Display macro tank

[JZinCO]

Must have just been down; you can try their facebook page too or caribbeantropicals@gmail.com. I would place an order ASAP if possible because they have a 25% off special.
I'll probably order some plants and inverts from them again this summer. I counted again and I think they gave me 10 extra plants (2x my order)!
One of two shrimps didn't make it so I got store credit. I would get gorgs or sponges but the added water adds weight. Key Largo fyi.

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks for the link. The prices on some of their stuff is crazy low. And I get down there (Key Largo) about 3 to 5 times a year. It's only about 4 hours from me in SW Florida. I was planing on stopping by to visit KP Aquatics which is in the same area of the Keys.

[JZinCO]

No prob Ron.

I got a couple hitchhikers on the Halimeda incrassata.

Any ideas? Appears to be a bivalve. It looks almost like a Venus flytrap. Opens and closes its mouth with thin outward projecting hinge teeth.. The green color is odd.. either this is a plant or bivalve looking animal that either sucks chlorophyll from host algae or is colored green as a camouflage..

[Ron Reefman]

Consider asking the supplier of the algae? I've snorkeled the keys shallow flats close to 100 times and I've never seen anything even similar to that other than a flame scallop. And I don't think that's any kind of flame scallop! Any chance at a better pic?

[JZinCO]

The individual in question has disappeared. While that one was green and attached, I had found a white one floating at the top of my tank (dead?). No photos of it but got a good look. It was shaped like a wing oyster so that's my best bet.

Here's a side view photo (left) and the shape of it (right)

[j_mazzy]

does look like scallop

[Michael Hoaster]

Progress?

[JZinCO]

Michael,

Some new developments: Bought more lighting to deal with some macros dying out. It appears that my tank is becoming dominated by a couple species of caulerpa, shaving brush and mermaid's fan. The goby is now able to dig 4" holes in the sand because the holdfasts of these macros are keeping sand from filling the goby's holes. The manatee grass and halimeda are doing okay. It's hard to tell because they haven't been growing or receding at a noticeable rate. Considering that these are all present in the Keys, I am thinking of converting it to a Caribbean tank and introducing some more coral.

Currently I just have the Condy and some protopalys. I have some zoas and true palys that came from my Diver Tom order and are flourishing in the reef tank. I may move some over to this tank to give it a fuller biotope theme rather than just an autotrophic focus
On an aside, the Condy started moving quite a bit right before I got the new light. He ended up in the powerhead, ugh. My GF rescued him and he seems to be recovering just fine. In other news, my nass snails had babies and I counted a dozen pin sized snails. In general, I am very satisfied having only snails and no crabs. I haven't cleaned my glass for weeks because the ceriths are amazing at cleaning up film algae.
I also found a new hitchhiker. A very small lettuce sea slug; he has doubled in size the past week and enjoys spending time sucking chloroplasts from shaving brush. At worst he is just slowing their growth but I'm content to leave the sea slug be.

Also, the tank has doubled up as a frag tank now

[JZinCO]

Just another update. I haven't bought anything so I've just been watching things occur.

I did some management for aesthetics last night. I don't really like the codium so I threw 3 golf ball pieces into the corner and threw the rest into the sump. I have cleared most of the coral frags, as well as caulerpa taxifolia, but I couldn't remove everything.

Lately, I've been struggling with what the point of the tank is.
From one perspective, last time I wrote that I really want a florida tank with coral, grasses and algae of the region blending rocky parts here: http://166.78.194.232/forums/showthread.php?t=2469373, but half of the space dedicated for the openness of florida lagoon here: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/11902012
I'm not sure if I should start that in this tank or wait years down the road to have a large tank for that.

Under another approach, I think I also initially conceived of this tank being jammed with algae like nawilson89's, on their thread ( http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...533104&page=13 ), or pledosophy's here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...2253174&page=2

So.. how to proceed? I'm not sure but for now I am aiming for the open look with halimeda, shaving brush, mermaid's fan and grasses..
[I still owe you all recent photos]

[JZinCO]

Alright! I got the GF a 150-tall for her oscar fish (tank + stand + 55 sump for $150)!
My 50 show reef inhabitants are moving to her old 72 bow. Upgrading sump from 20 to 55.
The 20 long (this thread's tank) inhabitants are moving to 50 show. The 20 long is becoming a frag tank.

The macro tank is going the Caribbean direction with half seagrass bed, half reef. This time the macro tank will be unconnected to the reef tank (probably sump and skimmerless). The process will probably take a few months because I need to do things like beef up floor joists.

[Chasmodes]

Sounds like a good plan to me. I checked out the links from the previous post and I like all of them, so I couldn't decide what was best. Each was cool in its own way.

Your plan reminds me of the old reef tank that they had in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History a little bit, where they had the reef side and the lagoon side along with a bucket dump wave machine (or whatever they called it). I loved that tank and always made a point to see it weekly when I worked in DC. At least that's what pops into my little brain