My seagrass and macroalgae tank

[Duce]

Very nice

[modemfox]

I especially like the Neon Tetras in the FW tank beside it, and pics of that, is it planted to?

[halophila]

Originally posted by Samala
I see I need to step up my aquascaping to keep up with your ever-more-beautiful setup. Some of the Halophilas seem to be going transparent and red.. I see this in my tank when nitrogen drops really low. Are you adding any fertilizers at all to this tank yet?

Also.. do you see any major competition between the macroalgae, esp. the Caulerpas, and the seagrass? And, last question I promise, dont the cukes bulldoze over the grasses? My stargrass is a little fragile and the stems dont take well to being bent over by snails and such. I had to get rid of my adorable baby conch because he was trampling the grasses.

Keep up the good work! I like the banggai's in place of the firefish. They didnt jump on you did they?

>Sarah

Sarah, yes, the problem is getting worse. Even though I am a heavy feeder, the growth of both macroalgae and seagrass slow down in these days. And together with the red leaves problem, perhaps it is the right time to dose some plant fertilizer.

[halophila]

Originally posted by modemfox
I especially like the Neon Tetras in the FW tank beside it, and pics of that, is it planted to?

Yes, it is.

But it only serves as reserviour for extra plants, and hence it is very messy

[halophila]

This was how the tank look like a year ago, before upgrading to the current one


Substrates are crushed oysters shells, beach sands and silts collected in rocky shore


The leaves were much more lush green then now. This is a big mistake to use aragonite only for the new tank, I am considering to remove the sand bed, fill up the bottom with mud and silt first and cover it up with aragonite.

[halophila]

Originally posted by greenighs
I'm so inspired now! I actually am more excited about setting up my sump than I am about the display tank.

halophila, do you find the different macro species compete for light and space to grow? Do some of them choke out or eliminate others? I found my macros choked my vascular plants, or at least that was what I assumed had happened, since the seagrasses didn't take off. So this time, I'm keeping the macros in the sump and the seagrasses in the display.

Greenighs, yes they do. Right now, the feather algae is the dominant species. I normally hand picked them away once a week to keep them in control.

[halophila]

Originally posted by Samala
I see I need to step up my aquascaping to keep up with your ever-more-beautiful setup. Some of the Halophilas seem to be going transparent and red.. I see this in my tank when nitrogen drops really low. Are you adding any fertilizers at all to this tank yet?

Also.. do you see any major competition between the macroalgae, esp. the Caulerpas, and the seagrass? And, last question I promise, dont the cukes bulldoze over the grasses? My stargrass is a little fragile and the stems dont take well to being bent over by snails and such. I had to get rid of my adorable baby conch because he was trampling the grasses.

Keep up the good work! I like the banggai's in place of the firefish. They didnt jump on you did they?

>Sarah

I did dose KNO3 to get rid of Cynaobacteria in the first month, since then I have not added them again. I was adding 10ppm NO3 for 60L total volume, I didn't check the background NO3 concentration though.

Perhaps it is time to consider NO3 supplement or even fertilizer to boost the seagrass growth, any recommendation for it?

Surprisingly, the cukes are very gentle to the grass. They are not interested in anything but the sand. I tried to place some finely menced krill on the sand bed and they avoided it too. Perhaps I have too many of them, I shall return some of them to the sea this week.

Normally, hermit crabs sift the sands for debris and cut away epiphytic algae on Halophila's leaves. However, they will pick on H. ovalis's young leaves if they are starving. Not very ideal for seagrass tank I think.


Fire fish, yeah all of them jumped up and dead

[halophila]

Originally posted by Sheldon337
Is the red macro red grape kelp?

Yes, they are . One should be Botryocladia spp. The other is unknown.

[Samala]

Good to hear from you again! If you have access to KNO3 I would continue to use it and keep the dosing into the 2-5ppm range. I keep mine 5-10ppm and have no ill effects on fish but I dont have any really sensitive invertebrates. Cucumbers may not like nitrates so high. I wonder if they are eating cyanobacteria.. each time NO3 hits zero in my tank it comes back.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what's available to you for fertilizers and such. Amano's ADA products might be available to you or possibly Dupla or Elos? Any of these should have decent fertilizers meant for planted aquaria that should be a good place to start. Be careful if you go the route of using fertilizers meant for land plants. They often contain ammoniacal nitrogen source which is like candy to algae species not to mention they are almost always much much too high in phosphates.

Keep up the good work!
>Sarah

[eleodes]

Halophila-

Here is latest shot of the tank we have here in the classroom. I was able to pull together quite a few species of seaweeds. They really took off when I added them:



I really have to figure out how to get better pictures. Here is the log page with more updates:

http://entomology.wisc.edu/~dbiggs/m...g/tnkI_II.html

The tank has a lot of empty vertical space on top; I cropped this image. I intend to add a swimming fish or two as well as some branching soft corals to improve composition.

[Plantbrain]

That is classic NO3 limited growth, KNO3 is cheap and easy to add, there are dosing calculators and you can make a solution.

I think the uptake rates are certainly slower than FW tanks, (2-4ppm per day) and finding the export of the NO3=> N2 gas is an issue, but you can remove the plants to find that vs a tank(but how much is N loss through leeching from the plants?)

I would add perhaps 5-10ppm a week and see how much uptake you get.

I would also suggest a better kit if you want to maintain low lebvels of NO3 consistenly.

Hanna makes a decent unit for about 180$ and then you need to buy the reagents.

I would make a set of standards(not a bad class room project either BTW) over 0.1ppm, 0.5ppm, 1, ppm, 2ppm, 5ppm, 10ppm and 20ppm NO3.

Lamotte test kits are okay but after you add the 4.4 factor, they are off by a few ppm.

At low levels and precise predictions, this is not that good of information.

It's fine if you want to target 10-20ppm and do not kind larger water changes.

I think folks could get away with that, and control their PO4 more critically.

I'd NEVER suggest using aragonite alone for a macro macro tank or any tank.

Always vacuum an established tank and add the fresh muck to the new tank's bottom 1/2". Add a little soaked soil etc. Onyx sand instead of arag if you prefer darker color.

That is the best thing you can add for any new tank start up.
Some add laterite etc to prevent too much reduction to H2S(this does not last forever though).

Regards,
Tom Barr

http://reefcentral.com/agreement.php

[Billionzz]

Hi Tom,

I started a small reef tank with some shoal grass on one side of the tank.

My subsrate is 7" deep but it is aragonite. What would you suggest adding to the substrate for better growth of the sea grass, macro's and corals?

Bill

[halophila]

Originally posted by Samala


Otherwise, I'm not sure what's available to you for fertilizers and such. Amano's ADA products might be available to you or possibly Dupla or Elos? Any of these should have decent fertilizers meant for planted aquaria that should be a good place to start. Be careful if you go the route of using fertilizers meant for land plants. They often contain ammoniacal nitrogen source which is like candy to algae species not to mention they are almost always much much too high in phosphates.

Keep up the good work!
>Sarah

Sarah, thanks for you suggestion. As those fertilizers are primarily designed for freshwater planted aquarium, it is too risky to do experiment with them in the main tank which I don't have backup plants.

After getting back to 25% water change per week, stuff is going back to right track; and I will be setting up a 15 liter experimental seagrass tank very soon. So, maybe I will stick back to the current regime and carry out the fertilizer testing in the small tank. It is good to have another for control experiment too!


For the small tank, I am planning to use the sand and mud collected in a nearby mangrove and rocky shore as basal substratum.

[halophila]

Originally posted by eleodes
Halophila-

Here is latest shot of the tank we have here in the classroom. I was able to pull together quite a few species of seaweeds. They really took off when I added them:



I really have to figure out how to get better pictures. Here is the log page with more updates:

http://entomology.wisc.edu/~dbiggs/m...g/tnkI_II.html

The tank has a lot of empty vertical space on top; I cropped this image. I intend to add a swimming fish or two as well as some branching soft corals to improve composition.

Eleodes, it is nice to see another marine planted tank , what is the macros right hand side in the bottom? is it a sea grass?

[halophila]

recent addition, a pretty slow grower, Ruppia maritima:







Ruppia's photo on the net:

http://images.google.com/images?svnu...uppia+maritima

[eleodes]

Halophila-

No, that's not a seagrass. It's just Caulerpa paspaloides. This tank doesn't have the substrate or light to support seagrasses.

We are setting up a second tank and I am pondering whether to try to make seagrass theme for it.

[Plantbrain]

Originally posted by Billionzz
Hi Tom,

I started a small reef tank with some shoal grass on one side of the tank.

My subsrate is 7" deep but it is aragonite. What would you suggest adding to the substrate for better growth of the sea grass, macro's and corals?

Bill

Any marine sandy mud will do, soil even that's been soaked and netted for a 3 weeks or boiled.

Any organic source, mulm from an established tank's vacuumed DBS will also work fine.

Main thing is to provide the bacteria with a carbon source and something to cause some reduction to occur in the DBS.

It's not really a nutrient source, it is a cycling component for the bacteria which are the transformers/sinks/sources for the nutrients besides the dosing you might do.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[shane 1111]

is there any place with a list of pics and names of the sea grasses?

[eleodes]

i did some more aquascaping today and here's a somewhat better picture:



this can't compare to Halophila's tank shots in natural sunlight.

i have added some soft corals and they are very happy.

[Plantbrain]

Originally posted by shane 1111
is there any place with a list of pics and names of the sea grasses?

Without a doubt, the best books avail for plants./macro's are the Little and little books, they have a S Pacific and a Carb Sea book that are great.

Worth the $ if you have a passion for these plants.
(55$ and 90$ ea respectively)

FYI, the C paspoliedes will turn white on the older growth if you do not have enough NO3.

KNO3 is easily obtainable through many source and is quite good(pure). Same with KH2PO4 etc.

You may also consider Ca(NO3)2, since it adds more Ca+, and marine systems have little issue with K+ levels.

I may get to doa 15ftx4x5 Salt tank soon.
We have a 1500gal Discus planted tank coming up.

I may do a warm water angiosperm marine tank soon also.
Right now I have to still get that cold water marine planted Cube done up.


Regards,
Tom Barr

http://reefcentral.com/agreement.php

[Swanwillow]

IMO its time for an update!!!!

I'm pointing people to this thread for use of normal window lighting... do you do anything special? other than having AC what other problems have you come across using lighting from outside?

[eleodes]

maybe somebody should PM or email halipohila to see if he is still out there(?).

[halophila]

bojangsjang, that's how it looks like now

[mr. bojangsjang]

beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CamBarr]

any updated pics???