Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

[Xeniaamore]

Any tips for getting the plants to flower?

I've tried adjusting nutrients, lighting, and temperature.

[Michael Hoaster]

I'm sure sexual reproduction is rather expensive biologically, so you'd have to provide near ideal conditions for them to flower. Not easy to do in an aquarium. I did have several plants blossom in my fresh water plated tank, but these plants seem a bit trickier. Maybe they need more time to mature, and then wait for the right seasonal cues, like increased light and temp, to induce flowering. In my wife's garden, some plants won't flower the first year they're planted.

I don't really know. I can't even find an illustration or photo of a manatee grass flower, so I wouldn't even know what they'd look like. I do thoroughly examine my grasses daily, so if I see one, I'll be happy to show it off! But I doubt I would know what I'd done to help! But I'm sure I'd think of something to ramble on about…

[Xeniaamore]

Type syringodium filiforme flower into Google

[Michael Hoaster]

D'oh! Thanks, Xeniaamore. I'd been trying, using the common name. By the way, what seagrasses are you keeping?

[Xeniaamore]

It might sound weird but I actually can't say what it is right now.

[Michael Hoaster]

Today I removed some small predators from the tank.

I had some snails that I thought were nassarius, when I bought them, but they were darker and larger. I witnessed one eating a smaller snail. So I think they are some type of whelk. I'm not sure how many I had, but I removed three.

I added four blue leg hermit crabs, back when I worried my snail population would crash. Today I removed three. I couldn't find the forth.

Last, and most challenging to remove were the two peppermint shrimp. They did a great job removing my aiptasia anemones. Unfortunately they also were great at removing spaghetti worms, which are key benthic detrivores. I put a piece of scallop in a net and put it over a favorite hole. They mocked me, getting on the outside of the net and picking through it. Eventually I triumphed, with a quick flick of the net, I got one. The other seemed stunned and tried to hide on the back wall, but I got him too. Victory!

Sometimes you have to intervene. It's so alarming to watch helplessly, as an important member of the food chain gets wiped out. Hopefully, there are enough spaghetti worms remaining to repopulate my substrate.

So, I'll take them down to the LFS, along with a couple handfuls of red macros, to see what I can trade for them. It feels good to get that done!

[Michael Hoaster]

Almost forgot. I got a few pics today! I hope you guys aren't getting tired of these. I'm really getting into it! These were taken with my iPhone 6+.


Spot took a little journey today. This may be the best focused shot yet.



I've been trying to get a decent pic of the fighting conch. I call her Mom. She's always vacuuming!



This one shows off his colors well.

[touchingstoves]

Totally following this awesome thread

[karimwassef]

you're getting good at that.

[saltwater sam]

Nice pics Michael!

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks, guys! I sort of forced myself to take more pics, and I ended up enjoying it!

I ordered a juvenile Atlantic Blue Tang yesterday at my LFS. After looking online, total cost is better locally. I don't think this will be true for the multi-fish orders I'll have in the future though. Shipping is costly. I can buy the fish for $15 online, but shipping's another $40. My LFS can get it for $45-total.

It feels good to support the locals, AND pay less. Yes, I'm cheap…

[karimwassef]

It's only cheaper because you're not buying 15 of them! Then shipping is free, and the price is equal to 5 local fish.

[Michael Hoaster]

Can you see the antenae of Junior, the pederson shrimp, between the turtle grass and the gorgonian? He's been staying on the sand bed, where he's all but invisible.

The gorgonian's hanging in there. It may be recovering its initial tissue loss. I noticed it extended polyps at feeding time today, so that's a good sign. The turtle grass looks good. Several of the manatee grass shoots have new leaves. The barnacle blennies are masters of their domain, but not for long. If all goes well, they'll be a new juvenile atlantic blue tang joining them next week. I can't wait get this beautiful fish!

Also, the test sponges look great!

[McPuff]

Great choice going with the Atlantic blue! I have wanted one of those for a long time and actually thinking of pulling the trigger finally.

How about a full tank shot??

[Michael Hoaster]

Full Tank Shot. Looks OK I guess. Needs more Seagrass! It's really tough to not get reflections in the daytime,
even with the curtains closed. I look forward to the day when the DSB is fully obscured by the seagrasses!



In this pic, you can see, on the right edge of the fake root, some tunicates or small sponges.
They are clear/yellow, and there's a lot of them at the right end of the tank. Filter feeders -
Mother Nature's little water cleaners!



This is the sponge that sprung up from the substrate. It too has spread around the right end
of the tank. Also, towards the top right corner you can see a small, yellow ball sponge.



It's not easy to see, but on the right end of the bigger rock, is a white, encrusting sponge.
All the test sponges have responded well to silicate dosing. With them doing well, I'm getting
confident enough to consider buying some decorative sponges. I'm very excited about that!

[saltwater sam]

Some Sponge action! I love some of these sponges that spring up from the live rock. They're amazing organisms.

[Michael Hoaster]

[saltwater sam]

Just stunning! I love the seagrass! You should order more before the winter sets in! Do it! Get more! You won't regret it

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks, Sam. I love those grasses too! So mesmerizing in the current.

It's tempting to buy more manatee grass, but I was hoping to grow more. I've only been dosing for a few weeks. I'm still tuning the soup. If I can figure it out, they should grow like weeds. The turtle grass is doing great already, putting out daughter plants and spreading. So that gives me hope. It would look sweet though…

[Xeniaamore]

I had an interesting observation this week.

So I have a small C02 injection kit hooked up to the seagrass, but I have been interested in using one of the liquid carbon sources so that the pH would be more stable in the tank. I also heard the seachem product, Flourish Excel, was also an algaecide. So I ordered some and double o.j. overdosed the tank to see what would happen.

Three things of interest occurred that were clearly visible. One is that the algae we had in the tank began weeping and died later in the week (we removed all beneficial macroalgae before starting). The second is that the seagrass grew three shoots this week instead of the usual 1-2. This could have been a coincidence, but at any rate, the plants look very happy. The third is that, just a few minutes after adding the chemical , I began seeing amphipods swimming around that must have previously been hiding. I assume the chemical was agitating them. An hour later and the glass was entirely covered in copepods and amphipods. Since then (we are now adding the standard dose daily) these numbers have increased significantly. I am not sure if the chemical has somehow made the water more favorable for the pods or is simply irritating them and causing them to be out in the open.

Despite this success with Flourish Excel, I'm not sure I would recommend this product unless you had a seagrass species tank like mine. You would likely lose your macroalgae and it could be damaging to some animals. For me, however, it worked great.

Another quick note is that this chemical might kill certain symbiotic bacteria or fauna that live on the roots of the seagrass. We shall have to see how this plays out.

[Michael Hoaster]

That is interesting. Maybe the pods were inhabiting in the algae until you added algaecide. Whatever the algae did, the pods didn't like it, so they vacated the premises, like a burning house. I want to say algae sucks up oxygen when it dies. Does that sound right?

So Flourish Excel is a plant fertilizer and an algaecide?

Thanks for sharing your experience, Xeniaamore! More please!

[karimwassef]

Sounds plausible. Interesting that an algicide would be plant fertilizer. I thought they were too similar for such discrimination.

[Michael Hoaster]

Here's close-up of the red macros growing on the fake root.



Mom, doing her thing. Notice the pretty blue algae on her shell.



Pretty good pic of the condylactis. It seems happy. It hasn't moved. I feed it about once a week.



The brown weirdo macro. I've been going light on the iron lately. It's not as dark as it was.



My favorite of the reds. It just popped up there on the root, and continues to grow.

[nawilson89]

This is gorgeous and almost exactly what I want to do with my 20g. I'm going to take quite some time to read through all of this to learn and plan for my own tank.

[Michael Hoaster]

Thank you and welcome, nawilson89! I hope you find this thread helpful. There's some pretty good info in it, including mistakes I've made!