billygoat Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 On 5/7/2019 at 1:20 PM, 9darlingcalvi said: Lowkey want a carpet nem 😂 The carpet 'nem is probably ill-advised 😉 But what about a rock flower anemone? They are peaceful, don't move a lot, and won't eat everything else in your tank. And they are very beautiful as well! 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 8 hours ago, billygoat said: The carpet 'nem is probably ill-advised 😉 But what about a rock flower anemone? They are peaceful, don't move a lot, and won't eat everything else in your tank. And they are very beautiful as well! I totally forgot about those for a bit 😅, I think I’ll get one of those Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 Alrighty, well my package is coming today and I’m pumped!!! Picked up some new frags and a scarlet hermit (now I want more). I was also thinking about a lone cardinal or damsel (really like lemon or 3-striped) 2 Quote Link to comment
inland_reef Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 6 hours ago, 9darlingcalvi said: Alrighty, well my package is coming today and I’m pumped!!! Picked up some new frags and a scarlet hermit (now I want more). I was also thinking about a lone cardinal or damsel (really like lemon or 3-striped) The goods have arrived!! 😂 Enjoy. Anxiously awaiting all the photos! So far the tank is looking killer. As for the zoa eating nudibranch fiasco, lost 2/3rds of my zoas. Just absolutely wiped out full colonies. Sucks but always a possibility in this hobby. Just gotta keep moving forward. Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 14, 2019 Author Share Posted May 14, 2019 New Stuff!!! Well my LFS let me raid their “trash” coral systems, which were some leathers, palys, mushrooms. I also got a clove frag and scarlet hermit. Later that week I got some gorgs, palys and macros from Inland_reef. While one of them did melt overnight and the package was crushed on a side. Overall it was an amazing package and I’m so happy this community is supportive. The tank is nearly setup, maybe some dwarf colored dusters and a rockflower. New tank? (Already?!?) While scoping Facebook marketplace I found an 8 gallon bowfront….I shouldn’t look at marketplace, it’s too tempting. My plan is to get rid of my 10 gallon and then have the 8 bow as the main and only tank in my room. This will take some convincing from my parents but it hopefully will happen as I’m picking the tank up Tuesday. I’m a rebel, I know. Now with this potential new tank the design will shift from shelf to more Shallow cove. I could maybe even add in a pair of gobies and obviously more water room for dilution as well as overall increase in water. This does mean that the spec will go away, but I need to secure my rock structures first and maybe make the spec a “grow out” tank. After thinking about it though, I could just use the 10 gallon I have. I can keep the filter as well, it makes more sense to keep the larger tank. Operation salty? The plan is to move the 5 gallon to my now empty 10 gallon. This could take a while, but it should be a fun time. As of yesterday (5/13/2019) I removed all of the water, fish and plants. My goal today is to razor blade the glass and remove the old substrate. Current look at “Ground zero” front shot of the rock scape, will have to shift it to the left or maybe do another peninsula style? Top down shot, more rock will be added to the back right 3 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 16, 2019 Author Share Posted May 16, 2019 Well, the spec is now the “frag” tank for a while. As I’m turning my old freshwater tank into a saltwater one! Here’s the first design I thought of, it’s more of the peninsula sloping style I like. Here’s the 2nd option, it’s a bit different without the “legs” at the ends of the structure and creates more open sand. The 3td option I just changed out the left side “leg” at the bottom for a flatter piece. As well as doing the scape I got some instant ocean holdfast and 50 gallons worth of salt. Sand should be here soon too. Then obviously a cycle and move things over! 2 Quote Link to comment
kimdawg Posted May 16, 2019 Share Posted May 16, 2019 I like the last two, but the third one is my favorite. It gives a lot of spots for coral. The rock on the left creates a look of depth for me. Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 16, 2019 Author Share Posted May 16, 2019 7 hours ago, kimdawg said: I like the last two, but the third one is my favorite. It gives a lot of spots for coral. The rock on the left creates a look of depth for me. That’s what I was thinking too, as of now I’m using epoxy putty to create the base bond and might use superglue as well for added support Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 16, 2019 Author Share Posted May 16, 2019 Started to set the base aquascape , I wanted there to be 3 removable pieces for ease of transport in 5 gallon buckets. The total structure is a bit off from the pictures, but I think this looks a bit better. So far, the rocks are stable and I can't wait to get this scape setup. I will have to clean the glass one last time before I fill up the tank with water. I might put a small layer of sand so there isn’t a chance to have detritus build under the rocks. I didn’t take any pictures of the other parts being put together, but here’s what the tank looks like as of today. I will let the rocks set for a few days to make sure the epoxy putty is full cured. Going to the LFS tonight to look at the new fish they got in, might see if they can get in hi-fin gobies or a clown goby 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 17, 2019 Author Share Posted May 17, 2019 Well………..I guess bringing a 5 year old to the fish store brings out new views on the hobby. I brought my youngest brother with and there was colorful fish and corals. The kid only cared about the hermit crabs, lol. Not even the bright red scarlet hermit or the dwarf blues, nope this kid insisted we got a Mexican red-legged. I don’t Mind, the shell was actually really cool, he picked one that used a juvenile conch! Besides the we went to one other place and they had a fish that hit my weak spot. The sharknose goby, I was hesitant and the 10 gallon isn’t up yet. But, I asked them to feed some and they ate. So I picked up the biggest one for $15!!! The piece might have influenced my purchase. I also turned in some rock I didn’t use which have me some credit, I used it to buy a 2 headed green toadstool! Pics to follow later. I need to find a rubber mat to distribute the weight of the 10 gallon and get sand in then water! 2 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 26, 2019 Author Share Posted May 26, 2019 The New Tank Well, the tank is full and at stable temperature around 76-78 degrees. The structure is all setup and I’m going to be adding some Caribbean palys/zoas soon. The plan is to move out the yellowtail damsel and the 5 gallon spec. The 5 gallon will become a Caribbean biotope, I have loved @billygoat Caribbean tank! Here is the tank as of 5/26/2019, I like the structure, there is great flow and my tank fluctuates from 76-78 max I’ve seen is 78.7 degrees. My salinity is around 1.026-1.028 if I forget to top off. New goals With this new tank I thought of the idea to try and get the fish captive bred and ideally from ORA. I went to my local petco (which is surprisingly good with fish) and saw they had the ORA sharknose goby. This works out perfect for the caribbean theme, with this idea I am thinking about getting a pair of Green banded gobies and possibly a Masked goby. The tank will focus more on macroalgae and inverts as opposed to fish. Coral wise I’m thinking more zoas/palys and mushrooms instead of gorgonians. Pics, pics, pics!!! New tank means new scape, which means new livestock and obviously you want some pictures! After I epoxy puttied the base (it’s an ugly bone white) I dry fitted the rocks and let them set for a few days. This also allowed me to see how I liked the spacing. Then came the sand and other smaller rocks, the tank was also (obviously) filled with a bit of water. Tank is full, added some gracilaria hayi, water is still a bit cloudy as well. Then the diatoms came! Live rock and sand really help with the cycle. I added the yellowtail in for visual impact, halimeda optunia and some palys from GCE were added. A few days later I moved my Clean up Crew from the spec. It comprises of 3 ceriths, 1 nerite, 1 torchus (need to remove), 1 nassarius snail, 3 hermits; scarlet, dwarf blue leg, orange and black hermit (again not carribean), 1 Mexican turbo snail and an emerald crab. Brown zoas Seafoam Palythoa Single Palythoa grandis polyp Green Palythoa/zoas Dwarf blue leg and yellowtail damsel Nerite, grandis paly and black/orange hermit Scarlet hermit trying to hide Mexican turbo and cerith snails Bruce, my ORA Sharknose goby My secretive Emerald crab hanging in the overhang. That’s all for now, will be looking to do an order with Reefcleaners and Gulf Coast Ecosystems for more inverts and macroalgea. I will move out the black/orange hermit as well as the tronchus snail eventually. 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 26, 2019 Author Share Posted May 26, 2019 I don’t know why my halimeda is growing in long, skinny sections instead of the “pad” shaped sections. Do you think it could be a calcium deficiency? Should I start looking into dosing calcium? 1 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 1 hour ago, Northwoodsreefer said: I don’t know why my halimeda is growing in long, skinny sections instead of the “pad” shaped sections. Do you think it could be a calcium deficiency? Should I start looking into dosing calcium? This seems to be a fairly normal thing for Halimeda to do in the aquarium. Mine has also been growing in a similar shape, and I dose Ca, Alk, and Mg to keep it happy, so I don't think it has to do with any sort of mineral deficiency. It's possible that it has something to do with lighting, as mine is kind of weak (I have a Kessil A80, which is a fairly low-PAR light). Would need to do some more testing to confirm that though. EDIT: Also it's looking great in there! Can't wait to see how your biotope develops over time. 😁 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 7 minutes ago, billygoat said: This seems to be a fairly normal thing for Halimeda to do in the aquarium. Mine has also been growing in a similar shape, and I dose Ca, Alk, and Mg to keep it happy, so I don't think it has to do with any sort of mineral deficiency. It's possible that it has something to do with lighting, as mine is kind of weak (I have a Kessil A80, which is a fairly low-PAR light). Would need to do some more testing to confirm that though. EDIT: Also it's looking great in there! Can't wait to see how your biotope develops over time. 😁 Thanks! I feel better about the growth now! I’m hoping to get more halimeda species, but GCE doesn’t have much right now 1 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 5 minutes ago, Northwoodsreefer said: Thanks! I feel better about the growth now! I’m hoping to get more halimeda species, but GCE doesn’t have much right now Yeah, conditions for macroalgae have been extremely poor in the Florida area for the past six months or so. I'm hoping that as summer starts to get into high gear GCE and Reef Cleaners will begin stocking some more interesting and unusual options for us. 😉 Hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer now. 1 Quote Link to comment
melson Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 Add another Caribbean biotope to the mix! Looking forward to seeing it come together! 🙂 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 19 minutes ago, melson said: Add another Caribbean biotope to the mix! Looking forward to seeing it come together! 🙂 I don’t know if I want to do a biotope anymore. I don’t think I could get rid of my tailspot blenny or Kenyan trees Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 1 hour ago, Northwoodsreefer said: I don’t know if I want to do a biotope anymore. I don’t think I could get rid of my tailspot blenny or Kenyan trees Stocking a biotope is expensive and kind of a pain. Unless you have some special interest in the Caribbean, why not just do a macro-dominated tank and keep your softies and tailspot blenny too? Nothing wrong with that approach! 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 32 minutes ago, billygoat said: Stocking a biotope is expensive and kind of a pain. Unless you have some special interest in the Caribbean, why not just do a macro-dominated tank and keep your softies and tailspot blenny too? Nothing wrong with that approach! That’s the other idea I thought of! Maybe change the PITA yellowtail damsel for a clownfish 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 29, 2019 Author Share Posted May 29, 2019 I GRADUATE IN 4 DAYS AND HAVE 2 DAYS LEFT OF HIGHSCHOOL!!!!! The re-design after scraping my (short) idea of a Caribbean biotope has been up for a week or so. The ideology now is to make the rock an “island paradise” covered in macros and corals, with a larger sand bed. I’m trying to keep everything in one area to keep the transportation of this tank/inhabitants easy. One of my long time buddies had a 29 gallon tank that was sitting empty for around 8 years, his dad said that I could have it for free with the stand. I can’t take it to college next year as I’ll have a roomate and we agreed on a smaller tank (my 10 gallon). But, my plan is to become an RA and put he 29 gallon in my room Sophomore year of college. So, I will eventually move all of my fish to a 29 gallon (hopefully). Now in other good news, I CAUGHT THE DANG DAMSEL!!! While getting out the damsel I removed my turbo snail as he was a bulldozer in my small tank (as expected). He did however clean a majority of the rocks. I think on my next LFS trip I will pick up a few Mexican red-legged hermits and some nerite snails. Maybe I’ll see if they have any skunk cleaner shrimp too. With the damsel being gone that means I could get a pair of clowns soonish. My LFS has a pair of Mocha misbars, but I kind of want a nearly naked misbar and a regular Occy. The next thing that comes to mind is I’m wanting to cover some of the rock with zoas, mainly some rastas and eagle eyes. After that possibly do a small GCE macro order. Down the road I could get some rock flowers and sexy shrimp too. Here’s the new layout, I’m unsure if I want to remove the rocks of the left or keep them for filtration. I think the zoa garden will be on the rocks near the cloves, it will be something to fill in the space. Also if you look closely you can see “Bruce” my Sharknose goby 3 Quote Link to comment
Wonderboy Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 Nice! Congratulations! Sounds like you have plenty time to plan out the 29 - should be good fun. Things are looking pleased in here - great job with the rock - I like all the room you have. Looking forward to the additions and growth :] Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 29, 2019 Author Share Posted May 29, 2019 30 minutes ago, Wonderboy said: Nice! Congratulations! Sounds like you have plenty time to plan out the 29 - should be good fun. Things are looking pleased int here - great job with the rock - I like all the room you have. Looking forward to the additions and growth :] Thank you!!! I’m excited to see it grow. Maybe when I’m an RA will have 2 tanks 😱. I could keep this one and have the 29 with the clown pair 🤞 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted May 30, 2019 Author Share Posted May 30, 2019 I’m picking up around 15-20 lbs of free lace rock off of Facebook marketplace. Hopefully I don’t get kidnapped (if I don’t post for a week I probably was taken). I might keep this rock for the future 29 gallon. I’m also going to my LFS to pick up more hermits and nerites. Will also see if I can reserve a pair of clowns to put in the 10 gallon. Maybe I’ll get the already paired mocha misbars or a nearly naked misbar and a regular occy 1 1 Quote Link to comment
CD_Scapes Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 With it also being June 1st, my last day of highschool was yesterday and I graduate tomorrow!!! We got back some senior letters written by freshmen me...and let’s say I can predict the future. The night that I got my freshmen letter, I went to my LFS and bought some hermits and nerites. I guess I “bought” a fish by reserving one of the “misbar” nearly naked chocolate clowns. Now, after talking with a few people (mainly @Inland_reef) on Instagram. I was originally thinking of getting a RBTA, but with the chance of it moving and stinging all my softies the alternative could be some LPS. My thought was to try a frogspawn or hammer in the open section to the of the gorg and behind the cabbage leather. If that goes well, maybe add a torch coral to the bare left side (after moving the cloves?). I think a torch would do well as there’s lots of flow and light in that area. The zoa garden could go an the front facing bare rock to the left of the gracilaria. I will be going back to the LFS next Thursday to maybe pick up the clown, unless I can find a black and white ocellaris to pair with it soon. It would be better to get both at the same time, correct? The red circle is where I’m thinking about adding the hammer/frogspawn, the yellow could be the zoa garden, and the blue zones could be a RFAs (medium light, medium flow-higher flow [feather duster crowns flowing to the right at all times]) Here’s the right peninsula view, the red is there the hammer/frogspawn will be and the green is the possible torch coral location. 1 Quote Link to comment
inland_reef Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 Tank is looking great! I like the new lps plan. Clownfish host lps... actually clownfish will host anything that moves 😂. If you’re going to get clownfish, try and introduce them as a pair. If one has been in your tank for a while and you add another, it can be done , make sure you add a clownfish that is either significantly bigger or significantly smaller than the one you currently have into the tank so they don’t fight for dominance very much. Use the same methodology when pairing two different variations of clownfish as well. One bigger than the other. Helps in the long term with the transition of one of the possible males to female. Keep it up. Looks awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment
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