Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

[karimwassef]

I export so much, I set up a 'dirty 20 gal' to keep it all in.

[Michael Hoaster]

My reason for dosing was to attempt to speed up my seagrass' growth. I've been partly successful, with increased growth, but some yellowing of older leaves.

Iron dosing seems to favor the macros over the seagrasses. The caulerpa has almost overrun the tank-not really what I wanted. I suspended iron dosing 3 days ago. I mixed up a new batch of potassium nitrate, using a different brand. I started with it today. I'm hoping these actions will tilt the balance in favor of the grasses.

To sum up, I have CO2 injection and nitrate dosing going on at this time. I'll keep it this way and observe for awhile.

In the near future, and if needed, I plan to dose magnesium. From everything I've read, it seems the most likely deficient element, though I haven't ruled out nitrogen yet. So we'll see how the current regime does first.

I've got some sodium silicate coming in the mail. I've very curious to see how it affects sponge growth. If the test sponges react favorably, I'll feel confident enough to order some decorative sponges. I have a perfect place in my tank with low light and high current, that should work well.

As I said from the start, I'm proceeding with great caution. Every step is researched. I'm not grasping at straws, or chasing miracles. I'm attempting to make subtle and positive changes, leading to increased growth rates in my seagrasses. And with any luck, I also hope to have real success with sponges as well.

[touchingstoves]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

I don't think I've shown the tank from further out.













So cool and natural!





And from the end.

Beautiful!!!

[Michael Hoaster]

Mahalo, TJ, and welcome. I mean aloha! I appreciate the compliment, and it's nice to hear from someone new.

I checked out your thread, and I see you are a raging seahorse wrangler from Hawaii. I envy all the tanks you have to play with, and I look forward to seeing more of your progress.

Props to you for making the effort to learn to properly care for your beautiful ponies.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to hear more from you in the future!

[karimwassef]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Mahalo, TJ, and welcome. I mean aloha! I appreciate the compliment, and it's nice to hear from someone new.

What are we? Chopped liver?

[sam.basye]

He doesn't care about us :/

[Michael Hoaster]

Quiet you two! I'm trying to impress the new guy…

[Michael Hoaster]

I received my sodium silicate today, and started dosing. Can't wait to see how the test sponges respond.

I'm going to have to do a massive caulerpa export this weekend, along with a water change. It has overrun my tank. I should take before and after pics. It's ridiculous!

For anyone struggling to get caulerpa to grow, I highly recommend iron. It worked a little too well for me! Get a SW specific version, as the fresh water versions contain copper. My red (and blue) macros' colors intensified as well. They probably grew faster, but it's hard to tell with the caulerpa covering everything.

[sam.basye]

I managed to get my hands on this big (16.9 oz for 99¢!) bottle of Continuum iron supplement a while back at my lfs. Just read the bottle and caulerpa is the first on the list for increased growth.

Here's some pics of the front and the description on the bottle in case there's any info that could help.

[touchingstoves]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Mahalo, TJ, and welcome. I mean aloha! I appreciate the compliment, and it's nice to hear from someone new.

I checked out your thread, and I see you are a raging seahorse wrangler from Hawaii. I envy all the tanks you have to play with, and I look forward to seeing more of your progress.

Props to you for making the effort to learn to properly care for your beautiful ponies.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to hear more from you in the future!

Aloha All! I have to say reading this thread has been quite fun!!

Btw thank you all for sharing your knowledge.

I did find a passion in seahorses, photosynthetic gorgonians, and various macros.. And I'm on the hunt for spotted mandarins as I have given up on pipefish.

With regards to my desperate attempts to an outside macro tank, I 'm going to increase my iron supplementing after reading more of the thread and see how my various caulerpa(s) do.

My red macros seem to not exhibit growth. I've read that antic lighting and possibly red/violet light might help with that. Maybe some help with that.

Do you still use a sump for a macro tank? What do you use in it? Do you cycle the tank? My thoughts are live rock, wet and dry sump with live rock instead of bioballs. I am thinking of having my gorgonians housed with three very small tiger tail seahorses for bioload.

I'm still iffy on the outside but currently, i suspect I don't have a strong enough light for the tank.

Well, I hope to hear your guys thoughts and feedback!

Tj

[Michael Hoaster]

That's the same stuff I got. Continuum. Worked especially well on the caulerpa in my tank. Good luck with it, Sam!

TJ, I'm really glad you're having fun with the thread! I'm having fun with it too. It's nice to share. We all share it together, and we discuss and we all learn more.

I look forward to hear your experience with gorgonians. Mine has struggled, but it's hanging in there. I may have finally found a good location/orientation. I'm getting better polyp extension, so I'm hopeful.

My red macros never grew and they broke down to smaller pieces. As my tank matured, and I added some fish, the macros started popping up all around my tank. and best of all they're attached, so they don't get blown away by the current. On lighting, I like daylight bulbs 55-65K range. But you can go bluer if you like. I would think deep water specimens would like it. But I think most of these plants occur in shallow water.

My tank has no sump, no skimmer, and no visible plumbing in the display. I wanted to simplify my system. Sumps can be very handy, but for planted tanks, I don't think they're required. Up to you!

Bright light is good.

[Michael Hoaster]

My purple condyalactis was small this morning. It looked like the caulerpa was getting too invasive for it. So I took the opportunity to remove some while the anemone was in its shrunken state. Now it's re-inflating to normal size. I'll give it a little food today as well.

[karimwassef]

Anemones can be nerve wracking... You need to accept that they will look like crap some of the time and they are perfectly fine, even healthy and growing.

[sixpackgarage]

really cool thread Michael. It's nice to see a totally different perspective on the saltwater hobby. Let me ask a quick question. I have one seagrass plant that is producing new leaves, but after a couple of inches of growth, the tips are turning blackish.. any idea on a common cause for that happening?

[Michael Hoaster]

True that, Karim!

Thanks, sixpackgarage! It sounds like your grass is deficient in something. I couldn't tell you what, as I'm still trying to figure this stuff out myself. Here's what I've been doing; googling "nutrient deficiencies in aquatic plants" these sites will give you some symptoms to match up to what's happening to your plant.

And there's the big 3, and their ideal ratios for seagrasses. Carbon-Nitrogen-Phosphate, or the C-N-P ratio. I think a ballpark figure for seagrasses is around 400-40-1.

In most people's tanks, the phosphate number is all jacked up, just from fish feeding. So phosphate usually needs reducing.

Carbon is often lacking, and from what I've read, CO2 is the preferred form for plants. If you are running a calcium reactor, you're already dosing CO2. You may want to increase the bubble rate. Fish give off CO2, so there's an excuse to get more.

Nitrogen can be too low or too high, depending on your system. If you have a deep sand bed, like you would for seagrasses, you're probably low on nitrogen (nitrate). So dosing potasium nitrate (stump remover-really!) is the most popular method to boost nitrogen. If you have a shallow to no sand bed, or if you happen to be running a wet-dry trickle filter, you've probably got plenty of nitrates available for uptake by the grasses. I seriously considered dusting off my old trickle filter for this reason.

Then there's the minor and trace elements. Iron can often be limited in aquariums, so dosing it can make a big difference. Magnesium looks to be a factor as well. I'm gathering ingredients right now to try this one next. Trace elements can quickly be removed in our tanks, and salt mixes can take care of that with a water change. There are also lots of trace element additives on the market.

Well that went kinda long. Hope it's helpful!

[sixpackgarage]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

True that, Karim!

Thanks, sixpackgarage! It sounds like your grass is deficient in something. I couldn't tell you what, as I'm still trying to figure this stuff out myself. Here's what I've been doing; googling "nutrient deficiencies in aquatic plants" these sites will give you some symptoms to match up to what's happening to your plant.

And there's the big 3, and their ideal ratios for seagrasses. Carbon-Nitrogen-Phosphate, or the C-N-P ratio. I think a ballpark figure for seagrasses is around 400-40-1.

In most people's tanks, the phosphate number is all jacked up, just from fish feeding. So phosphate usually needs reducing.

Carbon is often lacking, and from what I've read, CO2 is the preferred form for plants. If you are running a calcium reactor, you're already dosing CO2. You may want to increase the bubble rate. Fish give off CO2, so there's an excuse to get more.

Nitrogen can be too low or too high, depending on your system. If you have a deep sand bed, like you would for seagrasses, you're probably low on nitrogen (nitrate). So dosing potasium nitrate (stump remover-really!) is the most popular method to boost nitrogen. If you have a shallow to no sand bed, or if you happen to be running a wet-dry trickle filter, you've probably got plenty of nitrates available for uptake by the grasses. I seriously considered dusting off my old trickle filter for this reason.

Then there's the minor and trace elements. Iron can often be limited in aquariums, so dosing it can make a big difference. Magnesium looks to be a factor as well. I'm gathering ingredients right now to try this one next. Trace elements can quickly be removed in our tanks, and salt mixes can take care of that with a water change. There are also lots of trace element additives on the market.

Well that went kinda long. Hope it's helpful!

Thanks again.. a lot of solid info in there. I've been supplementing Reef Plus, but I'm not sure there's iron in there, I'll have to look tonight.

[karimwassef]

Drop a rusty iron bolt in there...

Without coral, you'd be amazed at what rust does in salt water. It's like pod heaven for some reason.

[sixpackgarage]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

Drop a rusty iron bolt in there...

Without coral, you'd be amazed at what rust does in salt water. It's like pod heaven for some reason.

I'd try that in a heartbeat if I didn't have a display connected with 60+ corals

[Michael Hoaster]

A quick update on the dosing and seagrasses:

The yellowing seems to be subsiding and the grasses are getting taller. I think with the CO2 and iron dosing, nitrogen became the limiting factor. I have suspended iron for now, and I mixed up a new batch of sodium nitrate, which seems to work better. My guess is that I'll be able to ramp up the nitrate dosage, but I'm easing into it slowly.

A water change and caulerpa export this weekend should provide a bit of a reset.

One of the things I learned in all this, is that my grasses showed signs of nutrient deficiency in a 'mobile' nutrient. That is, the plants are able to 'move' a deficient nutrient from old leaves to bolster the new leaf growth. Pretty cool! This tells me that if this happens again, I don't want to rush pruning of dying leaves. All the leaves that turned, broke off by themselves anyway. Mother Nature, taking care of business!

[Michael Hoaster]

I just got busted by my girls, dancing with my aquarium…

Top that, weirdos!

[Michael Hoaster]

[sam.basye]

I bob and wiggle with my clowns. Lol

The pics from the side behind the roots are the sh*t! Almost looks like a natural scape out of water. The caulerpa really is taking hold of everything with lots of big bushes of it. The condylactis is looking pretty good as well.

Need more seagrasses in there..

[Michael Hoaster]

Hey, it's only natural! The music's playin' the seagrasses swayin'…

Those are my favorite pics too! Yes, those end shots are da shizell. I can say that because I'm a middle age white guy at home on a friday night, you know, chillin'…

As you can see, I've got seagrass breaking the surface. And caulerpa racemosa, var. peltata pretty much everywhere else. These will be my 'before' shots. (big pruning tomorrow) The pic of the bottom of the roots shows my test sponges, on the root and rocks. Little hard to see. The anemone looks happy.

Still working on the meadow. I'll keep tweaking the soup!

[Michael Hoaster]

Well I got after that caulerpa today. Handful after handful of the stuff. I also removed a lot of red macros. I still have several-the secure ones. I also dispersed many blue hypnea fragments. I'd love to see this stuff around the tank!


The DSB and the grasses.





Full tank view.

[saltwater sam]

Wow, lots of awesome pictures. Everything is looking great! Cheers!