CaptAndrew
New member
Correct, the tang will turn blue... Going to try and catch some Blue Chromis later in the week... so far the best approach has actually been using a giant ziplock...
220 Gallon Reef Build in the Caribbean...
- Thread starter CaptAndrew
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CaptAndrew
New member
Some night time shots...
An unidentified anemone (have been searching for a long time to figure out what this is)
Trochus Snail
An unidentified sucker fish (I have 2 of these)
Snails at work...
An unidentified anemone (have been searching for a long time to figure out what this is)
Trochus Snail
An unidentified sucker fish (I have 2 of these)
Snails at work...
G_Sanab922
New member
Awesome! That pipe fish is interesting.
It works with a large ziplock?? How deep do you go ?
It works with a large ziplock?? How deep do you go ?
Helfrichs Chic
New member
Impressed that you have the guts to do this tank in the Caribbean lol. Im in St. Thomas and our power is unreliable at best, not to mention brown outs and greys that kill electronics. Maybe Tola is better with that... our grid sucks lol! My advice from the caribbean is BACK ups and surge protectors and LOTS of them! Clearly you have the funds to afford this hobby in the Carib. so don't skimp. Have you thought about what would happen in the event of a hurricane and power off for a month... or more? I assume you have a diesel generator, would the chiller and powerheads pull too much? I have had 6 different systems over about 15 years in the states before I decided I needed to see the stuff in the wild every day but the power goes out her several times a week. Alas I can not afford a chiller on a divers/island guide salary lol.
Mixed feelings here about collection, but our oceans are fighting a much bigger battle and MO doesn't matter to you or your tank (I'm a realist). Ditch that lizard fish asap or you'll find your baby tang and butterfly missing. Also that stringy looking thing coming off your rock is a stinging creature called a ctenophore - come jelly looks likely. They are VERY powerful stingers and will kill any coral it comes in contact with. Green stuff looks like the beginning of Halimeda a calcium based coral - harmless but can suck up a lot of your CA so you'll need to monitor it and does accordingly.... which you will be doing always.
A little concerned that you mention that its not done cycling but you have livestock in there? Did I misread? Id assume your ammonia and nitrites are reading 0? I assume you know the basics going with a 220 so I hope I am not coming off condensing. I would also advise to make sure you know the species you're collecting. You mentioned something about "not reef safe"and then showed a flame scallop - they are reef safe in fact help filter/scrub your water although can be hard to keep alive in a captive system without dosing phytoplankton weekly. They need a loot of food to make it long term.
Your anemone hitchhiker is likely a warty anemone (Bunodosoma cavernata).
http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki/index.php/Hitchhikers_Guide_to_the_Reef_Tank is a good place for hitchhikers, also my friend and amazingly knowledgeable reefer Bob Fenner's website www.wetwebmedia.com is a MECCA of knowledge and information. One can spend months browsing the threads.
In order to give back, consider growing some of the Acropora species (once you're established of course) and once large enough, frag and repopulate. We have several projects over here for that specifically Acropora Cervicornis. I have three colonies, one is at about a lot in diameter now located in Hull Bay by my house.
Mixed feelings here about collection, but our oceans are fighting a much bigger battle and MO doesn't matter to you or your tank (I'm a realist). Ditch that lizard fish asap or you'll find your baby tang and butterfly missing. Also that stringy looking thing coming off your rock is a stinging creature called a ctenophore - come jelly looks likely. They are VERY powerful stingers and will kill any coral it comes in contact with. Green stuff looks like the beginning of Halimeda a calcium based coral - harmless but can suck up a lot of your CA so you'll need to monitor it and does accordingly.... which you will be doing always.
A little concerned that you mention that its not done cycling but you have livestock in there? Did I misread? Id assume your ammonia and nitrites are reading 0? I assume you know the basics going with a 220 so I hope I am not coming off condensing. I would also advise to make sure you know the species you're collecting. You mentioned something about "not reef safe"and then showed a flame scallop - they are reef safe in fact help filter/scrub your water although can be hard to keep alive in a captive system without dosing phytoplankton weekly. They need a loot of food to make it long term.
Your anemone hitchhiker is likely a warty anemone (Bunodosoma cavernata).
http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki/index.php/Hitchhikers_Guide_to_the_Reef_Tank is a good place for hitchhikers, also my friend and amazingly knowledgeable reefer Bob Fenner's website www.wetwebmedia.com is a MECCA of knowledge and information. One can spend months browsing the threads.
In order to give back, consider growing some of the Acropora species (once you're established of course) and once large enough, frag and repopulate. We have several projects over here for that specifically Acropora Cervicornis. I have three colonies, one is at about a lot in diameter now located in Hull Bay by my house.
Last edited:
CaptAndrew
New member
Only about 20-30 feet. So far we're free diving only...
CaptAndrew
New member
Ok.. so I blew the face off my calc. reactor pump the other day. I made the mistake of messing with the pressure while the solenoid was off (thinking it wasn't working) and then turning the solenoid on. With a pop it was all over. I have a new one on the way from BRS.
Had to put the four eyed butterfly back in the sea, and the two suckerfish didn't make it unfortunately. Since, I have spotted a few decorator crabs, which appeared out of nowhere. Nothing else new so far, but I'm pretty sure there is still plenty to be spotted. At some point I will be making a trip out for some more fish, maybe some corals, and a cleanup crew for my refugium.
I tried running some chaeto in my fuge, but then realised that I had zero phosphates in my system thanks to GFO and biopellets. In the end it just made a mess and I don't think I'll do it again.
Im still making up my mind as to whether I want to continue to run filter socks. Man they're a pain. The biopellets don't seem to be doing much, but I have no doubt that is because I was running GFO in conduction, which I have now shut down. What I would like to do is have the pellets bringing the nitrates as close to zero as possible, and the gfo to bring the remaining phosphates down.
Here are todays parameters after a 20% water change yesterday.
pH - 8.19
Salinity - 33.0 ppt
ORP - 384 mV
Ammonia - 0 ppm (will most likely stop testing for this soon)
Nitrate - 1.5 ppm
Phosphate - 0 ppm
Calcium - 420 ppm
Alkalinity - 7.5 dKH
Magnesium - 1360 ppm
Iodine - 0.07 ppm
Iron - 0 ppm
Potassium - 440 ppm
Had to put the four eyed butterfly back in the sea, and the two suckerfish didn't make it unfortunately. Since, I have spotted a few decorator crabs, which appeared out of nowhere. Nothing else new so far, but I'm pretty sure there is still plenty to be spotted. At some point I will be making a trip out for some more fish, maybe some corals, and a cleanup crew for my refugium.
I tried running some chaeto in my fuge, but then realised that I had zero phosphates in my system thanks to GFO and biopellets. In the end it just made a mess and I don't think I'll do it again.
Im still making up my mind as to whether I want to continue to run filter socks. Man they're a pain. The biopellets don't seem to be doing much, but I have no doubt that is because I was running GFO in conduction, which I have now shut down. What I would like to do is have the pellets bringing the nitrates as close to zero as possible, and the gfo to bring the remaining phosphates down.
Here are todays parameters after a 20% water change yesterday.
pH - 8.19
Salinity - 33.0 ppt
ORP - 384 mV
Ammonia - 0 ppm (will most likely stop testing for this soon)
Nitrate - 1.5 ppm
Phosphate - 0 ppm
Calcium - 420 ppm
Alkalinity - 7.5 dKH
Magnesium - 1360 ppm
Iodine - 0.07 ppm
Iron - 0 ppm
Potassium - 440 ppm
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