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Billy's 18g Caribbean Biotope - Breakdown Complete!


billygoat

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7 hours ago, billygoat said:

More algae! I'm so excited! omgomgomg

 

This is Acetabularia crenulata, commonly known as Mermaid's Wine Glass. If I can manage to convince this algae to grow in my aquarium I will consider my entire life to be a consummate success.

 

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Huge shout out to @johnmaloney at Reef Cleaners for providing me with this unique and beautiful macroalgae!

 

Were I live the beaches are covered in it like a carpet. I didn’t know if it was aquarium safe, but I do now. 😄  Tank is really starting to look awesome!

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2 hours ago, IceParrot said:

 

Were I live the beaches are covered in it like a carpet. I didn’t know if it was aquarium safe, but I do now. 😄  Tank is really starting to look awesome!

I know mermaid's wine glass is super common in many parts of the Caribbean, which is why I wanted to get some so badly! Isn't it weird to think that something that grows like a weed might be considered a rare and wonderful specimen? This is such a strange hobby. 😂

 

Also thank you for your kind words about my tank! I am pleased with the direction it has taken, and I still have some plans for it down the road too! 😉 For the time being the tank is going to have some hands-off stabilization time, but in a few weeks I should have just a few more interesting additions coming along.

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WOW! That is a beautiful piece of macro! I hope it grows so much in your tank you're forced to give some away! :)

 

Your blenny looks like a male under the light! I see it's found a great spot in the tank! 

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5 hours ago, melson said:

WOW! That is a beautiful piece of macro! I hope it grows so much in your tank you're forced to give some away! 🙂

 

Your blenny looks like a male under the light! I see it's found a great spot in the tank! 

Thanks Melson! I sure do hope it grows so much that I have to start giving it away! That would be a dream come true. 😍

 

I saw the blenny flagging with his dorsal fin the other day, so I agree that it does seem to be a male. He only seems to engage in flagging behaviors when the pumps are off, which is interesting. During the day he moves back and forth between two hiding spots, one in that shell and another in a nearby rock. It's super cool to watch him change colors! I had no idea that they did that.

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pricewayne
2 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Thanks Melson! I sure do hope it grows so much that I have to start giving it away! That would be a dream come true. 😍

 

I saw the blenny flagging with his dorsal fin the other day, so I agree that it does seem to be a male. He only seems to engage in flagging behaviors when the pumps are off, which is interesting. During the day he moves back and forth between two hiding spots, one in that shell and another in a nearby rock. It's super cool to watch him change colors! I had no idea that they did that.

New macro is so sweet. And that blenny is so cool — love his shell house.

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22 hours ago, pricewayne said:

New macro is so sweet. And that blenny is so cool — love his shell house.

Thanks! The blenny has definitely been a delight. I was concerned that he might be fragile, but he got his bearings very quickly and has been eating like a pig since day 1. He's really beautiful, and his color-changing is extremely interesting to watch. It seems to have at least as much to do with mood as it does with camouflage, because he always turns white at feeding time. Fish are so amazing! I might have to get another one... :ninja:

 

I have an update from the gorgonian front: the Plexaura is looking better to the point that I think it will definitely pull through. It's having some issues with diatoms growing on the tips of its branches, but it's showing more polyp extension with each passing day and I feel much better about it now. It's a relief to see it getting settled, but I have to say that compared to other Caribbean photosynthetic gorgonians this thing is sensitive as heck! If you are planning to stock your tank with gorgs, be advised that Plexaura flexuosa takes a very long time to get settled!

 

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Firefish15
On 5/29/2019 at 8:26 PM, billygoat said:

For the time being the tank is going to have some hands-off stabilization time,

When have we heard that before? 🤔

 

Very cool macro!

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30 minutes ago, Firefish15 said:

When have we heard that before? 🤔

 

Only constantly, on every page of this thread, right? 😂

I swear I'm actually not adding anything soon though! I'm actually feeling pretty satisfied with the way the tank is looking, and I think the balance of macros and inverts is in a nice spot. Alk consumption is finally stable too, so I'd like to not mess with that too much so I can just get the dosing dialed in and stop worrying about testing it.

 

Also... honestly I am pretty much out of space! 😅

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Firefish15
1 hour ago, billygoat said:

Also... honestly I am pretty much out of space! 😅

Guess you'll just have to do another one. Onset of MTS. :owned: 

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8 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

Guess you'll just have to do another one. Onset of MTS. :owned: 

You've really got me thinking now... especially since I have this spare 4g Waterbox just sitting around! 😅

 

Honestly though, I am quite satisfied with the present state of this tank and think that the best thing I can do for it now is to simply leave it alone and let it roll. I've decided to hold myself to it this time: today is June 1st, so I will take this opportunity to declare a one month moratorium on new livestock additions. Algae included! When July comes around we'll see how things are looking and go from there. 😉

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Firefish15

It is very beautiful! You're doing a great job of sharing photos and updates with all of us too! And it's very rewarding to watch stuff mature and fill in. I think you'll make it this time. 

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8 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

It is very beautiful! You're doing a great job of sharing photos and updates with all of us too! And it's very rewarding to watch stuff mature and fill in. I think you'll make it this time. 

Thank you! I really love to photograph my tank and keep a detailed record of all the stuff that goes on in it, so it's great to hear that other people are interested in all that too. 😊 I'll do my best to keep up with the updates!

 

Today I spotted these cool micro feather dusters and got a good shot of three of them all in a row. These are present in several spots in my tank. They seem to live directly in the rock and have no visible tube. The little pink bulbous thing to the right of the largest duster appears to be some kind of clam or other tiny bivalve.

 

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I heard/read somewhere that Waterbox discontinued the 4G and 7G versions. Did you like it when you had it running? Mind sharing your thoughts about it?

 

im looking for a quality AIO under 10 gallons and the fluval does nothing for me. Might actually end up going acrylic for the first time. 

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9 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

I heard/read somewhere that Waterbox discontinued the 4G and 7G versions. Did you like it when you had it running? Mind sharing your thoughts about it?

 

im looking for a quality AIO under 10 gallons and the fluval does nothing for me. Might actually end up going acrylic for the first time. 

To tell you the truth, I just bought the 4G Waterbox a few weeks ago (precisely because I saw it had been discontinued, actually), and it has been sitting on my floor in its shipping box ever since it arrived. I have not even leak tested it yet! 😂 So unfortunately I have very little information about it. I assume I will get it up and running at some point, and I'll be sure to let you know what I think. So far just observing it dry I can tell you that it appears to be a well-made and very beautiful aquarium. Waterbox certainly makes a quality product!

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pricewayne
15 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

I heard/read somewhere that Waterbox discontinued the 4G and 7G versions. Did you like it when you had it running? Mind sharing your thoughts about it?

 

im looking for a quality AIO under 10 gallons and the fluval does nothing for me. Might actually end up going acrylic for the first time. 

I think I saw they had some at Petco when I was searching for a QT tank earlier this week. May check their stock online!

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1 hour ago, billygoat said:

Thank you! I really love to photograph my tank and keep a detailed record of all the stuff that goes on in it, so it's great to hear that other people are interested in all that too. 😊 I'll do my best to keep up with the updates!

 

Today I spotted these cool micro feather dusters and got a good shot of three of them all in a row. These are present in several spots in my tank. They seem to live directly in the rock and have no visible tube. The little pink bulbous thing to the right of the largest duster appears to be some kind of clam or other tiny bivalve.

 

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Awesome little feathers!

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On 5/29/2019 at 9:17 PM, IceParrot said:

 

Were I live the beaches are covered in it like a carpet. I didn’t know if it was aquarium safe, but I do now. 😄  Tank is really starting to look awesome!

Macro heaven!!!!  

 

Mermaids wine glass is soo cool!

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4 minutes ago, 748S911 said:

Macro heaven!!!!  

 

Mermaids wine glass is soo cool!

I agree, it is definitely super cool! I worry that my tank may have too much flow for it though. My gorgonians like some pretty strong water movement, especially right now because several of them are going through shedding phases. But I'm seeing the caps of the wine glasses already begin to fracture and fall apart in several areas. I have a feeling that this is normal (in fact on the Reef Cleaners website he mentions that the caps don't even really matter much) so hopefully they will grow back if conditions are good.

 

Currently running my MP10 on 25% power, which doesn't seem like very much, but I may need to turn it down even more.

 

Tried to snap a picture just now but the light is near the very end of its cycle and is too dim and blue. This one is from yesterday:

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33 minutes ago, pricewayne said:

I think I saw they had some at Petco when I was searching for a QT tank earlier this week. May check their stock online!

 

Milk check again. Last I saw was the Imagatarium (which I own) that has rounded corners and Fluval. 

 

@billygoat, can you PM where you ordered yours from? The plan is a mantis and macro tank. 

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Just a few photos of evening on the reef.

 

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I made a mistake when I was initially placing the gorgonian above (Pseudopterogorgia sp.) and ended up having to re-glue it about a week ago. Right after doing so I realized that I had accidentally placed it directly in the path of my powerhead. I thought it might get upset by the increased flow, but actually it is loving it! I'm seeing massive, continuous polyp extension. This genus of gorg seems to be amazingly hardy.

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On 6/1/2019 at 8:42 PM, billygoat said:

Thank you! I really love to photograph my tank and keep a detailed record of all the stuff that goes on in it, so it's great to hear that other people are interested in all that too. 😊 I'll do my best to keep up with the updates!

 

Today I spotted these cool micro feather dusters and got a good shot of three of them all in a row. These are present in several spots in my tank. They seem to live directly in the rock and have no visible tube. The little pink bulbous thing to the right of the largest duster appears to be some kind of clam or other tiny bivalve.

 

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Little filter feeders look similar to something I found on a frag. But your picture turned out much better. Any idea what they are?

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2 hours ago, Gravity said:

Little filter feeders look similar to something I found on a frag. But your picture turned out much better. Any idea what they are?

They are feather-duster worms, a very small variety. These do not seem to build an external tube like other feather dusters, but instead live right in the rock. They are harmless and very interesting!

 

2 hours ago, Tigahboy said:

Everything is looking great!  Love the recent FTS and side shots.  

Thank you so much! I've been trying to work on my photography, but full-tank shots continue to vex me. 🤔 I got a halfway decent one this evening, but even at this late hour there is still plenty of glare:

 

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You might notice the crazy crab at the very topmost reachable spot in my tank. He just loves it up there! I'm sure he has his own tiny crab reasons for being up there, but it's a mystery to me. 😂

 

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Solved the mystery of the climbing crab! Turns out it was getting ready to molt. The crab may have been seeking a place with higher flow to assist with the molting process. It seems to have gone well, so that's good news. My three scarlet hermits have been in the tank for more than a month now and all seem to be thriving.

 

My peppermint shrimp, on the other hand, has disappeared. 🤔 Not a confirmed mortality but I haven't seen it for about a week, so I have to imagine it was probably hunted down and devoured by my Terror Star. It was a very small specimen so it's possible that it could still be hiding. I'll keep an eye out for it.

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Here are a few more photos. I noticed that my Botryocladia (red grape algae) has seen quite an increase in growth since I upgraded to an MP10 some months ago, so I decided to try my hand at propagating it. I took a few cuttings and glued them to a shell. It will be pretty cool if I can get it growing in a few different places because it looks really neat. 😁

 

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Gorgonians are looking a bit sad on this side of the tank. The frontmost one is molting and only halfway extended, and the one directly behind it is still in the process of acclimating. I am not concerned about them; in a week or two they should both be back to normal. I will need to cut a few dead branches off of the Plexaura, but it has been steadily expanding a few more of its polyps every day and I feel that it will soon stabilize.

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  • billygoat changed the title to Billy's 18g Caribbean Biotope - Breakdown Complete!

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