Llj's 8G... Yuma/zoanthid Garden

[lljdma06]

Why you thinking marine, Biulu?

I am definitively interested but and these are big BUTs, I travel too much for my work (might be away for a month again soon) and I don't see myself administering mysis shrimp through an automatic feeder during that time...
I also have no space and have reached my tax on the number of tanks I can have. And my last consideration is an environmental one: if I cannot be sure these organisms are bred/multiplied or whatever you want to call it in captivity, I am out. I have lived too long in Mexico to know exactly what is happening in terms of illegal fishing in the Strait of Cortes, also called the World's Aquarium. Maybe I should take a diving course instead?

Many of the corals I have are actually fragged from other hobbyists, so if you wanted a tank that was exclusively aquacultured in captivity, it's very possible. You can even get aquacultured LR.

The most demanding thing, at least for me, with my SW picos is the maintenance. I'm not doing back-breaking work, but each tank requires a little time each day. I feed heavy, makes everybody very happy. No, these are not tanks that I can step out for a month and expect everything to be all dandy when I return. I can maybe leave for a week max and my non-photosynthetic corals will definitely be sulking when I return. Not dead, but sulking. I suspect my Caribbean biotope would do much better, perhaps 2-3 weeks, if I rig an automatic feeder. It'd be overgrown though. I'd have to prune it before I left to ensure that nothing goes sexual in my absence.

L

 

[Biulu]

You know in Mexico city I had a very good lfs that offered 'holiday service' for marine tanks. They had a backroom where they kept their extra stock, or their quarantained fish but they always had about 5 or more tanks available for people that went on holiday. You could bring your fish and corals there and they would look after them as long as needed. I don't know though how the moving would affect the corals and fish though...

Next Wednesday our society has a speaker on setting up marine tanks and I will definitively be going!

 

[lljdma06]

You know in Mexico city I had a very good lfs that offered 'holiday service' for marine tanks. They had a backroom where they kept their extra stock, or their quarantained fish but they always had about 5 or more tanks available for people that went on holiday. You could bring your fish and corals there and they would look after them as long as needed. I don't know though how the moving would affect the corals and fish though...

Next Wednesday our society has a speaker on setting up marine tanks and I will definitively be going!

There are several stores in Miami that also do this for you. I don't have the funds to go on holiday now (gee, I wonder why? ), so I'm good at home for now.

Just be aware that there are a fews schools of thought on keeping a Marine tank and that the speaker makes the distinction between picos, nano, and standard mini-reefs. Each of these kinds of tanks have their own needs and shouldn't, at least IMO, be approached in the same way with regard to maintenance. Haha, very hard to protein skim a pico and while I've seen picos with sumps, IMO, it's just plain silly. You're not really keeping a pico if hidden away is a sump with like 20g of water. Why not just get a nano and actually enjoy the extra real estate?

The tank size that you are considering I would classify as a pico.

 

[SaltNoob]

I am Jealous!! of your tanks lol! My shrimp has warmed up to me. I make him come to my hand to get his little pieces of food lol.

-Tyler

 

[lljdma06]

I am Jealous!! of your tanks lol! My shrimp has warmed up to me. I make him come to my hand to get his little pieces of food lol.

-Tyler

I like my shrimpies too. My sexies are getting less skittish, they know who brings them food!

Thank you. You're tank is gorgeous too. I enjoy watching it continue to develop.

L

 

[Biulu]

The 5 gallon was just as a reference.... Trying to understand how things work in terms of flow, light intensity and the like. It is not the size I have in mind. IF, and only if, I would probably more go for a 10 gallon-ish cube style, acrylic or at least rounded edges at the front.

 

[lljdma06]

The 5 gallon was just as a reference.... Trying to understand how things work in terms of flow, light intensity and the like. It is not the size I have in mind. IF, and only if, I would probably more go for a 10 gallon-ish cube style, acrylic or at least rounded edges at the front.

I see, my Oceanic Biocube is 8g and has the rounded edges. Lots of glass tanks available that fit those requirements. I never liked acrylic, it scratches when you scrape the coraline, so I've heard. Never have that problem with glass.

L

 

[Biulu]

The 5 gallon was just as a reference.... Trying to understand how things work in terms of flow, light intensity and the like. It is not the size I have in mind. IF, and only if, I would probably more go for a 10 gallon-ish cube style, acrylic or at least rounded edges at the front.

I see, my Oceanic Biocube is 8g and has the rounded edges. Lots of glass tanks available that fit those requirements. I never liked acrylic, it scratches when you scrape the coraline, so I've heard. Never have that problem with glass.

L

Have you noticed how quickly I have changed to gallons instead of litres? I have been here for only a few months now... Would not have imagined if you told me! It is so funny because officially Canada is metric but in construction and in fish keeping they are all following the US system as so many products come from there!

 

[lljdma06]

The 5 gallon was just as a reference.... Trying to understand how things work in terms of flow, light intensity and the like. It is not the size I have in mind. IF, and only if, I would probably more go for a 10 gallon-ish cube style, acrylic or at least rounded edges at the front.

I see, my Oceanic Biocube is 8g and has the rounded edges. Lots of glass tanks available that fit those requirements. I never liked acrylic, it scratches when you scrape the coraline, so I've heard. Never have that problem with glass.

L

Have you noticed how quickly I have changed to gallons instead of litres? I have been here for only a few months now... Would not have imagined if you told me! It is so funny because officially Canada is metric but in construction and in fish keeping they are all following the US system as so many products come from there!

Hehehe, yeah. It doesn't matter to me, I can go back and forth. Too many years in this forum.

 

[lljdma06]

Ok, I've made some friends in this hobby, so I asked some of them what their favorite coral was and if it was feasible to have them in any of my tanks, I'd get them and then the coral would be named after that person. It's silly, I know, but in a way, it's neat because I get to keep corals that I otherwise wouldn't normally consider, I get stuck on zoanthids a lot. I have rules, they can't get large or if they do they need to grow slow, so no Euphellia's and stuff like that.

First in the series...

Frank the Fungia, Orange short-tentacled plate coral.

When I first got him

He puffed up after a bit.

Very cute coral, I like it. Seems happy so far and he isn't too close to anything very bad.

Some random top shots of the tank, while I was doing a water change.. I was thinking the tank gets quite a bit of pop for a 14k bulb. Not too shabby. I wonder what a 20k will do?

Move a frag of gsp to this tank and actually made some more frags. The biggest issue with this tank are some pest majanos and zoa nudibranchs. Both are at controllable levels. I need to frag that big, green paly soon, but let me buy goggles and better health insurance first. Hahahaha!

Thanks for looking.

L

 

[Man of fish]

I really like that plate coral. It's really cool how it puffed up.

 

[SaltNoob]

I am SO jealous of this tank. I wish you could send me mini frags. I love all the zoas and paly's in this tank. I would love to have the colors you have.

 

[lljdma06]

I am SO jealous of this tank. I wish you could send me mini frags. I love all the zoas and paly's in this tank. I would love to have the colors you have.

Thank you very much, Tyler. I'm happy with this tank too. It's my first pico, so I have so much sentimental value to it. Sure, everything is unnamed and it's not fancy, but it's still nice.

PS: Wrong journal. 8g Biocube.

L

 

[lljdma06]

Well, time for a mini update.

Some weird news. I can't find my Yellow watchman, nor can I find my tiger pistol shrimp. My parameters are great and corals are extended. Sps are indicators if something was dead, they'd tell me. What I did notice was unusually rapid chaeto growth this time. I was able to halve the fuge much faster than normal. Dunno what's going on. Expect the worst, hope for the best. I've got buckets of SW ready in case I see a spike.

Now for good news. I've been trading a lot of macro lately. Been getting some good frags for it too. My biocube is filled with zoanthids that I got for trading macro algae.

This tank is again serving as a temporary home to some corals. I got a new fishy for the Biocube and his kind is known for their aquascaping skills, so I thought it was best to remove most of the substrate corals and let him work. Once he gets his burrow situated, I'll move some of them back. It's mostly acans. Or not, I kind of like the look of them here. Pretty colors.

I picked this up at the lfs. A green stylo. In my tank right now it's sulking, cause they do. I'm sure it'll extend soon. My birdnests from the same place are already extended in my biocube.

Full tank shot, you can see how things have grown.

Where I put the stylo

A rainbow pocillipora from another hobbyist. Still kicking.

Acans

Purty flower, gsp, and other yumas

Montipora undata, from the same hobbyist, also doing extremely well and one of the montipora frags I got for my macro algae. It gets more light than that, it's just under exposed.

ORA pink birdsnest

Where I mounted the other montipora. And a zoanthid wall. Who can find the fire shrimp?

Thanks for looking.

L

 

[FishFanatic04]

Your tanks are lovely! I know plants in freshwater are "alive." But in saltwater tanks, everything is. It's so interesting