Pearls Of The Antilles... Llj's Planted Marine

[GAB99]

Some people use a meshing material, similar to a bridal veil netting (from the fabrics store), wrap it around the plug or pieces of rock and the coral, this keeps the coral from floating away, and eventually it will attach itself =). Use a rubber band under the plug to keep it tight. The coral will recover normally, it takes a couple days to attach.

-Tyler

haha ive tried that an unbelievable number of times and it has only ever worked once, rubber band, bridal veil (i used tulle), plug, everything.
not to mention my work was then destroyed by my decorator crab.

 

[SaltNoob]

Some people use a meshing material, similar to a bridal veil netting (from the fabrics store), wrap it around the plug or pieces of rock and the coral, this keeps the coral from floating away, and eventually it will attach itself =). Use a rubber band under the plug to keep it tight. The coral will recover normally, it takes a couple days to attach.

-Tyler

haha ive tried that an unbelievable number of times and it has only ever worked once, rubber band, bridal veil (i used tulle), plug, everything.
not to mention my work was then destroyed by my decorator crab.

Grr... I watched a video of someone fragging toadstools today they placed several pieces of toadstool in a plastic container filled with rubble rock, covered the top with a netting and let the frags attach themselves. After a week some were attached... Maybe this could work the same way? I got my softy xenia to attach by pulling a rubber band around the plug and an arm of the xenia. A few days later he attached.

-Tyler

 

[GAB99]

Some people use a meshing material, similar to a bridal veil netting (from the fabrics store), wrap it around the plug or pieces of rock and the coral, this keeps the coral from floating away, and eventually it will attach itself =). Use a rubber band under the plug to keep it tight. The coral will recover normally, it takes a couple days to attach.

-Tyler

haha ive tried that an unbelievable number of times and it has only ever worked once, rubber band, bridal veil (i used tulle), plug, everything.
not to mention my work was then destroyed by my decorator crab.

Grr... I watched a video of someone fragging toadstools today they placed several pieces of toadstool in a plastic container filled with rubble rock, covered the top with a netting and let the frags attach themselves. After a week some were attached... Maybe this could work the same way? I got my softy xenia to attach by pulling a rubber band around the plug and an arm of the xenia. A few days later he attached.

-Tyler

when i tried it with my then xenia it cut itself in half and floated away.. the tupper ware could work but i have no rubble rock, would ceramic tubes (for externals) work just as fine?

 

[lljdma06]

I imagine they would Gab. They're not especially picky regarding where they attach. I've had mushies attach to the aquarium walls. I love mushies. They may come back in play. Easy, fun, colorful coral.

I swear that when I'm done with my performances, I'll get an update done with this tank. Things are going well. I've got an algae issue, but I know why, not enough water changes. Fish are fine, as are corals and anemones, though I can probably feed my rock nems more and will be doing so when I'm done.

I love this tank. The neon gobies are awesome. I may round this tank out with the sailfin blennies. I like the activity that smaller fish bring.

L

 

[GGtank]

I had a little mushie come as a freebie attached to nothing, within days it had flowed around the tank floor to end up in some ridiculous section of the tank, I tossed some coarse rock near it, yesterday scooped it forward and sure enough its attached itself to a piece of rock.

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

Mine do that all the time got 4 shroom heads scattered around the tank because they outgrew the rock they were on and decided to hike it out around my tank

 

[lljdma06]

I wish I didn't have to write what I have to write now. I've had a rough day with this tank, but rather than hide and pretend it didn't happen, I'll come out and be straight about it and use this as a teaching moment.

Just remember that when dealing with a reef or a nano, or both, anything can happen. No matter how cautious you are, or how careful.

I've been very careful with this biotope. I've thought long and hard about what went into the tank and what didn't. I rejected many Caribbean species because I couldn't care for them or they wouldn't be suitable because of size or habits. I was extremely happy with this tank and was looking forward to celebrating its year birthday in August...

But...

I write this and I am very sad. Friday, when I last saw the tank, it was fine. Had a scheduled water change and prune for today, but it looked great that day and I almost took pictures. Yesterday my tank was fine, my mom and sister had been feeding the fish and taking care of it while I had my performances for Madama Butterfly. I'd come by once a week, do the water changes, test the water, prepare the RO/DI and the SW for the following week, check filters, prune macros. Since I started seeing my boyfriend, this has become a nice routine and the tanks have been doing very well. This morning, they said the tank looked fine and the fish were out.

I come home today after work late in the afternoon. Tank was cloudy and everything was dead. The Caulerpa prolifera, the Caulerpa prolifera that I was so careful to prune and keep trimmed because I knew that that prevented it from going sexual, went sexual despite my pruning. The tank was a cloudy, milky mess and the ammonia smell was horrid. I did what I could with the SW I had. I prepared more RO/DI and more Saltwater to do another water change. I suspect that most, if not all of the fish and inverts were already dead. I did find a lone survivor. A colony of palythoas that were near the top of the tank. Closed but not withered. I put them in the quarantine with the ocellaris that is recovering very well from ich, by the way. Did a large water change in the quarantine tank, and it's starting to open.

Sorry, I didn't think to take pictures of the tank as I had found it. Was scrambling to do a water change. Here it is after the water change, I think. Still really cloudy, but doesn't smell so bad.

Dead emerald crab. I removed it. It was the only thing I could find so far. I just couldn't seen into the tank very well.

The palythoa, already in the quarantine tank. Sorry, not putting a stressed palythoa colony into any my picos. Yes, it's a small risk to the clown, but honestly, I had to make a decision to risk the clown or a whole pico tank. So I chose the clown.

Yeah, I cried. But, I'm over it now and have a game plan. I'll do another water change tomorrow, make more water and go from there. There is macro algae still alive in that tank as are the sea grasses. Let the macros do their work to some extent. I will assess the damage when I can get clear water. Right now, it's just a mess and I can't even see if anything is alive. I just got home from this mess and did the best I could.

No, not giving up, but I may have to tear down this tank if nothing is viable. If the LR survives, then I start again. We'll see.

I write, though, because it's a teaching moment. That even when well-prepared, something can still go terribly wrong. Even with back up plans and a steady supply of SW, RO, and a good family who takes care of things well, things can still go wrong. I don't want to be negative about it. So far, keeping reefs has been an awesome experience, and despite this setback, I'd still totally do it. I just wanted to say that things like this can happen and not be discouraged. Also, always think before you put things into your tank. I never impulsed with this tank and something still went very wrong.

This is the risk you take when you do a planted marine. I'm gutted, but I've learned from this too. As lovely as Caulerpa is, and even if you take precautions, it can still do this damage. The irony is that I had even asked around about Caulerpa prolifera and saw multiple systems with it, so long as you prune it, I was assured that I'd be fine. But things don't always go as planned.

I'm rambling. I'll keep this thread open and keep everybody posted on the progress of the palythoa and of anything else that makes it. Who knows? It's not the first time that corner bow has revealed survivor surprises. Once as a planted tank, it was without light for over a month while I was about to dismantle the tank. I still found crytocorynes surviving and growing new leaves. You never know...

Thanks for looking at this thread and supporting me on what was my first SW journal. I really learned a lot and if I even venture into planted marine tanks again, I'll definitely draw on the knowledge in this journal.

Lissette

 

[crazyforcordoras]

That stinks. I feel so bad for you... you must be devastated.

 

[ainsy]

This is awful news LLJ.

I really feel your pain - there is nothing worse than the loss of something you have put so much time and effort into.


I know it won't make you feel any better but....

There will be a phoenix to rise from the ashes!

 

[Xraymark]

Thats awful to see.

It would be great to see you turn this around and get the tank back up.

 

[Donya]

Sad read this morning!

The Caulerpa prolifera, the Caulerpa prolifera that I was so careful to prune and keep trimmed because I knew that that prevented it from going sexual, went sexual despite my pruning.

I may sound like a jerk for asking this, but...did you have anything actually breaking/chopping the surface of the water in the main portion of the tank, like an airstone or elevated spraybar?

 

[lljdma06]

Sad read this morning!

The Caulerpa prolifera, the Caulerpa prolifera that I was so careful to prune and keep trimmed because I knew that that prevented it from going sexual, went sexual despite my pruning.

I may sound like a jerk for asking this, but...did you have anything actually breaking/chopping the surface of the water in the main portion of the tank, like an airstone or elevated spraybar?

Not a jerk at all for asking, Donya, and yes, I did. I had a power head. I had actually three power heads in different parts of the tank, one was used specifically for surface agitation. I heard that the gas exchange is good for the plants and the macros. Same principle when keeping freshwater planted tanks. I always implement this in my tanks.

Like I said, I was very careful with this tank. A bit reckless with my picos, I'll totally be the first person to admit that, but this tank was special and I was very careful.

Recovery... Day one

First, I want to thank everybody for their support. While I'm still gutted, I'm the kind of person who moves on and tries to remedy a situation quickly rather than just give up and mope about.

I'll chronicle this tank's progress and recovery in the same thread.

Today I did the following...

1. Change water. Again, had a limited amount as I still had two picos that needed water changes.
2. Cleaned the powerheads to get maximum flow.
3. Cleaned the glass
4. Removed dead macro algae and other dead things. Some of the stuff I really couldn't id, very mushy and gross
5. Added a fourth powerhead for circulation. I probably don't need it, but you can never, ever have enough flow and I think the extra circulation will help keep things alive.
6. I'm in the process of preparing more water right now. I'll do another waterchange tomorrow.

Discoveries...

1. Some cerith snails

I may still have other burrowing snails too. I think my Babylon snails are still alive. The nitty gritty scavengers may benefit and do ok.

2. My old fire and ice zoa colony. Looking very worse for wear and displeased, but still very much alive. This got thrown in with the paly and the ocellaris in quarantine. By the way, the paly is showing improvement, though still not open all the way.

Tank shots...

After the water change, before I added powerhead #4, water level is kept a little lower for ease in cleaning.

Still have caulerpa. Will keep it for a spell as it'll help with the ammonia and nitrate absorbtion, but it'll be removed when the tank is clean. For now, a means to an end. It's healthy portions that haven't gone sexual. Trust me, I almost removed all of it yesterday in dispair, but since most of the tank is dead, I figured I needed the help with nutrient processing. I'm a practical person. If it goes sexual again, I've really lost nothing.

And believe it or not, still have my sea grasses. These guys get a place of honor in any new incarnation of this tank! Tough guys! I'm in awe that they are still ok.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a very large water change and will continue the cleaning process. The removal of gunk will continue and we'll see what happens. I think that the presence of ceriths and other organisms means that my LR may recover. This is good news. I may, when things are cleaned up and parameters are stable, purchase a couple of pieces of nice LR from my LFS that's already cured, so I can seed this tank with some organisms.

Not sure what direction I'll go with regard to this tank. Simply replacing it with another Caribbean biotope is really not something I feel up to doing. I really enjoyed that tank and it's rather painful to even look at pictures of this tank in its prime. So, will probably do something totally different, yet still have the sea grasses. The advantage is that I have great lighting in this tank. A 150w MH. I can grow some pretty things. Not sure if I'll even do macro dominated, maybe different species. Who knows... Anybody have ideas? It'll be a slow burn as I'm low on funds. If I don't do Caribbean, I'll split this topic and start the new journal with the recovery process.

Again, thanks for looking, and thanks for your support.

Lissette

 

[ainsy]

You know what I'm going to suggest don't you?.................................






LPS & PLENTY OF THEM!



Pretty flowers......gently swaying in the current........makes me feel all nostalgic..............(NO Ryan - it's not because of my age!)

 

[bae1994]

Just read this sucky news sorry to hear it hopefully when the water clears you'll find some more survivors

Good luck with it and I hope you have some more survivors

 

[Donya]

I had a power head. I had actually three power heads in different parts of the tank, one was used specifically for surface agitation.

Power heads below the surface usually don't cut it with a good macro bomb, which is why I specifically mentioned things like a bubbler or elevated output (and a vigorous one at that - just a dribble won't cut it either). In other words, if you had a miniature oil spill on the surface of the water, would it just get pushed around as a continuous surface, or would something actively break it up? The common case for marine tanks is that it would just get pushed around, even when powerheads are rippling the surface quite a lot. So, if a film gets there...it's bad news. In my many, many, many iterations of having macro bleedouts, mass dieoffs, and stuff going sexual over the years, there are exactly two things I have had that made macro bombs into non events: bubbles popping and fast jets of water that are disconnected from the surface by quite a bit. Macro goop going into the water seems to really inhibit gas exchange by forming films early on. pH drops off fast and fish start gasping within minutes sometimes. The films can be really hard to see, but I was able to see it on some tanks quite a few years back when I first started keeping macro, which is why I started putting a bit of airline into all tanks that have macro. For me it made the difference between gasping fish within minutes and total non-events. I haven't even needed to do WCs the last few times I've woken up to opaque green tanks (most recently in my 55gal).

Of course, this assumes you are certain the macro bomb caused the deaths and not something else in the tank that happened to have a low-probability timing (e.g. hidden nudi nuke), although it is pretty classic macro-bomb-sounding.