20 Long Mixed Reef

[Musing.Dog]

Your prolifera in the 55g is doing well or also has blisters? I didn't catch which is true.

[Musing.Dog]

I got an okay picture of one of my smaller micro brittlestars. I have one that is the size of my palm.


Just to say, the red macro earlier in the thread is still alive it's just behind a rock. It floated back there one day and is doing better there than where I had it so I have just left it there for now.

[StephLionfish]

Oh, sorry the Prolifera in the 55g is doing badly. It hasn't grown at all in months, and used to get the blister things ( not sure if it still does. I've not checked in a while )

Neat little star. The colors on it are interesting.

[Dave12678]

How is the flow with 550's? I have a 20 long but was looking to get the nano version, 425 x2. Do enough flow?

[Musing.Dog]

I am not sure if there is enough flow or not to be honest. They don't kick up my sand at all unless they start up backward, which they do more than occasionally. Food stays suspended pretty well when I feed with the pumps on. I don't have cyano but I haven't had cyano at all. The diatoms do form more in particular corners though; this may just be placement. The powerheads feel huge in the tank though. I had to lay my rocks out around them. They are quiet though. Sorry that I can't answer your question well.
I originally intended to purchase the 425's as well but ended up with the 550's. I am unsure of whether this was a good decision or not.

[Musing.Dog]

Interesting little macro that came in my most recent Reefcleaners order. Sadly, UPS ditched my package on the doorstep without knocking as far as I can tell. Some other box inhabitants don't look as good as this specimen. John makes it right though even when it isn't his fault as well as provides a great selection. I don't regret my purchase.

I am reconsidering the rock wall idea. I know I will end up upgrading, I am thinking just stacking my rock will make it easier to incorporate into another system in the future. I was playing with ideas today.

[Musing.Dog]

I have had a few feather dusters for about a week. Recently I removed two empty tubes. One worm remains in the last tube. Last night my peppermint shrimp was trying to eat him through a break in the tube so I acted quickly and improved a hideout out of my turkey baster. The shrimp cannot get inside and I have since seen the worm poke his head out of the parchment-like tube a few times. He has not left the tube altogether. The worm does not have a crown and I believe did not arrive with one. We'll see how he does. I am looking to start up some cultures soon.

I saw my peppermint shrimp attempting to eat a bristleworm as well. Feeding some flake food made the shrimp forget about the bristleworm, the prey slinked away to safety. Same shrimp ninja-ambushed my arm a bit ago as well. I feed him almost every other day.

[Musing.Dog]

Plumbing is getting closer to being done. I ditched the wall idea as I believe a stacked rock formation would be easier to use in future upgrades. I picked up the wrong size T so, the standpipe was restricting flow. Just testing with the 10 gal. The sump will be a 20 long. I can't decide when I should move the 20L contents to the 10 gallon tanks.



The water is well water and the tank is acrylic. The acrylic doesn't look green prior to water and the well water is not treated. Stand and tank are a little dirty from sitting outside.

[Musing.Dog]

Here's the sum of the tank at the moment. I am wheeling the 65 in tomorrow. The 20 long will be the sump so everything had to move temporarily. My shrimp doesn't seem concerned now that he's not in a cup. The fanworm is without doubt dead.

[Musing.Dog]

The 65 now has water in it. Still tinkering with the plumbing though. The Durso setup is flushing, burping and gurgling. Lots of microbubbles too.



On a positive note, everything in the 10 is doing well.



Bought two ricordea a day or so ago. They are hanging out under a daylight spiral bulb at the moment. The little orange one isn't as happy about that as the green. The orange one looks better today though, bigger and flatter than in the picture.



The orange one is nicely colored, I think, with a green mouth. The 6500K bulbs don't show it off well.

[StephLionfish]

Beautiful Rics! I love Ricordeas.

[Musing.Dog]

Thanks, they are nicer in person I think. Perhaps I will be able to get better pictures when they are under proper lighting. Ricordeas are beautiful.

[Musing.Dog]

Well, I have transferred everything to the 65. I haven't messed with the plumbing so the sump is offline.



The ricordea are doing well. Especially after I returned my peppermint shrimp today. A couple days ago the shrimp carved a piece of flesh off of the orange ricordea. Other than the peppermint shrimp, this tank houses ceriths, nassarius, micro brittlestars, collonista snails... essentially nothing that could cut coral flesh like that. I caught him sitting on one of the polyps one morning too. Frankly, the shrimp was very aggressive and rather opportunistic. It even tried to eat one of my nassarius. I am 100% it was not a camel shrimp, just a plucky peppermint shrimp. I opted for returning him for credit versus trying to feed him frequently to keep him from "nibbling".

[Musing.Dog]

A little update, it's been a while.






The rics seem to be doing well.



Whatever macro this is, is growing nicely I think. It's beautiful.



I trashed all of my old prolifera and got more from a different source, no more blisters. Maybe it was some kind of virus?



Have some color coming in on my new rocks. This pinkish haze isn't slimy, not sure what the little red sticks are but they are growing very slowly.



I do have some of this. This algae is wire-like and stiff as well as course. It does not feel slimy. Out of water it looks pretty much the same and it even dries green. Maybe it's come kind of marine clado? It's not feathered at all.



And here's the tank shot. Still haven't put the MH's up. I have some aiptasia coming up. :/ Too bad I had to take the peppermint back; it was really chowing down on those aiptasia (and my ric).

[StephLionfish]

I like the scape! Everything looks nice.
I'm still not sure about the blisters on the prolifera. The new stuff is very pretty, though.

[Musing.Dog]

Thanks, it's been going so slowly being a student and low on funds. Also, trying to limit my additions to Caribbean natives.

[frugalreefer]

A couple of seahorses will look great with that macro algae . Ever consider?

[Musing.Dog]

I did consider seahorses; I am leaning toward not not doing seahorses as I am pretty new to saltwater and I might have periods of time in the future where I won't be able to pay as much attention to my tank as I'd like. It seems seahorses are higher maintenance than some other options. They do seem interesting though, I like pipefish too.

[Musing.Dog]

I haven't updated in a bit, thought I'd post some more pictures. Not a whole lot has changed though.



"Woke" the rics up for a picture so they aren't fully expanded.

One change I have had are these interesting, sparse, red macro-looking strands.





I have a bit of gracilaria that isn't growing or dying on one end of the tank. I tried to glue it a long while ago but it just detached. Perhaps this is gracilaria.

[SushiGirl]

The larger red macro looks like halymenia/dragon's breath. The more light it gets, the more spiky it will get and the edges will turn fire orange.

[Musing.Dog]

Pretty neat.



Pretty terrible.

[Michigan Mike]

Lol, it's a phase luckily. What a difference 2 months makes!

[Musing.Dog]

Thanks, and hopefully. This system is over a year old at this point. I have been neglecting it some and I am sure this is part of the reason for the green algae. The algae is stiff and wiry, but usually slow growing. It grows up and not along the rock. I was thinking cladophora but I am leaning more toward some kind of turf algae now.

Honestly, it needs a good water change. : )

Yep, that red macro is so cool. I put it in forever ago and it has never been attached to that rock. Somehow spores just settled down on it and it has taken off.

[Musing.Dog]

Well, the ricordea haven't been looking good for a couple weeks and I have been seeing some dead collonista snails. I introduced some old water from the offline sump and got a slightly milky precipitate.

Today I ponied up some money for a Salifert alk test as I had a suspicioun something was wrong there. Upon following the instructions, my samples won't change color after a full syringe of reagent. The accompanying reference solution sparks an immediate color change so it looks like my alk is through the roof. I am currently preparing water for a 25% water change. I'll reevaluate afterwards. I have a feeling this will be a series of water changes.

On a positive note, my red ruffly algae is responding positively. The halymenia is not though, it's giving me a sort of orange-y color. The rics are scrunched looking but not closed. The snails other than collonistas are fine as well as the mini brittles. My peppermint shrimp is also out and about. The C. prolifera isn't spreading as much and occassional "leaves" are dying; there hasn't been a mass sexual event. ( I recently pruned it back to very little biomass).I also have a 4" by 4" square of diatoms in one corner.

I measured a pH measurement of 7.9 but a local store found 8.3 (albeit from a dip strip). My salinity is also running a bit high at 1.026. I don't have a magnesium test kit.

We'll see how this works out.

[codyreef29]

lol i did the same thing to my 7.5 my alk went to like 16 and killed an acro and monti my digitata lives on and is making a great come back in my new 2.5. make big water change and it will help you