3" Sandbed

[Fishfreak218]

OK,
well my dad will not go for a 4" sandbed and since he is paynig for the whole tank (like all my tanks).. what he says goes...(as long as it isnt detrimental to the tank).. so my question is.. is there any seagrass that can live in a 3" DSB?? overtime i could slop it in an area to maybe 4" maybe 3.5"?? ... will i have to stick to Caulerpa instead?? Im most interested in Shoal Grass and Halophila...Also i heard Halophila likes lower light leves... my tank's lights are 150w MH and 130w PC.. will it survive that kind of light.. the tank is 21" deep and i thin from the top of the sandbed to the light is about 20"

 

[graveyardworm]

I'm pretty sure halophila and shoal grass will do just fine in a 3 inch sand bed, and your lighting sounds just fine.

 

[Samala]

I'd agree. More room for roots would be ideal, but the prop tanks, I think I've mentioned this before, aren't more than 2.5" in most spots for the substrate. The roots do crowd at the lower limit. However, they crowd just as badly in my main display where they have twice as much depth to roam through. Doesnt seem to be detrimental.

Definitely adapt the plants your receive to that light level. Use the MH for a bit, then add in the 130w of PC. Halophila is typically a deeper water genus, but not all of them, and the ones that are available seem to do just fine in high light situations once they've adapted to it. Even the ovalis I've had thats been finicky is coming around after freaking out with the light (forgot to adapt those guys!).

>Sarah

 

[graveyardworm]

Ha, you beat me to it, here's a quote of yours I just copied from another thread.

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.

When you say(ooops edit)"The fun thing with these two smaller 'grasses" did you really mean the three?

 

[Samala]

Heheeee.. I think I actually meant all four: Halophila ovalis, engelmannii, decipiens and Halodule wrightii.

>Sarah

 

[AngeloM3]

Its only an inch.........

do you really think its going to die or not do good b/c its missing an inch of sand?


just use common sense

 

[Fishfreak218]

excuse me... to me thats not common sense...
lay off...
thats like a newb asking how many fish is appropriate for a 10g. and you saying.. "use common sense"
was there really a point in bringing back this old thread?? honestly.. just to say that.. are you trying to bring up your post count or something??

 

[halophila]

Fishfreak, I used around one inch of beach sand to grow the Halophila minor. There must be some seagrass species which strictly require >4" mature sand bed for optimal root growth, but not every species require that.

I believe there are many different cultivation methods which eventually lead to a successful and beautiful marine planted tank. The method I used is surely not the only way.

Halophila