So I used to have a reef... I say used to because for a month I have been bed ridden with Corona. In that time I wasn't able to maintain water changes and parameters. My beautiful reef turned in to a hair algae covered wasteland with some snails sponges and a lonely damsel.
However out of this disaster I can follow a dream I had a long time ago.
I will be transforming my wasteland in a to a slice of Florida reef by sourcing inverts and possibly fish locally. I'll be using local drifitng Saragassum as the primary aquascape around the live rock to offset nutrient spikes and provide shelter and food for oddball inverts. I'll probably anchor them to rocks with glue.
I need a bit more sand to house some sand loving organisms such as clams and brittle stars.
For filtration I have some chemical filtration in the form of carbon, got some mechanical with a filter sponge and floss.
And to top that off I have a nano skimmer that did a dang good job in the past.
I want this tank to be rich in nutrients for the most part which is the biggest challenge due to the tank being only around 16 gallons. Hopefully the skimmer and macro algae along with the inverts can balance things out nicely.
Over top of the reef I have some Mangrove pods sprouting which will form an interesting aquascape with their roots, when they reach a size too large for the tank they will be replanted at nearby beaches in an effort to maintain our mangrove population and provide shelter for many organisms suffering due to mangrove removal.
As for coral, I would like to source some zoas ricordeas and gorgonians but I'm a little unclear about locations and species allowed to be collected so I'll be contacting some reef conservation groups for more info. Not at the coral point anyway.
This has been a dream for a long time. Hopefully I can make it a reality. Any advice is more than welcome and I'd love if you guys would join me on thos journey!
However out of this disaster I can follow a dream I had a long time ago.
I will be transforming my wasteland in a to a slice of Florida reef by sourcing inverts and possibly fish locally. I'll be using local drifitng Saragassum as the primary aquascape around the live rock to offset nutrient spikes and provide shelter and food for oddball inverts. I'll probably anchor them to rocks with glue.
I need a bit more sand to house some sand loving organisms such as clams and brittle stars.
For filtration I have some chemical filtration in the form of carbon, got some mechanical with a filter sponge and floss.
And to top that off I have a nano skimmer that did a dang good job in the past.
I want this tank to be rich in nutrients for the most part which is the biggest challenge due to the tank being only around 16 gallons. Hopefully the skimmer and macro algae along with the inverts can balance things out nicely.
Over top of the reef I have some Mangrove pods sprouting which will form an interesting aquascape with their roots, when they reach a size too large for the tank they will be replanted at nearby beaches in an effort to maintain our mangrove population and provide shelter for many organisms suffering due to mangrove removal.
As for coral, I would like to source some zoas ricordeas and gorgonians but I'm a little unclear about locations and species allowed to be collected so I'll be contacting some reef conservation groups for more info. Not at the coral point anyway.
This has been a dream for a long time. Hopefully I can make it a reality. Any advice is more than welcome and I'd love if you guys would join me on thos journey!
