Dawn's 56 gallon natural nutrient reef.

[vlangel]

3 minutes ago, Sharbuckle said:

yes, yes you should 🙂

You have gorgs, have you ever tried a non photosynthetic one, and if so, what is the trick to get them to open up their polyps?  This is my 1st try at the non photosynthetic type and I can't seem to entice it into eating.

[Sharbuckle]

10 minutes ago, vlangel said:

You have gorgs, have you ever tried a non photosynthetic one, and if so, what is the trick to get them to open up their polyps?  This is my 1st try at the non photosynthetic type and I can't seem to entice it into eating.

I had two NPS gorgs in my 65g before it cracked. They seemed to be doing quite well, I had them low low light and medium flow. I only had them maybe a month before the tank burst though... so no real experience. At that point I never fed coral food, just heavily fed the fish. 

[vlangel]

16 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

I had two NPS gorgs in my 65g before it cracked. They seemed to be doing quite well, I had them low low light and medium flow. I only had them maybe a month before the tank burst though... so no real experience. At that point I never fed coral food, just heavily fed the fish. 

Thanks Sharbuckle, thats good to know.  Maybe mine just needs more time to adjust.

[vlangel]

Good news, the non photosynthetic gorg is opening up.

[seabass]

That's good to hear.

[WV Reefer]

56 minutes ago, vlangel said:

Good news, the non photosynthetic gorg is opening up.

 

Yay!! 😀

[vlangel]

March 2019 FTS

My orange gorg with white polyps (non photosynthetic) with acid wached BTA in front of it.

A closer look at the upper right of the tank.  I moved the sun polyps and the pink tipped hammer to this area.

Grandis and yellow hammer (although under my lights the hammer looks more green).

[hinnenkm]

Your tank is looking great! With the non-photosynthetic gorg, it's similar to sun corals/dendros in the sense that once you see it's polyps out, the more you feed it, the more it stays open consistently. I've got a couple of them and love them! Reef roids or any other foods like that work great 🙂

[vlangel]

5 hours ago, hinnenkm said:

Your tank is looking great! With the non-photosynthetic gorg, it's similar to sun corals/dendros in the sense that once you see it's polyps out, the more you feed it, the more it stays open consistently. I've got a couple of them and love them! Reef roids or any other foods like that work great 🙂

Thanks hinnenkm!  I am very pleased with how this tank is coming along.  It's been 4 years or so since I had a coral/fish tank and the seahorses have greatly limited me.  I am thoroughly enjoying all the creatures that can inhabit my natural reef and really having fun with it.

 

How are your ponies?

[DNR88]

I really like the natural look of the tank, I hope to get some macro algaes in my tank as well.

 

Have you ever thought about making the background black? I think that would makes it look even better. 😊

[WV Reefer]

1 hour ago, DutchNanoReefer88 said:

I really like the natural look of the tank, I hope to get some macro algaes in my tank as well.

 

Have you ever thought about making the background black? I think that would makes it look even better. 😊

The background is an art piece featuring the former inhabitant. 🙂

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, DutchNanoReefer88 said:

I really like the natural look of the tank, I hope to get some macro algaes in my tank as well.

 

Have you ever thought about making the background black? I think that would makes it look even better. 😊

The tank I had prior to this one had a black backround but like WV Reefer said, I painted the mural on the back of this tank in memorial to my seahorse Adam.

 

Having had both black and light blue backrounds there are pro and cons to each.  I, myself am partial to the lighter brighter backround.

Consolidate and downsize to 1 seahorse tank. by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr

[hinnenkm]

8 hours ago, vlangel said:

Thanks hinnenkm!  I am very pleased with how this tank is coming along.  It's been 4 years or so since I had a coral/fish tank and the seahorses have greatly limited me.  I am thoroughly enjoying all the creatures that can inhabit my natural reef and really having fun with it.

 

How are your ponies?

Yes, you definitely have more freedom 🙂 It's fun to see how your tank progresses. On this end, all my tanks are good and the ponies are wonderful 🙂 I just don't ever have the time to do an actual update.... 

[vlangel]

Yellow torch.

Toadstool.

Acan garden.

 

[vlangel]

Marmalade looking adorable! 😍

Pulsing xenia.

[WV Reefer]

54 minutes ago, vlangel said:

Marmalade looking adorable! 😍

Pulsing xenia.

What a great pic!!!

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, vlangel said:

Marmalade looking adorable! 😍

Pulsing xenia.

I'm officially a fan of Marmalade! He looks so handsome! 

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, WV Reefer said:

What a great pic!!!

He's a great fish and so photogenic!

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I'm officially a fan of Marmalade! He looks so handsome! 

He is handsome and I too am a fan!

[vlangel]

Everyone knows I absolutely hate testing.  Anyway I finally got around to it this morning and the results floored me!  I am ashamed to admit this but my alk is so low that I tested it twice and only got around 2!  I can't believe the reef looks as good as it does with the alk so low.  The CA is high at 450 or a bit more.  The mag is still high at 1450.  The NO3 came down like I hoped to 25 but the PO4 is between 2 and 3!  Uhhg, I will get some gfo to bring that down before I get a major algae outbreak.  

 

My tank should not look so good with these kind of numbers but I will slowly adjust the alk and reduce the PO4 and hopefully get things more in balance.

[seabass]

1 hour ago, vlangel said:

I am ashamed to admit this but my alk is so low that I tested it twice and only got around 2!  I can't believe the reef looks as good as it does with the alk so low.  The CA is high at 450 or a bit more.  The mag is still high at 1450.  The NO3 came down like I hoped to 25 but the PO4 is between 2 and 3!  Uhhg, I will get some gfo to bring that down before I get a major algae outbreak.

Keep in mind that GFO binds alkalinity (further reducing it).  I would just increase water changes for awhile.  That should help replenish alkalinity while exporting phosphate.  Partial changes don't usually cause to much stress as parameters are changing.

[vlangel]

2 hours ago, seabass said:

Keep in mind that GFO binds alkalinity (further reducing it).  I would just increase water changes for awhile.  That should help replenish alkalinity while exporting phosphate.  Partial changes don't usually cause to much stress as parameters are changing.

I did not know that so I appreciate the info.

[seabass]

Phosguard can be used to reduce phosphate without binding alkalinity.  However, careful testing should be done whenever using a phosphate reducing media.  Quick reduction of phosphate can be hard on anything utilizing phosphate for energy (like corals and macroalgae).  With everything looking so good, I would be cautious making any changes.

[Dreichler]

On 1/23/2019 at 7:10 AM, vlangel said:

Because of our different locations and you being half way across the world from me, I imagine we each get to see different fish.  There are some that seem to be popular everywhere but others seem more regional.

 

I would have loved a blue spot jawfish because they are so beautiful but they are usually pretty pricey here.  The yellowhead and pearly jawfish are very reasonable here.

 

I do not know if the jawfish would know to go up to my deep sand bed to make its lair.  Its about 7" thick so should be fine unless it undermines my 'shrimp chalet rock'.  I need to think more about whether I want to risk a jawfish.  I also don't want it to be moving rocks that are plugging the holes in my retaining wall that will let a lot of my sand bleed out.  The more I think about it the more I think a jawfish should be scratched off my list. 😕  Bummer but I don't want to be repairing my retaining wall all the time.

Hate to quote an old post, but where did you find a Blue Spotted Jawfish?  I’ve been looking for over a year for one and have yet to come across one.

[vlangel]

6 hours ago, Dreichler said:

Hate to quote an old post, but where did you find a Blue Spotted Jawfish?  I’ve been looking for over a year for one and have yet to come across one.

I don't remember specifically.  I usually looked on live aquaria.  Since they are closing down it may be gone now.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Are the gorgs easy to keep? NPS is the only thing I haven't really tried out yet, but I've always wanted to try a sea fan or gorg. 🙂