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#26
02/27/2006, 12:10 PM
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I never invested in a really great test kit so resolution isnt really good enough to really be sure, but, when nitrate bottoms out, if I test PO4 it comes up zero. Top off water, feed the jawfish and its back to 0.1ppm (using tap 50/50 diluted with RO).
I actually havent had cyano in quite some time. Presence of phosphate in the water doesnt seem tied to it all by itself. It takes a zero-nitrate environment, where plants aren't actively growing, plus presence of phosphate + ammonium/nitrite to really spark a cyano outbreak. Its interesting, and I'm not sure if anyone else has recreated that in their tanks. Generally dosing nitrates (and vacuuming up all the offending cyano to start with a clean slate) to kick start the plants gets cyano out of the system. (?) But that's ime. >Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#27
02/27/2006, 12:20 PM
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:-(
I may have to break down and scrub my rocks to get the cyano to go away.... I was hoping to avoid a manual removal (other than the jelly like sheets of the stuff from the glass, or when a sheet/chunk falls off the LR as it has been since I started with the Iron dosing. Some parts of the system seem that the cyano is on the decline,while others appear to be growing more... odd. Thanks for the CO2 content. John.
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Killing is easy, Keeping things alive is a Challenge |
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#28
02/27/2006, 03:35 PM
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Give it a little more time and see if the bloom abates all by itself John. The cyano outbreak cycle I've had might not be the typical progression for a tank with lots of LR like yours. Too many factors to take into consideration. I just know my plant dominated tanks, with the various aspects, seem to pop up cyano when nitrate is zero, phosphate is readable, ammo/nitrite is present for some reason. Dont be afraid to experiment.
 PS: a few more days of trading posts like this and we will have to re-name this the Nexis-Samala forum. >Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#29
02/27/2006, 03:48 PM
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For everything you want to know about CO2 check out www.barrreport.com. I'm new to SW but have much experience w/ planted freshwater tanks. CO2 is the key to success. Injecting CO2 has many benefits: it will lower the Ph, this is important to freshwater biotypes, and it allows the desirable plants to out compete algae. I believe Tom Barr is starting to investigate the use of CO2 injection in planted SW tanks.
James |
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#30
03/08/2006, 01:16 AM
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Ok.. NOW I'm getting excited:
2.22.06  3.8.06  You can see I pulled a lot of the Caulerpa prolifera, it just grows toooo quickly to keep up with it. I prune every other day and pull at least a cupful of material. I'd rather all those nutrients be going to the seagrasses. So, its been interesting to see the effects of CO2 over an additional two weeks. Can you see that the shoal grass is crowding at the front of the tank? PS: sorry about all the equipment, I just did work on the tank and wasnt really thinking about photo aesthetics.. hehe. >Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader Last edited by Samala; 03/08/2006 at 01:33 AM. |
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#32
03/08/2006, 10:59 AM
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Wow! that looks amazing!
Is the shoal grass choking out the turtle in the back left corner... I can't tell from the second picture if it's 'holding it's own' or not. Excellent work! John.
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Killing is easy, Keeping things alive is a Challenge |
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#33
03/08/2006, 01:03 PM
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Ben! I just wrote you back an email my friend.
John the turtlegrass is definitely losing the war, the shoal grass is growing in and around it completely and the turtles are still just sitting there, spitting out a few leafs each month but losing the older ones as they come in. Argh. I dont know what turtlegrass wants of me!  Is it heat, or salinity, or light?? Stinkin plants. I do have bad news.. my jawfish jumped this morning. I had gotten quite fond of the little guy, poor baby. His tank has been open top for months now once he adjusted and I guess he finally figured he was getting out of the seagrass bed. Which sucks, becuase I was going to take better shots of the growth today and start pruning back the shoal grass so that I can actually clean the front glass and give him a sandy zone to play in again. Blah. Maybe its time to use up some credit at the local shop for a new fishie. Suggestions? >Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#34
03/08/2006, 09:00 PM
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To bad about the jawfish probably thought he could go collect his fee from the deadbeats by himself.
 I would try to find a watchman goby pair.
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-David- "The world is headed for mutiny when all we want is unity" Scott Stapp, Creed |
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#35
03/09/2006, 01:20 AM
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Most interesting results. I've still got to try duplicating your results. I'll have to get cracking after NERAC this weekend.
Sorry to hear about the jawfish. Try putting an eggcrate top over the tank. It can actually help focus the light when put on the right way, as well as keep jumpers in 
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Bill "LOL, well I have no brain apparently. " - dc (Debi) |
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#37
03/09/2006, 02:00 PM
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Elite.. that's all thats on the tank right now.. most of the available seagrass species do well under it: Halodule (the main species right now), Syringodium and Halophila. Caulerpas, Enteromorpha, Ulva, Chaetomorpha, Halymenia, and two bubble reds also do well under PC light. The trick is to use enough of it and to use daylight flavor bulbs, I feel. I have 130w over a 13" drop of 6700K. If you had a taller tank.. say 20" or more.. I'd go with MH. And I still have a sneaking feeling that turtlegrass, Thalassia sp., would like more light than I've given it.
>Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#38
03/09/2006, 04:24 PM
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It looks like your shoal grass is hitting much higher density than mine, and certainly is spreading quicker. If you can make the tank leap-proof and you've got the $$$, blue-spotted jawfish are pretty cool-looking!! Target mandarin, Rainsford gobie, or a small sand-associated wrasse would be my choice for a single fish in a tank that size.
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Howard (It's the inlet side of a Mazzei Injector) |
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#39
03/09/2006, 10:51 PM
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Quote:
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Bill "LOL, well I have no brain apparently. " - dc (Debi) |
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#40
03/10/2006, 01:37 AM
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Oooh a blue spotted jawfish.. drool. And turtle grass does well under strong MH eh Bill? Both of you just want me to spend my irs refund I see!
Ahhh one day. I have lots of design ideas for seagrass tanks with various species of fishes but just no room or time. I'd like to graduate to a 40breeder eventually, toss an MH over that guy with a solenoid controlled CO2 doser, something for doing Fe/N/P, see what happens. Someday. >Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#41
03/13/2006, 11:18 PM
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Ok so I pulled out over ONE HUNDRED plants of shoal grass today to send off to some pals and you can just barely tell that I did anything to the tank. Hmm.
3.8.06 3.13.06  Five days lapse. Can you tell I ripped out all these plants? I really dont know if I could hazard a guess of how many are in there now. I planted an initial 35ish. >Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#42
03/13/2006, 11:42 PM
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Is it just my eyes or the perspective... it looks like the massive new growth has all been shorter in length than the original growth section. Maybe not - maybe it's related to light, but the plants up front seem shorter than those in the back.
BTW: I'm sure your pals will be greatful for the shoal grass distribution! Tank is looking AWESOME! Congrats John.
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Killing is easy, Keeping things alive is a Challenge |
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#43
03/13/2006, 11:45 PM
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I was just looking back over your photo-record... The growth over the last 2 months has been incredible. I guess I need to start skeeming to figure out how I can do a CO2 reactor during daylight... might have to check into cheap solinoids
John.
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Killing is easy, Keeping things alive is a Challenge |
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#44
03/14/2006, 12:28 AM
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Yeah I've been thinking about how to make CO2 a safe and still effective idea for those who have delicate fishes and inverts at stake in their tank.
Oh yes.. the plants at the front are definitely shorter. Less flow towards the front so they are growing shorter. Not less light, at least I doubt it. The relationship of higher flow, taller growth is established in the scientific literature and its not the first time I've seen it happen in my tanks. Good eye!>Sarah
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"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#46
03/15/2006, 12:10 PM
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Go pressurized like we do on planted freshwater tanks, makes life so much easier. Anyway I could get some of that seagrass from you and/or some spec on how to keep it alive or get it myself. Thanks. BTW drop me a line if you want advise on the co2 stuff, I reccomend building my own for cheaper and better quality.
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#47
03/18/2006, 01:36 AM
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So the last few days I have seen less and less pearling, despite refreshing the CO2 culture and keeping nitrate additions within the right range. I checked phosphate tonight.. hmm.. measures zero. Interesting. Went out and got a better test kit.. Salifert.. still says zero. Mmhmmmmmm. Pull out a solution of KPO4 (potassium phosphate) and two or three drops of it to the tank. About a half hour later I go back and check the tank and there is definitely lots of pearling going on. I shut off the pumps and there are so many bubbles being produced the water looks like champagne. Amazing!
That's the first time I've had the tank become PO4 limited, most likely because it is not receiving PO4 through fish waste and missed mysis shrimp decaying in the tank. Nitrate was 5ppm when I checked it earlier this morning and it now says about 1ppm. Amazing uptake rate. As of today I am now dosing 8drops of Fe (Kent) and ~300mg of NO3 each day to the tank with no signs of nuisance algae. I'm guessing I"ll have to add PO4 dosing to my regimen if I continue to maintain it fishless. >Sarah
__________________
"Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!" "Wild means everyone owns it, and no one owns it." ~3rd grader |
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#48
03/18/2006, 04:23 PM
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Quote:
John.
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Killing is easy, Keeping things alive is a Challenge |
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#50
03/18/2006, 11:33 PM
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Quote:
John.
__________________
Killing is easy, Keeping things alive is a Challenge |
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