Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

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The rock is visible again

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My porites like the conditions

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For the algae-o-philes:
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Awesome! So glad to hear you're turning the tide, so to speak, on hair algae. Sounds like you may be ready to remove some chaeto, for nutrient export. Two water changes - that must've been fun, as big as your tank is. Thanks for all the pics. It's great to see your fake wall showing through again. Seeing your fish makes me want fish!

You really are dealing with the 'ultimate challenge' for aquarists. I salute you!

I had a thought, that might help with your bug-situation. Filter socks. Maybe put one on the discharge of your overflow into your sump. I wouldn't normally recommend them, because they'd need to be changed daily, but since you get so many 'guests' everyday, you might add it to your daily routine. Have two in rotation, with one working and the other getting cleaned/drying.

It's a thought. You've probably already thought of it. I was just thinking, if you could attack the 'source' of your nutrients, it would help. Will it be an issue in the winter months? If not, you could take a few months off 'sock duty'. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd need to remove some urchins soon, so your herbivorous fish don't run out of 'pasture'.
 
My Portieria Macro Algae and Cerith snails come today. Looks like the timing will be right, as I'm getting some microalgae, diatoms and cyanobacteria, here and there. I'll add a fighting conch or two, once the tank conditions are more stable.

I've finally decided on a blenny. The Horned Blenny looks like the best caribbean species for my community of mostly small fish. Hopefully I won't have to add one until I get the sunshine chromis, royal grammas and chalk basses in there. The red-lipped blenny was also under consideration, but it gets a little too big and appears to be a little more aggressive than the horned.

I'll keep the mollies as an option as well, but my gut feeling is that they won't 'look right' in my tank. It would be nice to see a fish in the tank though! I wonder how easy to catch they are. I'll see how the snails do…
 
I have a side sump (aux) that absorbs the 30-60gal surges in my system. The surge run during the day but not at night (similar to the skimmer). So at night, I have an 100gal reservoir that I can disconnect from the main tank and sump with a valve.

So, after the surge stops and the reservoir is full, I open a valve that drains directly into my garage sink drain and close the main tank return. In a few minutes, 100gal of the tank will have been flushed out (with the opening and closing of two valves).

I close the valve between the main sump and aux sump and dump 2 bags of salt in the reservoir with a rio pump. My RODI reservoir it over my aux sump, so I open a drain valve and 100gal of fresh water gushes into the aux over my mountains of salt. Start the rio and mix while I watch TV for an hour.

The last step is to open the valve between the sumps and let the freshly mixed SW slowly mingle with the main sump and DT tank.

That's it. The morning surge sucks the bulk of mixed water into the surge reservoir and the skimmer start.
 
I tried the filter socks. I accumulated as many amphipods as I did gnats. I spent an hour picking the 100 pods out of the muck. Not including tiny snails and glass shrimp. The second time around, I just dumped the whole sock's contents into my Chaeto and walked away...

I turn off the surge, pheads, and skimmer at night to create a quiet calm flow. It's done wonders for my plankton population. So... No socks or sponges or any other obstruction. Only the Chaeto functions as a mechanical filter now.
 
Surge:
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Aux:
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Skimmer and sink
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Wow, you've got quite a system going there! Is your surge setup based on the 'Carlson' surge devise? Does the tank sit in your garage with a 'window' into your house?

Must be nice, having all that room for your laboratory!

Wish I had a laboratory…
 
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Yes. The tank is in the garage with a window to the house (wife's ask for no floods indoors - bah!!!)

The surge is actuated. I use my Apex, a DIY control box, and linear actuators acting on PVC DIY valves. Two outlets opposing flow for maximum chaos. :)

I also have an alternating flow return (motorized) at opposite corners.

X out 1 -------------- X surge 1
X surge 2 ------------ X out 2

So the two outlets are on a sine wave interplay. The surges are on 3 min and 4 min timers with level sensors to ensure no bubbles.

The corals like it.
 
Sweet! You and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum, aren't we? Compared to your system, mine may as well be a bucket and spoon!

It's funny how our wives keep us in check. Boys and their toys…
 
Snapped some pics…

Snapped some pics"¦

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Full tank shot. The Ulva is doing well up there in the field of dreams, the chaeto, not so much. Hopefully, it will adapt. It was happy on the sandbed.

I'm just happy the whole thing hasn't collapsed! Fake wall: check, fake root: check!
 
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A red trespasser on the green side. A medium sized extra piece of the Portieria, that came today, from Gulf Coast Ecosystems, along with twenty snails.
 
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