Shallow Caribbean Reef

[michael_cb_125]

My heater and controllers should be here Friday.

I plan on installing all of the electrical stuff in the bottom of the cabinet, and route all cables and such through the back.

 

My wife has some decorative stuff of the two upper shelves and I may get some led strips to light that are up. I think they will plug into the hydros power bar USB ports.

 

I did finally order some gorgonians for the tank.

They will be here tomorrow. The Mrs. likes the color of the ricordea but wants some vertical coral that has some movement.

Hopefully KP delivers some nice stuff!!!

[michael_cb_125]

Here is just one quick shot from this evening.

Long day at work, so early to be for me..

 

[michael_cb_125]

A few new photos.

 

[michael_cb_125]

A frontal from this evening

 

[michael_cb_125]

Hello everyone, it has been a minute since an update. 

The tank is running great, and starting to really mature. I am getting tons of growths from micro inverts, algae, sponge, tunicates, bryzoans, etc. I really enjoy the tiny things in the tank.

 

I have made a major change in the tank over the last month or so. I decided that I wanted to do something different than what I had originally planned. Soooo, I sold all the ricordea and gifted some to friends.

My wife was not happy, but I can always get more if I decide to put some in later.

 

I want to have more macro algae and the ricordea were taking up too much rock space. My caulerpa is growing nicely, and the unknown brown algae I collected is really taking off. My gorgonians are growing too quickly and I have had to cut two of them back. 

 

Since my wife dislikes algae (even pretty stuff) I need to have some color in the tank. As I want most of the rock to have algae, I need something sand dwelling. I have been tossing around ideas, and most do not line up with the Caribbean theme..

 

Pictures and more chatter to come...

[michael_cb_125]

I also changed up the sandbed by adding 12 pounds of refugium mud and a thin layer of coarse sand and shell.

 

So I am really leaning toward a centerpiece anemone. I know that several species that I like can be found in association with gorgs and macro in their wild range, but none that I like will be Caribbean. So with that said, I may need to change the title of my thread?

 

I have kept all of these species in the past and feel comfortable keeping them in a smaller system. I plan on adding in a few months and am in no rush.

 

Which would you pick?

Single Haddoni (blue)

Single Long tentacle (Purple or Red)

Single pizza

Single hellfire (red)

Multiple tubes 

 

Thanks for any feedback, and sorry for the super long posts...

 

[mitten_reef]

3 hours ago, michael_cb_125 said:

I also changed up the sandbed by adding 12 pounds of refugium mud and a thin layer of coarse sand and shell.

 

So I am really leaning toward a centerpiece anemone. I know that several species that I like can be found in association with gorgs and macro in their wild range, but none that I like will be Caribbean. So with that said, I may need to change the title of my thread?

 

I have kept all of these species in the past and feel comfortable keeping them in a smaller system. I plan on adding in a few months and am in no rush.

 

Which would you pick?

Single Haddoni (blue)

Single Long tentacle (Purple or Red)

Single pizza

Single hellfire (red)

Multiple tubes 

 

Thanks for any feedback, and sorry for the super long posts...

 

Single haddoni would be my pick. Perfect for a lagoon tank. Altho I’d pick red or rainbow if that’s the only colorful thing you’ll have. 

[kimdawg]

No!!! This was my favorite ricc. tank.  I want my tank to have that many riccs and colors one day.  I have never had macro in my display, but have two types of red in my contest tank.  I really like the look of them.  I can't wait to see what you change it to.

[Nixperience]

I just got my 25 lagoon delivered today! Interested in seeing what you do next. 

[michael_cb_125]

I will get some current photos this evening.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I am not finished with ricordea. Once this lagoon is stocked to where I want it, I have an elos mini that is destined to be a ricordea garden....

 

 

[michael_cb_125]

So here are a few photos from this evening.

I don't wanna hear about how good it looked with the ricordea, lol. My wife hates the tank now, but that will change...

 

Well, my internet is going super slow. Will get photos up in the AM at work.

 

[michael_cb_125]

I am leaning heavily toward the hadonni. It will go either red or blue as either will look good under a whiter spectrum. Now I just have to start searching. I'd like for something 8" or much less if possible. I saw a 4" blue a while back that I should have got, but did not plan on changing at the time...

[michael_cb_125]

Here are my photos from last night.

Not great but they give an idea...

 

My substrate is now 2" thick and a mix of sand, mineral mud and coarse shell. I really like the look of the new sandbed and it tolerates higher flow than the prior sand.

 

[kimdawg]

It looks very natural now, like a small slice of a reef.  I have one gorg, and red macro in my new tank and really like the look of it, but I am keeping my RFA and small ricc collection.  I love the grouping of the gorg.  I think I need to get a couple more, but I am running out of room.

Quote

 

 

[kimdawg]

Hey, wanted to say thanks for pm on places to get riccs and RFA.  I just ordered some for my tank.  I hope they are as beautiful as yours are/were.

[michael_cb_125]

Thanks for the kind words KimDawg, and your welcome on the sources.

 

I do like how natural the tank looks now. I plan to add two more photosynthetic gorgonians and two non photo gorgs as well. I think that will cover the gorgs and vertically placed corals.

 

Sine my wife has a big say in how the tank looks, I have been showing her different tanks and anemones. She really likes the tube anemones, and will only have symbiotic species if we get clownfish. I am not a big fan of clowns and do not want them in the tank, so it looks like tube anemones it is. 

 

This actually works out nicely as I really do like tube nems, and they kinda fit into the theme of the tank. I actually had an elos mini in my business about 12 years ago that was only lit with ambient shop lighting and housed 12 tube anemones and a trio of tiny multicolored angelfish. I need to find those pictures...

 

Anyway, I will be on the lookout for interesting tube anemones over the next few months.

 

 

[melson]

Just found this thread and have to say looks very nice!

 

Have a caribbean biotope myself (check my post history) and while you might be going a different direction I'm enjoying the thread!

[michael_cb_125]

Thank you melson!

I will check out your tank when I get a chance.

~Michael

[GregBox]

Loving both iterations of this tank. I recently started a "small" scale macro algae and gorgonian tank to see if that is what I want to do next for our living room tank. I've really been missing my high tech planted tank, and this might be the best compromise while my 10 year old clowns are still around. 

 

Can you provide more information on why you picked the substrate mix that you did? Whats the benefit with the refugium mud? 

[Zuma]

Excellent tank and I love the Caribbean theme.

 

 

[michael_cb_125]

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts. My wife and I are dealing with covid for the last week. Has not been very fun, came down with it last week while at our mountain cabin, made it home and have been in bed since.

 

Today I felt decent enough to pull caulerpa and clean glass.

The gorgs are growing very quickly as are the sponges and zoanthids.

 

 

[michael_cb_125]

Gregbox- I choose this as I have used it in the past on a very successful system that I ran for years.

It is basically a refugium type sandbed implemented in a reef tank. I believe that the mineral mud and Ecco truly add trace elements and nutrients that benefit the overall system. I have never truly tested for this, so it is purely based off of observation.

 

I also like the mix of particles from dusty mud to larger shell, to me it is more natural, and I like a dirty tank..

[michael_cb_125]

Here are a few photos from this evening. I just fed so the water has some particulates.

 

[michael_cb_125]

So it is 5:15 AM, been up since 4, like every morning for the last week..... I don't mind early when I am working, but it is driving me nuts while sick....

 

I wanted to clarify on my prior post about me liking a dirty tank. The word dirty gets thrown around quite a bit, and for the most part it is deemed a negative term.

For me "dirty" means natural. I have been fortunate to spearfish and collect on some amazing reefs from NC to Venezuela. Every reef I had been on was "dirty" and amazing. Something helps to sustain the ecosystems, and "dirt" is one of those things, haha.

Ime, the dirtier the reef I dive, thr more biodiversity I see. 

 

So for me, let the larger grains of substrate grow green film, coraline, etc. Let some detritus build in small amounts, algae can be good, and a sparkling white reef just does not look natural.

 

Well there it is, my early morning dirty tank covid rant, lol.

[michael_cb_125]

The brown Macro algae is really starting to settle in. I have been ramping the lighting schedule up to 100 percent intensity over the last month or two.

Now that this deepwater collected macro has adapted to the more intense lighting, it is starting to show its true self. It has a beautiful scrolling growth pattern on the edges of each "leaf". The overall color is brown with tan growth edges.

While not colorful, it is my favorite living thing in the tank, other than my bass.

I am ready for warmer weather to I can get back underwater for some collection!!!

 

~Michael