Waterbox 130.4 Macroalgae Display

[Kataro]

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've been busy and don't have my DSLR right now so I've been neglecting this thread.

Sadly the Garden Eel all died because they wandered into my AI Nero 5, I've been debating about switching to an Mp40 with an Anemone Cover to fix this issue before getting more Garden Eels.

I've added a school of Apogon Leptacanthus (12) to my tank since the last update, along with some Brunn's Cleaner Shrimps. The tank look very busy now when I feed!

I will try to upload a video of the tank later on today once I figure out how to process it!

The tank itself is pretty simple, it's just a Waterbox 130.4 with a Nyos Skimmer for filtration. I've been testing Phosphate / Nitrate and been getting 0.10 or so Phosphate and 0 Nitrate, not sure if its a good thing to have nitrate so low for the Algae.

I've also been doing about 15-20G Water change every 7-10 days and of course I've been upping my feeding due to some of the new NPS (Carnation Corals, Chili Corals, ect). So far everything seem to be in balance and happy now!

 

[vlangel]

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've been busy and don't have my DSLR right now so I've been neglecting this thread.

Sadly the Garden Eel all died because they wandered into my AI Nero 5, I've been debating about switching to an Mp40 with an Anemone Cover to fix this issue before getting more Garden Eels.

I've added a school of Apogon Leptacanthus (12) to my tank since the last update, along with some Brunn's Cleaner Shrimps. The tank look very busy now when I feed!

I will try to upload a video of the tank later on today once I figure out how to process it!

The tank itself is pretty simple, it's just a Waterbox 130.4 with a Nyos Skimmer for filtration. I've been testing Phosphate / Nitrate and been getting 0.10 or so Phosphate and 0 Nitrate, not sure if its a good thing to have nitrate so low for the Algae.

I've also been doing about 15-20G Water change every 7-10 days and of course I've been upping my feeding due to some of the new NPS (Carnation Corals, Chili Corals, ect). So far everything seem to be in balance and happy now!

I would try to get detectable nitrates to feed your macro algaes.

 

[Chasmodes]

Bummer about the garden eels. Sorry to hear about their passing. Are you eventually going to try them again?

 

[Kataro]

Bummer about the garden eels. Sorry to hear about their passing. Are you eventually going to try them again?

I will try them again, I need to change the Nero to a Mp40 and get those Nem Guard to prevent them from being chopped up.

 

[Kataro]

Finally some pictures!! Sorry for taking such a long time between updates. The tank has been doing really good and growing out very fast, one of my favorite thing about this tank is the strange inverts I've been able to keep. There's always something new to see in there!

I've acquired an Emperor Shrimp recently and it has taken to hosting my Sea Apple! I try to feed this little guy every day with a piece of squid / shrimp.

Another new addition is two Feather Starfish. They've been doing pretty well so far and always come out to feed whenever I put in Reef Roid or Reef Nutrition.

Some little Sea Cucumber, my goal is to have this cliff fill with them!

Carnation Corals

Anemone Crab / Shrimp neighborhood

Distichopora

A very special Nemastoma Algae I recently acquired

 

[vlangel]

You must feed a lot of food to sustain all the different life forms that your tank has. If I might ask, what does your maintenance entail?

 

[Chasmodes]

Amazing, thanks for sharing your pics with us!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

An awesome collection of plants and inverts! Great pics!

 

[Kataro]

You must feed a lot of food to sustain all the different life forms that your tank has. If I might ask, what does your maintenance entail?

I do try to feed 2-3 times a day, so far this has kept everyone in the tank happy. I did noticed some small growth from my gorgonian, and I saw the emperor shrimp "eating" something that came out of the Sea Apple (Sea apple actually consuming phytoplankton).

I turn off the Return Pump and dose the tank in 3 phase.

I dose about 10-15 drops of Phytofeast and broadcast feed and leave it for about 5-10 minutes, usually this gets all the filter feeder to come out.

Next I try to feed the fishes / shrimps / crabs with a mixture of Reef Nutrition Beta Brine / Arctic Pods / Tigger Pods / R.o.E (alternating each feeding). This also help feed some of the bigger polyp Gorgs.

Finally I dose a mixture of Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast / Roti Feast / Reef Roids. To help feed the finer polyps gorg / other filter feeders.

I've been watching my phosphate / nitrate, and so far I've been stable around 0.19 Phosphate (Hanna checker), and Nitrate reads 0 (Salifert)

 

[vlangel]

I do try to feed 2-3 times a day, so far this has kept everyone in the tank happy. I did noticed some small growth from my gorgonian, and I saw the emperor shrimp "eating" something that came out of the Sea Apple (Sea apple actually consuming phytoplankton).

I turn off the Return Pump and dose the tank in 3 phase.

I dose about 10-15 drops of Phytofeast and broadcast feed and leave it for about 5-10 minutes, usually this gets all the filter feeder to come out.

Next I try to feed the fishes / shrimps / crabs with a mixture of Reef Nutrition Beta Brine / Arctic Pods / Tigger Pods / R.o.E (alternating each feeding). This also help feed some of the bigger polyp Gorgs.

Finally I dose a mixture of Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast / Roti Feast / Reef Roids. To help feed the finer polyps gorg / other filter feeders.

I've been watching my phosphate / nitrate, and so far I've been stable around 0.19 Phosphate (Hanna checker), and Nitrate reads 0 (Salifert)

Wow, that sound great that your nitrates and phosphates are under control. Do you run a skimmer and/or do water changes?

 

[Kataro]

Wow, that sound great that your nitrates and phosphates are under control. Do you run a skimmer and/or do water changes?

I do run a Nyos 160 Skimmer, along with changing my filter socks daily, and a 15-20g water change every 7-9 days!

My tank is currently growing Ulva like mad so I also toss those away every week or so. All the algae growth really help keep the Nutrient down. I only clean the glass once every 4-5 days, and its usually a light layer of algae

 

[Kataro]

I wanted to show off this little corner of the tank, it have quite a bit of life on it. Check it out and see what you can find!

My Apogon Leptacanthus School.

 

[Kataro]

Got around to doing a FTS and some picture of the new Gorgs =)

I really hope the indo ban will go away soon so that I will be able to source some wire gorgs / unique NPS in, along with more algae!

Everything is still good with the tank with the exception of a few Sexy shrimps disappearing and some Algae keep floating away after 1-2 weeks. I will be trying to use fishing line to attach the algae to frags instead of glue and see how that work.

FTS

New Gorgonian

Distichopora sp

Carnation Coral

Random Shot

Eletric Scallop resting with the Feather Dusters

Xmas Worms are still happy!

 

[cksss]

omg the tubeworms are beautiful. Love your collections of red macros too

 

[Michael Hoaster]

More great pics! Tank looks great too. So much to see! Nice work.

 

[Kataro]

Thanks guys!

Had some time to clean the tank a bit and do some pictures!

This is a very special little zoa I got growing out!

My Thorny Oyster still doing great! Hopefully I can find 1 more to add to the tank. This one usually open extremely wide to feed when I dose Phytoplankton.

Some other Filter Feeders in the tank

My Crinoid has been moving around quite a bit, seem very happy along with his little hitchhiker!

Cleaner Shrimp

 

[Kataro]

And of course some Macroalgae pictures!

Dragon's Breathe Algae

??? ID

String O' Pearl

Galaxaura (sp?)

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Kataro, your tank is exceptional! Thanks for posting all the great photos. So much to see!

Do you have plans for any more additions? Or, are you going to let it ride for awhile? Just curious.

 

[vlangel]

Wow, your photos are phenomenal. I am just amazed at all the color and diversity of creatures.

 

[Chasmodes]

Your tank blows me away...simply beautiful and stunning. Thanks for sharing. BTW, your crinoid is really a cool addition! Awesome!