tossed almost everything in my garage tank.......had some really red hair algae that just went nuts everywhere and didn't want it in my new set up.

 

Tanks are looking good I like that little waterfall experiment.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Ugh, are you talking about that cottony red algae? Cause I hate that stuff, have dealt with takeovers of it before and would totally understand getting rid of stuff that was infested by it. To my knowledge, Money Cowries are the only critters that eat it, which is why I recently got one. Not that I have a problem with it right now, I don't, but I want to be prepared. That, and Money Cowries are really cool, lol. 

 

For the moment, Gulf Coast and other hobbyists seem to be the best source for Macros. I am constantly on the hunt for more and will let you know if I find other good ones.

5 hours ago, seabass said:

Happy N-R Anniversary, and belated birthday.

 

Thx!!!

On 5/14/2017 at 9:24 AM, debbeach13 said:

Wow a 40B. So many possibilities! Although I was hoping for pic's of the waterfall or all the new plant's.

 

I just took a bunch of pretty sunlit pics of the Macros, will post as soon as I can get to the right computer to upload 'em. 

17 hours ago, lkoechle said:

 

Thx, we shellibrated awesomely!!!

[ReefWeeds]

Happy late birthday! 

[kimberbee]

Happy belated birthday!! 

[Nidilsky]

Happy Birthday! Hope it was a good one.

[debbeach13]

Need to pick your brain. I ordered Cactus Caulerpa, Palm Caulerpa, Halimeda, and Mermaid fern. Probably be here in 2 to 3 days. These are for the display tank. I do not have a fuge or sump. The assimilate instructions seem straight forward enough. Is there any thing I should look for when / before adding to the tank. With corals we often QT or at least dip them. But what about these plant's? Thanks in advance for your time.

[Weetabix7]

2 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Need to pick your brain. I ordered Cactus Caulerpa, Palm Caulerpa, Halimeda, and Mermaid fern. Probably be here in 2 to 3 days. These are for the display tank. I do not have a fuge or sump. The assimilate instructions seem straight forward enough. Is there any thing I should look for when / before adding to the tank. With corals we often QT or at least dip them. But what about these plant's? Thanks in advance for your time.

 

I just temp acclimated first, then put them in a separate smaller container with tankwater to examine before putting in display. 

I just look them over and gently shake in the water to shake loose any debris or dead stuff. I tried to put mine in lower flow & light just for the first day.

The Cactus & Palm Caulerpa will likely be fine. 

The Halimeda may or may not have some white spots, which will hopefully color back up to green all the way if they're there. 

The Mermaid Fern may have some white tips. Give that a couple of days and if any white tips don't color back up, use scissors or something similar to give it a "haircut" down to the green parts. 

 

@stellablue, @kimberbee, @Nidilsky, thanks!!

Today's my 11 yr. N-R bday, so it's not technically belated yet!! 

 

I really liked the way the tank looked this morning in the sunlight, before the lights even came on, so I got some pics then. 

Here's a FTS, complete with Dinky:

 

[Weetabix7]

Cactus Caulerpa, "rare" Caulerpa and Graciliara Hayi in background: 

 

 

The brownish, kelpy looking plant in the middle is the Dictoya Ciliolata I just got, with Botryocladia in behind it and a blurry Leather in front:

 

 

Galaxaura and Sargassum:

 

[Lula_Mae]

49 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Cactus Caulerpa, "rare" Caulerpa and Graciliara Hayi in background: 

 

 

The brownish, kelpy looking plant in the middle is the Dictoya Ciliolata I just got, with Botryocladia in behind it and a blurry Leather in front:

 

 

Galaxaura and Sargassum:

 

Everything looks so beautiful!  Is the C. barbata still doing alright?

[debbeach13]

Thanks every thing looks great.

[lkoechle]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I just temp acclimated first, then put them in a separate smaller container with tankwater to examine before putting in display. 

I just look them over and gently shake in the water to shake loose any debris or dead stuff. I tried to put mine in lower flow & light just for the first day.

The Cactus & Palm Caulerpa will likely be fine. 

The Halimeda may or may not have some white spots, which will hopefully color back up to green all the way if they're there. 

The Mermaid Fern may have some white tips. Give that a couple of days and if any white tips don't color back up, use scissors or something similar to give it a "haircut" down to the green parts. 

 

@stellablue, @kimberbee, @Nidilsky, thanks!!

Today's my 11 yr. N-R bday, so it's not technically belated yet!! 

 

I really liked the way the tank looked this morning in the sunlight, before the lights even came on, so I got some pics then. 

Here's a FTS, complete with Dinky:

 

Looks great!  Gonna need to get some macros from you for the mantis tank probably. 

[spectra]

9 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Thanks!!!

 

Ugh, are you talking about that cottony red algae? Cause I hate that stuff, have dealt with takeovers of it before and would totally understand getting rid of stuff that was infested by it. To my knowledge, Money Cowries are the only critters that eat it, which is why I recently got one. Not that I have a problem with it right now, I don't, but I want to be prepared. That, and Money Cowries are really cool, lol. 

 

 

 

Yes that's the crap............it went wild in my sump and was pulling it out all the time. It never did make it into my display so not sure if one of the tangs I had was actually eating it or ? It would get in there as it went every where anytime you pulled chunks out.......the stuff flat sucked. I hated tossing things but didn't want it in my new tank.....

 

Those pics look great!

[Weetabix7]

5 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Everything looks so beautiful!  Is the C. barbata still doing alright?

 

Nope, it died, was pretty much DOA, as was one of the Grape Caulerpa. 

Got a refund for it. 

[Weetabix7]

9 minutes ago, spectra said:

 

Yes that's the crap............it went wild in my sump and was pulling it out all the time. It never did make it into my display so not sure if one of the tangs I had was actually eating it or ? It would get in there as it went every where anytime you pulled chunks out.......the stuff flat sucked. I hated tossing things but didn't want it in my new tank.....

 

Those pics look great!

 

Thanks!!

Have a few more I need to post in a bit, showing an experiment I'm doing in how I mount the Macros right now. 

I like trying different things, coming up with new ideas to make things work better. 

 

Remember Money Cowries for dealing with the horrible pinkish red Cotton Candy Algae!!

[vlangel]

Your tank and macros look great.  I love the sargassum and the dictoya. Some day I would like to get cactus caulerpa and that 'rare' caulerpa you have.  I would like to add more macros to the pony tank.

[spectra]

54 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Thanks!!

Have a few more I need to post in a bit, showing an experiment I'm doing in how I mount the Macros right now. 

I like trying different things, coming up with new ideas to make things work better. 

 

Remember Money Cowries for dealing with the horrible pinkish red Cotton Candy Algae!!

 

What the experiment ?

 

I like that cactus it looks good going to look into that one.

 

I have a few cowries now in my 100 so.........

[Weetabix7]

2 minutes ago, vlangel said:

Your tank and macros look great.  I love the sargassum and the dictoya. Some day I would like to get cactus caulerpa and that 'rare' caulerpa you have.  I would like to add more macros to the pony tank.

 

Thanks!!

I think the Seahorses would like wrapping their tails around the Cactus Caulerpa and Sargassum. 

I'm really hoping the rare Caulerpa grows well, guess we'll see soon. 

 

Ok, now for the experiment, though it's a simple and basic one. 

First, I should explain that some Macros are fine with just tumbling in current or being wedged in somewhere. 

Some are also fine with just being attached to something with superglue at the base, like you'd do with a coral frag. 

Then there are others that have a "holdfast" at their base and prefer to attach to rock and grow from that point. 

Sargassum is one of those, if I remember right the Galaxaura is as well, and the description of the Dictoya Ciliolata on ReefCleaners says that it begins to settle in and do better once it attaches to rock. 

So about a week ago I got some pieces of rubble to attach Macros to, and kinda use them as portable Macro Bases. 

Yesterday I attached some plants to them with fishing line, and I'm hoping they'll "root" onto the rubble and grow from there. 

I will say it's definitely a handy way to anchor Macro and move them around. 

 

I started out with this container of Sargassum, Galaxaura and rubble: 

 

 

These next 2 pics didn't come out quite as clear as I'd like, was trying to juggle too much, but in the middle of the pic below, you can see the holdfast at the base of the Galaxaura (the "blobby" thing in the middle of the pic):

 

 

I found a niche in one of the pieces of rubble that the holdfast seemed to fit well into & used fishing line to tie it on there. Here's the Galaxaura attached to the rubble:

 

 

My original one large Sargassum plant broke into two just a couple days after I received it. I have had the piece with the original holdfast base attached to a larger piece of LR for a couple weeks now, but the piece that broke off had just been tied to eggcrate. 

I wish I knew how Sargassum developed holdfasts, especially since I don't know if the plants survive long-term without them. 

I don't believe the plant I attached to rubble yesterday has a holdfast though it does have strong, sturdy leaves at it's base. 

Here's a pic of the base of the plant:

 

 

I nestled that into a rubble crevice and tied on with fishing line as well. Who knows, mebbe I'll get lucky and it'll attach and thrive & grow. I do know that plant is still alive cause I can see that it's photosynthesizing. It certainly doesn't hurt to try it, at any rate. 

 

Here's a detail of the top portion of the Sargassum plant with the holdfast that has already been tied to rock. I'm not 100% certain, but I think I just might see some spindly new baby leaves growing at the tips. Look at the top left quadrant of the pic:

 

 

Galaxaura & Sargassum, looking all purty next to each other:

 

 

25 minutes ago, spectra said:

 

What the experiment ?

 

I like that cactus it looks good going to look into that one.

 

I have a few cowries now in my 100 so.........

 

See above.

[lkoechle]

11 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

That, and Money Cowries are really cool, lol. 

Reef Cleaners has them again! Mine arrive tomorrow!

[Weetabix7]

2 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

Reef Cleaners has them again! Mine arrive tomorrow!

 

Ooh, he's got 'em at a great price too!!!

[Lula_Mae]

4 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Nope, it died, was pretty much DOA, as was one of the Grape Caulerpa. 

Got a refund for it. 

Aww bummer!  The little tufts on the stalks are so cute!

[Lisa166]

It is so pretty! 

 

[spectra]

11 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Ooh, he's got 'em at a great price too!!!

 

I picked mine up for 5.00 from my local store. I would order more but the shipping kills it for me......

 

Been searching for a few things but hard to find everything I want at one shop......

[Weetabix7]

1 minute ago, spectra said:

 

I picked mine up for 5.00 from my local store. I would order more but the shipping kills it for me......

 

Been searching for a few things but hard to find everything I want at one shop......

 

I completely agree that it's difficult, I have the same issue. 

Macroalgae wise, it'd be great if we could get some kind of core group going where we could use each other as sources for both info and acquiring some of the more unique specimens.