Shallow Caribbean Reef

[michael_cb_125]

A few photos from this evening. 

 

 

[michael_cb_125]

Side shots.

[CD_Scapes]

On 8/27/2021 at 10:53 AM, michael_cb_125 said:

Yes we live in a pretty mild area. Winter lows are typically mid 20s at worst, and summers hit 100, LOL. 

My house stays 68 in the winter and 73 during the summer. I have never had any issues with my Atlantic or Deepwater tanks, actually the seasonal temp. swing have triggered spawning in serval species of fish, inverts and corals for me. I am an old school and somewhat unorthodox reefer. 

After 16 years of constantly keeping reef tanks, I have learned that for me keeping it very simple and allowing nature to do its thing, works better for me and my way of reefing. 

I have had high tech advanced systems and they always seem to have more issues than my setups that are run in a more natural manner. 

 

I am a firm believer that most of todays tanks are far to clean/"sterile".  For instance my first SPS reef (15 years ago) was my most beautiful. I had faster growth and better color in that tank than any system following it. That tank had a canister filter and sump. The skimmer helped remove some organics, and the canister promised that I always had nitrates.  My sps were vibrantly colored and deeply colored. Fast forward to my more "advanced" setups, and I had slower growing more pastel colored sps. 

 

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. 

 

 

The tank just arrived, all in tact. I am impressed with the overall quality of the IM 25 lagoon. It is no Elos ( I have had 4), but for the price, it is a very nice aquarium. 

 

Photos and such to come. 

 

I love this mindset, I wish more people would get being this idea tbh

[michael_cb_125]

My little basslet has become quite the little character. It hardly took two day for him to realize that I am the bringer of shrimp...

 

He is constantly right in front of my face or camera, lol.

 

I was planning on adding possibly one other fish, but I am unsure as of yet. If I decide to add something else it will more than likely be a cherub angel.

 

I am in the process of getting an order together for some gorgonians and other oddball caribbean corals and inverts. I have four or five good connections in the keys, so I should be able to attain some neat critters. The gorgs that I will order will be too tall for the tank, so will be cut down drastically to allow for vertical growth. The leftovers will be given away to my reefing buddies.

 

One species of invert that I am particularly excited about is the polka dot hermit crab. These are seldom seen in the hobby and have such cool coloration. I plan on four of these guys.

 

Updates to come..

 

~Michael

[michael_cb_125]

Gonna be getting quite a few evening shots, lol.

 

[michael_cb_125]

Everything is going very well with the tank.

The ricordea are really starting to expand nicely.

I have some things coming later this week that I think will be exciting!!

 

 

[michael_cb_125]

I have two shipments arriving tomorrow.

One has about a dozen ricordea, the other has nine rock flowers and a cherub angel. 

I think after these ricordea I will be done and allow for natural growth. In the past past I have experienced ricordea growing faster when closely spaced versus widely spaced out.

 

Clean up crew is arriving friday..

 

After that I will be on the lookout for other caribbean shrooms and gorgs over the next few weeks...

 

Photos to come 

[michael_cb_125]

I finished adding the livestock to the tank about two hours ago. 

Everything looked great. The rock flowers were super sticky, the ricordea are very nice and the Cherub angel was eating as soon as she was released from the bag. I fed the tank to preoccupy the basslet while the angel was released. 

At first no issues, then the basslet decided to be a d***. I divided the tank with a cutting board to let the angel settle in. 

 

I am back at work now. My wife called to tell me that the basslet found his way to the angel. She said they were not fighting, so I'll keep my fingers crossed till I get home.

I will try to get some photos this evening.

~Michael

[mitten_reef]

On 9/28/2021 at 8:15 PM, michael_cb_125 said:

A few photos from this evening. 

 

 

Love the ricordea garden....I might have to steal this idea for my tank

 

my cluster f of a rock, two actually. they have grown in and fold over themselves quite a bit since their initial placements. 

 

and the brightest gold-green I’ve owned, have yet to find it’s way to it’s friends

[michael_cb_125]

[michael_cb_125]

[kimdawg]

Wow!!! I wish I had your connections for the riccs.  Beautiful tank.

[michael_cb_125]

mitten_reef- Your ricordea look great. Super puffy with great folds. I am ready for mine to settle in and look as good as yours!

 

kimdawg- They are not hard to find, LOL. I am unsure if I can share vendor names who are not sponsors...

[michael_cb_125]

My wife just called and said that the little angel and basslet seem to being getting along better this morning. She said the angel was following the bass around the tank, so that is a good thing!

I am ready to get home and get the new ricordea placed properly.

~Michael

[michael_cb_125]

This evening everything looks great. The new ricordea opened up nicely as well as the rock flowers. The little angel seems right at home.

 

The picture of the ricordea is right after mashing them on the rocks so the are not happy, lol.

 

[billygoat]

Those Rics! 😍 Next time I visit this thread I better remember my shades! 😎

[michael_cb_125]

This morning all the ricordea looked good. They were in their typical nighttime pumpkin shape as it was 6 o'clock with no lighting. 

But it did give me a chance to see the footing and substrate that they came attached to. Very nice coraline crusted rubble, with no visible signs of pests. The first batch that i ordered quite a few of the shrooms were attached to the frag disks. I used a razor blade to scrape them off the disk before gluing to be rock. All of these have completely healed and are starting to attach to the rockwork, this make me feel good about their overall health. 

 

I am starting to get pretty rapid growth of micro tube worms, the back wall is starting to look pretty speckled. This is a good sign in a several week old tank, hopefully the coraline will start on the back wall within the next month or so. 

 

On to a different subject, additives:

 

For this system I will be using the following products, some I have used for years, others are new to me.

 

Prodibio (Biodigest/Bioptim) - I have used these products since 2008 and I am a huge fan. For my tank I will add one ampoule of each, once every two weeks.

ATI Essentials Pro - This is a new product to me. I have always use ESV two part. But I like the fact that the ATI has other elements added.

AcroPower - I have used this product since its release. I know it says acro power, but you should see what it does for acans and zoanthids. So I figure the ricordea may like it. 

SeaChem Fuel - Another product that I have used for quite some time. A little goes a long way.

 

I also plan to start a phyto culture and will be adding that to the system as well. 

 

 

For foods, I feed the following:

Hikari Mysis

Nyos LPS Power

Nyos Instant Plankton

 

Today I have my snails and White Claw Hermits arriving, should be able to get a few decent photos later today.

~Michael

[michael_cb_125]

I just added all the inverts from reefcleaners about an hour ago.
Everything came alive except two of the white claw hermits. Not too bad for usps shipping.

All animals added to the tank have started moving about and are active. Overall a good order..

I raised the ricordea rock up about 1.5 inches with pvc coated in sand and rubble. I will keep it this way until the ricordea are fully attached vs just being glued. Hopefully this will help with the hermits and snail bumping them off until they are fully settled.

I hate the look, but will deal with it until the ricordea are stuck..

[michael_cb_125]

The white claw hermits are a trip. They have to be the fastest hermits on the planet, and they jump! It has been a few years since I have kept them, and I forgot just how cool they are. 

 

Has anyone else here kept this species?

 

~Michael

[kimdawg]

I love your ricordea rock.  You have so many different colors.

[michael_cb_125]

Two of the white claw hermits having a staring match. These two have stayed within 2 inches of each other since being added to the tank.

[mitten_reef]

2 hours ago, michael_cb_125 said:

Two of the white claw hermits having a staring match. These two have stayed within 2 inches of each other since being added to the tank.

If those are from reefcleaners, I’ll need to remember next time I order something. 

[michael_cb_125]

They are indeed from reef cleaners.

These are with out a doubt my favorite hermit.

 

~Michael

[michael_cb_125]

This evening almost everything looks great.

The ricordea are doing amazing. The fish and general inverts doing great.

 

I am a little annoyed with the rock flowers.

Upon arrival they looked good, except three had tears in the foot. I have had these recover from this in the past, and they looked healthy otherwise.

Well two have died and one is still unhappy. 

The others look fine, but it is still frustrating.

 

Here are a few photos, including some 10k or less shots. The plan is for this tank to lean white in spectrum once the ricordea are settled in more.

 

 

[michael_cb_125]

I am heading to the coast tomorrow to do some offshore fishing. While there I plan to collect so e different macro algae for this tank.

 

This time of year most species are relatively prolific and easy to find. I am hoping to find at least a few varieties. I will also be on the lookout for tube anemones. The variety that I find here are typically black or purple with white mouths. I think they may be a neat addition. One anemone I know I will find is the beaded rock anemone. I plan on bring back 3-6 depending on size. They are typically brown footed with white tentacles that have either a pink or blue iridescent sheen under blue light..

 

I will also be collecting some amphipods to add as well.

I will keep everyone posted