Billy's 18g Caribbean Biotope - Breakdown Complete!

[Kangster911]

I have seen a product called Pod Hotel. It looked like a simple small hiding place for pods to reproduce. I do not know if it is meant to go and can go in the display tank nor how effective it is. I think I saw on Marine Depot.

I have seen a product called Pod Hotel. It looked like a simple small hiding place for pods to reproduce. I do not know if it is meant to go and can go in the display tank nor how effective it is. I think I saw on Marine Depot.

[Wonderboy]

Never heard of this 'cleaning of the refugium' thing lol - sorry it didn't sound too pretty. My 2.5G 'fuge is still full of cyano and I can barely see through the glass; letting varieties grow in there to produce ample amounts of microfauna that eat it + an appropriate CUC (in DT) typically keeps me assured that nothing pest-like can take off in DT and that there are plenty live food available during fasting periods. My other systems' 'fuges have cleared up entirely at this point with no maintainences since they started up. Your DT is kind of its own refugium though, and IMO minimal equipment wherever possible is very ideal. I think the ulva looks really good in there - hoping it stays put, too   :]

[billygoat]

10 hours ago, Kangster911 said:

I have seen a product called Pod Hotel. It looked like a simple small hiding place for pods to reproduce. I do not know if it is meant to go and can go in the display tank nor how effective it is. I think I saw on Marine Depot.

Oh yeah, pod hotels are basically removable baskets that pods hide inside of. Typically they stay in the sump or rear chambers and every once in awhile you pull the basket out of your 'fuge or wherever you've got it and dunk it in your display tank to reseed the DT with pods. They're super easy to make yourself too! I might end up getting one some day.

 

8 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Never heard of this 'cleaning of the refugium' thing lol - sorry it didn't sound too pretty. My 2.5G 'fuge is still full of cyano and I can barely see through the glass; letting varieties grow in there to produce ample amounts of microfauna that eat it + an appropriate CUC (in DT) typically keeps me assured that nothing pest-like can take off in DT and that there are plenty live food available during fasting periods. My other systems' 'fuges have cleared up entirely at this point with no maintainences since they started up. Your DT is kind of its own refugium though, and IMO minimal equipment wherever possible is very ideal. I think the ulva looks really good in there - hoping it stays put, too   :]

I think that in a more typical mixed reef I would have been much too hasty in breaking down my 'fuge, to be honest. A month and a half is not very long, and as you mention it can take quite some time to clear up and stabilize as the macroalgae in the refugium gradually gain the upper hand over the various other things that live in there. However I was having a lot of issues with cyanobacteria spreading into my display tank and populating areas where my CUC could not reach, such as the tips of my macros and the branches of my gorgonians. That's the primary reason I decided to break it down - just a sort of inkling that things were out of balance compared to the way they were before.

 

I definitely agree with you on the minimal equipment point! In my mind more moving parts just means more potential points of failure. Recently I've been musing over what else I can reasonably remove from the system... might try it without the filter socks for awhile.

[Kangster911]

17 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Never heard of this 'cleaning of the refugium' thing lol - sorry it didn't sound too pretty. My 2.5G 'fuge is still full of cyano and I can barely see through the glass; letting varieties grow in there to produce ample amounts of microfauna that eat it + an appropriate CUC (in DT) typically keeps me assured that nothing pest-like can take off in DT and that there are plenty live food available during fasting periods. My other systems' 'fuges have cleared up entirely at this point with no maintainences since they started up. Your DT is kind of its own refugium though, and IMO minimal equipment wherever possible is very ideal. I think the ulva looks really good in there - hoping it stays put, too   :]

billygoat, sorry to post my stories on your page. 

My refugium is in the back of an AIO tank and the light is being shined from the back, sideway, not from the top. The light than feeds ugly slim/algae on the back wall. It builds up enough so it blocks the light from reaching my Chaeto and Ulva. 

It is weird to clean an refugium, but for my extra weird set up, it is necessary. 

I like billygoat's set up because like you said, his DT is essentially his refugium.

[billygoat]

55 minutes ago, Kangster911 said:

billygoat, sorry to post my stories on your page. 

That's okay! This is a place to talk about aquariums. I talk about mine a lot of course, but your conversation is also welcome here. 😊

 

55 minutes ago, Kangster911 said:

My refugium is in the back of an AIO tank and the light is being shined from the back, sideway, not from the top. The light than feeds ugly slim/algae on the back wall. It builds up enough so it blocks the light from reaching my Chaeto and Ulva. 

It is weird to clean an refugium, but for my extra weird set up, it is necessary. 

I think this is actually a pretty common way of lighting a refugium, and the slime algae growing on the glass is unfortunately pretty common as well. With time the macroalgae should gain an upper hand over the film algae and other gross stuff that blocks the light, but sometimes it can take awhile (months), especially in a new system. Periodically cleaning the glass so the light can reach the macros in the 'fuge is probably a good call. 👍

 

1 hour ago, Kangster911 said:

I like billygoat's set up because like you said, his DT is essentially his refugium.

 

It's funny that you mention this, because the concept of the "display refugium" (basically a large macroalgae tank plumbed into the same system as a mixed reef) is one of the things that inspired me to take my tank in the direction that I have! When I was planning my system I read a lot of TOTM articles and was amazed by the beauty of some of the refugia they featured. Even moreso than the reefs that these 'fuges supported (which were beautiful too, don't get me wrong), I loved the natural look of the algae and soft corals growing together in a setting that's meant to be beautiful as well as functional. @metrokat's TOTM reef from December 2012 had an especially beautiful display refugium. Check it out if you have a chance:

 

 

[billygoat]

Exciting news today! I had a bit of store credit with KP Aquatics (if you recall they accidentally forgot to send me a Ric awhile back), so I placed a very modest order to use it... and ended up ordering a 4th fish as well! 😁

 

 

I thought this over for quite a long time and I think the jawfish will be a good fit. Recent conversations about sandbed health have tipped my scales in favor of stuff that burrows, and I read that jawfish have a reputation for being disease resistant as well. Yellowheads get a bit large (10 cm or so at max size) but I think that will be okay since they almost always stay in or around their burrows. It will likely make a bit of a mess in my tank, especially at first... but the reef is a messy place! I don't think it will be too much of a problem.

 

It's been many months since I last added a fish, so I am quite excited! 

 

Also here is a picture of a lovely sea anemone. I hope all of you fellow reefers are having a great day. 😊

 

 

 

[Wonderboy]

Awesome choice - can't wait! One of my favorites - all jawfish have such great personalities.

[billygoat]

3 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Awesome choice - can't wait! One of my favorites - all jawfish have such great personalities.

Great! Glad to hear I've got your seal of approval; that honestly makes me feel pretty good about my choice. 😄 My order will arrive on Wednesday, so I have a few more days yet. I can't wait!

[Tigahboy]

Yay!  New fish day!

[IceParrot]

Woohoo! They are a very pretty fish.

[billygoat]

No new photos of the tank today, but I wanted to share a story that I heard at work!

 

This is a giant Heteractis anemone that I photographed in one of our exhibits. It is about 35 cm across. I believe the species is H. magnifica, though I do not have an official ID. You'll notice that there is a small ocellaris clownfish inside. Apparently this anemone was collected, packaged, shipped, and unboxed without anyone seeing that a little clown was along for the ride... only when it arrived and was put into quarantine did anyone realize that there was a fish inside! The little guy somehow managed to hitchhike his way ten thousand miles across the sea until he ended up in one of our exhibits. Incredible! 😁 What a tenacious little fish. Good job sticking together with your 'nem of choice, buddy! 😂

 

[Wonderboy]

Holy cowfish... it's the REAL Nemo!!!

There's going to be a hoard of creatures looking for that little guy...

[billygoat]

13 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Holy cowfish... it's the REAL Nemo!!!

There's going to be a hoard of creatures looking for that little guy...

I know! I thought the same thing. They're going to come after him, and then we're going to have a real overstocking problem on our hands. 😂

 

Some pictures today from around the reef! Mostly algae, and also a blenny. The Ulva is looking crispier since snails have browsed most of the ragged dead parts off its edges. Hopefully it won't get completely eaten. A bit of cyano is still present here and there, but it has already declined considerably since I shut down my superfluous 'fuge.

 

 

 

 

[billygoat]

Well, I came home today to find that the blenny in the picture above is no longer with us. Looks like he somehow managed to jump through the tiny space between my screen lid and the glass of my aquarium. I will work on making a tighter-fitting lid. Sorry little buddy. I will do better next time. 😞

[billygoat]

I've been pretty bummed about the jumping blenny but the rest of the tank is still looking great. Here's an FTS from this evening. The lights are cycling down for the day but I figured I should take a photo to record what the tank looks like before the jawfish arrives (tomorrow) and rearranges everything. 😂

 

[lizzyann]

I'm so sorry about your blenny! 😥  How much room was there between the lid and the glass? I keep hearing about this happening and don't thiiiink my yasha could fit in the gaps but I feel like no one ever thinks it could actually happen. 

[billygoat]

1 hour ago, lizzyann said:

I'm so sorry about your blenny! 😥  How much room was there between the lid and the glass? I keep hearing about this happening and don't thiiiink my yasha could fit in the gaps but I feel like no one ever thinks it could actually happen. 

Here's a janky headlamp-illuminated pic of the current lid. I'd say the gap is about 2/5 of an inch. The blenny was about 2 inches long but quite slender. I imagine he had to slide right up the glass in order to get through there, but he sure found a way. 😥

 

 

Oh well! Nothing to be done. I'll have a better lid on there for the jawfish. Nothing for it but to try better next time!

 

I don't want to end on a negative note so here is a photo of a crab from earlier today. This is a Caribbean green porcelain crab (Petrolisthes armatus) from Reef Cleaners. Who doesn't love crabs, right? 😁

 

[billygoat]

The new guy is here! 😁 KPA shipped it inside a piece of PVC with a screen rubberbanded to either end, which I thought was pretty interesting.

 

 

Very beautiful fish. It still seems a bit bewildered and has been hiding in a little nook in the corner all day, but is active and looking around and even ate a sinking pellet earlier on. I've noticed no visible signs of disease or trauma, which is good. Hopefully it will adjust quickly and start making a huge mess of my tank soon. 😂 I also made a new screen lid today which is much more tightly fitting, so I don't think I will have to worry about jumpers anymore.

 

 

[A.m.P]

I really wish jawfish didn't eat clams, that animal is so damn beautiful.

[billygoat]

12 hours ago, Amphrites said:

I really wish jawfish didn't eat clams, that animal is so damn beautiful.

Jawfish eat clams? That's so bizarre. I had no idea. Tridacnid clams aren't even found in the Caribbean! I guess there are plenty of other species of jawfish that hail from the Pacific, but still. That's so weird to me. 😂

[A.m.P]

22 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Jawfish eat clams? That's so bizarre. I had no idea. Tridacnid clams aren't even found in the Caribbean! I guess there are plenty of other species of jawfish that hail from the Pacific, but still. That's so weird to me. 😂

There's a long list of animals that are known to nip at and eventually kill clams in enclosed spaces; clown gobies, dottybacks, jawfish, blennies, unusually-moody clowns, angels... It's a long list lol... But jawfish were one of the chief offenders I found when I poured through people's experiences with "suddenly clam is missing mantle or is shut all day".

Unfortunately allot of animals seems to recognize the clams as free snacks after being around them long enough...

[billygoat]

14 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

There's a long list of animals that are known to nip at and eventually kill clams in enclosed spaces; clown gobies, dottybacks, jawfish, blennies, unusually-moody clowns, angels... It's a long list lol... But jawfish were one of the chief offenders I found when I poured through people's experiences with "suddenly clam is missing mantle or is shut all day".

Unfortunately allot of animals seems to recognize the clams as free snacks after being around them long enough...

Poor old clams! They can't even run! 😂 I know that even hermit crabs will gang up on them and strip them of their flesh... clams are so beautiful, but I feel like they are definitely out of my league as far as animal husbandry is concerned. Even if I wasn't running a biotope here I think I'd still stick with tough-as-nails softies and zoas.

 

I have a feeling my tank will soon turn into the Jawfish Show. He's so pretty! He's out and about this morning which is great, but now that I get a better look at him I can see that he's a bit skinny. Shouldn't be a problem I think. He readily went after some frozen mysis this morning, so definitely no issues eating.

 

[A.m.P]

I don't think you'd have any issues keeping them whatsoever, though you might have to put one in a tank with different livestock XD

[billygoat]

The new guy is settling in nicely. He ate a ton of flake and frozen mysids this morning and has already established a burrow for himself in a nice visible spot in the front left corner of the tank. 👌 Had to move a few Rics to accommodate his excavations, but I'm happy he's got a hidey-hole already and I hope he stays there! Check him out in this photo at the bottom right:

 

 

[WV Reefer]

29 minutes ago, billygoat said:

The new guy is settling in nicely. He ate a ton of flake and frozen mysids this morning and has already established a burrow for himself in a nice visible spot in the front left corner of the tank. 👌 Had to move a few Rics to accommodate his excavations, but I'm happy he's got a hidey-hole already and I hope he stays there! Check him out in this photo at the bottom right:

 

 

 

The new guy is super cute!