My First Attempt At Marine (cheap Custom Tank 80ish Litres)

[creg]

@greg

i had another idea last night, as im planning on getting some pulsing xenia soon what if i attached it to the rock in question, would it grow over and kill the caulerpa? ive read xenia also reduces nitrates

 

[creg]

the more i read about caulerpa the more i want it gone lol, think what im going to do is take the rock out and remove the few small leaves i can see, then cover those areas with some epoxy putty. then in a couple weeks when i hopefully get some xenia or simlar i will epoxy that to the rock.

 

[nkd5024]

In my opinion, Xenia can can be harder to control than caulerpa. At least Caulerpa comes off the rock with ease, although it does grow a tad faster. Make sure the xenia doesn't touch any rock you don't want it on. I would recommend using super glue to cover the holes you pull caulerpa from, much cheaper and isn't crazy colors. Just get the super glue gel.

 

[gregswimm]

some people can't grow xenia to save their life. Others wish they had never added it.

Chaeto reduces nitrates AND phosphates. 2 birds 1 macro. My chaeto doubles in size every week, my PO4 is undetectable and I don't skim. Caulerpa is great, I loved mine (then my urchin ate it). Calurpa grows faster than chaeto which makes it a better method of export and it looks 1000000x better.

Also, caulerpa makes a great home for pods.

 

[creg]

thanks for the tip nkd (superglue) i dont think it will matter in the end though as i want it to be covered with coral eventually. i may get anthelia instead of xenia it depends what my lfs has when i go in a couple weeks, either way ill be keeping them away from my main rock work.

youve tempted me to keep the caulerpa greg but im still getting rid of it

went to lfs and took a risk, bought a torch coral

told my self i would only buy easy to keep soft corals for this tank but i couldnt resist.

 

[nkd5024]

Thats a nice looking torch. The only to watch is that it gets enough flow.

 

[creg]

thanks, ive actually ordered a 2nd powerhead it should be here by monday. that should give me 30-40x flow, although my lfs owner advised me to keep it in a low flow area to begin with because thats where it was positioned in their tank and if i want to move it to a higher flow area do it gradually.

 

[creg]

 

[creg]

 

[creg]

just did my weekly water change and good new greg, i didnt get rid of the caulerpa. changed my mind again and decided to keep it

 

[creg]

button polyps growing nicely, cant believe they only cost me 15 quid

some pics of my cleaner shrimp

 

[creg]

picked up another coral today, star polyps

 

[creg]

Santa was very generous this year...

emerald crab, who started eating my star polyps as soon as i put him in the tank

leather coral, just starting to come out i think after being in the tank for a few hours

mushroom coral, was only 10 quid

 

[gregswimm]

I really like it. I don;t know how happy those GSP will be on your sand though. You could move the zoa on the left to below the frogspawn and above the shrooms and put the GSP where the zoos were. You might need to move the shrooms then so they don't war with the zoos, the space between the 2 rocks on the ground looks like a good space. Just a suggestion.

 

[creg]

I really like it. I don;t know how happy those GSP will be on your sand though. You could move the zoa on the left to below the frogspawn and above the shrooms and put the GSP where the zoos were. You might need to move the shrooms then so they don't war with the zoos, the space between the 2 rocks on the ground looks like a good space. Just a suggestion.

cheers greg. i didnt want the star polyps on my main rock though as ive read they are incredibly aggressive growers and will overgrow other corals. deffo gonna move the shrooms today though i dont like where they are.