Billy's Deep Sandbed Experiment

[gena]

Sweet rock!!!!  Looking amazing already 😍.

[billygoat]

3 hours ago, seabass said:

Wow, awesome rock.  It looks very much at home in your tank too.  There's not quite as much room for your seagrass, but I like it.

 

 

My original plan was to pile as many rocks as I could on the left side and then place any leftover rocks in my 40g reef, leaving the middle and right side of this tank open for the seagrass. However that one last piece just wouldn't fit into my other tank's aquscape without a major overhaul, so I ended up putting it in here anyway to save myself all that trouble. 😅 Hopefully it won't impact my seagrasses too much in the long run.
 

57 minutes ago, gena said:

Sweet rock!!!!  Looking amazing already 😍.

Thank you! Getting new rock is the best. One of my reefing dreams is to buy a big tank and fill it up with nothing but aquacultured ocean rock, just to see what crawls out of it. 😂

[debbeach13]

10 hours ago, billygoat said:

One of my reefing dreams is to buy a big tank and fill it up with nothing but aquacultured ocean rock, just to see what crawls out of it. 😂

If only I had space to I also would love this.

[billygoat]

It's been about two weeks since my first livestock additions, and the tank has completed its transition from "mud puddle biotope" to "pea soup simulator." Green film algae and naturally occurring phytoplankton are going crazy! I'm performing daily water changes and have turned down the lights, but I can see that I'm definitely going to need those additional snails ASAP. 😅 I expect this stage to last until the majority of the dead organic matter that came in on my rocks is consumed and assimilated - hopefully not longer than a couple of weeks.

 

 

A few of my hitchhikers of course did not make it, but some are still hanging in there. My stony corals are definitely alive, and on close inspection their tentacles can be seen starting to reextend. I expect them to color up much more over the coming weeks as they reacquire their zooxanthellae. One of the large solitary tunicates and the strange random bivalve are also still with us, but the hitchhiker gorgonian took a sudden turn for the worse. I fragged it down to a nub and transferred it into my other tank, where it will have a much higher chance of survival - something I probably should have done right off the bat, as gorgonians tend to do poorly in new, unstable systems.

 

Not the best photo, but when viewed in profile this coral's tentacles are clearly visible.

[billygoat]

The glass in this tank teems with thousands of copepods. I'm sure their population will crash once the system comes into balance, but they are cool to observe for now.

 

[CD_Scapes]

On 7/22/2021 at 3:41 PM, billygoat said:

My live rock is in folks! I am very pleased with it. The look of the tank has changed pretty dramatically, but I still like it. The water is still pretty hazy, but here it is!

 

 

Lots of really cool stuff came in on these rocks, and it looks like much of it has a good chance of surviving. These star corals for example - they may look dead, but I am actually pretty sure they're alive! The back side of this rock also has a large bivalve (some kind of clam?) attached to it.

 

 

Here's a cool gorgonian that is not often available to hobbyists - a slit-pore sea rod (Plexaurella sp.). It was damaged during transit, but as you can see it is still very much alive! The orangeish thing to the right of the gorg is a large solitary tunicate. I got two of those as well, and at least one of them is definitely alive (the jury is still out on the other).

 

 

Here's another cool find: fire coral! I believe the brownish crust at the top of this rock is an encrusting Millepora. There's also a large encrusting sponge on the bottom.

 

 

Those are only a few of the super cool things growing on my rocks. Unboxing real live rock right out of the ocean is one of my favorite parts of this hobby, and I'm really glad I got some again this time.

 

As for the seagrass, I managed to put the rocks into the tank without damaging my grasses, and I think the plants will do just fine with the new configuration. I gave them a haircut a few days ago to remove the dead blades that had been lost during shipping, and they're looking nice and green and good. Let's hope they stay that way! This tank grows an insane amount of film algae (I could scrape it every day - maybe even twice a day! - if I had a mind to) so more snails will be a must to keep the seagrass clean. I have reinforcements on order; they should arrive early next week. I'll post again when they get here!

 

Thanks as always for reading! 🙏

Where did that rock come from? It looks so cool!

 

[billygoat]

On 7/25/2021 at 12:05 PM, Frozen_Reef said:

Where did that rock come from? It looks so cool!

The rock is from gulfliverock.com in Tampa, Florida.

[gena]

When I see a setup like this it reminds me so much of something you'd find in a science lab....which I LOVE so much.  That mangrove holder and how the mangroves are suspended looks very cool.  Did you already say what you used?  Something you made or bought?

 

Also....the hard coral "boobs" on the right are the best LOL.

[billygoat]

12 hours ago, gena said:

When I see a setup like this it reminds me so much of something you'd find in a science lab....which I LOVE so much.  That mangrove holder and how the mangroves are suspended looks very cool.  Did you already say what you used?  Something you made or bought?

 

Also....the hard coral "boobs" on the right are the best LOL.

Thank you @gena! The mangrove holder is just a piece of styrofoam insulation with some holes punched in it. Not super fancy, that's for sure! It's been a neat experiment, but I've noticed that those suspended mangroves show much slower development than the ones that I've planted in sand in my other tank's sump. I think mangroves struggle to get nutrients when their roots don't have something to grow into.

 

As for the coral boobs... I can't believe I didn't see it until now. 😂 From here on out I will refer to them as "the Twin Colossals." 🏔️🏔️

 

I got a new round of snails and other critters from Reef Cleaners today, but the lights in my tanks are off already so pictures will have to wait until the morning! Stay tuned.

[gena]

10 hours ago, billygoat said:

Thank you @gena! The mangrove holder is just a piece of styrofoam insulation with some holes punched in it. Not super fancy, that's for sure! It's been a neat experiment, but I've noticed that those suspended mangroves show much slower development than the ones that I've planted in sand in my other tank's sump. I think mangroves struggle to get nutrients when their roots don't have something to grow into.

 

As for the coral boobs... I can't believe I didn't see it until now. 😂 From here on out I will refer to them as "the Twin Colossals." 🏔️🏔️

 

I got a new round of snails and other critters from Reef Cleaners today, but the lights in my tanks are off already so pictures will have to wait until the morning! Stay tuned.

They look really cool hanging like that.  Too bad they have slower growth that way!

 

Hahaha....my first thought was the San Onofre Boobs LOL.

 

Sweet!  Staying tuned 😁.

[billygoat]

I got some photos this morning before the sunlight hit the tank - pretty much the only time I am able to take pictures, because green film algae covers the glass during the day. At night my snails join forces with hundreds of thousands of copepods to plow through the sheeting algae, rendering the windows largely clear by morning. Then the sun rises and the cycle starts anew.

 

You can see splotches of film algae left over from the previous day. Soon the whole tank will be green.

 

I got a couple of feather duster worms with my recent snail order. Positioning them in a tank like this is challenging because there aren't a lot of terrain features to block flow, but I've seen them pooping so I know they must be able to eat. Hopefully they will be okay in here.

 

One of the cool things about this tank is that the stand is very short, so I can easily peer into the water from the top. It's like my very own tide pool.

 

 

 

As for the mangroves - here are some photos comparing my "floating" propagules to the ones I planted in my other tank's sump. The difference in growth is dramatic.

 

 

[seabass]

Excellent.  Perfect contrast to sterile tanks.  I love it.

[billygoat]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

Excellent.  Perfect contrast to sterile tanks.  I love it.

Thank you! I've always run my tanks pretty "dirty", but this new system gives me an opportunity to just put the pieces in place and see what happens. It's been a lot of fun to observe so far.

 

After taking the pictures above I decided to go ahead and remove the Ulva that's been growing in here. I think the nutrient-sponging services of fast-growing macroalgae like Ulva are no longer required, as my seagrasses are starting to demonstrate growth. I want to make sure they get the lion's share of available nutrients, and Ulva is pretty stiff competition.

 

Just throwing away all that Ulva seemed like a bit of a waste, so I first took it and dunked it into my 40g reef tank, unleashing a blizzard of copepods. Then I removed it and ate some of it, in the name of science. I found it to be quite palatable, with a crisp texture and slightly nutty flavor.

[seabass]

5 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Then I removed it and ate some of it, in the name of science. I found it to be quite palatable, with a crisp texture and slightly nutty flavor.

[billygoat]

Exposure to intense natural sunlight definitely makes things interesting in this tank. The temperature swing between day and night is quite dramatic - it goes from about 76F at night to 84F in the afternoon. So far I haven't noticed any negative reactions to this in my livestock, which I suppose makes sense since they are all animals that naturally occur in tidal flats and other coastal areas where daily temperature swings are common. I'll continue to keep an eye on things, but my general plan with this tank is to leave everything alone unless it looks like something is going to die. 😅

[seabass]

Was thinking about your nutrient demands when purchasing some F/2.  This looked interesting for your seagrass.

 

http://floridaaquafarms.com/shop/plant-fuel-and-plant-fuel-too/

 

[Firefish15]

Just found this thread @billygoat! I’m loving the wild feel of this tank, following along!

[billygoat]

9 hours ago, seabass said:

Was thinking about your nutrient demands when purchasing some F/2.  This looked interesting for your seagrass.

 

http://floridaaquafarms.com/shop/plant-fuel-and-plant-fuel-too/

 

Thanks for the recommendation! Supplements like these are definitely something I'm going to look into once growth begins to pick up.

 

57 minutes ago, Firefish15 said:

Just found this thread @billygoat! I’m loving the wild feel of this tank, following along!

Hello and thanks for following! This tank is definitely a bit of a different beast from your everyday reef, but I'm already having a lot of fun with it. 😄

 

Speaking of which, I've made some changes to this system already. I removed the HOB filter (it was causing major salt creep on the light, and didn't really seem to be contributing much) and I changed the rocks around to free up more space on the sand. After hours of groaning and clutching my head with both hands, I was finally able to fit one of the rocks from this tank into my 40g reef. This allowed me enough space to stack all the remaining rocks in a single pile as I had originally intended. I think the aquascape is a lot better now. I'll get a better picture later in the day after the direct sunlight period is over, but here's what it looks like this morning:

 

 

The explosive sheeting algae growth that I saw in the first few weeks has entirely abated, but the water in this tank is still a soup of pods and phytoplankton. It's quite turbid, but nothing really seems to mind very much. 

 

My only concern at the moment are the feather duster worms, which could probably use a more stable environment than this one. They're still hanging in there, but I have my doubts about the long term. We'll see how it goes.

 

I was thinking about other things I could experiment with in this tank, and eventually decided to try out some upside-down jellies. I needed some sort of hardy invertebrate that I could feed heavily (no fish because I don't have a lid), and they seemed like an excellent choice. They should arrive tomorrow.

[seabass]

4 minutes ago, billygoat said:

My only concern at the moment are the feather duster worms

To keep them happy, you'll likely need to feed some fine filter feeder foods (like Golden Pearls).

[billygoat]

9 hours ago, seabass said:

To keep them happy, you'll likely need to feed some fine filter feeder foods (like Golden Pearls).

My hope is that the dusters will be able to subsist on some of the same planktonic preparations that I feed to my upside-down jellies. If not I may try moving them into my reef tank as a last resort, but I suspect they would probably get eaten by my cherub angelfish.

 

Here is a slightly more presentable FTS, as promised. The white object on the left side rocks is a dead sponge that is being consumed by a bacterial film. I don't see any reason to interfere with this process, so I have just left it alone.

 

 

I moved this Anthelia frag up onto the rocks as part of my recent rescape. It seems to be thriving despite the tank's instability.

 

[billygoat]

My upside-down jellies arrived! They are all alive, and KPA even sent me an extra one. Three are very small (1.5-2") and one is a bit larger (~3").

 

 

I had to make a few modifications to the system setup to make things good for these guys. The flow as I had it before was way too much, so I reinstated the HOB filter to provide an extra source of flow to fight with the powerhead. After about two hours of continuously re-jiggering things I have gotten the flow to a point that seems decent enough for both the seagrasses and the jellies. The HOB is probably a good idea anyway as it can help clear some of the nematocyst-laden mucus from the water. These jellies sure do make a mess!

 

A few of the jellies are being super derpy and barely pulsing at all, but I think this behavior will abate within a few days: I read that upside-down jellies enter a torpid "sleep state" in response to shipping stress, and temporarily become much less proactive about keeping themselves on the sand. They probably just need some time to get themselves situated.

 

[gena]

Jellies????  Woah...must be something new they are stocking.  Never saw those before...cool!!!!!

[growsomething]

Certain times of the year dinner plate sized jellies like those are in the near-pass lagoons that I haunt by the hundreds.  They are sort of zebra-striped with purple and lay on the muck bottom.  They must like flow bcs I've never seen them far from a pass, but never in the pass. 

 

That tank now looks great, and just like a transition zone where a pass, channel, or rock rubble wall meets a flat.

[DevilDuck]

Wow! I just saw these things in the New Orlean's Aquarium. How long do they live? Will they breed in the tank?

[Tired]

I was going to ask if you're planning on fish, but seeing those jellies, I'm thinking maybe not! Bit of a minefield in there for fishies.