Billy's 18g Caribbean Biotope - Breakdown Complete!

[lizzyann]

On 12/11/2019 at 2:09 PM, billygoat said:

😍 love this sunlight shot!

[billygoat]

15 hours ago, lizzyann said:

😍 love this sunlight shot!

Thank you very much @lizzyann! Winter mornings are my favorite when it comes to observing the tank. If I have the day off I am usually planted in a chair in front of it with a cup of coffee for the duration of the sunlight period. I just wish my camera could do it better justice, because it really looks like a completely different aquarium with the natural sunlight hitting it!

 

In other news: I've noticed a pretty considerable increase in pest algae growth over the past couple of weeks. Nothing too terrifying has appeared yet - it's mostly cyanobacterial strands clinging to my macros and gorgs, and sheets of film algae growing on the glass. I think there are a few possible reasons for this:

• The breakdown of my refugium and subsequent cleaning of my rear chambers released a lot of nutrients into the tank. Decay of the film algae that was growing on the glass of my rear chambers and is now dying from lack of light probably continues to release organic substances.
• Upgrading my light no doubt caused an uptick in algal growth. I have the A160 running on a rather low setting (maxing out at 30% power) but it's still much more powerful than the light I had previously. I've dialed the intensity down slightly to try and keep things under control.
• A few months ago I added some dry rock to my sump chambers to bolster my biofilter and provide some seeded rock for the eventual set-up of my 4g Waterbox pico. These are pieces of fragmented Florida Reef Rock from Reef Cleaners. RC assures customers that their rock is "devoid of organic compounds, and has been treated to prevent phosphate leaching," but I can't help but wonder if it is in fact leaching some sort of organics into the tank. 🤔

For the time being I will continue to monitor the situation, reduce feedings, and perform additional water changes. I may end up re-adding some Caulerpa or other macros to the display as well. Hopefully I can get this algal growth back into line. 🤞

[A.m.P]

I'm willing to bet it's mostly the light haha.

[billygoat]

2 hours ago, Amphrites said:

I'm willing to bet it's mostly the light haha.

I have a feeling you're probably right. I'm going to knock a half hour off the photoperiod at either end and also reduce the max intensity midday period by an hour or so. That will bring the lighting schedule down to a total of 11 hours with 6 hours of moderate intensity (20%+ power), including 3 hours at peak intensity (30% power), with a ramp-up/ramp-down period of 2.5 hours on either side.

 

I think the Kessil A160 puts out considerably more PAR than the A80 at all intensities and also has a much better spread, so I may be underestimating its power relative to that of my previous light. 🤔 We'll see if dialing it back a bit helps to move things back into balance.

[billygoat]

Okay scratch that - I figured out the problem! 😂

 

When I installed the A160 I programmed a new lighting schedule for it, but I apparently failed to properly configure the controller with the new schedule. As a result my A160 was running on the same lighting schedule that my A80 had been using - a 12 hour photoperiod maxing out at 100% intensity! No wonder my gorgonians are upset and the algae is going crazy - everything was getting blasted with 3x as much light as it was supposed to be getting! 😬😅

 

I fixed it now, so hopefully that should remedy the situation! Hopefully I caught my mistake in time to avoid doing any serious damage to the tank!

[A.m.P]

Ahhh, that would explain it, hopefully nothings' too upset about it.

[billygoat]

2 hours ago, Amphrites said:

Ahhh, that would explain it, hopefully nothings' too upset about it.

Honestly I'm amazed that I didn't simply fry everything in the tank outright. Inadvertently nuking the tank with way too much light and not noticing my mistake until ten days later seems like an enormous blunder! Just goes to show how resilient these soft corals really are I guess. 🤷‍♂️

 

I've slashed the max intensity back to 50% for now. Within the next few days we will see if my mistake has done any permanent damage to my gorgonians. Several of them have been closing up more and more over the past week of blinding light, and today one of them didn't open at all. 😬

 

Currently testing iodine. If levels are low I will add a bit of Brightwell Iodide to help the softies deal with possible oxygen toxicity issues.

[billygoat]

Well, it's a bit hard to believe, but my reef is one year old today! Hooray! 😁👏🎉 This is a rather inauspicious anniversary as the tank has recently been having quite a few problems thanks to my silly mistake with the lighting schedule, but I think it will bounce back and keep on truckin'. Here's a grainy photograph showing my upset gorgonians! O glorious day! 😂

 

 

Seriously though, I'm amazed that my tank has been this successful. This is the first saltwater system that I've ever kept all by myself, and while it has seen its share of problems (mostly the result of poor research and general bad decisions on my part), overall it has done really well and exceeded my expectations. Looking back, I realize that frankly I couldn't have come this far without this website. I am 100% confident that I owe my success so far to the support and expertise of all of you folks here on N-R, and I am deeply indebted to this community for all the things I have learned. Thank you so much everyone! 👍🍻🎉

 

Now this tank is definitely not going anywhere for the time being (and indeed there is still plenty of work to be done), but I wanted to commemorate my 1 year tankiversary with something I've been putting off for a long time: another aquarium! I finally got my 4g Waterbox cube wet today after more than half a year of having it sit in an unopened box on my bedroom floor. Double hooray! 😁🎉🎉

 

 

This little system will be a mixed reef with a focus on my favorite coral, Alveopora. It's a species that's off limits for display in my 18g since it's not from the Caribbean, so I am excited to finally have some around at home to look at! I started the tank with dry CaribSea aragonite sand plus seeded rock and some WC water from the C-Vue. I'm going to give it awhile for the bacteria from the rocks to proliferate throughout the sandbed, so it might be a little bit before livestock gets added. But I'm very excited to finally have the ball rolling! I'll definitely be starting a journal for the new tank soon as well.

 

Anyway thanks for reading, and thanks for all your support and encouragement over the 9 months that I've been part of this community. I've come a long way and I owe it all to you guys. ♥️

[mitten_reef]

Congrats man. 

[Gravity]

Congratulations 🎉! have really enjoyed watching this tank come to life and look forward to seeing it continue. I’ll be honest that I wasn’t originally interested in the Caribbean theme but it has grown on me and been a great learning experience. Can’t waist to see how this next tank turns out too!

[A.m.P]

Looking forward to the alveopora tank, sounds amazing, and happy first-year the tank looks wayyy more mature than that haha.

[CD_Scapes]

TOTM Time!!!!!

[Poodges]

Congratulations! 

[Ratvan]

Would love to see you go a genus only tank

[debbeach13]

Congratulations on hitting the 1 year milestone. The tank looks very nice. Fingers crossed that the little lighting mishap does no harm.

[billygoat]

Thank you everyone for all of your kind words and support! Its great to hear that you've had as much fun as I have watching this tank fill in and grow. Thanks for sticking along for the ride. 😊🤗

 

2 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Would love to see you go a genus only tank

Hmm you mean only one genus of coral? Seems like it might be difficult, but it's an intriguing idea! I do have a couple of favorites (not just Alveopora, though that one always will have a special place in my heart) and some of them might be appropriate for display in a tank like my new pico. You've definitely got me thinking! 🤔

 

9 hours ago, Northwoodsreefer said:

TOTM Time!!!!!

I appreciate the support! 😊 Truth is that this tank is kind of a mess right now though. Definitely not in TOTM condition, that's for sure! 😅 But it looks like my gorgonians are recovering and extra water changes are helping to manage the algae bloom that the lighting fiasco set in motion, so hopefully everything will make a full recovery. 🤞

 

12 hours ago, Gravity said:

Congratulations 🎉! have really enjoyed watching this tank come to life and look forward to seeing it continue. I’ll be honest that I wasn’t originally interested in the Caribbean theme but it has grown on me and been a great learning experience. Can’t waist to see how this next tank turns out too!

It's fantastic to hear that you've been able to learn something from all my ramblings and mistakes! 😁 That warms my heart. And I agree that the Caribbean theme isn't for everyone. Biotope tanks are a lot of work, and stocking them is kind of a pain. In the end I've actually realized that I may as well call it a Florida biotope, because literally everything in my tank came from southern Florida - even the rocks! 😂

[lizzyann]

Double hooray!

[billygoat]

Hello everyone! Things continue to grind along on the reef. My gorgonians seem to be gradually recovering from their ordeal with the new light, and pest algae growth seems to be slowly declining as well. The only gorg I'm still worried about is my purple whip. It has been struggling a lot recently, to the point that I even tried moving it over to my pico for awhile. I first tested the waters in the 4g with a fragment of Antillogorgia, which showed good extension after one day. I therefore figured it might be better for the purple whip as well, but no dice. I moved the whip back into the 18g this morning and will be keeping a close eye on it. Hopefully it will recover.

 

I absolutely must keep my hands out of the tank for the next week or so though. I've been fiddling with things far too much recently, and it can't possibly be helping. 😅

 

Also, I rubber-banded a wad of Ulva to a rock and tossed it into the back of my display, and added a few extra sprigs of Halimeda here and there too. That ought to give the pest algae a run for its money. 💪

 

Oh, and I finally got around to installing the SpinStream nozzle that I bought a few months ago! It's very loud, but I've read that they get quieter after a week or two so I'm willing to give it a shot and see what happens. Functionality-wise it seems to do a great job, and my fish don't seem to mind the noise, so I'll put up with it for the time being.

 

Here's a top down shot for your trouble! Thanks for reading! 😁

 

[A.m.P]

Hope that spinstream calms down, Tigah seems to loved them lol.

[DNR88]

Everything seems to be pretty happy and it's getting quite crowded. 😊

[melson]

On 12/16/2019 at 8:08 AM, Ratvan said:

Would love to see you go a genus only tank

I've always wanted my tank to look as natural as possible, I'm not sure how you feel @billygoat. A large rock formation with only a few species of coral is probably way more common then what is seen in our tanks! I think it would take a lot of effort but something like this from Grand Cayman is very inspiring to me. 

 

[Nano sapiens]

On 12/15/2019 at 5:21 PM, billygoat said:

Well, it's a bit hard to believe, but my reef is one year old today! Hooray! 😁👏🎉 

Yay, first year!  Typically, these system settles down after the first year or two. 

 

Let's see how it'll be doing around the 8-10 year mark  😊

[billygoat]

12 hours ago, Nano sapiens said:

Yay, first year!  Typically, these system settles down after the first year or two. 

 

Let's see how it'll be doing around the 8-10 year mark  😊

If I can make it half that long I will consider myself a master of the craft! One can only dream... or rather, most of us can only dream; you sir are in fact already there. 😂

 

14 hours ago, melson said:

I've always wanted my tank to look as natural as possible, I'm not sure how you feel @billygoat. A large rock formation with only a few species of coral is probably way more common then what is seen in our tanks! I think it would take a lot of effort but something like this from Grand Cayman is very inspiring to me. 

I agree @melson, I certainly do try to make my tank look as natural as I can get away with! I specifically designed this display to resemble the back-reef or "rubble zone" - the shallow area behind the reef crest, usually adjacent to a lagoon or seagrass meadow, that is protected from heavy wave action but swept by strong tidal currents. It's tricky though! Much like the beautiful shallow water scene in the photo you posted (which actually shows a very similar environment) the rubble zone is usually impacted by heavy sedimentation, which is really difficult to successfully imitate in a small aquarium. So in the end my biotope has become more of a collection of species that would be found in such an area, rather than an actual recreation of that environment. I've decided I'm fine with this though. It's not quite true-to-life, but it's the best I've been able to do with the tools I've had access to. 😁

 

I wish sponges were easier to collect and keep in aquaria. They're such an important and ubiquitous part of Caribbean reefs.

[melson]

Yeah I've had 0 luck with keeping sponges and I haven't seen any documentation of them being kept successfully in aquariums. I only think those that we purchase from are successful because I imagine they keep their stuff in giant like pools on their property. And they are constantly removing and refilling with fresh saltwater from the ocean. 

[Tired]

Some types of sponges can be kept in aquaria, and a few can even be pest species. It's all the very simple little ones, though. The most interesting-looking sponge I can think of that people keep (though accidentally) is pineapple sponges. I think there's a few smaller ones that people try on purpose.

 

And the people who sell the sponges have their corals in regular holding tanks. It's not that they succeed at keeping the sponge alive, they just don't have it in their possession long enough for it to start starving.