20g Macro Algae/Seagrass build

[nawilson89]

Update:

Removed a bit of caulerpa and my chaeto. Everything removed was thrown into my tub outside. Going to see what happens to it.

I can see the seagrass and its growth coming thru much better now. The caulerpa and gracilaria have taken over the area. Alot of it will be removed once again to go to my 29g when it starts next year, just trying to hold on til then.

Moved my dragons breath from the seagrass area to atop some rock, hopefully it will start to grow more.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[nawilson89]

The weird:

I've been seeing some weird things lately and unfortunately I haven't been able to capture them on camera (it wont focus on them). So... crawling on my glass are what I would think are flatworms, or baby snails? They have a round head, short body with an orange spot in the middle and a forked tail.

Pods, pods and more pods:
My pod population has once again exploded. I'm seeing pods of all sizes. The biggest are a quarter of an inch I think. Some look like millipedes and the others are various copepods.

 

[nawilson89]

Figured it out. It's a flatworm Flatworm - Amphiscolops

 

[nawilson89]

As my tank now sits and basically grows macros and populates with pods, and i decide exactly what I want to stock it with, i've decided to post on my next build.

So I have a bucket of sand and a tub of rocks on my patio that I would like to turn into my next and more realistic seagrass build. Though my 20g does have seagrass and it's doing pretty well from my standards I want to try something more and really separate my macro from seagrass.

Which brings me to my 29g. It's longer than my 20g and gives me more room to do what i want. originally my plan was to try mangroves, but I'd actually would like to stick with seagrass.

I'm not 100% on the exact method, but here's my plan as goes. A sectioned out area of tank for just seagrass with a 6+ inch bed of mud and sand. Up on this raised area I would like to do shoal, star and turtle grass, tallest to shortest. In that same area would be PVC pipe tunnels for the fish I would like to inhabit this area. Jawfish. A bit of reef rubble will also be there for them to do there construction.

Separating this area would possibly be a wall of glass with rock next to it. A smaller bed of sand and maybe mud. Where I will have a bed of caulerpa prolifera and fern caulerpa. The rocks in this area will also have a mix of red and green algae.

This plan is similar to my 20g, but i would again like to keep both algae and grass separate, as we've seen in my 20g caulerpa takes over. I may also remove the seagrass from my 20g to put in my 29g so it will have a better chance and let the caulerpa over run my 20g bed.

 

[nawilson89]

Update:

Hello everyone! Hope everyone had a great holiday. This was my daughters first Christmas. Was a great day! Spent 4-5 days out of town and though of my tank everyday. Left it on a time. Came home and was pleasantly surprised. Other than gracilaria disappearing from my pod factory everything looks AMAZING. Sargassum grew as dead the grape caulerpa. Dragons breath looks lively.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Also It seems I have Stomatella snails! Where did these beauties come from. I think I have one or two. Not sure if I'm seeing the same one multiple times or its two different little ones moving around. So... prepare for the pic dump!

Left side. Caulerpa growing back strong. Sargassum on this side is becoming bushier.


Stomatella snail!


Left corner has some caulerpa going sexual. May leave it in and let it release nutrients. Going to the LFS tomorrow after work to get some water. Will do a water change and collect some. Letting the rest of the macro take hold.


Bushy Bushy Sargassum


Grape Caulerpa looking super well.


FTS. Extremely proud!


Right side, Grabbed some chaeto to replace my gracilaria on the right.

 

[Mrs. Crabs]

I love macro algae!
Looks good

 

[nawilson89]

Thanks! I love feedback!

Update:
Things are looking good? Or really... well.

My Goby hasn't been seen since before the holidays. Last time I saw him he was fat, like just huge. Safe to say he's gone. By now I would have seen him in his usual spot or my girlfriend would have seen him at SOME point.

What the heck is killing my fish, and JUST my fish?

So I went through the list again:
Neon Gobies died from what looks like Ich, not eating.
Gramma died from what looked like Ich, not eating.
Blenny died from me. No ich, no white spots, or flashing. Eating very well.
Goby died from mystery. Eating extremely well. Had gained weight since purchase.

Water checks have shown nothing, no highs in ammonia, inverts are doing well. Since starting the tank, ive lost ONE astrea snail.

Mystery invert killer? All rock was from local reefers with the only negative invert being aiptasia on two rocks.
No mantis or large evil crab, again my inverts are fine and i've actually had snail breeding going on.

Could the hydroids have killed my small goby? It's possible, from what ive read hydroids kill fry and small fish.


Back to my old stance.
Not adding anything for a while. Let's see what happens.

When i do add to this tank it will be a semi aggressive haven.

Two Clowns
Pygmy Hawfish
Damsel

Other than that, not adding anything fish wise.

I do want to add shrimp, peppermint or skunk cleaner.

I want to add that my macro algae on the other hand is looking great. Sargassum is about to touch the water level and I plan to cut and glue it to smaller rocks this week, it's actually growing much faster than I expected. I really wish my dragonsbreath and gracilaria would grow like this. The Gracilaria doesn't look like it's changed and i've even lost a lot of it. Not sure what to do...

Grape caulerpa is spreading out on the rock, weaving through holes and getting itself together.

 

[nawilson89]

Snail eggs and huge pods!

Found a line of snail eggs on the back glass yesterday when I got home. According to the hitchhiking guide i frequent, I'm looking at Cerith eggs. So... YES!

I forgot to take pictures as my daughter was getting fussy and I went to go play with her for a bit.

I did note that my tank is being over run by more of a certain type of pod. Went back to my guide again. "Isopod - Munnid" seems to be what I have. The Amphipods are getting bigger and bolder too, I saw one chasing another pod away.

There's also my flatworms. Their population is growing as well. I think when it's time for me to add fish, Ill saw the damsel out for a sixline wrasse, about the same size and temperament, but with a taste for flatworms.

Macro Growth

Looking at my snail eggs I took note of some gracilaria. In the far back I saw some stems that were long and thick, they looked really good, but right in front of them one was losing color and getting thin and frail. My Pistol Shrimp may have covered the base of the algae with sand. Not sure where to move it as I really don't have much room, especially with the right side of the tank being over come with grape caulerpa. I really need to set up the 29g soon.

Seagrass

Shoal Grass is still sending up shoots. I'm counting more popping up from between leaves of caulerpa prolifera more and more. They seem to be reacting very well to the mud.

 

[powers2001]

Check your nitrAtes.

 

[nawilson89]

Check your nitrAtes.

That sounds like a great idea. What would I be checking my nitrates for? My fish deaths or lack of growth in gracilaria. Just not sure what you're instructing me to do.

 

[nawilson89]

It's been a while since I've done a water change. So far I've only been topping off and letting the plants do the work. Time for one though, I think the tank is a bit nutrient heavy, I'm getting some hair algae on the filter.

Porcelain Crabs are out and about. This is the first time I've seen all three of them together since adding them to the tank, they've taken up a spot in the back corner of the tank where the flow goes down and back around. The smallest has grown! Speaking of grown my red mithrax crab has now DOUBLED in size, maybe even more? He's molted twice since I've got him! He was munching on his molt last night. My Pistol Shrimp has also molted. I found a full body molt Saturday morning and on Sunday morning it was gone, he probably came back and ate that too.

Before I had posted that I thought I had 2 Stomatella Snails. It's been confirmed as I saw one grazing the back glass and another hiding in a crevice of rock, to be honest I think there is more than two! I saw a very small one last night... could they also be breeding?

I've also seen my first batch of nassarius babies! I saw about 4 on caulerpa leaves. The cerith eggs have also mostly disappeared. Not sure what happened to them, hopefully they've hatched.

With so many breeding inverts I think I want to add some shrimp. I'm not even thinking of fish anymore! I would love to have shrimp breeding readily in here!

 

[nawilson89]

Not much of an update. I've purchased a Mars Aqua 165w light that I wanted to use on my next build. Suddenly I had a change of heart and I REALLY want to do another freshwater planted tank instead of a second salt. my Mars Aqua may go to my 20g and the Reef Radiance bulbs will go out for my freshwater.

When Multiple Tank Syndrome hits on both the freshwater and saltwater side of the hobby it makes the head hurt!

 

[nawilson89]

Trying to get everything updated

Let's see....

Massive die offs of prolifera killed dragons breath, but grape caulerpa keeps on ticking.

I pulled 99% of prolifera and plan to buy some new ones or maybe fern to start over. It took out all my seagrass too.

So now i have this flat area of used to be a seagrassy prolifera bed that I want to play with. So I ran ideas through my head, of first replenishing the bed with grape caulerpa or prolifera. Then i had a better idea. Put some plant plugs in the mud there, then top off the sand with reef rubble, then on top of that put a few fern or prolifera.

You're possibly wondering why the reef rubble then the macro algae. I want cut offs of macros that float around to find a place to settle and grow above the sandbed and I also want pods to continue to flourish beneath the macro. When i add pellets/frozen/live food to the tank and they settle to the bottom they will be able to fall through the cracks and give an area for pods to continue to procreate.

The powerhead on my tank stopped working a few days ago and I haven't removed it to clean the motor, the only thing that's been running is my HOB filter with carbon and I don't see any issues with it. Actually my porcelain crabs have come out more since then.

Speaking of crabs, my red mithrax had a monster growth spurt. Since December it's gone from the size of a dime to well bigger than a half dollar coin, plus its claws are HUGE. Scared me the first time I saw them. It's time for it to be removed, when i ever decide to add fish it may become a hazard to them.


Another reason for the reef rubble. I want to add two small goby to the tank and hopefully I can get them to breed. The reef rubble would be perfect of the fish fry. Safe from predators and extremely small pods to eat. Something like in the fresh water tanks, when breeding small schooling fish like tetra or barbs, breeders would put them in a tank with marbles covering the ground. The eggs fall beneath the marbles and the parents couldn't eat the eggs.

 

[nawilson89]

I'm still debating on my fish. I was thinking of even starting to acclimate mollys to saltwater so that baby mollies could be a steady food source, but If I went with greenbanded goby that wouldn't really matter. Goby of that size could only eat NEWborn mollies as they are extremely small fish.

I then debated on doing a small species of hawkfish like a Falco Hawk of Carribean Redspooted. They would enjoy small fish snacks like molly babies and they're a fish I've never had and it would be a new experience for me.

I would also keep Basslet and Clownfish who would eat a small snack like that.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[nawilson89]

Pics incoming!
But beforehand, I was thinking about going into the fish discussion threads and starting something up to talk about these gobies. Like i said before, when looking them up i found little info on them. I'm hoping that with pictures and info they could become a more well known fish.

Here's the Seaweed Blenny


Second shot of it


Goby time

From what I've learned about these guys by watching them, it seems that having 4 of them is beneficial. They seem to enjoy a small community and have established a pecking order with a leader. At least I think so.... I've watched all 4 closely and the largest one, whether it be by age/size/or position in the hierarchy has developed a slight coloration on its pectoral fin. I can't get a picture on it, but it's sort of like a black band running parallel to the body of the fish. Haven't seen the other 3 with that mark. Also that fish shows a bit of aggression when it comes to the others with slight chasing. It's a behaviour that I've seen before in Greenbanded gobies (those species actually change sex when 2 are held together, the male would chase the female and sometimes 'dance' to coerce her to follow him to his lair. From there they bred). It looks like these gobies could be a close relative and also change sex (that can also be correct since ORAFARM has them listed under the same genus Tigrigobius, also confirming that can be bred at home).

They have taken to pellets already and frozen mysis. I'll be purchasing live brine soon.

They also have enjoyed the rubble area as I hope and each fish looks to have gained weight since adding them to the tank (fat tummys= happy fish!)

Here is the second largest.


The largest is here, pectoral fin is down, couldnt get a pic of the band.


The mystery fish (aka the saddled blenny) was missing most of Sunday until I saw him on the other side of the tank hidden in some rock.

My porcelain crabs have been trying to catch fish.... I think my tank is low on phytoplankton, they must be really hungry.

Update:

The diatoms are in bloom! Here's my guess on what happened.
When adding the fish to the tank and a few snails, I added two Chestnut Astrea (Turbo). As soon as they hit the sand two hermits came upon them and took them down under the rocks. Unfortunately I couldn't get to them and all I could do is see crabs coming from across the way to scavenge. The next day, the water was a bit cloudy and the top of the tank was a big gross (snail nutrients all over the place). Day 3, browning on everything and so far the right glass and a big portion of macro now has diatoms.
Other than losing two poor snails, I'm a bit excited. Pods will love the diatoms and hopefully more reproduction is in order.

Fish:

All four goby are confirmed, but I only see three at a time. One of the small ones seems to be hiding out. Which makes me happy. One reason it could be hiding is to find a place to call home. My past greenbanded had a goby that placed itself in a very nice rock. After weeks it could be seen coming in and out of that very rock. Months later, when taking down the tank and selling the fish, i pulled the rock and dozens of fry came swimming out. I hope to recreate this! That behavior seems to be a pattern.

The largest goby whom i dub the alpha male approached a smaller goby. He then wiggled his body back and forth for a bit and dashed back to this cave. He turned around and went back to the smaller goby and continued doing it 3 - 4 times. That is the exact same behavior as my greenbanded goby in the weeks before they laid and hatched eggs.

From above and below two of the fish are rounded. It I see dots in the belly of one. The alpha is now trying really hard to get some attention from a rounded goby.

Mystery fish is... now a missing fish. It seems to hide more than the 4th goby.

 

[nawilson89]

My 29g is up and lady luck is on my side.

A local ebay seller was taking down his system and i purchased ALL of his macros! So! Presenting my 29g in all its glory. Hopefully everything I've learned will help me keep it this way and keep my fish alive.

This isn't the final look. I'm allowing everything to get settled before I start gluing down to rocks.

 

[revhtree]

I like it!

 

[nawilson89]

Thanks @revhtree !

20g

I've seen one or two goby. It looks like the big ones, with the small ones still missing. So it makes me nervous, but excited. Missing fish could mean dead fish, but it can also mean the goby are too preoccupied to come out. Either way, something is happening in my tank. Caulerpa growth is pretty steady. The prolifera I lost before seems to be coming back in force now and the new batch of caulerpa I picked up is coming in also. I dropped some Ulva in there also to grow. The bush gracilaria may be removed and transferred to the 29g and traded with some C. mexicana. Grape can be cut back too, it's taken over again even with me cutting a large amount last week.

The pistol shrimp has been going into over time and has recreated the landscape of the tank. Once I clean the glass of algae I'll take a new picture.

My female Peppermint has berried once again. Hoping I can get a batch to grow this time.

29g
Since I updated on that tank yesterday there really isnt much to talk about. The mollies are fat with the female squaring out a bit. It seems she's getting ready to drop a batch of fry.


I'm also in the midst of acclimating two more female mollies to saltwater. They should be ready by the time I get home from work.