40g Long Naturally sun-lit tank

[Michael Hoaster]

Happy New Year to you too! Beautiful as usual! That purple one is awesome.

I'm curious about the jars. What are they for? Social commentary? Feeding stations? Refugiums?

 

[cksss]

Thank you Zachfishman!

This is beautiful.

Happy New year Michael!
There were there initially as feeding station for the mandarin fishes. They're alot smarter & faster in feeding now! I still toss food into those jars through a feeding tube, but it attracts mostly the nassarius snails and brittlestars. The mandarin seems to have 'outgrown' them!

Happy New Year to you too! Beautiful as usual! That purple one is awesome.

I'm curious about the jars. What are they for? Social commentary? Feeding stations? Refugiums?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Cool. It's good to hear you're keeping mandarins well-fed!

 

[cksss]

March 2017 updates, the tank is going to reach 2-years mark in a month.

Its mostly dominated by C.Prolifera which managed to root themselve over half the sandbed now. The purple Ochtodes are back and bigger than before :lol: While the sump is mostly Ulva as filter. I'm constantly fighting to keep the NO3 above 10ppm to prevent the algae from dying.

The current living inhabitants in the display tank are

- pair of mandarin fishes
- clownfish
- regal tang
- Christmas tree worm
- lots of brittle starfishes, snails who are laying eggs everyweek?, sea cucumber

Harvested lots of baby brittle starfishes

Would anyone be able to identify the anemone in the middle of this photo? They have multiplied quite abit, not as fast as the pesky aiptasia though.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Great pics! So natural. No idea on the anemone.

 

[addo]

The anemones are probably Majano, they are considered pests since they burn corals and multiply fairly quickly. But in your tank they probably wont do any harm. You deal with them the same way you treat Aptaisia, if they get out of hand.

 

[cksss]

Great pics! So natural. No idea on the anemone.

Thank you Michael! I really like your barnacle blennies playing hide & seek in the lagoon

 

[cksss]

The anemones are probably Majano, they are considered pests since they burn corals and multiply fairly quickly. But in your tank they probably wont do any harm. You deal with them the same way you treat Aptaisia, if they get out of hand.

Oh no! I've been feeding them deliberately because i thought they're harmless. They look beautiful though :spin2: Thank you for the ID!

 

[cksss]

And 2-months from the last updates, the C.Prolifera and the purple Ochtodes have grown quite abit.

The clownfish has also taken a liking for the C.Prolifera next to its nest (the glass bottle). It likes to stay motionless in that patch of C.Prolifera as if it is an anemone :lol:

No idea why some of the Ochtodes are 'browning' though

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Nice, cksss!

It's cool how planted tanks evolve over time, and with our adjustments.

It looks like the browning is happening where the plant gets the most light. This may suggest that plant prefers lower light, or it is photosynthesizing so well in those parts, that it's is using up a needed nutrient there. Since it has grown well there in the past, I suspect the latter.

 

[karimwassef]

Gorgeous...

What do you think it limiting them? What are you feeding? What's your Alk, Ca and Mg at?

 

[cksss]

Oh nooo i'm not measuring those as my testkit covers only the basic parameters for fish-only setup (pH, NO2, NO3, PO4) :hmm4:

I have been fighting to get NO3 to stay above 10ppm though, i know the NO3 got dangerously low when some of the macro started fading. So likely the 'browning' as suggested is the lack of nutrient.

I dose the water with these twice a week

Nice, cksss!

It's cool how planted tanks evolve over time, and with our adjustments.

It looks like the browning is happening where the plant gets the most light. This may suggest that plant prefers lower light, or it is photosynthesizing so well in those parts, that it's is using up a needed nutrient there. Since it has grown well there in the past, I suspect the latter.

Gorgeous...

What do you think it limiting them? What are you feeding? What's your Alk, Ca and Mg at?

 

[karimwassef]

Ochtodes are common wherever there are stony corals when I dive. I don't know if that implies that they need Alk and Ca.

 

[cksss]

Look at how much the Ochtodes has recovered! woohooo

And new favorite spot for the filefish

No anemone no problem

 

[HuskerBioProf]

Loving this tank

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Fantastic color combination with the blue/purple and green! Beautiful!

 

[cksss]

Thank you )

 

[cksss]

Here are the updates since June of the 'Ochtodes Lagoon'

Added quite a number of Cerith snails and also a Starry blenny

The full tank shot in July

The full tank shot in September (All the fishes are still alive, they went into hiding!!)

Transplanted lots of macros and mini sea-fan from the over-flow

Recused lots of inverts (fanworms, fireworm, pods, mini-stars) when I was cleaning up the sump. Almost discarded them if I did not inspect the overgrown macros carefully.

The main tank is still largely lighted by natural sunlight while the sump is on 24/7 plant light. Here's the kind of view the habitats in the tank get to enjoy.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Nice to see a progression. Great pics! Your overflow and sump are a goldmine! Love the penthouse view too!

 

[cksss]

Oct updates on the 'Ochtodes Lagoon'