My soon-to-be-dismantled 90 gallon

[Bounce]

I've been gradually taking it apart to make room for the 250 gallon that is going to be built into the wall.

I took the first picture shortly after returning from being out of town for three weeks. I was gone longer than expected and the person taking care of it for me didn't know to pull out some of the caulerpa. It's kind of embarrassing.

The second one I took during a "break" from pulling caulerpa and rearranging a few things. The clowns have become incredibly territorial and I can only tolerate them biting me for so long. haha Those little guys can really hurt! And that's coming from a guy who used to raise snakes. Once I find the camera battery charger (went into hiding while I was away) I'll try to get a few better pictures before too much more is removed. I did pull out about 15 lbs of the LR yesterday, but I don't want to do anything drastic--figured gradual transitions would be better for all involved.

Sorry the pictures aren't very good.

 

[BigAl07]

Holy Cow! At first I thought this was a FW-PLanted tank until I look closet to the angel you've got in there LOL!

 

[Bounce]

Hah... Al, you wouldn't be the first to have said something similar.

Ever since the caulerpa went nuts the nitrates have been zero but I still do water changes anyway. I don't mind it too much because a store near me takes it in on trade for some pretty decent credit.

 

[sneaks03]

You know this is definitely different and looks good actually.

 

[PEMfish]

I have a troubled tank too.I forgot I had it for a couple of months. I took all the rock out and scrubbed it clean and did a 50% WC it looks better, I just need to keep on top of it now to prevent it from reverting.

 

[sneaks03]

So being new and all to the SW hobby. Is it entirely uncommon for people to use caulerpa for decoration. What are the advantages or disadvantages to this?

 

[PEMfish]

So being new and all to the SW hobby. Is it entirely uncommon for people to use caulerpa for decoration. What are the advantages or disadvantages to this?

Im not sure if this is decoration. In a reef tank no, never seen it. Some people are trying to do SW planted tanks these days. then yes.

 

[Bounce]

It wasn't exactly planned on being decoration. It started growing off a piece of live rock which I thought looked kind of cool. ...so I had let it grow. My flame angel doesn't eat it, but the mollies do. They just can't eat enough of it. haha I've been told to get a tang, but it's only a 90 and I'd feel bad knowing how large they can get.

 

[Reefmack]

I assume you meant SW acclimated (typically FW or brine tank) mollies? Might be a good fish to recommend for those with an algae problem? How do the other fish get along with them?

 

[Bounce]

I assume you meant SW acclimated (typically FW or brine tank) mollies? Might be a good fish to recommend for those with an algae problem? How do the other fish get along with them?

Yeah. Mollies have always been one of my favorite fish and the first I ever bred and raised to maturity. I don't think Mollies "need" salt, but rather do better in water with low nitrates, higher alkalinity and warmer temperatures (80-82F). They're adaptable as far as salinity goes, and they "seem" to do better with salt in their water. I think that's mostly because adding salt helps counteract the stress-induced maladies that can affect them from other deficient or lacking water parameters.

Even though they like grazing on algae and I've never had one touch a coral, I don't think they're well-suited for most reef tanks. Mollies usually get bullied by damsels and clowns for some reason. In this tank I just have a pair of red marble sailfin mollies that my clowns (1 pink skunk and a pair of black ocellaris) don't harass. I had added a pair of black sailfin mollies at one point but had to transfer them out right away because the black ocellaris launched an assault. I'm assuming it was because of their similar coloration, but otherwise I'm not sure why they completely ignore the the reds. When I used to keep a LOT more fish and tanks years ago I could never keep Mollies with any clowns. Interestingly, I've never had a cardinalfish (several different species), goby or centropyge angel pay any attention whatsoever to a Molly.

 

[Reefmack]

Thanks for the information on the mollies. I'd seen some SW acclimated ones in one of the coral tanks at one of my LFS a while back. Interesting!