Any seagrass nano's?

[deacon hemp]

I was wondering if anyone has a seagrass biotope nano? I was thinking of doing a restart and trying it out.My tanks 16in cube and i was thinking of a 5 in DSB with a layer of miracle mud mixed in the bottom? That leaves me with 11 inches to work with,is this gonna be enough height wise?I have a 175 MH with a ushio 10k light for it (im thinking enough)?

So basically im asking for a little help from the seagrass guru's?Link any smallish seagrass tank threads or any help would be great.

Thanks......Deacon

[Samala]

You're good on light and tank height for Halodule wrightii, shoal grass, and the Halophila's (star grass, oar grass, paddle grass). The others are going to get too big, or look too out of place I'd think, like turtle grass (Thalassia sp.). Are you doing the tank build at nano-reef?

I had a ten gallon with the two above seagrasses before.. I humbly link you to the first log of that from my website Ten gallon build. The fun thing with these two smaller 'grasses is that you can get away with 2-4" sandbeds (slope it from front to back). I think that ten gallon would have been marvelously improved with a wee bit of LR, some red macros, and some appropriate seagrassy fish inhabitants.

>Sarah

[deacon hemp]

Wicked,thanks very much sarah for your time! Yes i will be puttin up a thread there most likely,but if its looking exactly how i picture in my head i might have to make one here too?

Your 10 gal was exactly what i needed to see! Im gonna have to luck out and hope for some of the shorter types to pop up at the LFS. I hope by then i will be able to ID them with ease.I like your ovalis but that wont be making its way up here im sure.

My overall plan is to have a tiny bit of rock (like u suggested) and a very few slow growing macros.To top it off it will either house a really small frogfish,leaf scorpion,or a pair of small bangaii's.Do these sound like suitable choices (bio-type wise?)Coral wise I might use a few leathers,gorgs,and shrooms to fill in space.

Anyways wish me luck,this will be happening soon too! Deacon

[Samala]

Ack, I just realized you're in BC! Seagrasses are a huge pain to get over the northern border. I have been working with some people from Ontario to try to get the details ironed out, because I feel everyone should have a shot at playing with these plants.

You could use, as an alternative, Caulerpa prolifera which will have the right look and be biotopically correct for a Caribbean grass bed, it just wont be true seagrass.

The ovalis actually came from seacrop.com.

On the fish front: Banggai's and frogs fit overall, but the species is wrong for this area of the world. I dont know how strict the 'rules' are. I believe scorpionfish can be found in bed areas, but I've never seen them personally.

I definitely encourage you to put up a thread here if you pursue this. We'd love to have more tank threads in this forum!

>Sarah

[deacon hemp]

Hmmmm.Well if anyones going to be able to acquire them for me it will be my pals at my LFS,they usually bend over backwards to find things (fingers crossed). Now that i think of it,the vancouver aquarium has a small not temperate seagrass tank.I wonder if they would pluck out a frag or 2.

Im going to call my lfs right now to see the viability of getting these across the border before i load up a DSB.For fish i'm gonna stick with a pistol/goby combo and i'll add them before any grasses go in.

Thanks again for help sarah,i will post up a thread for you guys.I know it kinda lacks tank threads and updates.

[deacon hemp]

Ok good news,im stoked and this project is full go now!!!My lfs does have a supplier up here that carries multiple types of seagrasses!! So shoal,star and ovalis are on my list.

A few questions to anyone,maybe sarah could chime in again.How long should i age my sand bed/tank before introduction of grasses?Should i just run it a DSB/LR tank and add fish and a few coral first?Also if i buy someones sand bed thats established will it take less time?This is the only style tank i havent had and ive never had a dsb either. Lastly is this a hard end of the hobby?

Thanks again

[Samala]

Hmm. Have you seen my articles on seagrass aquaria? Beyond the Refugium: Seagrass Aquaria and there is one currently at wetwebmedia.com's magazine too. Those might answer some questions, particularly on substrate.

I think the consensus now is that using some of the commercial muds in the bottom layers of the bed is a good idea and can help to support the grasses. An already dirty sandbed (you want the detritus/mulm) can also be a good way to jumpstart. I think Calfo has recommended in the past to age a new sand bed at least six months. I'd say thats a good timeline. But.. I've never waited that long, I either supplement with mud or I fertilize the sandbed specifically. We can go into detail with that if you'd like. Or I can point you to some other threads that have dealt with it.

Anyone else have input? Dont be shy... The way I have done it is certainly not the only way.

As far as this being, "the hard end of the hobby".. I'm not sure. These are the only style marine aquariums I've ever had a lot of fun with. They're challenging, but only because we havent worked out all the kinks and dont know anywhere near as much as we do for coral propagation/long term tank maintenance and such. You'll find for most questions there is no hard set of rules. Sometimes we guess and sometimes we get it wrong, but for the majority of setups and situations, things have eventually gone smoothly. You just have to be willing to experiment.

The other portion of this little tangent of marine hobby is rethinking your ideas of water quality. It is not uncommon for people with lots of seagrass to have very high bioloads, or to even dose fertilizers (NO3.. sometimes PO4) to maximize the growth rates of their grass. A little adjustment of husbandry, not too bad. But you start to see nutrients as 'friends' instead of foe.

>Sarah

[halophila]

It is not diffcult if you select the right species.
here is a 20L marine planted tank.

[halophila]

A tiny sexy shrimp forages in a grass field of Halophila

[deacon hemp]

Thats super nice man!........Your XL tank is one of my inspirations to try out seagrasses.I'd love to see it now? Or is this 20L it?

Minor update too,i got my substrate and i got news that i have to wait till after the summer to get my grasses! Im still gonna look for them in the meantime.

[halophila]

Decaon, I don't keep much seagrass there anymore. That 48" tank are mainly used for soft corals and coral shrimps now.

[halophila]

Side view of the 20L marine planted tanks:

[halophila]

Deacon, with this shallow tank, I only use one 36W Blue-White PowerCompact lamp.

[Samala]

Wonderful photos and setups Halophila, as always. I'm not surprised you have such nice ovalis under 36w only. I moved a few of my plants to much MUCH lower light than they were receiving in the main display and they are doing significantly better in the low light environment.

>Sarah

[slowECUdiver]

i too have been wondering if i can/should do a macro/seagrass only nano-tank. since i have a 10 gallon that has been cycling for a few weeks, i think it is time to give it a shot, though the focus will be macros, i'll try to incorporate a small grass bed once the sand bed is more established.
once i begin construction this weekend i'll start a thread to track my progress. i probably should butter up the relatives to borrow their digi cam too while i'm at it.

[CamBarr]

this is sweet great thread anyone ever thought of keeping pipe fish that would be a cool nano

[deacon hemp]

Hey cambarr,i agree this thread has turned out very usefull atleast to me anyways.The pics are killer.I havent seen many pipefish,but the ones i have seen are kinda long?Is there any that stay semi small,cuz i need a good sole species for my cube?

[CamBarr]

yea
give me one seck

[CamBarr]

im no expert you may want to try the seahorse fourm for better results but i kept an Doryrhamphus excisus (African Bluestripe Pipefish) ina a 20H for about a year finaly got it to eat mysis

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...pcatid=281&N=0

[Samala]

Like Cam says, the small pipes might be a great addition, its just feeding them that becomes a monster project - some may never convert to frozen but you can bet on needing to hatch and enrich BBS and possibly raising copepods to keep them happy. The larger species (say the gulf pipes native to FL) are a bit easier to convert, but would get too big for this particular tank.

>Sarah

[deacon hemp]

Ive decided on a small yellowhead jawfish i think,if i ever come across one! Our lfs's are kinda slim pickings sometimes compared to yours.Also i wouldnt be able to pick from a selection of pipefish,id be stuck with a larger species im sure.I have to wait untill after the summer to get my grasses too!

If i cant get a yellowhead jawfish (because they are a rarity too up here) I'm just going with a yasha/pistol combo.Are jawfish too big for this tank,it says a minimum 10 gal on live aquaria,but ive always thought a 30 would be min.? I will have the sand bed for it.

[CamBarr]

if i do a sea grass tank i want one of these guys. i beleve they stay really small

[CamBarr]

these guys are really cool too





halimeda is pretty eazy to keep too

[Samala]

As far as I know, no one has successfully kept ghost pipefishes long term in captivity. Even seasoned SH breeders and other pipe and pipehorse keepers have found them to be an incredible challenge. You would almost have an easier time maintaining 'dragons.

Yellowheaded jawfish are adorable and a good choice for a tank with a deep sand bed. Heed the warnings on their jumping. I had mine for several months and he finally jumped a day after I returned home from vacation. Very sad. I had mine in a 20gal and he seemed perfectly happy in there with the snails and a few grass shrimp. I'm hoping to add another to the tank in the near future, as my adorable pygmy angel went on to her large intended tank with a friend, now that his system's seasoned a few months.

A 16in cube is how much for gallonage? Around 8 or so not including displacement from the considerable DSB? It may be too small.

>Sarah

[deacon hemp]

Sorry its an 18 gallon cube.