Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

I played around with the moonlight LED fixture last night. It looks amazing, but it's maybe too bright. So I placed it so that 2 of the 3 LEDs are obscured. I still get the shimmering effect, but at a lower light level. That's better!
 
I'm really kind of enjoying the moonlight. It used to be a bummer when the lights went out. Now I can sit in the dark and have a cool night viewing. It looks pretty natural too. A fun, cheap upgrade!
 
I was thinking of shooting a video. I don't think it would be all that interesting though. A short one could work, I guess. I'll give it a try.
 
I've got a harem of six Royal Grammas coming, and a small Atlantic Blue Tang. Should be early next week. Finally, I'm getting the fish I designed the fake wall for. Hidden in the foam are a bunch of plastic bottles, that hopefully will become gramma caves. I'll have to uncover any of the holes grown over by caulerpa. If all goes well, the harem should do what comes naturally and spawn. The tang should help with the caulerpa pruning, as well as provide more poo for the detrivores and seagrasses.

And there's the whole aquarium coming alive thing. It's hard to imagine how different the tank will be. Woohoo!
 
WOOHOO!!

Take some vids before they come so you can have a before and after...

I finally got a mate for my massive coral banded female - can't help but record their happiness :D
 
I've got a harem of six Royal Grammas coming, and a small Atlantic Blue Tang. Should be early next week. Finally, I'm getting the fish I designed the fake wall for. Hidden in the foam are a bunch of plastic bottles, that hopefully will become gramma caves. I'll have to uncover any of the holes grown over by caulerpa. If all goes well, the harem should do what comes naturally and spawn. The tang should help with the caulerpa pruning, as well as provide more poo for the detrivores and seagrasses.

And there's the whole aquarium coming alive thing. It's hard to imagine how different the tank will be. Woohoo!
That sounds amazing!
 
sam.basye did an excellent fake wall in his 29. You should check his out too.

Thank you, vlangel. Here's a pic before the foam. 24 homes available.
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I do hope the grammas take to the wall. My research indicates they like vertical surfaces, overhangs and caves. Fingers crossed! I expect they'll hang towards the darker end of the tank, at first at least. I imagine one of them might take out Junior, the non-hosting (guesting?) anemone shrimp. But he is a cleaner shrimp, so we'll see.

I'll be very interested to see how the tang does with the macros. Ideally, they'll reach an equilibrium, and I won't have to prune anymore.
 
Aww, thanks Michael ;)

Those grammas better take to the wall! I haven't waited this long for you to add some real fish for them not to use the caves. Now that you've satisfied the fish itch, I guess it's time to unsubscribe. Lol

They might not be able to find the caves with all the fauna covering the wall. Good luck with the tang pruning! Were you able to request the juve tang or are you settling on an adult?
 
Only about a year and a half before I got some real fish! Ha! You can unsubscribe after they swim sensuously through my lush seagrass meadow.

I'm going to use old pics, when the wall was new, to locate all the holes, and clear them. The rest is up to them! For me, the idea was to provide ideal homes for the grammas, without having a pile of live rock.
 
Haha, I guess I'll wait to see some swimming fish.. The grasses sure have come a long way. Still substrate dosing?

I wonder if the grammas will be like a clown and host anemone where the grammas may or may not be hosted by the caves. Like some clowns will make a B-line straight for a new host nem, some take a few days to weeks or months, and some will never. It will be interesting to see their behavior.
 
On the tang, I should be getting a juvenile, so it should be vivid yellow. I'm looking forward to getting pics of this gorgeous fish!

Yes, I'm still substrate dosing. More grasses are splitting.

It IS like a hosting thing! I too wonder if they'll take right to them, or not. Since there are few other places for them to hide, I'm fairly confident. Pretty crazy idea though, huh? You'd think I'd at least kept grammas before, but no. And I'm going for a six fish harem!

I'm also curious to see how they interact with the barnacle blennies. Could be trouble…
 
Yo - Grass guys! :D

So I found a strange hitchhiker in my sump chaeto mass... a refugee from almost two years ago who has survived and is fighting for room...

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/9E7C4D98-BBC7-495F-AF31-664395CE8B0C_zpseo6dtjfa.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/9E7C4D98-BBC7-495F-AF31-664395CE8B0C_zpseo6dtjfa.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 9E7C4D98-BBC7-495F-AF31-664395CE8B0C_zpseo6dtjfa.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/CEC41CCE-8931-40C5-8E82-29C957A064C7_zps0v3ffahy.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/CEC41CCE-8931-40C5-8E82-29C957A064C7_zps0v3ffahy.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo CEC41CCE-8931-40C5-8E82-29C957A064C7_zps0v3ffahy.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/D5B76C12-11A2-4AA2-A197-F9A592903ECD_zpssqcpqpjk.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/D5B76C12-11A2-4AA2-A197-F9A592903ECD_zpssqcpqpjk.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo D5B76C12-11A2-4AA2-A197-F9A592903ECD_zpssqcpqpjk.jpg"/></a>

In some cases, it's nearly out of the water. I have a surge so the water line goes up and down - so being exposed like this is usually temporary but I'd think it would grow down towards the constantly submerged region...

Red bubble caulerpa???

I think a couple of bubbles came in by accident in the water the chaeto came in with and just disappeared. It looks like it got a foothold in the corner and has been staging a comeback.

Just thought you'd get a kick out of it. Surprised me.
 
I got a confirmation email; the fish come tomorrow! I ordered from KP Aquatics, formerly SeaLife Inc. This is my first time ordering from them, but I've heard good things.

I can't even imagine how different my tank will be, after these new additions. For one thing, it will be a lot more interesting to look at! Can't wait!
 
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