Billy's 40g Florida Keys Biotope

[billygoat]

On 1/24/2021 at 6:02 PM, ererer said:

Have you considered starting it as a freshwater mangrove "tank" and then slowly acclimating it to SW when you're ready to add other SW inhabitants? That's what I'm probably going to do. From what I've read, it seems that mangroves grow more quickly in FW than SW, and it's easier to setup and maintain FW than SW. If you give them 6-8 weeks to slowly acclimate, they usually seem to do fine once you're ready to switch to SW.

 

Also, what are your plans for lighting and substrate?

I am on the fence as to whether I should start with FW then move to SW, or just go for SW right out the gate. It seems like it would be easier to start with SW, but I've read some mixed reviews about switching from fresh to salt so I am still contemplating how I want to go about it. Lighting will probably just be a bunch of standard 6500k plant grow lights + natural sunlight from a nearby window, and for substrate I was thinking some mix of mud and various grades of standard aquarium sand would be the best way to go.

 

Honestly though after researching it more and estimating how much time and money it's going to take to get everything going, I feel like this project will probably be put on the back burner for awhile... 😅 The 40g soaks up so much of my free time already that I am hesitant to commit to a second tank. Mangroves are coming some day though, I swear.

 

Speaking of the 40g, I made some pretty significant changes this week: I removed a bunch of gorgonians and gave them to a co-worker, which really freed up the aquascape a lot.

 

Here's the tank before:

 

And after:

 

Now if you scroll back a page or two you'll find a post where I said that one of my goals for the next few weeks would be keeping my hands out of the tank and not fiddling with things. I admit that that is not what ended up happening. 😅 A few of my gorgonians (the two purple candelabras in the middle of the tank) are somewhat upset about this, as you can see by their lack of polyp extension. But I must say - I do prefer the look of the new pared-down aquascape, and my fish seem to appreciate the additional swimming room. I think that if I can manage to keep up with maintenance and keep my hands out of the tank for a few weeks (for real this time!), everything will be much better off than before.

 

Here are some more pictures of Ricordea, for your eyes.

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

I like the way you opened it up a bit.

[billygoat]

3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

I like the way you opened it up a bit.

Thanks! It looks kind of naked for the time being, but this configuration will allow all the remaining gorgonians ample room to grow. They were a bit too cluttered before.

[thecoralbeauty]

4 hours ago, billygoat said:

Thanks! It looks kind of naked for the time being, but this configuration will allow all the remaining gorgonians ample room to grow. They were a bit too cluttered before.

it looks beautiful! And that little cherub is such a ham 🙂 

[Reeferon]

It’s definitely a Caribbean aquarium. I think I’ve seen all those corals diving in south Florida. Very cool tank! 

[Firefish15]

7 hours ago, billygoat said:

It looks kind of naked for the time being, but this configuration will allow all the remaining gorgonians ample room to grow. They were a bit too cluttered before.

That’s one of the things that I wish I had planned for when doing my tank. 
I threw a bunch of frags in, and then they started growing in to each other. I should have been more patient in the beginning.

[billygoat]

On 1/30/2021 at 11:44 AM, thecoralbeauty said:

it looks beautiful! And that little cherub is such a ham 🙂 

Thank you! Yeah that fish is the smallest of the bunch but he definitely runs the show... and unlike my chromis, he isn't particularly camera-shy! That's how you know he's the boss. 🤔

 

On 1/30/2021 at 2:35 PM, Firefish15 said:

That’s one of the things that I wish I had planned for when doing my tank. 
I threw a bunch of frags in, and then they started growing in to each other. I should have been more patient in the beginning.

I think overstocking - primarily of fish, but also of invertebrates - is one of the most common issues that home aquarists run into. My previous 18g tank was jammed to the gills with stuff, which is part of the reason I upgraded to the 40g in the first place. I've tried to keep it simple this time around, but it occurred to me recently that my tank looked a lot more cluttered than I wanted it to... I've always been a fan of systems that have a few large colonies with plenty of space to grow, as opposed to those that are filled up with 50 different types of little frags (though I admit that the latter style can be interesting in its own kaleidoscopic sort of way). When I found out that my co-worker was interested in getting a few gorgonians, everything just sort of fell into place. I'm really pleased to finally have some more space in the tank. It seems like the corals have a lot more space to sway and breathe. 

 

I also am going to try very hard to be more disciplined with my livestock purchases from here on out. No more stuff in the tank! I've got enough of it already! 

 

...unless KP Aquatics gets blue vase sponges back in stock. There's always an exception! 😅

 

On 1/30/2021 at 12:23 PM, Reeferon said:

It’s definitely a Caribbean aquarium. I think I’ve seen all those corals diving in south Florida. Very cool tank! 

Thank you!. It's fantastic to hear that from someone who's seen these animals out in their natural environment. I'm glad that I'm still on-track with the south Florida vibe, even after a couple of years of running Caribbean tanks. In fact, that reminds me - I need to go ahead and change the name of this thread. I think it's time to call this tank what it is: not just a "Caribbean-themed" aquarium, but a Florida Keys biotope. Every single animal in my tank came from the Keys, after all. 🤷‍♂️

[billygoat]

It's been a busy week for me and the tank is kind of dirty, but I am here with a weekly update for your eyes. Behold my filthy system, complete with uncleaned glass.

 

 

Not really much to report this week. Cyano on the sandbed is declining but persists in some areas. The biggest development is the new cave that I built out of fresh, blindingly white dry rock. It's rather hard to look at right now but I think it will be pretty cool when it colors up. It fits with my low profile scape and the fish definitely seem to appreciate the additional shelter, so I am satisfied with it for now.

 

These tunicates continue to do pretty well. I bet they are fine with the tank being filthy most of the time. 😅

 

More to come when I find a minute to stop working and take more pictures! Thanks for checking in. 🙏

[growsomething]

"unless KP Aquatics gets blue vase sponges back in stock. There's always an exception! "

👍🏼  I can't  help it, that is my favorite retailer.  Their stuff is just real, though rarely in stock.  I'm  just not into "glofish" tanks, although I do appreciate any well laid-out design no matter the theme.

[billygoat]

What's up N-R friends. I am here with a quick update. Cyanobacteria in my tank seems to be totally on the run, and with back-to-back water changes over the past few days I think I've been able to crush it entirely. Check out these before and after shots: 2 weeks ago vs. today:

 

    

 

Glad that's over with. 👍

 

My purple candelabra gorgonians (the ones in the center of the tank) re-opened up and then re-closed again as I've been mucking around in the tank quite a lot. I am not worried about them though; I know from experience that that species is just a drama llama that overreacts to every little thing. I'm sure they'll come back around in a week or so.

 

The rest of my gorgs are looking pretty fine. Here's a pile of photos of them!

 

 

 

 

 

And of course a new FTS:

 

 

Now that my cyano has been beaten I need to take a step back and let things stabilize. "Take a step back and let things stabilize" - does it feel like I say this in every post? I think that's because I do. 😅 One day I am going to actually do it, though. You just wait and see.

 

Thanks as always for stopping by! 🙏

[debbeach13]

10 hours ago, billygoat said:

Check out these before and after shots: 2 weeks ago vs. today:

What a difference. Looking good.

[growsomething]

Are those the "fluorescent blue" zoas kp aquatics sells?  I've been on their wait list forever for them.

[Sharbuckle]

Looks great!! Congratulations on winning the cyano battle. 

[salzwasser]

Such a natural looking aquarium.

[Firefish15]

Looking great and back to normal!

Do you have any theories as to what was causing your cyano bloom?

[melson]

When you trying your hand at sponges so we can learn from the best? 😉

[billygoat]

Oh man, I've been lazy with updates! Let me try to get back to y'all here. 

 

On 2/14/2021 at 7:49 AM, growsomething said:

Are those the "fluorescent blue" zoas kp aquatics sells?  I've been on their wait list forever for them.

My blue zoas are from KP, but they are the basic ones sold as "blue zoanthid", not the fluorescent variety. I've seen those fluorescent ones in stock maybe once or twice, but it always seems to be only single polyps for sale (for $10!) and they sell out pretty quick. They must be beautiful if they are so popular!

 

On 2/15/2021 at 5:18 AM, Firefish15 said:

Do you have any theories as to what was causing your cyano bloom?

I believe it had to do with my biological filtration. When I transferred my livestock over from the old 18g I moved my rocks and biomedia but threw out most of my old sand, so the biofilter took an immediate hit from that. On top of the reduced filtration I also introduced a lot more fish than I had in my old system - 3 chromis and a cherub angelfish joined the sailfin blenny from my previous tank. I think this combination of a weakened biofilter + an increased bioload left a lot of raw nutrients (ammonia and nitrates) sitting around in the system for longer than they should have been, which contributed to the cyanobacterial bloom. All it really took to clear it up was time, though I did add some additional dry rock to help bolster the biofilter a little. Not sure if that ended up helping or not but it at least made me feel like I was doing something. 😅

 

I also have pretty consistently high levels of phosphates (~0.1 ppm), which I think is due to PO4 leaching from the new rock and sand that I added after the transfer. This likely contributes to increased algal growth, but will probably clear up in time as well.

 

 

As for tank news: once again not much to report. Things are starting to fall into more of a routine, which is nice. A few of my gorgonians are still struggling to extend their polyps after the recent changes I've made, but I am not really worried about them; as long as they are still nubbly and don't close completely I am confident that they will eventually come around.

 

Hard to tell from the FTS below, but the stark white rock that I added a few weeks ago is starting to turn brown and green. Tiny patches of pink coralline are beginning to appear on it as well. It's quite distracting right now so I am eager to see it get decently encrusted, but I think it's going to take at least a couple of months.

 

      

 

 

That's all I've got for now. Thanks as always for checking in with my journal! 🙏

[billygoat]

Been a busy week but here's a quick update! Still dealing with some closed-up gorgonians but I have an idea about why they are upset. First the photo:

 

 

So a few days ago I was poking around and moving things in the tank (as reefers do) when I noticed that several of my tunicates were dead. These animals are tricky - a dead one kind of looks exactly like a closed-up live one - so I had assumed that the few that were closed were just having a bad day, when actually they were filled with putrid sludge. Definitely not good! I've got two of them left that seem to be doing pretty well, but I have my doubts about their long-term viability. For anyone considering tunicates, sponges, feather-duster worms, crinoids, or other filter-feeders for their small reef tank: my advice is that you pass. These animals must eat constantly in order to survive; it is highly unlikely that they will be able to find enough food to survive for more than a few months in captive aquaria. I knew this before I got them, but I guess I had to just see it for myself. Lesson learned. 😥

 

Anyway, long story short is that the dead tunicates were probably not great for my tank's water quality. The closed-up gorgs are very slowing coming back around, but I bet they'd be back up to speed already if I had caught that problem sooner.

 

[kekke1082]

27 minutes ago, billygoat said:

These animals are tricky - a dead one kind of looks exactly like a closed-up live one - so I had assumed that the few that were closed were just having a bad day, when actually they were filled with putrid sludge. 

Sucks that your tunicates died! I'm sure the putrid sludge was no good for your gorgs and other corals. Hopefully the gorgonians make a full recovery. And thanks for the warning! I had considered adding tunicates whenever I am able to restart my reef but I believe i will pass after this dire warning. 

[billygoat]

Hello N-R friends! I've been pretty quiet here recently, but don't worry - the Florida reef is still doing well. I was having a few issues for a minute there (cyanobacteria, gorgs closing, etc.), but it seems like everything is back up to speed. Here's what the tank looks like:

 

 

I moved some rocks around to make things more aesthetically pleasing, and the Maw ended up front and center once again. I figured that would happen eventually, somehow or another. That mushroom has a presence, you see - it speaks to me.

 

I was concerned for awhile that the new rocks I put into the tank might be leaching phosphates, so I conducted an experiment to see: I removed the shelf of rock that I added to the tank awhile back and placed it in a bucket of freshly mixed saltwater. I measured the bucket's PO4 before adding the rock and then measured it again a week later (I left a heater and powerhead running in the bucket), and found that PO4 had actually decreased during that time. I figure this is due to the activity of coralline algae and various microorganisms growing on the rock, which probably consume PO4 to grow. Point being though - doesn't seem like the dry rock I am using leaches phosphate, so that's good to know.

 

I also had a bit of an epiphany a few weeks ago when I was walking outside and thought "Dang, the sun sure is bright! Imagine how bright it must be in the tropics..." When I got home I busted out the dusty Kessil spectral controller and initiated a true YOLO light bump, increasing my the intensity of my lighting by about 50% with no acclimation time. Everything seems to have responded very well to this (all my gorgonians that were previously closed are now open again) and the only negatives I've seen are a slight resurgence of cyanobacteria and increased film algae growth on my glass. Who knew it was that easy? 🤷‍♂️

 

That being said, let me add an important caveat - generally speaking, massively cranking up your lights on a whim is not good reefing. If you're thinking about doing that: don't. It's probably not a good idea. 😅

 

Anyway here are some more pictures!

 

 

 

[melson]

I've said it a hundred times but man I'm jealous of your ricordea growth. Those things just don't like me and I don't know why.

 

Looking nice as always!!

[billygoat]

On 3/20/2021 at 12:30 PM, melson said:

I've said it a hundred times but man I'm jealous of your ricordea growth. Those things just don't like me and I don't know why.

 

Looking nice as always!!

Thanks! I wish I had some good advice to offer about the Rics, but I really have no idea what makes them love my tank. I've changed all sorts of things over the years and even moved them into this new system with totally different light, flow, etc., but they just keep on thriving. Knock on wood! 😅

 

Nothing much to report today, just a quick FTS for the week. The tank is still truckin' along. 🚚

 

 

Oh right, there is one thing - my sailfin blenny has disappeared. It was doing well for a long time, but after I added the trio of blue chromis the blenny became very shy and seemed pretty uncomfortable. It vanished from its customary shell a week or two ago and now I never see it at feeding time, so I assume it is dead. It's possible that it went hunting for a new hiding spot and was devoured by the maw. Somewhat unfortunate for sure, but that's life on the reef I suppose. Maybe it's for the best in the long run. 🤷‍♂️

[Sharbuckle]

5 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Thanks! I wish I had some good advice to offer about the Rics, but I really have no idea what makes them love my tank. I've changed all sorts of things over the years and even moved them into this new system with totally different light, flow, etc., but they just keep on thriving. Knock on wood! 😅

 

Nothing much to report today, just a quick FTS for the week. The tank is still truckin' along. 🚚

 

 

Oh right, there is one thing - my sailfin blenny has disappeared. It was doing well for a long time, but after I added the trio of blue chromis the blenny became very shy and seemed pretty uncomfortable. It vanished from its customary shell a week or two ago and now I never see it at feeding time, so I assume it is dead. It's possible that it went hunting for a new hiding spot and was devoured by the maw. Somewhat unfortunate for sure, but that's life on the reef I suppose. Maybe it's for the best in the long run. 🤷‍♂️

Sorry to hear of your blennys disappearance. 

[billygoat]

Hello Nano-Reef friends. It's been a minute since I've posted here, but don't you worry - the biotope is still going strong. In fact there really isn't much to report. Everything is growing and I have no problems to speak of. My fish get along and the chromis still haven't killed each other. The only real "event" that's happened in past few months is the arrival of a new hermit crab. His name is Chad the Rad Crab and he is kind of a big deal.

 

 

I have no idea what kind of crab Chad is. He's got crazy fuzzy tarantula legs and weird beady eyes on long yellow stalks, and extremely long antennae. I got him from work (I work - or rather, worked; more on that later - as an aquarist at a marine livestock wholesaler), where he was imported as a halloween hermit crab. That's not what he is, of course, but all I can really tell you about him is that he's probably in the genus Dardanus and that he comes from the Philippines. This makes him the first non-canon inhabitant of my Florida biotope, but I think that's fine. He's just a hermit crab, after all.

 

Chad is a pretty large hermit. At first I was concerned that he would make a mess of my tank and leave a swathe of destruction behind him wherever he went, but so far he seems pretty docile. He moves slowly, and spends a lot of time in every place that he stops. He has shown no signs whatsoever of being interested in my fish, and he seems to eat the turf algae in my tank that nothing has ever been interested in before. I know that this innocent behavior could change in a hurry under the right circumstances, but so far Chad hasn't done anything more nefarious than trample my palythoas a little. I think he is going to fit in just fine.

 

So what am I doing getting random murder hermits and putting them into my otherwise perfectly balanced and beautiful tank? Well, I had to leave my job as an aquarist recently, and I just couldn't leave Chad behind. He had been imported as one thing and ended up being another, which means that he was classified as a misfit animal that would probably have never been sold. He'd have lived out his last days in a gross holding system, where he would have more than likely starved to death in a tiny plastic jar. I know he's just a dumb crab, but for some odd reason when it was time for me to go I couldn't leave Chad behind. So he's living in the biotope now.

 

Which brings me to something I've been meaning to talk about for awhile: I am not sure how I feel about this hobby anymore. 

 

I mentioned that I used to be an aquarist for an aquarium wholesaler. Wholesalers are the middlemen who link your local fish store with the collectors and suppliers in places like Indonesia, Bali, and the Philippines. They import fish and invertebrates and store them temporarily, usually in large systems located in warehouses near international airports, until the animals can be sold to retailers around the country. When a buyer is found the animals are put into bags, boxed up, and sent into the mail once again to arrive wherever they are destined to go. Practically every fish you will ever see in an LFS has been through this process. I am a good aquarist, and I worked diligently to give the animals in our systems the best possible care during the short time that I saw them, but after a certain point I just couldn't take it anymore. I realized that for every healthy, happy fish you see swimming in a public aquarium or in the tank of an expert hobbyist, dozens of others have died at some point along the chain of supply. I don't have any actual statistics for you, but if I had to field a guess I would say that the six month mortality rate for fish collected for eventual sale in retail stores is at least 80%, if not even higher. This isn't really a matter of husbandry, it's just an unavoidable result of the stresses applied to delicate animals taken out of their natural environment, or in some cases a by-product of the poisonous chemicals that many collectors use to stun fish for easy harvesting. By the time a wild-caught Nemo ends up on display in a tank at your LFS, it has probably spent more than 50 hours in a series of plastic bags and usually has flown on three or four different airplanes.

 

The greatest mortality occurs within the short period of time (usually a few weeks) between collection and retail sale, but even after animals run the gauntlet of importation, the survivors often don't last too long. This is beneficial for importers, because the aquarium hobby relies on high tertiary mortality in order to turn a profit: the fish that we keep in our little glass boxes can live for a very long time under the right circumstances, so if home aquarists weren't constantly killing things there wouldn't be much of a market for continued imports. When I thought about all of this for long enough I realized that the industry I had become a part of was not something that I could justify supporting. To know that my actions every day were contributing to an enterprise that is so wasteful and so fundamentally unsustainable caused me an extreme amount of cognitive dissonance. For this and other reasons I eventually decided to cease working as an aquarist, and my relationship with the hobby has fundamentally changed.

 

I have been in and around aquariums for my entire life, and I've always had a more-or-less vague understanding of what goes on behind the supply-chain curtain. But it's one thing to know about it and another thing entirely to see it with your own eyes and be paid to participate in it. So now, having seen what I've seen, I have to grapple with what to do with my own beautiful home aquarium. For awhile I wanted to break it down, but I decided that that wouldn't really make me feel any better about having had it. I am responsible for these animals; that's the way it is. Perhaps it would have been better if they had never been collected in the first place, but it's too late to do anything about that now, and the best I could do for them if I were to give them away is put them in the hands of another aquarist who, in the very best case scenario, would do as good of a job of caring for them as I do. So I decided that the biotope will remain, but that I will no longer add anything to it. I am done purchasing livestock. I have what I have and that's what I've got. Chad the Rad Crab is my last addition.

 

Please don't mistake me - I don't mean any of this as a critique or judgment of any of you other fine hobbyists out there. I just wanted to share some of my experiences and explain why I'm not as enthused about home aquaria as I used to be. And I do think there are ways to set up a beautiful home reef without supporting the death cult that is the retail aquarium trade. For example captive bred fish are a huge thing these days, and are likely to get even more popular as environmental changes combine with the stress of collection to put growing pressure on wild reefs. Sourcing coral frags from other hobbyists and avoiding wild-collected specimens is also a great way to get animals while bypassing the retail chain. And I still believe that certain livestock can be sustainably collected from the ocean and housed/transported in a more or less ethical way. Macroalgae, for example, is probably fine to harvest for ornamental purposes, although if you can get clippings of it from some other hobbyist's refugium that's even better. 

 

So that's how I'm feeling about the reef tank these days. Sorry about the wall of text there; I won't feel bad if you skip it. The TL;DR is that I used to be a professional aquarist but got burnt out and horrified by it, so now I am conflicted about my own aquarium. 😅

 

 

[growsomething]

Hmmm

 

As someone who grew up netting fish and shrimp for bait,  I have no problem keeping them in a tank for my enjoyment, however, an 80% death rate for a hobby is pretty unacceptably high.

What do you think about our FL suppliers?  I've only heard good things about KP aquatics, TB Saltwater, Gulf Coast Ecosystems, etc. and their responsible handling of livestock.  That is who I've mostly used with one exception.