"Lagoon" pics

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I thought I would share where my tank is at, since I got a heck of a lot of help from people on this forum! Its about 4 months old now I think, although I have had all the livestock except a few fish for more like a year. This was really just an upgrade from a 90G I guess. Mostly done now except for a little bit of stocking and finishing off the doors...They will be painted black.

Well its really not a true lagoon but pretty much as close as I actually want to go...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi137.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi095.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/DSC00807.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/DSC00790.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi033.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi057.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi086.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi125.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi068-1.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi039.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi149.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi192.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Puffed!

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/DSC00683.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi258.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Sleeping:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi253.jpg





http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi196.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi202.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi197.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi209.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi208.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Do you see the Puffer? :D

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi272.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi273.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Under the stand:

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi261.jpg


This is about how much macro algae gets pulled out of the tank each week...sometimes even a little more.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi250.jpg

[Sebae again]

Cool pictures! Like the puffed up puffer shots.

[Pan]

Stunning colors, great tank.

Wish i was closer for some of that throw away algae though :(

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Stunning colors, great tank.

Wish i was closer for some of that throw away algae though :(

Yeah I hate to throw it away...If I wait long enough, I can collect enough to trade for a credit at a LFS but it doesn't always work out. I have to be careful to keep the Caulpera happy and that usually means pruning it often. Its also so aggressive that I need to prune it just to make sure other algaes can get nutrients from the tank.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I found a few of these green mushrooms one day...not sure where they came from but they have multiplied like crazy and are getting pretty big. I hope to add more and more corals as time goes on. Only stuff found in lagoons though and only pink/red or green colours.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi210.jpg

[GrimReefer]

Cool tank, cool puffers, and that's an awesome painting above the tank!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Cool tank, cool puffers, and that's an awesome painting above the tank!

Thanks for the compliments! That painting is one of a series I did of various fish and sea creatures. All black and white. I have been painting for many many years since art school and these fish paintings are actually the first ones that I have ever hung in my own place. Usually I feel uncomfortable hanging my own work but these ones just fit too well with the room :)

[spoot]

Awesome tank! Love the lagoon look. I'm going to try to do this in my 90g.

What macros do you have in there? I'm trying to stay away from the caulerpas just in case. I would love some get some grasses too, but I've never seen any here.

When did you get the narrow line?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

IMO, Caulpera is ok if you really care for it and watch for warning signs of it going sexual. I had kept it in a 33G lagoon style tank for over a year prior to this and never had it go sexual. For my tank, dosing iron seems to be the most important thing. Otherwise the Caulpera starts to fade and get a little "upset".

Other than the 3 types of Caulpera, all I have is Halymenia floresia (red) and Halimeda. Mostly because its hard to find anything different here in vancouver and also because stuff like Sea Grasses cannot compete with Caulpera in a tank like mine. Its just not aggressive enough. Any of the slow growing grasses and algaes die off eventually. J&L has sea grasses sometimes though.

Have you started your 90G as a lagoon yet?

Oh and the Narrow Line was from J&L.

[mark]

wow, turned out nice.

[Snappy]

very cool.

[EmilyB]

Why did the puffers puff up ?

[spoot]

IMO, Caulpera is ok if you really care for it and watch for warning signs of it going sexual. I had kept it in a 33G lagoon style tank for over a year prior to this and never had it go sexual. For my tank, dosing iron seems to be the most important thing. Otherwise the Caulpera starts to fade and get a little "upset".

Other than the 3 types of Caulpera, all I have is Halymenia floresia (red) and Halimeda. Mostly because its hard to find anything different here in vancouver and also because stuff like Sea Grasses cannot compete with Caulpera in a tank like mine. Its just not aggressive enough. Any of the slow growing grasses and algaes die off eventually. J&L has sea grasses sometimes though.

Have you started your 90G as a lagoon yet?

Oh and the Narrow Line was from J&L.

Yeah, I just don't trust myself with the caulpera. Does the Halymenia or the Halimeda go sexual?

Have my 90g cycling right now, with some old rock, some fresh rock and some dried rock. It's going to be the home of my spiney burrfish (Chilomycterus schoepfii) :D

Have to talk to the J&L guys about saving me some sea grass some time. Going to have to wait until the sand is more established though.

[tang daddy]

looking great gsp really natural!

[spoot]

Oh, justin, didn't you have your GSP in there before?

[dsaundry]

Very Pretty...Love the Puffers:biggrin:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Why did the puffers puff up ?

No idea...they just do sometimes.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Oh, justin, didn't you have your GSP in there before?

Yeah but hes way too aggressive, so he is back to his own tank. He bites the porcupine puffer.

[Skimmer Juice]

Tank looks awsome, nice porc, looks just like one of mine.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Tank looks awsome, nice porc, looks just like one of mine.

Yeah hes a great fish! Unfortunately though he is growing really fast and is starting to look like the tank will be too small for him...its only 130G. He should still grow double the size he is now. Plus with the narrow line in there too, Im getting worried...Thats a lot of Puffer for this tank!!! I may have to upgrade late this year or next.

[fishytime]

Man thats one huge toadstool. Great looking tank!!!

[untamed]

Very nice. I really like the look that the macroalgaes provide to the tank. I wish I could keep macros like that in my tank, but the tangs eat them immediately.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Very nice. I really like the look that the macroalgaes provide to the tank. I wish I could keep macros like that in my tank, but the tangs eat them immediately.

Yeah I can't keep tangs in this tank really.


Does anyone have any suggestions for other macros or maybe corals? I was thinking about a few gorgonians but I have never had them before and don't know too much about them. How difficult are they to keep? I also worry my puffers may like to eat them although they don't eat anything so far.

Any suggestions are welcome!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi217.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi168.jpg

Checking out a crab...which he does not bother eating. I think he is way too lazy!

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi111.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi108.jpg


Begging for food!

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi085.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/DSC00802.jpg

The room the tank is in...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/DSC00797.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Well a bit of an update...I had a carbon mishap last week and what a mess it was! The carbon in the carbon chamber of my ozone reactor leaked and within a few hours everything in the tank was very black :( Not a lot of carbon escaped the sump but it did create a black film over everything in the display.

I was pretty heartbroken to have to take all my aquascaping apart and clean every rock, coral and even fish! Anyways after 10 hours of work, everything was clean, happy and back in the tank...except me. I hated the new aquascape but it has grown on me. Here's the pics...Let me know what you all think! Better? Worse? Same???

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi330.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi331.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi337.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi336.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi311.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi325.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi323.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi309.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Really need some more corals to fill it in a bit (not too much though, I am not a fan of the crammed look)

I have had a lot of responses to my looking for softies ad in the selling forum and it looks like by this weekend I will have a few more corals! Im really wanting to add some more colt corals to the right side to tie it all together. I want Colts to be the main focus of the tank. Lower in the tank I would like to add a bunch of mushrooms and maybe rics. We will see! Any suggestions are very welcome.

[Matt]

I really *REALLY* like that tank!

[mark]

New layout works for me.

As for macro, have you tried Halimeda? It's green but grows fast and big.

[super7]

I like the new layout way more than the old one.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I did try halimeda but it died over time. Not too sure why. Calcium and magnesium levels were good, so it should have been happy but it just didn't work out. Too bad because I really like the look of it. I may try it again though sometime.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Im really debating some gorgonians but it seems that the success rate in aquariums is not great so I may pass on them. I really think they would fit in well though.

[Delphinus]

Great looking setup Justin! :)

There are plenty of photosynthetic gorgonians which are (in my opinion) almost as nice, equally as nice, and in some cases more nice, as the non-photosynthetic gorgonians. I think some gorgonians would look wicked in that setup. :)

[Skimmerking]

Justin that looks alot better now

[Doug]

Outstanding. Nice look.

[Sushiman]

I love the new aquascape you got going, what a fun tank (YEAH SOFTIES!):mrgreen:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Few More pics...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi352.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi382.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi398.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi373.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi350.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi436.jpg

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi434.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r179/Justinpsmith/Digi366.jpg

[Mikee]

How are the sleeper gobies for sifting through sand? im looking for sand sifters but would like to just have 1 really good sand sifter.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

How are the sleeper gobies for sifting through sand? im looking for sand sifters but would like to just have 1 really good sand sifter.


Yeah really good. He does create quite the sandstorms though when hes eating or is hungry and looking for food, so if that will bother you then they are a bad idea. I don't mind because it keeps the sand so clean and hes really cool. Mine is not shy at all either.

[ElGuappo]

Beautiful Tank. Looks Great. i like the open concept as well but i only have a 34 gallon so not really an option.

[spoot]

Justin, tank looks great!

I wish my goby was more like yours. Can't seem to fatten it up, and it's always hiding...

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Justin, tank looks great!

I wish my goby was more like yours. Can't seem to fatten it up, and it's always hiding...

Thanks. What kind of Goby is it? I have never owned one before this guy so I just assumed they were quite social but maybe I just got lucky. Do you see yours eat often? I know mine goes nuts for chunks of clam and prawn that the puffers drop. He even takes food right out of the porcupines mouth! I really wish he would not do that though...It can't be too safe.

[spoot]

Thanks. What kind of Goby is it? I have never owned one before this guy so I just assumed they were quite social but maybe I just got lucky. Do you see yours eat often? I know mine goes nuts for chunks of clam and prawn that the puffers drop. He even takes food right out of the porcupines mouth! I really wish he would not do that though...It can't be too safe.

I've go the same goby. Used to have 2 but one died. He eats almost everything I put in the tank, as long as the chunks are small enough. Won't touch pellets though. He didn't used to hide so much, but has been like this ever since his friend died. It's been months and he hasn't gained much weight. Slightly worried I'm going to lose him.