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The Cosmic Lagoon


cosmicbread

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cosmicbread

We’ve had Mrs. Pots the skunk cleaner for a few days now. She’s settling in well and takes food from me. Missing a leg, but that will resolve with the next molt.

 

Other pics are of one of the NPS beauties, some verdant growth with a splash of ruby, and my Ricordea prison jar that has attracted all the snails this evening. 

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cosmicbread

The second mantis I suspected I had in this tank showed herself to me today!

 

She is red-brown and a smashing type.

 

A nassarius wandered right into her den, and I watched her punch it a few times, then flee out of another hole to leer at it from behind a boulder over the entrance until it blundered its way back out.

 

I think that I’ll just leave her in here.

 

Also included in this post: Mrs. Pots being wistful.

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cosmicbread

Named the mantis Glockenspiel. I am nearly certain he is a wennerae, and I’ll be keeping an eye on him but I believe he will be fine in this tank.

Added a hammer, big ol honker of a toadstool, and some frags from a generous local reefer today; trumpets, hairy shrooms, and nepthea and GSP that is in the other tank for the moment. Mrs Pots molted yesterday, which was fascinating to watch...

There are two new inhabitants fresh outta QT. They have opened shop beneath the ledge housing the wild cup coral.

 

EDIT - FTS included. 

 

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Splendid new additions! I find myself doing a lot of staring at your rocks. There's always more to discover in these pictures! Is that a new gorgonian I see in the background as well?

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cosmicbread
1 hour ago, billygoat said:

Splendid new additions! I find myself doing a lot of staring at your rocks. There's always more to discover in these pictures! Is that a new gorgonian I see in the background as well?

Oh yes!! I forgot to introduce those little guys. Yellow sea feather and candelabra from KP 🥰 The feather has been shedding and taking a while to open for me, although today has been the best it has looked in the week that Ive had it. 

Still not sure where to place it, hence the home upon the Rack of Uncertainty.

 

I am seeing new sponges, macros, and feather dusters on the regular. There is something fleshy and vibrant pink and orange living beneath the rose coral, but so difficult to get a look at it. I dont think its coralline, but who knows! I will need to take some good rock shots with my actual camera, soon.

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I have to ask - are you dosing anything for all those macroalgae? They seem to be thriving in a serious way! Even the Sargassum looks pretty good, and that one is supposed to be pretty difficult to keep in home aquaria.

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cosmicbread

I'm always happy to chat macroalgae, even though I feel like I'm still flailing around in the dark. I had intended on doing more thorough write-ups throughout this journal and the last one, but my mind is being pulled in too many directions right now. 

 

At the moment, not dosing anything but Salifert All-in-one once a week. I also feed the corals 2-3x a week since it's great fun, and I suspect that may be fertilizing things some. As the current stock continues to grow and as I eventually add more types, I might need to start testing/dosing mag and probably iodine and/or iron. I'm going to "watch and wait" until then...trying to keep this as simple as possible. 🙂 I've programmed my AI to a 6500k spectrum at about half the light's power, with macro health in mind. The corals seem happy with it and I'm cool to go without the glowy vibes.

 

Knock on ALL the wood, the sargassum is doing super well for me. I've zip tied it to an overflow so it stays at the surface without running into corals, gets optimum light, and is in direct current. It has just about reached the front glass now and is sprouting a lot of little branches. I am thrilled, it's easily my favorite planty thing in here.

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I tied the codium to the overflow to get it off the ground and maintain circulation behind the rocks. It looks like it has been growing, as the branches around the base seem more numerous than I remember. I then used fishing line to secure the sargassum in a way that wasnt overly shadowing anyone.

 

The caulerpa ferns on the top of Bivalve Rock were beginning to brush against the new toadstool and irritate it, so I pulled off the vine and repositioned them in the back for the time being. The red grape macro hitchhiker looks to be growing too and will probably appreciate the space 🙂

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Post caulerpa trim.

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21 hours ago, cosmicbread said:

Knock on ALL the wood, the sargassum is doing super well for me. I've zip tied it to an overflow so it stays at the surface without running into corals, gets optimum light, and is in direct current. It has just about reached the front glass now and is sprouting a lot of little branches. I am thrilled, it's easily my favorite planty thing in here.

I love this zip-tying and fishing-line tying that you've been doing with your macros. That's super creative! And the algae seem to be loving being closer up by the light. That sargassum is truly thriving.

 

Everything looks so gorgeous. It's really a pleasure to come home and check out your photos at the end of the day. Thank you for always sharing. 😊

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cosmicbread
On 3/15/2020 at 5:38 PM, billygoat said:

I love this zip-tying and fishing-line tying that you've been doing with your macros. That's super creative! And the algae seem to be loving being closer up by the light. That sargassum is truly thriving.

 

Everything looks so gorgeous. It's really a pleasure to come home and check out your photos at the end of the day. Thank you for always sharing. 😊

Thank you so much 😊 Means a ton coming from a master reef keeper! I am always stalking your tank and I am so happy you are tagging along for the ride here. I hope that you and your loved ones are staying healthy and sane 🙂 I think aquariums definitely help with the latter.

 

And now, with the shelter-at-home impositions, I have even MORE time to fritter away gazing into my tank. It is such a privilege to tend to these creatures.

 

Some rock shots, with dusters, tunicates/squirts, a sponge? (it has a two inch long counterpart in the back of the tank), and my photogenic shrimp:

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58 minutes ago, cosmicbread said:

Thank you so much 😊 Means a ton coming from a master reef keeper! I am always stalking your tank and I am so happy you are tagging along for the ride here. I hope that you and your loved ones are staying healthy and sane 🙂 I think aquariums definitely help with the latter.

Thank you too for all the good vibes! I'd hardly consider myself a master reef keeper, but I really appreciate it. I'm healthy and still sane so far, and I hope you are doing the same despite the shelter-in-place order. I have a feeling that a lot of home aquariums are going to be getting an unusually large amount of attention over the next few weeks. 😅

 

1 hour ago, cosmicbread said:

Some rock shots, with dusters, tunicates/squirts, a sponge? (it has a two inch long counterpart in the back of the tank), and my photogenic shrimp:

That second photo looks very familiar! I believe that big red thing is a large, non-colonial tunicate. If it closes its siphon up when you poke it then it's a tunicate for sure. I had one in my tank for awhile as well; it came in on my live rock. Very interesting creature to observe! Unfortunately it did not last and ended up withering away after six months or so, probably because of a lack of food in the water/general instability as my tank went through some growing pains. Your rocks and all the life on them look a whole lot better than mine did at the same point in the tank's history though (as does everything else in your system, for that matter!), so hopefully your tunicate will fare better than mine did. Definitely super cool.

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cosmicbread
12 hours ago, billygoat said:

Thank you too for all the good vibes! I'd hardly consider myself a master reef keeper, but I really appreciate it. I'm healthy and still sane so far, and I hope you are doing the same despite the shelter-in-place order. I have a feeling that a lot of home aquariums are going to be getting an unusually large amount of attention over the next few weeks. 😅

 

That second photo looks very familiar! I believe that big red thing is a large, non-colonial tunicate. If it closes its siphon up when you poke it then it's a tunicate for sure. I had one in my tank for awhile as well; it came in on my live rock. Very interesting creature to observe! Unfortunately it did not last and ended up withering away after six months or so, probably because of a lack of food in the water/general instability as my tank went through some growing pains. Your rocks and all the life on them look a whole lot better than mine did at the same point in the tank's history though (as does everything else in your system, for that matter!), so hopefully your tunicate will fare better than mine did. Definitely super cool.

It's a tunicate, then!! Yeah, and I can occasionally watch it actually push water out of its body/siphon. The big one is harder to get a pic of, but seems to be doing ok. For my filter feeders, such as the two huge bivalves that HH'd in, I am deliberately dosing live phyto (2-3x weekly) and Oyster Feast (~1x weekly), and I wonder if they can also feed off what enters the water column when I feed the corals...I would love to be able to keep filter feeders and tunicates alive long-term. For the reason of cultivating nutrients and microfauna, I am considering adding a muddy section in a pot or something in the back...I can't stay away from the grunge, LOL

 

I am staying sane-ish. Cancellations have been a bummer, and I'm not looking forward to potentially weeks of this kind of isolation, but we all must do what we gotta do to get to the other side of this. 

 

@DNR88  yes!!! You wanna have the honour? :))

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cosmicbread

@billygoat, and anyone else who may want to chime in:

 

As I am contemplating adopting a few more LPS from a friend's tank breakdown, I've been hearing more things about gorgs and LPS possibly not being stellar tank-mates. I know that gorgonians should be given space, but there are stories floating around the net that some may produce chemicals that can be harmful to LPS corals...? What is your take on this?

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2 minutes ago, cosmicbread said:

@billygoat, and anyone else who may want to chime in:

 

As I am contemplating adopting a few more LPS from a friend's tank breakdown, I've been hearing more things about gorgs and LPS possibly not being stellar tank-mates. I know that gorgonians should be given space, but there are stories floating around the net that some may produce chemicals that can be harmful to LPS corals...? What is your take on this?

Nothing really appreciates getting gorgonian mucus or sheddings on them, some claim it can kill sps - though compared to the sheddings of something like hydnophora it's likely quite-mild. The only real downside is that they require allot of flow, which isn't really something you've been aiming-for in this tank and that can cause a wide-variety of LPS to struggle. Gorgs and softies in general have the ability to produce various turpines and chemicals which retard the growth of other animals, but it doesn't seem to be something they employ frequently in captivity, and if they do a little carbon seems to be more than enough to deal with it.

I'd be more concerned about the issues in mixing flow and lighting requirements personally, torches and certain "tight" lps probably wouldn't mind, or could be reasonably-sheltered, but that's much harder to do in shallower tanks.

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2 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Nothing really appreciates getting gorgonian mucus or sheddings on them, some claim it can kill sps - though compared to the sheddings of something like hydnophora it's likely quite-mild. The only real downside is that they require allot of flow, which isn't really something you've been aiming-for in this tank and that can cause a wide-variety of LPS to struggle. Gorgs and softies in general have the ability to produce various turpines and chemicals which retard the growth of other animals, but it doesn't seem to be something they employ frequently in captivity, and if they do a little carbon seems to be more than enough to deal with it.

I'd be more concerned about the issues in mixing flow and lighting requirements personally, torches and certain "tight" lps probably wouldn't mind, or could be reasonably-sheltered, but that's much harder to do in shallower tanks.

Thanks! Interesting. Going to have to make some decisions.

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27 minutes ago, cosmicbread said:

@billygoat, and anyone else who may want to chime in:

 

As I am contemplating adopting a few more LPS from a friend's tank breakdown, I've been hearing more things about gorgs and LPS possibly not being stellar tank-mates. I know that gorgonians should be given space, but there are stories floating around the net that some may produce chemicals that can be harmful to LPS corals...? What is your take on this?

I keep lots of gorgs but so far have not tried my hand at LPS, so I can't say for sure what the interaction between the two would be. What I can tell you is that pretty much all soft corals - gorgonians included - have the capacity to produce allelopathic chemicals that can interfere with the growth and well-being of their neighbors, but I don't think this is generally a problem in most home aquaria. In fact most of the species of photosynthetic gorgonians available in the hobby do not even produce mucus. My tank is jammed with softies, and so far the only negative interactions I've seen have been the result of direct contact (e.g. corals stinging each other because they are too close), though I do run carbon all the time just in case.

 

As @Amphrites mentioned there may be some incidental conflicts based on the environmental demands of your LPS vs. those of your gorgs, but you can probably hash those out pretty easily with proper positioning. Gorgonians are truly a gift from the sea. They are very easy to work with, easy to grow, and easy to frag. The only difficult part of them is positioning them, because their tall structure is unlike that of any other invertebrate we commonly encounter in the hobby. But if your positioning is on point, I think they can get along with pretty much anything.

 

TL;DR is, I'd say go ahead and give the LPS a try, but be prepared to add some carbon to help them out if you notice them receding for no apparent reason.👍

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cosmicbread
9 minutes ago, billygoat said:

I keep lots of gorgs but so far have not tried my hand at LPS, so I can't say for sure what the interaction between the two would be. What I can tell you is that pretty much all soft corals - gorgonians included - have the capacity to produce allelopathic chemicals that can interfere with the growth and well-being of their neighbors, but I don't think this is generally a problem in most home aquaria. In fact most of the species of photosynthetic gorgonians available in the hobby do not even produce mucus. My tank is jammed with softies, and so far the only negative interactions I've seen have been the result of direct contact (e.g. corals stinging each other because they are too close), though I do run carbon all the time just in case.

 

As @Amphrites mentioned there may be some incidental conflicts based on the environmental demands of your LPS vs. those of your gorgs, but you can probably hash those out pretty easily with proper positioning. Gorgonians are truly a gift from the sea. They are very easy to work with, easy to grow, and easy to frag. The only difficult part of them is positioning them, because their tall structure is unlike that of any other invertebrate we commonly encounter in the hobby. But if your positioning is on point, I think they can get along with pretty much anything.

 

TL;DR is, I'd say go ahead and give the LPS a try, but be prepared to add some carbon to help them out if you notice them receding for no apparent reason.👍

Thank you!

I've not been running carbon as I had it in my head that it would interfere with the macros, but maybe I should give it a try. It's possible I am mis-thinking and it is purigen I should avoid with macros (which makes more sense, as the macros will need those 'trates). Anyone have any knowledge about carbon and macroalgae? I'm off to do more research!

18 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

you and @billygoat got all the fun stuff.  keep 'em coming.  If I could set up multiple tanks, one would definitely be something along this approach....but, I can't... 😞 

Maybe one day! I adore your one tank, by the way. Dem rics....(your sps is ok, too, I guess 😉 ) I need to comment there so I can follow along better. 

 

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Just now, cosmicbread said:

Thank you!

I've not been running carbon as I had it in my head that it would interfere with the macros, but maybe I should give it a try. It's possible I am mis-thinking and it is purigen I should avoid with macros (which makes more sense, as the macros will need those 'trates). Anyone have any knowledge about carbon and macroalgae? I'm off to do more research!

Maybe one day! I adore your one tank, by the way. Dem rics....(your sps is ok, too, I guess 😉 ) I need to comment there so I can follow along better. 

 

I've always had macros and not noticed a difference when I ran carbon at all. 

 

What LPS you thinking? 

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3 minutes ago, cosmicbread said:

Thank you!

I've not been running carbon as I had it in my head that it would interfere with the macros, but maybe I should give it a try. It's possible I am mis-thinking and it is purigen I should avoid with macros (which makes more sense, as the macros will need those 'trates). Anyone have any knowledge about carbon and macroalgae? I'm off to do more research!

Maybe one day! I adore your one tank, by the way. Dem rics....(your sps is ok, too, I guess 😉 ) I need to comment there so I can follow along better. 

 

Carbon is one of the few ways to pull dead-end organic carbon-based chemicals out of our systems, besides benthic sponges, some can/are utilized by some animals and some aren't, there seems to be some anecdotal evidence that running too much may interfere with SPS but it's hard to say how, never heard of it doing much concerning macros.

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20 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I've always had macros and not noticed a difference when I ran carbon at all. 

 

What LPS you thinking? 

A Cynarina and an Acanthophyllia, as well as another small torch and some acan frags (I've been taking a liking to those anyway), and a small blasto (and his clownfish). The first two will be taking up a lot of space, if I say yes, but they are being given to me for free and I've always been a fan. I had hoped on adding more macros and softies down the road...this tank is becoming more of a "mixed reef" than I had originally intended. If I can make it work, I'm game. 

 

I just added carbon to a chamber. Still giving thought to where to place the gorgs, as I would really like to keep them...maybe I can employ some magnetic frag plugs and mount them vertically? I do have a KPS Aquamai that I've been playing around with, although it's not in there currently. Have not glued any LPS down yet.

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On 3/26/2020 at 3:58 PM, billygoat said:

I heard that there was a rescape in progress over here and I would love to see how it turned out. 😉

Haha 😆 Theres been too much in my brain to post to this lately, although the tank itself has been keeping me plenty distracted!

 

It’s not an extreme rescape by any means, as I’ve kept the general “cove” feel and simply switched around a few of the rocks. I rehomed the tan mushroom, as I think I’ll be using that rock for the torches eventually. Also wanted to give the rock with the hitchhiker gorg some more room. 

 

Glued the rhodactis to one rock and have begun a ricordea pile on the opposite side.

 

I adopted two really interesting LPS specimens from a friend’s tank breakdown — a pink cynarina with zebra stripes and a turquoise and purple Acanthophyllia that is the hungriest thing I have in the tank. I love this bizarre shapeshifting blob. Also got a big new neon toad and a stumpy neon toad of the long polyp variety, and a freeb watermelon blasto.

 

I’m experimenting with magnets...

Have one of the gorgs on one, as well as some new Gracilaria, and my duncan (who has grown several new heads in the time that I’ve had it). 

 

I am trying out a garish purple frag mount that is supposed to imitate a rock?? The freebie palys I’ve received recently are on this, for now. It didnt look so brightly coloured on the website but with time, algae, and paly growth, I think I can deal.

 

Pics:

1. The acantho doing its ravenous soup dumpling impression. 

2. FTS taken this evening.

3. My favorite corner of the tank at the moment.

4. Mrs. Pots with feelers flowing majestically in the current. She has shed twice for me now.

5. Freaking sargassum is growing like a weed I love it.

6. Chili near my pile of “Idk what to do with these zoas”. Is the pink softie behind him a kenya tree? Another freeb. You can see the tendrils of one of my original hitchhiking corals in the bg. These and the other cup colony are doing splendidly, prob cuz I stuff them with food.

7. Palys upon the absurd purple “rock”.

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