I am glad that you have had some time to follow other pursuits. Your tank still looks good to me even if it is a bit wild. Seeing before and after pics will be fun.

Alright, since we're at the top of the page, I'll start with 'before'.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81573

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81580
AFTER. I tidied up some algae and caulerpa and pinched seagrass tips. Oh, and I scraped the glass. I balked at the amount of work I was facing and just did a modest tidy.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81579
Maybe the best the macros have ever looked. I love how the Sargassum mingles with the Manatee Grass at the surface. I was able to 'style' the Sargassum in a more vertical position by wrapping seagrass around it. Look back at the before and after shots to see the difference.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81585
Enchanted Garden.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81582
Orange Tree Sponge. Scarlett is still keeping it clear of algae and detritus.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81581
Lots of tall seagrass.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81583
String of Pearls, close up.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81586
It's great to finally fill in the height of my tall tank.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/pi...ictureid=81584
I was never sure how I would get the verticality I wanted in the macros. Luckily, the Sargassum grew out of the live rock. The Gracilaria also provides height.

Despite my half-hearted tidy, the tank cleaned up nice.

A few more pics…


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81590
Pretty good shot from the end.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81588
I really tried to get a good shot of Scarlett. This was the best I could get. She's twitchy.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81591
The grammas were a little better. I like how they catch the light here.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81587
Top-down view. A fun perspective.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81592
The grammas mostly hang at the dimmer, right end of the tank.

Love the new pics Michael! It looks to be the perfect amount of tidying to me! The grammas look amazing and we're a really good choice!

Thanks Dawn! It's tough to stay on top of cleanup this time of year, with other fun stuff to do. The grammas and tang are both doing well, so I'm happy. I'm in uncharted territory with the grasses and macros growing so tall, but I love how it looks.

I still plan to pull Shoal Grass. I'll send them when I do.

I appreciate the shoal grass but no hurry. Hopefully I will figure out why the prior shoal grass you gave me is not flourishing before you are ready to pull more.

Sorry they haven't taken off for you. Maybe I didn't pull them with enough care, and there weren't enough roots. I'll try to do better next time. Do you have them rooting in the dirt?

Tank looks good Mike. Nice to see something different.

Actually, I do not think that it had anything to do with how you pulled them. The shoal grass looked great when they arrived and good for a time after they were planted. Maybe I disturbed them too much when I added the garden dirt or maybe they are just lacking something they need.

Hey Vinny! Thanks for the kind words.

I'm sure you'll get a feel for them, Dawn. And they'll get a feel for you and your methods, schedules, etc.

Well, I had to catch up from page 58, but what a great read. Your tank looks fantastic given the trials and tribulations, ups and downs, that you faced along the way. I love how the grass, sargassum, and gracilaria fill out the entire tank vertically. V2 has come a long way. Are you planning on adding any more grammas, or fish, in general?

Sorry about being away so long. I've had a lot going on both at work and at home, not leaving me much time (especially with a fishing habit, LOL).

Dawn, now I need to binge read to catch up on your thread too :)

Thanks Kevin! Approaching the vision, for sure. I definitely want more fish. I'm still kicking around different ideas. Probably not more Grammas.

Don't worry about being away. Come when you can and let's have some fun.

Good luck with your build. You're making good progress!

My tank has had it's share of ups and downs but in general things are alright. I need to catch up on your build too. I did collect some oyster clusters last week on my vacation which was inspired by your oyster cluster biotope tank

I concur with Kevin's sentiment about how Michael's tank is maturing beautifully! It has been a fun journey to tag along and I look forward to seeing what fish life will call this tank their home!

It's payback time. I've been slacking this spring and summer. Now I'm paying for it.

My tank has gotten overgrown and I'm now trying to get it back under 'control'. I realized pretty quickly that this was going to need to be a multi-day effort. I've put several days together, working on it. Oddly enough, I've been inspired to take it further then I planned. I'd been hoping to pull out the Shoal Grass for months, but I knew I'd need to get the sand bed free of Caulerpa first. This made it quite a daunting task.

I managed to get rid of said Caulerpa, so I figured this was my chance to pull Shoal Grass. So I did. Woo! Dawn, are you ready? I rechecked your thread, and you posted you had grandkids until July 16th, so the timing will be tight. I hope I don't put you in a tough situation.

I also had to pull a bunch of Manatee Grass that had grown into and around the patch reef. This will be replanted in bare patches, after the shoal grass and (sand bed) caulerpa are gone.

Another issue is cyanobacteria. With the tank so overgrown, water movement has been reduced, and cyano has taken the opportunity to 'move in'. I'm doing as much manual removal as possible. Once the replanted manatee grass has had time to take root, I'll do a blackout/erythromycin treatment to hopefully finish it off.

Quite the multi-day experience. So much work! You know that feeling when your tank is on the brink, and you know you'll either step up to regain control, or you bail. Yeah…

I put shoal grass in the mail today. I pulled more manatee grass that was too close to the front glass. That had to be sorted and pruned, and combined with the other grasses I processed yesterday, for replanting. I manually removed another round of sand bed cyanobacteria, before replanting at least a hundred plants.

There's more to do. But the worst of it's done!

I took a break yesterday, but today I went after stragglers-sand bed caulerpa. The manatee grass looks well-spaced, without the shoal grass and caulerpa. I thinks that's important, in the confines of an aquarium. Scarlett was really cleaning up the grass today. That a girl! All the fish are much happier, with much more room to move.

It's coming along!

I am posting a pic so I need to see a pic of your tank with the shoal grasses exit!

I look forward to showing off! I'm getting there. Next, I need to focus on the macros on the patch reef. They went from best-they've-ever-looked, to ratty, in just a couple of weeks. As soon as I get the tank looking good, I'll get pics. Should be this weekend.

It's funny how macro algae can do that looking awesome and then not so much in a week, ha ha!

Ok, I will look forward to seeing them.

Here's a few pics!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81598
Overall, not as shaggy and more 'controlled'.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81595
Pretty good spacing on most of the Manatee Grass. Scarlett's grazing activity has increased, with more elbow room now.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81597
The patch reef is a hive of activity.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81594
Some plants were pulled for getting ratty, so coverage is a touch sparce.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81593
Fiery colors!


http://reefcentral.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=81596
The gorgonian that didn't die is doing great.

Oh wow Michael, everything looks so good! I do not think the patch reef looks space at all, it looks wonderful. It appears as your ecosystem is moving exactly where you envisioned.

Fantastic pics Michael! Your tank is amazing and evolving every time I see a new set up pics. It's always a pleasure to view them, and I crave more ;)

Thanks Dawn!

It's funny. It took A LOT of work, just to get it back to this state. Even the grasses were overgrown. To me it looks a little less impressive than the last pics, but it was time to reign it in!

I'm also amused with how it went from peak lushness to 'rat's nest' in a couple weeks. That's entropy I guess!