My new lagoon

[RyanCD]

Gravyard, I see in one of your last pics a bag of play sand in the bottom left corner. What kind is that? I live outside of Manchester, NH and cannot find southdown at ANY home depot. I have called hooksett, manchester, nashua and amherst and they just have the tank quikrete. Any help would be apprecitated.

Thanks

Rye Courtney

[graveyardworm]

A couple years ago when I heard southdown would no longer be available I bought a whole bunch in anticipation of my lagoon setup, and associated tanks. That's my last bag and a half. If I had more left I'd be willing to let some go.

What LFS do you visit?

[Paul B]

When I see pictures of a natural reef (unfortunately I've never been there myself) the colors look kinda brownish and not nearly as vivid as what one can achieve in a closed environment with strict controls. I like the natural look albeit not as bright and colorful as what can be achieved.

I forgot who said this here but it is incorrect. Well kind of.
An aquarium will never be more colorful as a natural reef. The pictures you are seeing are reefs at a depth. Our tanks are at most two or three feet deep, but even if they are 15 feet deep you would still see vibrant colors. If you go down even thirty feet in the sea the colors start to disappear and a little deeper and all you see is blue until you illuminate it with a dive light. Thats why I like night diving better. You see everything with a light and the colors are unbelievable. I took this picture in Tahiti at about 30', look how washed out and blue it is.
Also my flash broke so this is natural


This picture of my wife was taken on the same dive at the same place with a light. See any difference?

The last picture was deeper but you can see some yellow in the fish in the foreground.
If the picture was taken of the corals, close up with a light you would see colors like you never say in a tank.
If you see a shallow reef it is very colorful because there is no substitute to sunlight.
But we try anyway. And some of you guys (and girls) have some nice looking tanks.
Take care and have a great day.
Paul

[RyanCD]

Graveyard sorry to interupt your thread but I have a question to Paul B in regards to how he makes that live rock out of PVC. What recipe are you using?

[RyanCD]

David, I go to seaworld (salem), aqua addicts (salem) and we occasionally go to little shop of pets (portsmouth) but they dont seem to have as great of a selection since they moved. how about yourself?? i feel like someone needs to open one over in the manchester area badly! my weekends are devoted to driving all over the state trying to find cool little dives of fish stores but there just hardly arent any and it makes me sad I dont want to have to order EVERYTHING online....

Rye

[graveyardworm]

Ryan I visit all the same places, yes Manchester, and Concord could both be improved with good saltawater stores. There is a new one in (Plaistow?) anyway its on 125 heading south right around the Plaistow line called Zoocreatures, or Zoopets. They're just getting started, and not too bad. Also there's another one in Hudson I havent been to yet on I think Lowell Rd. I'll be going there the next time I'm down that way. You should check out Boston Reefers you'll find most of the local stores represented there or at least talked about.

Paul that comment was made by me I understand now that as the light passes through the water it looses wavelengths and to the naked eye things appear kinda drab. Anyhow I still love the look of the tank posted earlier, looks very natural.

[Paul B]

Ryan, here is a thread with the pictures of the rock in stages of construction. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=791195

It is basically 1/2" PVC pipe heat bent with a propane torch, covered with plastic window screen and then covered with Sakrete mortor mix. Very easy, very cheap, and since it's hollow, it's light and may help with denitrification.

I collected all of my rocks myself and over the years I have replaced a lot of them with homemade rocks because it can be custom built to hold corals and coraline algae grows better on cement than real rock. I really have no Idea which rocks I built and which I collected, except the cement rocks look better.
The PVC method is different because you could build long fragile structures that you would not be able to buy because it would break in transit.
I don't want to hijack this thread too much but here is one picture of a small piece about 10" high. You can se coraline on it and it was not very old here. Now it is covered with polyps.
The white is there for the picture.
If you have any questions send me a message.
Paul

[graveyardworm]

Originally posted by Paul B
I don't want to hijack this thread too much

No problem Paul, we're all here to learn, and your more than welcome to talk reefs in my thread even if its not my reef. BTW that last rock looks like a guy balancing on one foot trying to place something on a shelf. Looks like a good place for a frag.
I kinda wish the green turf algae would grow back on my homemade LR it helps the coraline to really stand out, and a nice contrast.

[RyanCD]

David,

I forgot about the one in hudson. I went there 2 weekend ago. Nice setup and they are building this ginormous reef tank in the center of the store. They had a good selection of coral, not too many fish though but i do know they are just getting started as well. If i hear of anymore i will definitley keep you posted and vice versa!

-Rye Courtney

[Paul B]

BTW that last rock looks like a guy balancing on one foot trying to place something on a shelf. Looks like a good place for a frag.

David, I can see that too. That particular rock was put in that position for the picture, it is now horizontal sticking out of the rest of the rock. You would not recognize it because it is completely covered in polyps and coraline algae.
Paul

[firewire]

for a 100 gallon tank are those common demisons 72/18/18 ?

[graveyardworm]

I think another common dimension might be 60"L 18"W 24"H.

[Paul B]

David the dimentions you mention are the most common 100 gallon tank. I needed something longer and skinnier for the wall I was installing it in. I have only seen one other like it so far.
Paul

[graveyardworm]

My tank is pretty old I got it from a retired fish breeder who was cleaning out his home and moving back to Hungary. I cleaned and resealed the tank and replaced the upper and lower frame. I love the length and shorter height.

The guy brought out some sort of Hungarian liquor not available in the states while I helped him empty his home in exchange for the tank. hiccup

[Paul B]

My tank is pretty old

I think I got this tank in 1979 brand new. At that time I had a 30 gallon tank. I transfered all the stuff into this tank. I moved from a small apartment then and even a 30 gallon tank was huge in there.
Paul

[graveyardworm]

Late night update my seagrass is doing well under 80 watts NO flourescent light, I just got my mangrove, and a new macro rhodo-something. Pics to come hopefully tomorrow.

[The_Nexis_One]

Excellent! Looking forward to the pix.

Thanks,
John.

[graveyardworm]

Here they are, and a couple questions after.











Since the mangrove already has roots I wasnt quite sure at what depth it needs to be in the water. So I placed it in so that a little bit of the pod is below the water level. Is this okay? Does it matter? I'd actually like to pick it up alittle to expose the roots more.

The rhodomenia was a little yellow on the tips when I got it, but the yellow has progressed. Possibly shock from shipping, or should I be checking parameters and supplementing something? Do you think it will recover? Should I cut away the yellowing tips?

The mermaids cup is looking pretty good hopefully I'll soon have more.

The seagrass has sprouted a new leaf which has been growing about 1/4 to 1/2 inch per day, but I can see some algae growing on the new leaf. Should I gently clean it off? I've been thinking of getting some IPSF Strombus grazers do think they may help? From what I've read their natural habitat is seagrass beds.

[The_Nexis_One]

Re: the Mangrove. I would leave it as is until it gets through any transplant shock, then start moving it up say... 0.5" per week or something along those lines so it can sprout new feeder roots in the substrate as it's moved up. BTW: where did you get it - I'm impressed with the root mass, mine always have had either none, or just a couple tiny (by comparison) roots.

Re: rhodomenia, I don't think I would trim it back. But I have no experiance with this kind of macro. IMHO, macro's in general, if the leaf starts to die back, it usually goes back to the stem. trimming the leaf section or whole leaf might cause additional stress (thinking unicellular, apposed to vascular anyway).

Re: the Turtle grass, I remember Sarah recommending brushing the leaves a couple times a week to help with detritus/algae that settles on them. Might be a good start. If the strombus work - please do let me know as I'm in the same boat.

Re: the Mermaid cup, "DIBBS!!!" If you get enough to distribute a bit - don't forget about your ole'buddy here ;-) I'd love to have some.

You setup is really coming along nice... Congrats!

Looking forward to more updates.
John.

[graveyardworm]

The mangrove, thallasia, and rhodomenia all came from exoticaquaticsandpets on ebay. Check them out they have some good stuff.

[Samala]

David.. I would not trim the red algae. I think you are losing blades from ship shock, Hard to call if it will pull through or not, but I wouldnt dose anything right now. Give it a few more days. The reds are pretty tough. Though.. to me it looks like a bright red caulerpa more than any other red I've seen. Its pretty cool.

For the Thalassia, if theres a little algae growing on the new leaf, go ahead and run your fingers over the blade (that is, if you dont mind sticking your hand in the tank.. ) to loosen the film up. The problem with Strombus (conchs.. right?) is that they seem to eat algae and detritus from the sand bed, and do not do much climbing up the tank walls or rockwork. Similarly, they dont climb along grass leaves.. though Astrae snails do, and keep my Thalassia leaves fairly clean. (If perhaps I have got my wires crossed for Strombus=conch then this doesnt apply.)

>Sarah

[graveyardworm]

Here's what Coral magazine had to say about strombus grazers (Euplica versicolor), I asked Dr. Ron awhile back about the euplica versicolor, and he told me that the strombus grazers sold at IPSF were one in the same. Coral mag, Daniel Knop "In order to keep opportunistic epiphytic algae from growing on the seagrass, grazing snails are a must in such an aquarium. The small Euplica versicolor is a species that reproduces quickly, and likes to spawn in seagrass beds."

I think the strombus are more nassarius sized and may even appear the same.

[Samala]

Well I'll be. I'll have to look into them myself then.

>Sarah

[graveyardworm]

I did like you said and gently ran my fingers up the blades, worked like a charm. I just cant imagine doing it if I had alot of seagrass.

[Samala]

David.. right, so the snails might be a good idea. For the shoal grass I have, the leaves are so thin that they dont really support a whole bunch of epiphytic algae.. (well, not much grows in the tank anyway at the moment) but I tend to run my hands through the bed once a week or so, before a water change.

I would think in a big tank having some sort of surge or intermittent flow would help to get that epiphytic biofilm into suspension so that it can be settled out.. and help to feed the grasses.. or used to feed critters in the tank or eventually removed by filters/skimmer/etc. Maybe that is an idea for your applications since it will be a pretty good size.

>Sarah