Marine Depot Forums / TEAM Marine Depot / Marine Systems and Husbandry – by Anthony Calfo / Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon / Latest Posts

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Wed, 09 May 2007 10:19:12 GMT

not many downsides beyond the need, as with other featured organisms, to keep a biotope display that inalienably prevents you from adding the majority of (unnatural) garden reef species that folks all to casually mix. Keeping seagrasses IMO is about better aquarium husbandry: recognizing the needs of an organisms from a unique and interesting biotope and then providing for it. The deeper sands for example may not allow you to have large, messy feeding fishes. Nor brutes that like to perch or squat (like some basslets, larger hawkfishes, etc... imposing exceedingly repetitive contact/squashing of the plants in the confines of an aquarium). On the flip side... you will need more resping molluscs and fishes in the absence of reef strength water flow to keep the blades from getting overgrown or stifled by algae or other growths. Just a few examples.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

StevieK — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:25:06 GMT

Fantastic ... love the seagrass.

Wondering if there is a down side to seagrass ...

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:22:09 GMT

funny thing is that I felt the irony even as I wrote those very words

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 15:01:52 GMT

I'll remember that next time I hear you talk about the dangers of using common names.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:29:39 GMT

Englmannii, not paddleweed

a generalized term for more than a few species of Halophila - all having that paddle like leaf. Ovalis, Englmannii, Stipulacea, et cetera

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:12:24 GMT

Englmannii, not paddleweed. Yesterday I saw the tip of some leaves peeking out of the sand, so it looks like the roots are taking off. The star grass is doing much better than the wrightii.

I'm sitting on the sofa cracking up. The sinularia has acclimated to having some pushy clowns around. It's open nicely, despite the fact the male is trying to "clean" the sinularia and rearrange branches. Inside their old frogspawn, I could never see the male, so I don't know if it's new or not, but he likes to tuck himself in the branches and rest.

Got an offer on a lemonpeel angel for the lagoon - I'm just waiting to hear how exactly it's misbehaving. And I'm picking up two baby banggai cardinals next week. The cardinals will likely be too small for the display tank for a while yet. They may need to spend some time in the goby tank.

Oh yes, the goby tank isn't blowing the fish and shrimp around anymore. I gave up on recharging the chiller; it's plumbed back in. It may not work great, but it still works, and I don't plan to let the tank temp rise enough to need the chiller anyway; it's just a safety measure. Unfortunately, I am having issues with the goby tank again. Somehow all the nutrients in the tank seem to end up in the side tank where it grows prodigious amounts of hair algae. I am trying to grow some competition on the rock, but the hair is winning.

Still got bubbles and more bubbles, plus a leaky pump now. It's not leaking too bad, but I have that on the calendar for my Tuesday off, or maybe tomorrow night. Hopefully the leaking seal is causing the bubbles.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:20:48 GMT

new leaves on the paddleweed... fabulous to see. Kudos

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:53:45 GMT

The plumbing change didn't work out. Back to the old way.

A few photos showing the rock coloring up and the seagrass getting established.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:42:45 GMT

Good luck with it, Amanda, and keep us posted. I'm afraid years of reefkeeping means I have hitchhikers and critters and such from all over the place, so it won't be a true biotope. I hoping to just achieve a replica of a mostly Indo-Pacific seagrass lagoon, even with the Hawaiian snails and bacteria and worms and pods form heaven knows wherw!

Otherwise, I would literally have to start from scratch with a dry tank. That would be a neat project, but I really didn't have anywhere to start *another* tank.

What I really want to do is a outdoor tropical tidepool, with the water motion generated by a combination of a surge unit and gravity. But first I need the house with the big courtyard to put it in. I should say what I really want to do right now, because I have dozens of salt water ideas and different favorites are always bubbling to the top. The concept of having a tidepool was why I got into this hobby in the first place, and yet I've never done it. Strange.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Chihuahua6 — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 13:29:44 GMT

Sounds exciting Nicole. It's nice to see someone else actually 'doing' a biotope. It's not easy to figure out what animals, what environment, how many etc. I am still doing my research. My Fijan biotope is now going to be a shallow water Indo-Pacific environment. I'm not sure exactly which shallow environment so far but I have some books on order to assist me further. Please post some pictures when you get a chance.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 13:18:43 GMT

Well, the fuge and main tank got the rest of the sand today and the goby tank got dual nozzles on the return. You'd think at 500gph in a 20 gallon tank (without the chiller in line), there's no way cyano would thrive, but it does. Just a minor coating on the branch rock.

I also did some removal (via chisel and mallet) of some caulerpa that managed to survive (grrr!), cleaned the pumps and restacked my rubble rock baffle to hopefully start catching the microbubbles I am having an issue with. As a further effort, my return did have a horizontal T, with elbows at the ends of the T halfway submerged at the waterline to help clear off air. (I have an air trap further up.) As an experiment, I changed the direction of the T so that the water drops straight into the sump (slightly submerged), and the T goes to another elbow that points up as an additional air trap. Like so:

| |
| |__| |
| ___ | ........water line
| |

I can't tell yet the results, as the sand additions have a bit of a sandstorm going on. It should settle out by tomorrow and maybe I can see the results. It is a smidgen louder, but that's okay if it's better for bubbles. I'm doubtful -- it's pushing bubbles deeper into the sump, including right by the return pump.

If all this works, I am just waiting now to watch it grow out, and eventually move some seagrass into the goby tank, too.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 20:21:14 GMT

I just sent another email to WCA with better details and questions than last time. Maybe my 3 digit serial number will impress them? Isn't it like driving your car for so many miles, eventually they decide to give you a new one and put the old one in the museum?

It *could* be propane cooled, and that is definately not a DIY job. Hopefully they can look up my serial number in their records... assuming they have any... and tell me the scoop on this particular unit. I even have the original receipt somewhere if it I need to find that. It may be mislabelled, for all I know.

I will give them a couple of days to respond, and if nothing helpful happens there I will send a message to Ralph for ideas.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:56:41 GMT

I'm not so sure about this/the label... but must concede for safety. DO heed WCA advice here, I reckon. Still... it seems very unikely they could (or would want to) deviate from commercially common (read: easier/more profitable) coolants.

Let me suggest you talk to an old friend of mine, a retired and very knowledgeable expert on heating/cooling:

Ralph Gibson

his handle here on MD is RGIBSON and he is active (was online yesterday)

he may be able to suggest DIY options.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:49:23 GMT

I thought of an auto recharge kit, but the freon types have to match - and the label on the chiller case specifies 0 pounds for both R12 and R22... so it's either something else besides freon or it's not labelled properly, and that means it has to be drained if it can't be ID'd. WCA says to bring it in and drop it off, but that's a LONG drive.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:45:18 GMT

No doubt it needs recharging of some sort, but the label specifies zero pounds of freon and I can't find a local AC shop willing to look at a chiller

if you can find one that is not too unsavory, consider a mechanic at an autobody shop (and bring a bloke with you... sigh ). These chaps are rather handy and prepared to tweak such units on the side/fly (auto units, refridgerators, etc). Pocket money to them.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:35:57 GMT

Yay! The chiller is fixed! Thanks to a local reefer -- and he doesn't really know what it was he did to get it working. It's not chilling very well, though. No doubt it needs recharging of some sort, but the label specifies zero pounds of freon and I can't find a local AC shop willing to look at a chiller.

The clowns are laying their first nest in their new home tonight. As I suspected, they are laying it in the big tunnel on the rock all the way to the right. Two days ago, the female pushed over the big rock right next to it, and that rock has to weigh 20 pounds! She's not a very big, yet. When she gets older -- Oy Vey! She's been a real terror with me, too, lately, which is a complete change of personality.

It's not a very good spot for the eggs; it's several inches from their host and they are not very attentive parents at night. When they had a huge frogspawn protecting the eggs, they didn't need to do much. A shrunken-up sinularia on top of the rock will not be much protection at night. I doubt the eggs will make it to hatching.

Last night I caught the female standing on her head in the middle of the sinularia -- it looked like she was being eaten. They will be happier when this thing grows up. The sinularia does seem to be getting used to the attention and it opening fairly well during the day.

Coralline spots are showing up everywhere -- the rock is really coloring up nicely. pH is starting to climb and stabalize, too, at around 8.3 so far. Alas, I found a couple of spots of caulerpa. GGRRRR! I tried so hard to kill it!

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 06:27:27 GMT

The first chiller was a 1/6hp West Coast Aquatics mini-micro chiller -- 13 years old! The display and/or sensor went bad and started reading "92" all the time -- I had it on a controller so I wasn't concerned, but the nest time it kicked on, it didn't cool the water. So I don't think it's a freon issue, although it could no doubt use a recharge. A local reefer has it to look at.

The second chiller was a Via Aqua CC25 1/4 hp chiller. First it read "E1" while beeping loudly, which the manufacturer emailed me to say usually meant a bad sensor which was an easy replacement. However, shortly after the "E1" episode, the display/controller wouldn't light up at all, but the power button did. I popped off the case and saw no loose wires or connections and the fuse was good... which is about the limit of my knowledge. I'm getting a refund on that one.

Given the age of the first chiller, I thought it might be worth replacing even if I also got it fixed, then I could have the WCA as a backup. Maybe not. I am loathe to part with $500-$900 for a new chiller when I don't really need one, and no one is seling used chiller this time of year! So I guess I will concentrate on getting the West Coast Aquatics chiller fixed.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 01:29:18 GMT

Nicole... do post the brand of your chiller and likely one of us owns one and can help diagnose.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:08:20 GMT

Replumbing complete... at least until I get another chiller!

I am seeing some coralline start to grow. Mostly the regular purple, but also some of the lime green that I was hoping for, and hoping will persist -- even though it probably won't.

I found a home for the pipefish, but she backed out at the last minute. So the pipefish went into a QT by himself and I will probably start prazi this weekend, as soon as I have a 100% water change ready and aged.

Another goby tank shot. Where's Waldo?

And my new glowing neon orange clowns, thanks to the bulbs. (Leather is only closed because we had a power outage tonight.)

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:59:12 GMT

Oh yeah, tape went back on right away. No doubt it will need tweaking to get it back in it's right place. I don't understand why the dog lies to get behind the aquarium -- it's noisy and hot -- but all of my animals are weird. And he's half deaf so I guess the noise doesn't bother him.

I don't NEED a chiller -- it's an insurance policy for me. For one thing, I don't know yet if my new (smaller) AC can handle the brunt of those 110-115F days we get here in August. Whatever the weather report says, it's 10 degree hotter at my house. Nor does it help that I have a 5' x 10' west-facing window in that room.

And I'm a worry wart, really badly! One less thing to sit at work and worry about on hot days.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

argi — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:45:59 GMT

Very much a bummer Nicole. I still have not bit the bullet for a chiller and only use fans for cooling. So far so good, but my wife also like to keep the house on the cool side with the AC.

Good luck with things and put that piece of tape back on the heater.

Keith

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:31:17 GMT

Came home today and the tank was at 85F. A bit of a diatom outbreak and 2 of the corals were closed up, but that's it.

I was blaming the new lights when I went around behind the tank and saw someone (I'm guessing the dog) had bumped the heater up. I forgot to reattach the tape that holds the knob in place.

Coincidentally enough, I had stopped at the hardware store and contrived something silly but functional to solve my plumbing size mis-match problem with the chiller. I had planned to do a water change, but hey! I'll do the chiller instead. Now why is it giving me this "E1" code, and why isn't the manual available online anywhere? Oh, nevermind... E1 must have been really urgent...

2 1/2 hours later, I officially have 1) a dead chiller (no power) and 2) messed up plumbing again. Grrr! I hate plumbing.

And that's dead chiller #2 so far this year. Fuse is fine, power buttonlights up... no power to controller display.

"Gear" is just not my strong suit.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:02:05 GMT

Anthony Calfo (6/14/2006)

for most such plants, they die back into the sand and resprout later. Sometimes many months later as an adjust to new light and water depth. This is quite common with aquatic transplants (FW garden pond keepers see this alot too).

Yes, I'm not panicking. Yet.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:15:09 GMT

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:04:43 GMT

New lights went up last night, and boy, is the tank PINK! It is definately a new look; the clowns are glowing neon orange. I expected yellow... One of the old 10k's went over the goby tank instead of that too-blue 50/50 blue. Now THAT tank is yellow.

I also added the rest of the sand to the goby tank. I got a good look at what the pistols have been doing lately in there, and it's impressive. They have taken all those extra bits of shells I added and created a long, buttressed tunnel from their rock on the right to the gobies' favorite flower pot in the center. It just looks like a heap of sand on first inspection. Very nice. The goby tank looks much better now than it did; when the seagrass goes in there it will be pretty decent.

Speaking of seagrass, the seagrass isn't doing so well. The englemannii has gotten paper thin and translucent, and part of ii appears to be dying. The wrightii has blades that are turning black. I don't know if this is normal plant shock or not. Anyway, the news lights should be much brighter in their usable range, and I added some fertilizer plugs in the sandbed this morning if there's a nutritional issue.

Something very strange is happening -- my pH is higher at night. After I neglected the tank when it was empty, my levels got off a bit. Mg was a smidgen low and also Alk. So, pH has also dropped and is running at about 8.12 during the day -- and 8.18 at night! I have a reverse lit fuge, but it only has a scrap of halimeda and a few blades of seagrass. Wierd.

I need a bit more sand in the main tank and in the fuge, but I am going to give the fishes and corals a break for a few days after the sandstorm last night from adding sand in the goby tank. It had all settled out with a few hours, but it was very fine particles and couldn't have been very good for their gills.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:00:47 GMT

ooh, yes... bowfronts or any distorted glass badly affect photography. Photo tip though in general... do not depend on the aquarium lamps to support photo lighting. On the contrary... try shooting pics with tank lights off and only enough indirect room light to help your lens focus. Then with a flash, you can get more accurate (color) photography since the camera will be flooding the field with a known color of light.

As for lamps for the nano... most all small PC lamps are very short lived and poor quality. Long term its best to consider a small MH for the purpose like ARAD/Icecaps nano halides. 50 or 75 watt models.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:30:10 GMT

No doubt cheap glass is a factor, plus the bowfront of the nanocube, but I seem to have the most trouble with the light bulb in there. It just really messes up the color accuracy; and then the bowfront tends to cause glare spots on photos. The photos above I got with the help of the afternoon sun coming in the door.

Speaking of lights, any comments on the choice of bulbs for the main tank, Anthony? (50/50 10k/actinic and 2 6700k Colormax bulbs)

Anyway, the pipefish ate like a champ last night and this morning -- BBS -- so crisis time is over for the young pipefish. Now to get him beefed up, eating prepared food and decided what to do with him.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

argi — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:19:45 GMT

Anthony Calfo (6/13/2006)

a brief comment, and many possible reasons for the tricky photography here... but

I have found many of our small hobby tanks have really cheap plate glass that is dreadful to try to photograph through. The glass is strong for its "impurities" (added iron, etc) but that is the very thing in part that makes imaging through it difficult to do clearly. One of my (new) 10 gall seahorse tanks is just impossible to shoot any pics through. You could have a $1000K lens to shoot with, but if you are imaging through a $2/sq. ft piece of plate aquarium glass or cheap acrylic .. well :p

Very interesting..now I can blame my problems with photography on the glass, not me. But I still think it is me. I am having a similar problem taking pictures through a bowfront tank. My thoughts were that the bow (54 corner bow) in the glass were causing out of focus pictures? Any thoughts?

Nicole, you pictures still come out much better than any of my shots.

Keith

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Anthony Calfo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:03:25 GMT

I have trouble taking photos in my QT

a brief comment, and many possible reasons for the tricky photography here... but

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:58:00 GMT

I have trouble taking photos in my QT, but here are two of the three lobos I picked up this weekend and the little extra surprise fish I found myself bringing home. The biggest lobo can barely be seen in the background of both the other lobo photos; it's gold and has some of the white mottling like the green one does, although not as much.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 20:17:31 GMT

Doh! You're right, Keith, one male and one female. I think why it was sticking in my head was because they permit trios in the wild, and sometimes you need to move the male out for a while to give him a rest.

Meanwhile... the new goby tank aquascape. A bit of a blizzard in there since I added a little of the Biosediment; more sand to come.

Papa looks on in approval, I hope:

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 18:05:40 GMT

Hmmm. I thought that there should be several male cardinals so they can take turns brooding the eggs, because it was too hard on the males to do it all the time. Food for thought.

I came back from out field trip with 3 lobophyllias, two peppermint shrimp and 6 Phillipine cerith snails. All from the first shop (SeaCrop). The lobos are quite excellent colored specimens. Also from the second shop...

... a banded pipefish (Doryrhamphus dactyliophorus?). He had just came in from a shipment and the shop didn't want him because they knew they couldn't feed him right and they were afraid he would die if they didn't sell him soon. Hence the sign, "$5 to good home!" I felt this was an excellent attitude to encourage (it's a new shop), and I WAS building a suitable home. Right now he is quite vigorous and looks healthy. I don't know if he will work out, but I will give him a trial in the lower flow goby tank and then onward to the main tank if he seems to be able to handle the flow well, because the main tank has more natural food. First, I have to train him on prepared foods anyway. If he doesn't take cyclopeeze tonight, I will break out the BBS. I guess I need to do some research on this particular species and getting them to eat.

Meanwhile, everything is getting acclimated to QT. No H. ovalis in stock; bummer. The goby tank will have to get something else.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

argi — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 05:58:01 GMT

NicoleC (6/9/2006)

Now, another potential fish for my lagoon has come to my attention: a flame angel. Preferrably a cast-off that has been in captivity for a while. Even a known bad boy coral nipper is unlikely to find a tempting snack in my leather tank, and the lobophyllia *could* move to the goby tank if that became a problem. Plus, it could be my herbivore for general algae control. Hmmm. I have never even thought about keeping an angel before.

So, tentatively, my potential new fish list is (in order of probable addition):
1 female/2 males banggai cardinals, captive bred from a San Diego breed, but getting the trio is the problem. 4 males would be even better, because I have to assume they will start breeding.
1 black sailfin blenny OR 1 midas blenny, as available
1 flame angel, hand-me-down fish

The flame I would think would be a great addition. When I had mine, they rarely touched any soft corals (occasional nip, but not anything harmful) and they left my lobo alone. What they did like to kill were red trach brains (not the greens, only the red ) and elegance corals. Everything else was good.

As for the Banggai, it has been my experience that males will kill each other. Maybe captive bred ones will be different???? I do not think you will have success keeping a trio or 4 males. More than likely a trio (2 males, 1 female or 1 male, 2 females) will eventually end up 1 male and 1 female. With 4 males, eventually you will end up with 1 male or possible 2 males, one on each side of the tank. When they are first put in the tank, they will school pretty tightly but that starts to change soon after. But I have been wrong before (maybe once but I think I was mistaken).

For the blennies, it is a toss up for me. Eventhough the black blenny isn't the colorful fish many like in this hobby I think they possess a personality that is unmatched to many of the brightly colored fish. The midas blenny has a little of both, color and personality.

Can not wait for the pictures.

Keith

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:39:57 GMT

I re-aquascaped the goby tank tonight. I didn't disturb their pistol shrimp-built palace on the left, but I did remove the large shelf rock and replaced it with a dramatic upside down Tonga branch from from the old tank. It didn't work out for the main tank per my original drawing, but it found a home anyway! Dramatic indeed -- the rock is brilliant white from the freshwater/bleach/freshwater treatment it received... but that will soon change. The rock looks very precarious, but it's actually supported against the back of the tank, front of the tank, and with it's full weight resting against the overflow, so it is very snug. There is no sand underneath for the pistols to undermine. I left the gobies both flower pot halves that they have preferred in the past for nests, and the shrimps got another couple of handfuls of assorted shells. On the right hand side, I have placed the barnacles on the bottom against the backwall, and I plan to add some sand there for more seagrass.

I do need to replumb the goby tank, but not this weekend, I think -- too much to do in the next two days. The goby tank will be getting a mini manifold to improve the flow pattern in that tank.

The aquascaping project was carefully timed to take place the day after their latest nest hatched, so as not to disturb them as much. Actually, the nest hatched first thing this morning as always, but I am used to nighttime hatches so I think that way about them. I also took off the crummy 18w(?) NO antique fish hood and put on a 65w JBJ fixture I purchased a while back when I was experimenting to see if my male yellow watchman goby would turn yellow

I also set up a new clean QT for my trek with the club to SeaCrop tomorrow. I plan to pick up a batch of cerith snails and some peppermint shrimp, and also some H. ovalis for the goby tank. From some other club members, I am also acquiring extra sand tomorrow (Southdown) for the sand bed in the goby tank. My order from MD arrived today with my Kent Marine Biosediment and plant fertilizer. I put a tupperware dish of the sediment with a plug of the fertilizer in QT for the seagrass; the snails and shrimp should be easily fed.

My MD order also included new bulbs (among other things) -- I chose 2 50/50 10k/actinic and 2 6700k Colormax bulbs. It will be much yellower than I am used to, but I think it will be good for the grass. My current bulbs are 8 or 9 months old and I need to remove the fixture to clean the splash shield anyway.

Photos tomorrow night, I think.

Now, another potential fish for my lagoon has come to my attention: a flame angel. Preferrably a cast-off that has been in captivity for a while. Even a known bad boy coral nipper is unlikely to find a tempting snack in my leather tank, and the lobophyllia *could* move to the goby tank if that became a problem. Plus, it could be my herbivore for general algae control. Hmmm. I have never even thought about keeping an angel before.

So, tentatively, my potential new fish list is (in order of probable addition):
1 female/2 males banggai cardinals, captive bred from a San Diego breed, but getting the trio is the problem. 4 males would be even better, because I have to assume they will start breeding.
1 black sailfin blenny OR 1 midas blenny, as available
1 flame angel, hand-me-down fish

That would be a much higher bioload than I am used to running, but I think the seagrass will need it. I am debating going skimmerless as well, although I won't make that decision until all the fish are QT'd and in the tank, and I have a chance to measure O2 levels throughout the day. I really don't think oxygenation will be a problem with the way my standpipe is installed -- plus the goby tank overflow -- but I would like to have a reasonable margin of error. Having a big, long power outage will do that to you!

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:25:53 GMT

So, does anyone want to help me with my fish choices? (Previous page.) Searching on the internet for photos of seagrass lagoons rarely show fish... and the articles regarding lagoon fishes I can find are all related to the Caribbean. The list I posted previously I got from trawling online fish retailers for species, and then looking them up in FishBase. Tedious, and no doubt I am missing some good ideas.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 18:50:31 GMT

Ha! The clown fish was absolutely vicious with me tonight -- I was pondering placement of another piece of rock (I vetoed it in the end) and she almost drew blood. That is most unlike her. Looks like we are back to hand feeding only for a while to tame her back down. Smart girl, though, she doesn't bite the gloves but bites the inside of the arm where it really hurts.

Perhaps she saw the grass and in triggered some clownfish instinct -- she's CB and has never seen the stuff before. Well, I hope she likes her new more specific home. Seems like she does if she is building already!

Yes, seagrass seems to be fine. Looked nasty in the bag, and a lot of shed leaves as I said, but once I got it out and cleaned off the loose parts it seems to be fine.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Samala — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 18:23:04 GMT

Mais oui, all fishless prop tanks, much to my chagrin ("oh, look at the cute X, I want him, I need him, I have open tanks.. but they're supposed to be fishless.. darnnnnnnn!"). I cant guarantee anything, but its something I pay a lot of attention too.. particularly since its the seahorse keepers who tend to be interested in 'grasses and they are a bit paranoid, but rightfully so, for fish vectored diseases/problems. (Hydroids too, but I've never seen em in my tanks. Nope, instead of 'natural' fertilizer from fish I used a slew of hydroponics chemicals and grow them up that way. CO2 dosing as well.

Nicole looks like everything came through very well, you had me scared! Like I said, you have any trouble, its easy enough to replace these. I hope the clown minds her manners over the greens though.

>Sarah

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

argi — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 04:23:43 GMT

Awesome..I really like the Halophila engelmannii (star grass). The tank is progressing nicely.

Keith

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

NicoleC — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:05:35 GMT

Yes, I broke quarantine. They came from Sarah's prop tank -- which actually I think IS fishless judging from the pics I have seen (or rather the fish I haven't) -- but indeed I took a calculated risk. Hopefully one I don't have to rectify the hard way.

RE: Diary of a tank rebuild -- 100g lagoon

Puffer Queen — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 21:37:34 GMT

Awesome sea grasses!

Thanks for sharing the pics.

My only concern - not to make you paranoid, but did these grasses come from a tank that was fishless for at least 4 weeks ?