My seagrass and macroalgae tank

[halophila]

Hi all, this is my new 4' shallow tank dedicated to seagrass and macroalgae.

Overview of left corner of the tank, and yes, the outer glass is quite dirty:



Close up of the Halophila's leaves:



Under the sunlight, maybe diffcult to be viewed in this picture, lots of O2 bubble coming off! it looks like as if the firebird is swimming in sodalime cream:



So, here it comes the closeup of O2 bubbles, foreground are feather algae and Hypnea pannosa:

[Samala]

Fantastic! So thats a feather macroalgae and not Halophila johnsonii.. right? Had to ask. Its a pretty small feather, I havent seen that before. Your true Halophila.. baillonis or ovalis? And do you mind if I ask how you got it? Collected?

I havent seen red speckling on Halophila engelmannii so far.. maybe this is peculiar to your lighting regime or just the species. Its pretty though. So with an all grass/macro tank how do you address nutrients in the tank?

Ok.. enough of twenty questions.. I just got excited when I saw this tank. Anything you want to share as far as setup, equipment, nutrient dosing, etc. I imagine almost everyone would really appreciate. I think this tank will create lots of questions (and requests to trade.. lol).

>Sarah

[Samala]

Here's a pic of mine:



I also posted an update to my website if anyone is interested.. Dont mean to hijack this thread though, I cant wait to hear how you are doing your tank Halophila! (Great name by the way.)

>Sarah

[halophila]

Sarah, thanks for your reply. I gotta go in a few minutes, so here comes a quick reply first.

My tank's setup:

Dimensions: 48" x 12" x 12"
Actual volume: 70L
Protien skimmer: none
Calcium reactor: none
Denitrator: none
Phosphoreactor: none
Filter: a 1200Liter/hr powerhead only
Lighting equipment: none, use natural sunlight instead
Salt brand: none, I use natural seawater

Tank parameters:

pH: never checked
Ca level: never checked
Kh level: never checked
Salinity: 1.025
Temperature: 24-25C
Refill water: dd water, or DI water, depends on avaliabilty





Substrate: fine aragonite
live rocks: some Indonesian, a little bit from Fiji
livestocks: lots of mini-brittle starfishes, lots of mini-abalone, 5 firebirds, lots of brittle worms(only nusiance stuff in my tank)
Macroalgae: Lots of different types, will provide name later on
Plants: Halophila ovalis

C ya ,

halophila

[halophila]

Originally posted by Samala
Fantastic! So thats a feather macroalgae and not Halophila johnsonii.. right? Had to ask. Its a pretty small feather, I havent seen that before.
]

Yes, it is one of the variety of the common feather algae I guess. Several years ago, I did luckily got a even smaller growing feather algae which was deep green in color.

Your true Halophila.. baillonis or ovalis? And do you mind if I ask how you got it? Collected?

Yes, it is Halophila ovalis , one of the most widespread seagrass species in the pacific region. From Japan to Australia, you can see them in lagoons, mudflat, atolls and sheltered area. I got it from my colleagues collection dated back to year 2000. By now, the original wild population has already gone.

I havent seen red speckling on Halophila engelmannii so far.. maybe this is peculiar to your lighting regime or just the species.

Yes, strong light will help. But I'd rather bet it is more species-dependent.

Its pretty though. So with an all grass/macro tank how do you address nutrients in the tank?

I believe in the religion of "Biodiveristy". It means that if you don't want any single algae to take over your tank without control, you must keep as many as species of different plants as possible. The more different species you have, the more stable grass/macro ecosystem you can acheive. Theortically, they will compete with each other for nutrients, light and other limiting factors and thus keep each others in check. This is more like a assumption than a fact, that's why I treated it as a religion. At this moment, the dominat species is still Halophila ovalis, the second one is feather algae. Grape algae is there, but can't take a leading role.

My total volume of water minus creatures and rocks/sands are 60L. I planned to do water changing for 20L in weekly basis. Due to my own laziness, I never achieved the target and do a monthly change of 20L instead. So, you can treat my water changing plan as 1/3 every month.

I do have those goodies like Protien skimmer and denitrator. However, due to ultimate design flaw, I can't install them in this tank. If I could install them, I believe they would have improven my tank's nutrient management.

Ok.. enough of twenty questions.. I just got excited when I saw this tank. Anything you want to share as far as setup, equipment, nutrient dosing, etc. I imagine almost everyone would really appreciate.

For a lazy bone like me, nutrient dosing is omitted too. My excuse is, if I can get natural sea water, and change water frequently, I don't need to care about nutrient supplement and dosing etc....Of courese the first part is correct and the second part is far from true...XD


I am lucky enough to live in a coastal region. In the office building, they pump the sea water for flushing purpose. There is a small pipe room behind every washroom. At the morning, if you ask the cleaning ladys politely to open the pipe room specifically for you and promise not to get them in any trouble afterwards, they normally will help you. The pscyhological hinderance of getting water in this manner is greater then the actual quality concern though. I even found fouling organisms like Aiptasia and miniature feather dusters living inside the flushing tank!!

I think this tank will create lots of questions (and requests to trade.. lol)

Sure, I am looking for that too!

[Samala]

Sounds like you're somewhere in the Pacific.. cool! I imagine you find all sorts of interesting macro's that we dont often see here on the East Coast US and the Caribbean that I visit.

For the nutrients.. since you have a good bioload (three firefish plus some inverts) I think you are getting away with not dosing any nutrients. Your large water changes also are helping out with this I suspect. This likely inhibits any of the macronutrients from getting too high as well as providing enough of the micronutrients (or trace elements) through the natural seawater that you're using.

If its working for you than I certainly wont be the one to knock it. But I will point out that I was also seeing reddish growth out of Halophila engelmanni.. whole red leaves, no just red spots.. and it looks like a few of your ovalis leaves are this same red-leaf condition. Its from low-nitrogen levels in the tank (or low nitrate). If you were to dose nitrate I'd be curious to see if this goes away as it does with stargrass.

I would love to do the natural seawater route, but I am more than a little wary of the water around here. And not just for pollutant problems. More along the lines of seeing data about how many viruses and bacteria can live in a single drop of coastal ocean water. Call me paranoid.

I think its interesting that you are using sunlight for the tank.. since its on the small side, how do you deal with heat problems? I imagine the solar load on the tank is enough to raise/lower the water temperature a degree or two Celcius.

Ok, last thought, I'd be surprised and shocked if the denitrator and the protein skimmer did a whole lot for water quality in the tank. I would actually never put a denitrator on my tank as nitrate is one of the plants' primary food sources. My protein skimmer pulls lots of skimmate out only when the tank goes longer than two weeks without a water change.. though it did do a nice job of removing organics while the tank was cycling. Its more for aeration and stabilizing the pH than anything else at this point.

How long have you had the tank set up?

>Sarah

[mushroom head]

Would you sell me some Halophila's leaves?If you will how much would you sell to me and how much would it cost? I LOVE macro algae tanks. Do the Halophila's leaves like a deep sand bed?

[halophila]

Originally posted by Samala
If its working for you than I certainly wont be the one to knock it. But I will point out that I was also seeing reddish growth out of Halophila engelmanni.. whole red leaves, no just red spots.. and it looks like a few of your ovalis leaves are this same red-leaf condition. Its from low-nitrogen levels in the tank (or low nitrate). If you were to dose nitrate I'd be curious to see if this goes away as it does with stargrass.

I would love to do the natural seawater route, but I am more than a little wary of the water around here. And not just for pollutant problems. More along the lines of seeing data about how many viruses and bacteria can live in a single drop of coastal ocean water. Call me paranoid.

Sarah, thanks for your info. Right now the H. ovalis is the dominant species. All the other algae do grow, but not as fast as the H. ovalis. I am not sure if supplmenting nitrates may shift this equilibrium or not. I also notice the young red leaves symptom, and if nutrient deficinecy started to affect the mature leaves or slow down the growth rate, I will surely take the nutrient supplement route.

The new tank is almost one month old and the H. ovalis has nearly double in size, so I am quite satisfied with its growth rate.

Lastly.... with bacteria like Vibiro vulinficus and Mycobacterium marinum living in non-polluted sea water, you shouldn't call yourself paranoid I do wear gloves whenever I need to do any tank work. And I won't do any tank maintenace or even touching sea water if I have any small wounds/cuts in my hands. Yes, it is very not common to get those nasty infection, but I don't wanna take the risk either.

[halophila]

The overall outlook


Some closeup of macros

[Samala]

Very very nice.. I'm so jealous.

[halophila]

Originally posted by Samala
I think its interesting that you are using sunlight for the tank.. since its on the small side, how do you deal with heat problems? I imagine the solar load on the tank is enough to raise/lower the water temperature a degree or two Celcius.

Sarah, it is located in an air-conditioned room. The water temperature is stablilized at 24.5C for most of the time. With direct sunlight from noon to 5:00pm, the temperature may rise up to 27C before sunset.


I also like your tank's setup, with so many different seagrass species, it has a very high potential for aquascaping like the freshwater planted tank

[mushroom head]

Would you sell me some Halophila's leaves?If you will how much would you sell to me and how much would it cost? I LOVE macro algae tanks. Do the Halophila's leaves like a deep sand bed?

[mushroom head]

Actually would you sell me one of every kind of algae/plant?

[halophila]

Originally posted by mushroom head
Actually would you sell me one of every kind of algae/plant?

Mushroomhead, please check pm.

>halophila

[mushroom head]

Halophila, please check your pm.

>mushroom head

[spencerx15]

that is a beautiful setup, i think i might set up something similar but smaller...

[halophila]

Originally posted by spencerx15
that is a beautiful setup, i think i might set up something similar but smaller...

Spencer, glad to know you like it too. I will suggest to get a small shallow tank. You can select any length and depth but make the water height(from water surface to the top of sand bed) equals to less than 12". A shallow tank is not only easy to do tank maintenance, it is also less demanding on lighting requirement. YOu can use less sophisticated lighting gears and don't need to worry about not enough light.

In addition, a shallow and long tank will also allow you to do all sorts of aquascaping like the freshwater planted tank.

[eleodes]

wow! that is sweet--expertly done.

[Meeker]

Wow... Nice

now I know what I'm going to do with that extra tank I have laying around...

and people thought that was going to stay empty for long...


Meeker

[halophila]

[hollinhead]

nice set up

[DensityMan]

Beautiful tank and a very nice selection of plants and algae!

[sylphid]

Cool seagrass and macroalgae tank.
Terapon jarbua are fierce. Little Liza may be dangerous.
I also think you are living in asia.

[geckos5]

holy crap i love this tank.

i have 4 freshwater tanks and love the planted look.i know have a 150 gallon saltwater that i love but miss the planted look.i hear if i plANT macroalgea it will be hard to control in the main tank.so the next thing i want to do is a nano tank,and your set up is perfect for my dresser.can you post any more pics of the setup,
is there a sump.i like the rufugium side of the tank to.did a glass shop build it for or did you build it...

[halophila]

Originally posted by sylphid
Cool seagrass and macroalgae tank.
Terapon jarbua are fierce. Little Liza may be dangerous.
I also think you are living in asia.

Hi sylphid! Yes, it is a bad idea to add Terapon together with M. cephalus. Although they were caught in the same tidepool, Terapon are much more fierce then M. cephalus. Terapon also has a bad habit of tail picking on other fishes. I should return the rest of M. cephalus back to the sea.

Yes, I am from Asia. You may able tell my locality by the design of the tank