Dawn's seahorse garden!

[vlangel]

Thanks Michael.

I found something in my tank that amazed me. Back in the late 90s I bought a rock at the lfs I worked at because it had a cute little coral on it, or that is what I thought it was. In actuality it was an aiptasia, LOL. More surprising than a novice lfs employee buying a piece of LR for the aiptasia is I accidently killed it! I never get rid of any rock I bought. When I downsized I let some of my rock dry out. I think this piece of rock spent a decade in a 5 gallon bucket of dry dead rock. Then it moved to the sump. It was the perfect shaped rock to shore up my retaining wall. It's been there 3 weeks or so. Today I see a tiny aiptasia on it. Don't worry, I do not think of them as cute little coral anymore and I plan to take action tomorrow. I find it interesting that a rock that is 20 years old could generate an aiptasia after all this time. Nature has an amazing way of perserving things.

[lifeoffaith]

[Chasmodes]

Wow, that is amazing that aiptasia popped up like that!

[vlangel]

New video! This one is sort of long but features inverts as well as fish.
https://youtu.be/sJA3T1mMwWU

[Michael Hoaster]

Great vid! You have a nice, mature ecosystem. You really got in there, so we could see the nitty gritty details, like sponges. You have quite a few! And so much diversity. This is a tank in balance!

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Great vid! You have a nice, mature ecosystem. You really got in there, so we could see the nitty gritty details, like sponges. You have quite a few! And so much diversity. This is a tank in balance!

I love the natural sponges that just grew on the rock of its own. There are gray, pink and white ones. There are micro & asterina stars, and even bristle worms and I encourage them all. I am hoping my rubble rock and my macro algaes when they get well established encourage the pod population. The stability of this tank is what is allowing me to feed it so heavily. Finally all my fish are fattening up.

[Michael Hoaster]

Jealous!

[Chasmodes]

Awesome video. I'm going to have to watch it several times. The barnacle blenny and bristleworm encounter was quite interesting...that they seem to be oblivious to each other.

So much to look at in this video! I love it!

In your closeup of marmalade, the orange coral polyps...are they sun coral?

Your tank is amazing!

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Chasmodes

Awesome video. I'm going to have to watch it several times. The barnacle blenny and bristleworm encounter was quite interesting...that they seem to be oblivious to each other.

So much to look at in this video! I love it!

In your closeup of marmalade, the orange coral polyps...are they sun coral?

Your tank is amazing!

I am enjoying this tank more than any I have ever had. There is always so much happening in it.

You are right, I do not think the blenny or the bristleworm seemed to be aware of each other or else could care less.

Yes the orange coral near Marmalade is sun coral. They have been closed up since I moved them there so I guess I need to move them to a spot more to their liking.

Thanks Kevin, I appreciate the kind words.

[vlangel]

Well after I stated that I have never had dinos on another forum, I now have dinos in the sump tank of the seahorse system. (Pride goes before a fall, LOL) Anyway the good thing is that they are not in the seahorse display at all, which strike me odd. Perhaps the fast flow in the display (approx 1600-1800 gph) as opposed to a mere 400 gph through the sump is the difference. Normally I would let the nitrates build up some along with a small amount of PO4 but not with seahorses. I can't risk pathogenic bacteria also building up. I suppose I won't do anything since the display is ok and I will skim them off the surface of the water where most of them seem to be.

[Michael Hoaster]

Maybe do water changes from your sump to remove them. They must be getting light. Can you you prevent light? Also you could put something in there to eat them. Some thoughts. Good luck!

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Maybe do water changes from your sump to remove them. They must be getting light. Can you you prevent light? Also you could put something in there to eat them. Some thoughts. Good luck!

Those are excellent suggestions. I had thought that I could add some pods and snails to help. Somehow I never even considered the light which is on 24/7. Doh!!! Nothing like missing the obvious. Yes, it would be simple to do a black out and in the basement, it will be black! I will definitely do that.

[vlangel]

Ok, so today was water change day for both tanks but the seahorse tank got a little extra love. First I netted and sucked out as much of the dinos in the sump as I could get. Mostly they floated on the water surface which I found weird but there were some on the macros algaes. I had drastically reduced the macro algae in the sump just prior to the dino outbreak. Now I realize that that is probably what tipped the scale in their favor. I actually removed all the caulerpa because when it is too well established then my red algaes do not flourish. There were not a lot of red algae in the sump but I figured with the rich pony manure that the few that were there would quickly take off. I also added some codium from the 56 gallon but for whatever reason it did not do well in the seahorse sump. After removing the dinos however, I did see some very healthy sprigs of red grape caulerpa. I planted a few more since they seem to do well in the sump conditions. My hope is that when they get established that they will out compete the dinos. I turned off the par 38 led over the sump too. The dinos were really only in the fuge compartment, not the drain or return compartments and so the light has to be part of the problem. Hopefully a 3 day black out right after a really good cleaning to get rid of the dinos will weaken the remnants to the point where they can't compete with the red grape. I will let you all know how that goes.

O yeah, for anyone interested, my PO4 is less than .25 and my NO3 is less than 2. I know that both the macros in the display and the dinos in the sump are consuming some of those nutrients. Still, maybe I will cut down my WCs to 7 gallons 2Xs a week instead of 3.

[Chasmodes]

Interesting stuff... In my brain, I'm already developing a strategy for my tank based on what you and Michael are going through...down the road. I can deal with the dinos for a while.

[vlangel]

I got to hear Mike Paletta speak at my local club meeting tonight. It was on coral color. The bottom line was feed them and keep the tank stable and your coral will be nice.

[Michael Hoaster]

Cool! I bet that was fun.

Stability. I look forward to having it.

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Cool! I bet that was fun.

Stability. I look forward to having it.

I feel like my 56 gallon tank has reached that, (at least as much as a smallish tank can). But then I was shocked to find out the seahorse tank could get dinos, ha ha! So who knows?

I think you are well on your way Michael.

[vlangel]

Ok, so after the seahorse system got its thorough cleaning, things are still looking pretty good. I turned the par 38 led back on in the sump and things looks clean. I saw a nassarius snail motoring about and some pods on the rock and macros. The macro algaes did not look the worse for having the black out so hopefully they are ready to take off growing and out competing the dinos.
The pagota cup in the DT has been open and its my 'canary in the mine' coral. I will test PO4 and NO3 again at the end of the week.

[Michael Hoaster]

Sounds good, Dawn! Takin' care o' bidnis! Let us know how it goes.

It's nice to find your canary, isn't it? So helpful in figuring out your tank's health.

[Subsea]

Originally Posted by vlangel

Ok, so today was water change day for both tanks but the seahorse tank got a little extra love. First I netted and sucked out as much of the dinos in the sump as I could get. Mostly they floated on the water surface which I found weird but there were some on the macros algaes. I had drastically reduced the macro algae in the sump just prior to the dino outbreak. Now I realize that that is probably what tipped the scale in their favor. I actually removed all the caulerpa because when it is too well established then my red algaes do not flourish. There were not a lot of red algae in the sump but I figured with the rich pony manure that the few that were there would quickly take off. I also added some codium from the 56 gallon but for whatever reason it did not do well in the seahorse sump. After removing the dinos however, I did see some very healthy sprigs of red grape caulerpa. I planted a few more since they seem to do well in the sump conditions. My hope is that when they get established that they will out compete the dinos. I turned off the par 38 led over the sump too. The dinos were really only in the fuge compartment, not the drain or return compartments and so the light has to be part of the problem. Hopefully a 3 day black out right after a really good cleaning to get rid of the dinos will weaken the remnants to the point where they can't compete with the red grape. I will let you all know how that goes.

O yeah, for anyone interested, my PO4 is less than .25 and my NO3 is less than 2. I know that both the macros in the display and the dinos in the sump are consuming some of those nutrients. Still, maybe I will cut down my WCs to 7 gallons 2Xs a week instead of 3.

Love your videos. Up close & personal. When you say red grape Caulerpa, is this what you are referring too?

https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookbotryo.htm

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Subsea

Love your videos. Up close & personal. When you say red grape Caulerpa, is this what you are referring too?

https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookbotryo.htm

Yep, I can never remember its more scientific name, so I just refer to it by its common name. Things have grown quite a bit in that tank since the video. It is such a fun reef with so much happening with the fish, the inverts, coral and the macros. Tomorrow Dave and I are driving to Cleveland to the LEAR frag swap. Dave wants me to pick out some coral for my birthday so it should be a fun day.

[vlangel]

Some pics of the new coral from LEAR
Acid washed bta in foreground, the long polyp toadstool is in the background all closed up. by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-02-23_06-24-35 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr

Yellow torch with green tipped hammer in the backround. by Dawn Gilson, on Flickrurl=https://flic.kr/p/24hBZXH][/url]Green pipe organ by Dawn Gilson, on Flickrurl=https://flic.kr/p/2dvhBrv][/url]2 new acans by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr

[Michael Hoaster]

Nice haul! Happy Birthday!

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Nice haul! Happy Birthday!

Thank you! It was so much fun picking so many coral, (I came home with 14) and then placing them generally in the tank. Today they all look promising and nearly all that actively eat did so.

[Monkeyfish]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a LEAR?