My Coastal Inspired 55G long - Softies, Sponges, Macros and Worms

PeterLL · Nov 29, 2020

Frigus Reef said:
That sponge is new idn’t it?

It is! The tanks finally living up to the title

Casket_Case · Nov 29, 2020

PeterLL said:
It is! The tanks finally living up to the title

Hahaha, sponges are such cool critters. The only sponges I have are those blue hitchhiker ones. A whole mob of them on one rock and they’re starting to grow on a piece of rubble now

James001 · Nov 29, 2020

Cool tank, the yellow watchman looks cool, and the green macro at the top.

PeterLL · Nov 30, 2020

Frigus Reef said:
Hahaha, sponges are such cool critters. The only sponges I have are those blue hitchhiker ones. A whole mob of them on one rock and they’re starting to grow on a piece of rubble now

Oooh wish I got blue sponge hitchhikers you got any pictures?
Is it a photosynthtic one then I'm assuming?

James001 said:
Cool tank, the yellow watchman looks cool, and the green macro at the top.

Thanks

He's a wee b* with the sand but I love him nonetheless he's brilliant entertainment.

Casket_Case · Nov 30, 2020

PeterLL said:
Oooh wish I got blue sponge hitchhikers you got any pictures?
Is it a photosynthtic one then I'm assuming?

Thanks He's a wee b* with the sand but I love him nonetheless he's brilliant entertainment.

I don’t have pictures but I can take some when I get home. I got it the main one from my LFS when I got a gold tipped seagoddess nudibranch. I said what the heck and bought it and he said he’s heard they ate sponge so he gave me the big ole rock slap full of it. I’ve gotten it before from live rock before and it’s a whole bunch of little tubes coming off an encrusting sponge. I’m pretty sure it’s a filter feeder... but they grow like wildfire. I don’t do anything for them. They are fragile though and need low flow.

Casket_Case · Dec 2, 2020

PeterLL said:
Oooh wish I got blue sponge hitchhikers you got any pictures?
Is it a photosynthtic one then I'm assuming?

Thanks He's a wee b* with the sand but I love him nonetheless he's brilliant entertainment.

That’s the sponge behind the gorgonian. It was a lot bigger before being put in the dark so I guess it is or at least mostly photosynthetic

PeterLL · Dec 6, 2020

Frigus Reef said:
That’s the sponge behind the gorgonian. It was a lot bigger before being put in the dark so I guess it is or at least mostly photosynthetic

Sh** sorry never seen this noti. That sponge looks awesome but now I'm curious about the golden nudi what happened to that?? If it eats sponges I wonder if it could help people with the chicken liver sponge that seems to destroy a tank every now and then. Defo keep it isolated on that rock could get pretty destructive if it spreads they're pretty good at something everything.
Gotta say the gorgonian is brilliant looking too, assuming its a corky finger type?. If you wanna know why I'm jealous of the gorg's over the pond I just got quoted £130 ($174) for a purple pseudogorgonian which is $12 at gulf Coast

. Some shipping fee that lol. Worst thing is I've not seen that species in any tanks over here so I'm considering it. Only a weeks worth of pay lol

PeterLL · Dec 6, 2020

Sponge has already shown some change. Looks a good amount of oscula have formed which I take to be a good sign, or at least meaning it's alive. You can see the before and after:

The pink Scleronephthea also is showing good colouration and polyp extension as below.

Casket_Case · Dec 10, 2020

PeterLL said:
Sponge has already shown some change. Looks a good amount of oscula have formed which I take to be a good sign, or at least meaning it's alive. You can see the before and after:

The pink Scleronephthea also is showing good colouration and polyp extension as below.

Looks great man! I’m sorry I didn’t reply quickly as normal no notifications came up

Casket_Case · Dec 10, 2020

PeterLL said:
Sh** sorry never seen this noti. That sponge looks awesome but now I'm curious about the golden nudi what happened to that?? If it eats sponges I wonder if it could help people with the chicken liver sponge that seems to destroy a tank every now and then. Defo keep it isolated on that rock could get pretty destructive if it spreads they're pretty good at something everything.
Gotta say the gorgonian is brilliant looking too, assuming its a corky finger type?. If you wanna know why I'm jealous of the gorg's over the pond I just got quoted £130 ($174) for a purple pseudogorgonian which is $12 at gulf Coast . Some shipping fee that lol. Worst thing is I've not seen that species in any tanks over here so I'm considering it. Only a weeks worth of pay lol

Sorry I didn’t see this notification either!!! And the Sponge was HEAVILY relying on light... after being in the light it’s gotten puffy and is starting to grow out and ‘swell’ almost. I’ll post a picture when I get home. And dang man! On this side of the Atlantic, Gorgonians can be dirt cheap... the white corky finger in the picture was actually looking a bit rough since it was in a new tank but it’s getting better... I’ll post a picture when I place it in the rockwork. It’s looking a lot better now. Believe it or not I payed ten American dollars for it... All the Gorgonians I have cost $15.00 MAXIMUM. Some I’ve gotten for one third of that. That being said, I’m looking into getting higher end Gorgonians... once my tank gains equilibrium.

Casket_Case · Dec 10, 2020

PeterLL said:
Sh** sorry never seen this noti. That sponge looks awesome but now I'm curious about the golden nudi what happened to that?? If it eats sponges I wonder if it could help people with the chicken liver sponge that seems to destroy a tank every now and then. Defo keep it isolated on that rock could get pretty destructive if it spreads they're pretty good at something everything.
Gotta say the gorgonian is brilliant looking too, assuming its a corky finger type?. If you wanna know why I'm jealous of the gorg's over the pond I just got quoted £130 ($174) for a purple pseudogorgonian which is $12 at gulf Coast . Some shipping fee that lol. Worst thing is I've not seen that species in any tanks over here so I'm considering it. Only a weeks worth of pay lol

Oh, and the Golden Nudi kept climbing into the vacuum in my 40 gallon breeder and just disappeared overnight... never saw it again.

PeterLL · Dec 15, 2020

RIP nudie

. Tank sounds like its coming on well though higher end gorgonians will be super interesting to see how they do long term

PeterLL · Dec 20, 2020

Update time cause why not. Not much change admittedly. Main thing annoying me is it WILL. NOT. CLEAR. UP. Floss + Carbon + UV + Oxydator and it is still Hazy. I am thinking of making a temporary use 10 micro filter using some RO housing and 10 micro filter floss inside it. Anyway here’s a video update, don’t forget to 1080/60 the quality.

Casket_Case · Dec 20, 2020

L

PeterLL said:
Update time cause why not. Not much change admittedly. Main thing annoying me is it WILL. NOT. CLEAR. UP. Floss + Carbon + UV + Oxydator and it is still Hazy. I am thinking of making a temporary use 10 micro filter using some RO housing and 10 micro filter floss inside it. Anyway here’s a video update, don’t forget to 1080/60 the quality.

Looks lit dude!

sp1187 · Dec 20, 2020

greetings.
very nice.
if your UV isn't clearing up an algae bloom (is that what your water clarity issue is?) then it could be your UV is sized incorrectly or flow rate through it.
here's some reading if you are interested.
https://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumUVSterilization.html
secondly, where do you live? I need to trade you for a clip of that pink leather.

PeterLL · Dec 26, 2020

Frigus Reef said:
L

Looks lit dude!

Thanks again for the unbridled support

sp1187 said:
greetings.
very nice.
if your UV isn't clearing up an algae bloom (is that what your water clarity issue is?) then it could be your UV is sized incorrectly or flow rate through it.
here's some reading if you are interested.
https://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumUVSterilization.html
secondly, where do you live? I need to trade you for a clip of that pink leather.

It's not an algae bloom as I did have that for a bit but cleared it with UV. I think it is just general "stuff" in the water that is normally taken out by a skimmer and a finer filter sock.
I'm at a guess 4,000 miles away so I can imagine a substantial postage fee lol.
I've just finished working for the week and honestly life and tank has been a nightmare lol.
In short:
- Pink Nephthea Melting again
- Orchid Dottyback have bred and I believe the female is guarding eggs in her cave.
- Orchid Dottyback went psycho and I think is resopnsible for the disappearance of my two cleaner shrimp >

. No proof, but they suddenly disappeared with the other shrimp thats guarded by the fish being perfectly fine.
- Sponge has closed up and become more slimy...as opposed to spongey.
Gonna up the phyto from 2ml/day to 3ml/day but unsure what's caused this.
- Aiptasia, Vermetids and Flatworms found - so much for attempting pest free.
- Tank Bed L. Wurdermanni for the Aip on the way, Velvet nudi for the flatworms. Cocktail stick and needlenose pliers on the way for the vermetids.
OH almost forgot. Put some rocks into a citric acid bath. Queue Christmas Eve 9 hour retail shift I forgot all about them. Then I forgot about them again over christmas and I now have some mushy rocks. Rinsing them off and seeing if they're still suitable for the tank.
- Goddam BREXIT is going to be closing off where I get the majority of fish, corals and inverts - so what is available to me is now EVEN MORE restricted. As in I will struggle to get any interesting creatures out of what is super maintstream.

Casket_Case · Dec 26, 2020

PeterLL said:
Thanks again for the unbridled support

It's not an algae bloom as I did have that for a bit but cleared it with UV. I think it is just general "stuff" in the water that is normally taken out by a skimmer and a finer filter sock.
I'm at a guess 4,000 miles away so I can imagine a substantial postage fee lol.
I've just finished working for the week and honestly life and tank has been a nightmare lol.
In short:
- Pink Nephthea Melting again
- Orchid Dottyback have bred and I believe the female is guarding eggs in her cave.
- Orchid Dottyback went psycho and I think is resopnsible for the disappearance of my two cleaner shrimp :mad:. No proof, but they suddenly disappeared with the other shrimp thats guarded by the fish being perfectly fine.
- Sponge has closed up and become more slimy...as opposed to spongey.
Gonna up the phyto from 2ml/day to 3ml/day but unsure what's caused this.
- Aiptasia, Vermetids and Flatworms found - so much for attempting pest free.
- Tank Bed L. Wurdermanni for the Aip on the way, Velvet nudi for the flatworms. Cocktail stick and needlenose pliers on the way for the vermetids.
OH almost forgot. Put some rocks into a citric acid bath. Queue Christmas Eve 9 hour retail shift I forgot all about them. Then I forgot about them again over christmas and I now have some mushy rocks. Rinsing them off and seeing if they're still suitable for the tank.
- Goddam BREXIT is going to be closing off where I get the majority of fish, corals and inverts - so what is available to me is now EVEN MORE restricted. As in I will struggle to get any interesting creatures out of what is super maintstream.

Dang man, that really sucks. Have you looked at Prestige Reef? I think he’s in UK and he ships... might not have gorgs and stuff but it’s something... and maybe have you thought of a cold water system? Where you can collect stuff local to your country?

PeterLL · Dec 30, 2020

Frigus Reef said:
Dang man, that really sucks. Have you looked at Prestige Reef? I think he’s in UK and he ships... might not have gorgs and stuff but it’s something... and maybe have you thought of a cold water system? Where you can collect stuff local to your country?

Think I was a little heated when writing my previous post ahahah. I was being harsh, there is still a lot of choice here in the UK from our main supplier (TMC) and lfs' do sometimes import themselves. It's just the stuff I like (macro's, gorgonians, sponges) are the ones that aren't in high demand and as such are relatively less imported. Atleast when we were in the EU, there was a market 10x the size so the uncommon stuff would still have a market to make it worth it it seems. We're facing a probem with Live Rock too. A german shop often imported proper live rock and supply to the whole EU. Now we are cut off from them and we seem to be struggling to find sources of nice "live" live rock. Not to interested in cold water I'll admit ahah I'm all for the tropical stuff