Juwel Rio 125 Tropical To Marine Conversion

[seffieuk]

Sorry to hear about hte Nem

But look at those clowns in the toadstool, so sweet

 

[dannywrc]

Well today i ventured out into the sea with my waders to collect my first batch of natural sea water

It was raining and the sea was a little rough so i couldnt go out as far as id have liked. as a result the water was a little cloudy but while i heated it most of the cloudyness settled. it took around half an hour to clear the rest in the tank.

iv been reading that some people have climatised the local snails and hermits successfully so gonna have a look around the rock pools when i get chance.

heres the water parameters from the collection

no3 - 0
po4 - 0
ph - 8.2
kh - 7.7
alk - 2.74
mag - 1230
cal - 370

not too bad but the tids was out and it was raining so hoping for some slightly higher readings on the good stuff next time.

bad news on the acro frags they stripped. i dont think the light was strong enough even at the top of the tank.

all the corals seem to be doing well and the cyano is almost gone. just get a little bit now and again to remind me to change the water.

theres loads of coraline where the cyano used to be. gonna get an urchin to clear some off the rocks.

 

[lljdma06]

Great to see an update. Careful with collecting local wildlife. They may be ok during the summer months in a tropical aquarium, but most the time, their optimum temperature range is significantly lower than the tropical spectrum. It may, however, be a very fun Summer aspect to your system. Collect local inverts during the summer months, obsever them, and then release them back when the temperature dips again. They're designed to deal with the lower temperatures.

llj

 

[bae1994]

However there are some tropical diseases that uk snails won't be immune to as such so the aboves probably not a good idea

(not trying to annoy but it's not recommended)

 

[@ombomb]

i've had UK snails in my tank before, they all survived acclimatisation but none of them lasted more than a few months, i would stick with tropical species if i were you

 

[dannywrc]

i did wonder how long they would last. the people collecting them failed to mention that part. ill stick with tropical species if that the case. dont want to risk them dying pointlessly.

i know some of the tropical fish like triggers venture to our southern shores so the conditions must be ok for tropical species but not sure how it is the other way round.

 

[lljdma06]

Do you have an updated shot?

llj

 

[dannywrc]

ill take one when the toadstool stops sulking. always goes in for a few days after a decent water change. the fungia is puffing up huge through the night. never seen it so big.

 

[lljdma06]

Great, look forward to it.

 

[dannywrc]

Update....

First the good..

cyano almost completely gone

Got my firefish a friend yesterday It was imported the same day and the colours were unreal compared to the one i got from the lfs about a year ago. Ill have a play around with the settings on the cam to try and get a better shot.. doesnt show the purple on these.

I had a clear out of a few coral last week to make space for more rock and then some stony corals.

Added some calaupera to the sump.

Got myself a DSLR last week so the pics should get a lot better over time.

Bit of bad news....The torch got a bit of jelly on two of its heads and they stripped. managed to save the other 3 luckily. The fungia has also stripped a little but seems to be recovering now.

 

[dannywrc]

Its been a while since i done an update so here it is.

Now the cold weather is setting in iv reverted back to using ro and salt rather than the NSW. standing on rocks with gale force winds and salty sea spray isnt the nicest of experiences.

the torch didnt make it.. not sure why just one of them things i think. the 2 sps frags didnt make it either other than that everything seems well.

Iv had a bit of a rescape and added some more stock last week.

7 algae hermits
a blue starfish

purple montipora frag

green birdsnest frag

montipora confusa frag

theres a couple of types of hard algaes growing too which from what iv read is a sign of good water. heres a pic of one of them, the other is next to the duncan on the pic above.

 

[lljdma06]

The hard algae is Halimeda discoidea. I've got one clump in my planted marine and a teeny, tiny piece in my 4g.

Those frags look really nice and the photography is very good too. This tank is over a year old now, huh.

How is your mandarin doing? What do you feed it?

 

[dannywrc]

thanks, just found a fella who sells frags really cheap. back to get some more after crimbo

still getting to grips with the camera, theres so much to learn.

do you know what the long green hard algae is? theres a small piece next to the manderin and a few more next to the duncan in the fts.

iv had the manderin for quite a while now. tried him on all sorts of food but hel only eat brine shrimp and pods. i hand feed him once or twice a day with the brine shrimp and add 2 90 ml bags of pods every few weeks. the tanks a couple of years old now so there should be plenty of food in there for him.

 

[lljdma06]

I think it's neomeris annulata. That is if I found the location of the duncan.

You actually have some really good macro growth. If you take pictures of them I can id most of them.

Bare-bottom tank? I haven't seen one in a while. You've got some substrate though.

L

 

[dannywrc]

yup you found it. spot on with the id. sounds like some people dont like the stuff but i quite like it. its a very slow grower though.

i wont turn down the id offer heres some pics but i struggled to get decent ones. im hoping santa brings me a macro lens .
there was another type of algae starting to grow, looks a bit like a small feather duster but its some kind of green grass. its tiny atm so cant really get a pic.

the coral gravel substrate has caused nothing but problems. with the chunks being so big i cant find anything that can turn it over to get rid of the detrius. im sure thats what caused the cyano outbreak. i just siphoned it away with the cyano. the amount of waste in there was shocking. i'll be using sand in the next tank.

Halimeda discoidea

neomeris annulata

+
?

?

poss halimeda?

?

?

?

i think this is the red stuff above but if you look where it meets the plating monti its seems to have taken on its colour.
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